Are you happy with the Bug Checker Portable Light Board?

Mevater

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 9:40 pm

How long does it take to check each head of romaine lettuce?

Is every dot on the vegetable a bug? If not, how do you know which are dots in the vegetables and not bugs?

OOTBubby

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 9:42 pm

If you'll go to the Star-K website, they have some good videos on checking leafy greens which show clearly magnified what is a bug.

I find I need to use a magnifying glass together with a light board, but it is then very obvious (once you've seen from the video what to be looking for).

Mevater

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 9:51 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

How long does it take (on the average) to check a head of romaine lettuce?

OOTBubby

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 9:53 pm

Mevater wrote:

OOTBubby wrote:

How long does it take (on the average) to check a head of romaine lettuce?

Sorry, I don't do romaine -- I've mainly used it for green cabbage and celery stalks.

Green cabbage too me around 15 minutes per head (I think that's slow, I'm still not too experienced).

Mevater

Wed, Sep 15 2010, 10:40 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

Green cabbage too me around 15 minutes per head (I think that's slow, I'm still not too experienced).

Great! 15 minutes isnt a lot! Im sold. Im buying one iyH. The checked romaine is sooooo much more expensive than the unchecked.

OOTBubby

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 8:14 am

Mevater wrote:

OOTBubby wrote:

Green cabbage too me around 15 minutes per head (I think that's slow, I'm still not too experienced).

Great! 15 minutes isnt a lot! Im sold. Im buying one iyH. The checked romaine is sooooo much more expensive than the unchecked.

I think Romaine would take longer as it is buggier.

Mevater

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 8:40 am

My question is will I have the confidence to differentiate between an unexplained dot and a bug, and throw out food unnecessarily, and waste time and money in the long run.

OOTBubby

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 11:38 am

Mevater wrote:

My question is will I have the confidence to differentiate between an unexplained dot and a bug, and throw out food unnecessarily, and waste time and money in the long run.

I was nervous about that too, but found that after watching the videos and doing it, I found it was quite obvious what was a bug -- and most of the dots were indeed bugs.

And, BTW, I don't use the actual Bug Checker Portable Light Box -- I have a graphics design light box that I used to use in my business (for paste up before everything was computerized) -- it's exactly the same idea though.

ra_mom

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 11:53 am

My MIL uses the portable light board to check iceberg lettuce and the like. (Oh those crispy lettuce leaves! I almost forgot how good fresh lettuce (as opposed to bagged) tastes!) She is very very Machmir and is quite confident with what she see's from the light.

Mevater

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 12:36 pm

ra_mom wrote:

I hope most people dont feel the need for a magnifying glass in addition. Do you know if she uses a magnifying glass too?

OOTBubby

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 12:41 pm

Mevater wrote:

ra_mom wrote:

I hope most people dont feel the need for a magnifying glass in addition. Do you know if she uses a magnifying glass too?

I think they recommend (see the Star-K website) that at least in the beginning you use one.

I must do so as my vision is lacking.

Mevater

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 12:47 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

I think they recommend (see the Star-K website) that at least in the beginning you use one.

I must do so as my vision is lacking.

Thanks, OOTBubby I got it. It shows how. Here it is for anyone who's interested:

http://www.star-k.org/cons-veg.....ID=52

ra_mom

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 12:49 pm

Mevater wrote:

ra_mom wrote:

I hope most people dont feel the need for a magnifying glass in addition. Do you know if she uses a magnifying glass too?

She puts on her reading glasses, and leans in to the light and the lettuce.

Rubber Ducky

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:01 pm

Excellent product; small, convenient, and portable -- it has a rechargeable battery. I also formerly used a light box intended for graphics. I do often look at dots with a magnifier.

TzenaRena

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:15 pm

I have one. We just used it for checking baby spinach leaves last week. I don't find it much of improvement over holding up to the florescent kitchen lighting though; visibility is pretty much the same, it's just more convenient! Or is my light box not bright enough? I have the one from the Kosher Lamp people.

Mevater

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:23 pm

TzenaRena wrote:

Is there another one? I think the Kosher one is waterproof which is good, unlike the graphics lightboxes.

OOTBubby

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:29 pm

Mevater wrote:

I think the Kosher one is waterproof which is good, unlike the graphics lightboxes.

If I decide to check more stuff regularly (we usually use the bagged iceberg mixes with a hechsher, don't care for romaine and don't use whole cabbage often) I should probably get one of those -- the graphics one I've got is very big and heavy plus needs to be plugged in and I'm sure it's not waterproof.

Mevater

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:48 pm

Whenever I pass the outdoor cafes in NYC, I see people eating these unusual dark leaves on their salad plates, and you cant get them checked.

OOTBubby

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:51 pm

Mevater wrote:

Whenever I pass the outdoor cafes in NYC, I see people eating these unusual dark leaves on their salad plates, and you cant get them checked.

How do you know that the mashgiach doesn't check them? That is required by many hashgochas.

Rubber Ducky

Thu, Sep 16 2010, 1:54 pm

I think the light box from Kosher Innovations is the only home sized light box bug checker out there. I like that it doesn't need to be plugged in; I was always a bit concerned about placing wet leaves on my graphics light box.