Digital Scale Vs Analog Scale!!!!

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  • Jain
    Jain Posts: 861 Member
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    You can check your scale whether analog or digital for its overall accuracy with a known weight, grab a 10lb bag of potatoes and step on the scale, weigh on the same scale without the potatoes and if its a 10lb bag you should see 10lb difference, if its not then your scale is off anyway.

    The trouble is, a 10lb bag of potatoes never weighs exactly 10lb. Any bag of veggies with a weight on the bag will weigh slightly differently, usually slightly higher.

    When I swapped from mechanical scales to digital I had the same problem, the digital weighed 2lb more. But no household scale is totally accurate unless it is calibrated regularly. So I just adjusted my head instead!:laugh:
    At least I can see the digital display!
  • JeninBelgium
    JeninBelgium Posts: 804 Member
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    I use a digital, but no scale is acurate only the doctors.:sad:

    well that depends upon when the doctor's office scale was last calibrated-yep they do have to be calibrated occasionally- in the labs I have worked in where we have very accurate, precise scales we calibrate every day but we needed to measure very small quanitites so this was very important

    the type of scale you use is not so important but rather consistently use the same scale - what's important is that the scale is going down overall, whichever scale
  • jnicole018
    jnicole018 Posts: 9 Member
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    I had the same problem, I thought I was about five pounds lighter but the digital scale said I was heavier! Discouraging at first, but now im obsessed with the digital scale :)
  • jnicole018
    jnicole018 Posts: 9 Member
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    I had the same problem, I thought I was about five pounds lighter but the digital scale said I was heavier! Discouraging at first, but now im obsessed with the digital scale :)
  • ramseyrose
    ramseyrose Posts: 421 Member
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    Only very expensive analogue scales are usually correct and they need to be calibrated regularly. I also weigh myself first thing in the morning in the nude. i wish i could say once a week but I have to admit I do it daily - I know I shouldnt cause water retention can make it higher than one day than the next, but i cant help it.

    I have a digital scale but it is also a fat monitor so I take more notice of the % fat reading more than the weight - I am now less than HALF FAT and look forward to when I am LOW FAT. :laugh:

    As long as you feel better in yourself and your clothes feel looser, dont worry too much about the scales.
  • superninjatam
    superninjatam Posts: 44 Member
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    Get digital ones with body fat % measurements. Part of successful weight loss involves building fat-burning muscle while losing fat. This means your weight alone is not a good indicator of progress. Either way, the scale doesn't matter, the progress on using that scale does.
  • LIswimmer51
    LIswimmer51 Posts: 96
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    ha i just made the switch, my digital scale has had me on a plateau for like couple of weeks now, and my analog scale is moving down slowly, and there is a good 4.5 pound difference in the two now.
  • photojunk
    photojunk Posts: 135 Member
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    My digital scale fluctuates as much as 10lbs depending on which part of my bathroom floor i have it on. I use a traditional one for accuracy and only use digital for water, fat and muscle info
  • red_road
    red_road Posts: 761 Member
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    make sure that you are recalibrating your scale whenever it is moved ( turn it on, dont step on, let it turn off, then step on). Also obviously that it is on a hard surface. I leave my scale in my room then move it to the bathroom and recalibrate when i want to weight it doesnt take very long, i was just concerned what all the moisture and humidity would do to the consistency of the scale.
  • Sweeetdesiderata
    Sweeetdesiderata Posts: 20
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    I think it depends on the scale itself as well. I have had a few digital scales and I didnt like any of them. They were definatly not accurate, as I would step on them 3 times and I would get a totally different reading every time. So I tossed them. I use my mom's now, its digital, but I can get the same reading all 3 times. She said the last time she went to the doc, her scale was only off by 2 lbs from the doc's. So I am sticking with it :D
  • junodog1
    junodog1 Posts: 4,792 Member
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    I bought a new digital scale only because I could not get the same weight on the old scale two times in a row. But that was a spring scale more than 20 years old. I do not worry about how the scale compares to other scales. I care that the reading is the same within 30 seconds and that I can see direction I am headed.

    I want those numbers going down!!
  • CancerStyx
    CancerStyx Posts: 2 Member
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    A digital scale compared to my doctors scale is off by 35 lbs. I would think the doctors scale would be right, unless a few springs were loose, so I know it's the digital scale...
  • Woodspoon
    Woodspoon Posts: 223 Member
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    I have a digital but kept my old analogue ones as well

    I use both and take and average between the two.
  • Mrs_Brigham
    Mrs_Brigham Posts: 13 Member
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    My hubby and I got one of the fancy digital scales that wirelessly upload the reading to MFP. I weigh once a week and because most scales weigh differently depending upon where they are on the floor, I just picked a spot and that is where I weigh, once a week, in my birthday suit but not out of the shower (don't want to weigh the water in my hair).

    It also checks my fat percentages and the air quality of the room, but at the moment I'm focusing on making healthy food choices and will worry about the rest when I get a bit farther along on the road, so I'm not going to freak out about it.

    I have to say that I initially thought that this scale was going to be a colossal waste of money, but I have to say that my hubby is brilliant, and it was one of his better ideas ever. :)

    Hope this helps!
  • GoMizzou99
    GoMizzou99 Posts: 512 Member
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    Consumer Reports said, in an article about 18 months ago, in their exhaustive testing...digital spanked the analog scales...hands down. IOW - Calibrated load cells are much better than springs.

    DIGITAL for the win.
  • sarafischbach9
    sarafischbach9 Posts: 466 Member
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    I use the digital scale. They are more accurate than the analog scale in most cases!

    My scale is 8 years old almost. I am not sure if I need to get a new one or not, but it still works. I probably need a new one soon.
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    This is the 21st century ... digital. Is there any other type ?
  • babykilo
    babykilo Posts: 2 Member
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    This happened to me too. I don't know what to beleive. All that matters is for the numbers to keep going down.....that is my motivation.
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
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    I have two digital and one analog scale. The analog and one of the digital scales pretty much match, and the other scale has me about 2 lbs. heavier. The 2lb heavier one also does body fat readings. I use that one to watch my BF% trend, and the other digital as my official weigh-in scale because that is the one that I have been using since I started getting fit in 2012.
  • bforonda2580
    bforonda2580 Posts: 1 Member
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    I've worked in the scale industry for almost 5 years and learned that accuracy vary within a pounds, whether you are using digital or analog. Scales tend to wear out through years of use. Even medical scales can be off. It all depends if they get their equipment calibrated every 2 to 6 months, which is required. Repairs or replacements are sometimes needed. It also depends if the scale technician is calibrating correctly and if the test weights have been checked out by the state every couple years. If you've worked in the scale industry before, you may have found a lot of scale companies have not been keeping up with this because of how much it cost to get it done. Unfortunately, most scales used at home, whether it's bathroom or kitchen scales, cannot be calibrated. They would either have to be sent back to manufacturer (if they still exist) or replaced.
    Oh yeah, almost forgot. Accuracy can change depending where you are on the Earth. For example, if you live on the west side of the US and purchased a scale manufactured in the east, accuracy can be off by a few pounds. So whether you like it or not are never always accurate. It's your choice which one you wanna believe. My advice is pick one and stick with it, and not worry if your doctor's scale shows a few pounds higher. More than that, then I'd start to worry.

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