Know Before You Go - Precision Voyager Luggage Scale {Review & Giveaway}

Picture this: You and your husband finally get up the guts to take the kids on a plane across the country to see family that you haven't seen in a while. You spend two days packing (because you know when you have kids to pack for, you have to take half of your house), you double check to make sure you have everything, then you load up and head to the airport. You didn't bring your stroller because the kids won't sit in it anyway, and you didn't feel like having to deal with checking that, so instead they are running around the airport while you try to check in. You're trying to wrangle your kids, while your husband is dealing with getting boarding passes and checking the bags. All of the sudden you hear "sir, this bag is over 50 pounds, that will be a $90 charge". WHAT!?!?!?!

Being slapped with an extra fee because your bag is too heavy is the last thing any traveler needs, especially parents who are already stressed out enough just trying to make the trip. The extra fees for overweight luggage aren't small, either. I haven't flown in a while (we haven't quite gotten up the nerve yet), and I had no idea what the luggage fees were like, so I was shocked to see this fee chart on Expedia.com. On airlines like Delta and US Airways, you have to pay $25 for your first bag, $35 for your second, and $125 for bags after that. Those bags must be under 50 pounds, or the fee goes up to $90, or even $175 if it is over 71 pounds. Wow! A couple large bags could end up costing more than your seat!

Now you can avoid any surprises, and ridiculous fees, at the airport with this great luggage scale from EatSmart Products! Never pay overweight luggage charges again with the Precision Voyager Digital Luggage Scale!

The EatSmart Precision Voyager Luggage Scale is an ultraportable, lightweight travel accessory designed for anyone from the casual vacationer to the road warrior. After easily clipping onto the handle of your suitcase or bag, EatSmart's proprietary two handed SmartGrip design allows for easier lifting of even the heaviest bags. When your scale registers the weight, the scale will beep and your luggage weight will appear on the screen instantly. Its compact, durable design allows travelers to place it in their suitcase and bring on many trips. Never worry about paying unexpected baggage fees again!

Features

1. EatSmart's proprietary two handed SmartGrip designed Handles
2. Compact & Lightweight Design
3. Durable Strap & Easy Clip Buckle
4. 2 Measurement Modes: Pounds / Kilograms
5. Graduation: .1 oz / .1 gram
6. Max Weight: 110 pounds / 50 kilograms
7. 20 second Auto-Turnoff
8. Includes Lithium Battery

Like I said, we haven't yet gotten up the nerve to travel, so we packed up some towels in a suitcase to test the scale out. Here's my world traveling husband, ready to go...

The scale is so easy to use! You just attach it around the handle of your suitcase, turn it on, and lift. That's all there is to it! It will beep when it has the proper measurement.

We lifted it several times, and got within .1 of the same measurement each time. The scale is very lightweight, so it can be easily packed in your suitcase, since you know when you go on vacation, you always come back with more than you went with. Just make sure you leave about a pound available in your suitcase for the scale.

The Precision Voyager Digital Luggage Scale can be purchased on Amazon for $19.95. (This appears to be a sale price from $29.95, so that may change.) That is a small price to pay to avoid the big prices at the airport!

Like I said, we haven't gotten up the nerve to travel by air with the kids yet, but we are planning on it soon. I am so glad to have this scale so we can avoid as much stress as possible. I highly recommend this to anyone who travels!

~*~One of my readers is going to win a Precision Voyager Digital Luggage Scale from EatSmart!~*~

Mandatory entry: (This must be done in order for any optional entries to count) Tell me your best tip for making travel easier. (If you have any great tips for traveling with kids, I would love to hear those!)

Optional entries: After you make the mandatory first entry above, you can get one extra entry (unless stated otherwise) for each of the following (please leave a separate comment for each):

* Like EatSmart Products on Facebook (feel free to let them know The Life of Rylie...and Bryce too! sent you)
* Follow @EatSmartScales on Twitter
* Follow my blog publicly with Google Friend Connect (sidebar)
* Subscribe to my blog by email and confirm your subscription (sidebar)
* Like The Life of Rylie...and Bryce too! on Facebook (leave your first name and last initial)
* Share this post on Facebook by clicking the Facebook icon at the bottom of this post
* Follow @thelifeofrylie on Twitter (leave your user name)
* Tweet about this giveaway by copying and pasting this tweet and leaving me the link to your tweet (you can tweet daily for an extra entry each day):

RT @thelifeofrylie Never pay overweight luggage charges! Enter to #win a luggage scale from @EatSmartScales! http://bit.ly/em8AeN #giveaway

* Post my button on your sidebar or your blog roll for TWO extra entries (leave me two comments with a link to where I can find it)
* Blog about this giveaway with a link to this post for THREE extra entries (leave a link to your post in three separate comments)

Giveaway will end on March 15th at 9:00pm EST. The winner will be chosen by random.org. I will notify the winner by email within 24 hours, and you will have 48 hours to respond. If no response is received within that time frame, I will pick another winner. Please leave your email address or make sure it is in your profile so I will have a way to contact you. I will announce the winner once they have been confirmed. This giveaway is open to residents of the US only.

Disclosure: This is my honest opinion. I received the luggage scale at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. A big Thank You to EatSmart Products for providing the giveaway prize!