Heading to the grocery store for me usually entails collecting all the scraps of paper where I scribbled down the stuff I need, then walking up and down each aisle while I try to decide whether I wrote "bags" or "eggs". (I usually end up giving up and buying both.)

If your supermarket experiences are like mine, you might want to shop smarter with something like the appropriately named SmartShopper. They call it an "automated grocery list assistant", which is marketing speak for "really expensive alternative to pen and paper". But since I'm a guy who loves gadgets...

Push the record button on the front of the SmartShopper, say what you need, and the state-of-the-art voice recognition technology displays what you said onscreen. And to be sure it heard you right - and so you aren't screaming "I SAID POPCORN!!!" into an inanimate object - there will be a couple of other choices as well, just confirm from the list on the screen. There's over 2,500 items in the memory, and you can add your own items or favorite brands, so there's little chance of not having what you need in the database. (We tried some strange ones. They were there. Including Pregnancy Test Kit.) You can also look up items in the enclosed, printed Master List. Got a coupon? Check off the reminder box and it'll mark the item so you remember to save that 25 cents on toothpaste at checkout.

The memory holds your list until you're ready to shop. Hit the print button and the embedded thermal printer will spit out your list, organized into categories like Beverages, Breakfast Foods, Dairy, and Health and Beauty. Which helps eliminate the need to backtrack through the store multiple times. Which is how I spend (read: waste) much of my time.

You can clear the whole list when you're done, or delete specific items, keeping your staples on there for future shopping. And the SmartShopper can also remember your errands. Record things like Bank, Oil Change, Donate Blood, and they'll be added to the top of your list when you print it out.

Magnets hold it to the side of your fridge, or you can mount it on a wall with the enclosed screws. Besides the Master List, the SmartShopper also comes with three rolls of thermal paper which should last a while. You'll need four AA batteries to run it, so add those to your shopping list.

$149.99
www.smartshopperusa.com