Some people love shopping and some people don’t. I don’t mind it too much, but the lists that accumulate can get large and end up being rather illegible because my kids write things they want as well on the grocery list. I do all of the shopping in the house, yes I’m the guy, but my wife hates shopping so it falls to me to handle it all. I recently received something for review that aims to help make your shopping experience a little easier, it’s called the SmartShopper SS301 and it’s a grocery list organizer that any techie would love. This product is certainly unique, it feature voice recognition and a built in printer. You just speak into the SmartShopper and it usually recognizes what you say and adds it to a list. Then when you’re ready to go shopping you just hit the print button and it prints out a nice, neat, organized list of things you need to buy.
SmartShopper Model SS301
SmartShopper is a voice recognition grocery list organizer. Its intuitive interface is fun to use and easy to master. Just push the record button, say the name of the item you want to add to the list, and SmartShopper does the rest; it’s as simple as that! There are over 2,500 items in SmartShopper’s library, and it can even learn new items tailored to your lifestyle. SmartShopper automatically organizes your list into categories, making visits to the store more efficient.
Great gift idea for newlyweds or Birthday gift for that special woman in your life.
Features:
* Two lists can be individually named and kept simultaneously.
* Smaller, More attractive look.
* Category Mgt. which allows the user to match their store layout, change and add categories.
* Built-In Kitchen Timer
* Flag items that you have coupons for, and designate quantities
* Enhanced procedure for adding custom items.
* Many others.
Price: $149.99
Let’s start off with a video unboxing:
The box has a little bit of information on it.
Inside you’ll find a list of products, instruction manual and mounting hardware.
The SmartShopper itself is rather heavy for how small it is, it’s part metal and plastic with rubberized sides. Overall it feels very solidly made.
On the front is a nice large display, below that are controls for navigation, record, timer, lists and select. Under all of that is a slot that that is the printer.
On the back you’ll see the mounting spots, and the battery cover.
I have a bunch of screen shots for you, but I also did a video of me using it to give you a better idea of how it works. It’s about six minutes long so you should get a good idea.
The SmartShopper is also a timer, which comes in handy in the kitchen.
Here’s a few shots in use:
The SmartShopper has lots of help built in.
The only real settings options are to change the volume and the microphone sensitivity.
When you’re using it you might find you need to adjust things in the product library or even categories.
The printer is fast and quiet, it also prints out nicely. It prints the list of things you need to shop for categorically, which should make your shopping experience easier and quicker hopefully.
If you paid attention in the video you’d notice that it didn’t quite recognize everything I said, like any voice recognition system it will need to learn how you speak and what you’re saying.
There is a huge product database built in but you’ll find yourself having to add many things to it. You can this all at once, or gradually as the need arises. The good thing is that once you do it you won’t have to do it again.
One thing that sort of bugged me was that many of the items are generic, and not name brand. A lot of things I don’t mind being an off brand but some things I just have to have the name brand of. Don’t get me wrong here though, a lot of things are listed with name brands.
Using it does take some time, but once you get accustomed to it and how it works it can be a valuable asset to your home.
The printer of course requires paper which you’ll need to buy for the company. Three rolls will cost you $8 plus shipping, and I‘m not sure just how much you’ll get out of that. The demo unit I received came with only a partial roll of paper it seems. You can buy a case or 18 rolls for $48 with free shipping. The price of the SmartShopper is about $150, and I guess it’s worth it if you’re going to utilize it, but I’m not too sure about having to keep buying paper for it. In the long run, especially if you do lots of shopping, you’re going to need a lot of paper.
It works well really, and the kids think it’s just great, a new toy for them to play with really.
