Digital Scale Vs Analog Scale!!!!

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...

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!

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.

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.

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.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ILIE6B2/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

This is what I use and I love it. Listed price is insane, I paid $25 a couple months ago. It's just out of stock at the moment with amazon.

Mine is the same. I'm frustrated.

I have a digital scale and when I went to my GP last month their mechanical scale gave me an extra 4 pounds

I still only log the results from my own scales onto MFP though so I can monitor my weight loss.

There are two things to consider when choosing a scale: accuracy and consistency. As others have said, unless you invest in an expensive triple-beam scale like they have at the doctor's office, nothing you buy for home use is going to be particularly accurate. One way to calibrate is, weigh yourself at home before a visit to the doctor's office, then weigh at the doctors office and see how your home scale differs. Use that amount to adjust your home measurements. Also, accuracy is often different at different weight ranges: a scale that's accurate between 150-200 may not be as accurate above 200 or below 150.

For me, consistency was the most important factor: I found that my old scale gave different weights if I moved it on the bathroom floor -- and even gave different weights if I stepped on it two or three times without moving it. Without consistency, you can't rely on a scale at all; with it, you at least know it's showing your loss or gain correctly even if it's not that accurate.

Based on reviews, I chose the EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale with Extra Large Lighted Display (available on Amazon 23USD, currently listed at 15USD for Prime members). It's super consistent and based on measurements at my doctor's office, the accuracy isn't that bad, either. I also have an EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale, and am highly satisfied with both products.

If you want a triple beam analog scale that's accurate like the one at your doctor's and have the room for one, I've seen them listed for around 200USD and up.

Well, this is an old thread. Seems to have been resurrected today.

vingogly wrote: »

There are two things to consider when choosing a scale: accuracy and consistency. As others have said, unless you invest in an expensive triple-beam scale like they have at the doctor's office, nothing you buy for home use is going to be particularly accurate. One way to calibrate is, weigh yourself at home before a visit to the doctor's office, then weigh at the doctors office and see how your home scale differs. Use that amount to adjust your home measurements. Also, accuracy is often different at different weight ranges: a scale that's accurate between 150-200 may not be as accurate above 200 or below 150.

For me, consistency was the most important factor: I found that my old scale gave different weights if I moved it on the bathroom floor -- and even gave different weights if I stepped on it two or three times without moving it. Without consistency, you can't rely on a scale at all; with it, you at least know it's showing your loss or gain correctly even if it's not that accurate.

Based on reviews, I chose the EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale with Extra Large Lighted Display (available on Amazon 23USD, currently listed at 15USD for Prime members). It's super consistent and based on measurements at my doctor's office, the accuracy isn't that bad, either. I also have an EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale, and am highly satisfied with both products.

If you want a triple beam analog scale that's accurate like the one at your doctor's and have the room for one, I've seen them listed for around 200USD and up.

I agree with the spirit of what you're trying to achieve but there are a couple of nits that I have to bring to your attention.

There is a problem comparing measurements at two different locations in that you are not weighing in at your doctor's office at the same time and wearing the same clothes you were at home.

Plus did you eat, drink, or eliminate anything between your home and your doctor's office? Sweat? Exhale and use energy driving and walking? etc.

The second issue is that unfortunately modern scales lie. They know that people want to be "re-assured" that they got an "accurate" (or as you correctly identify "consistent") number from their scale. So they employ fake consistency.

In other words the scales are programmed to show the same result REGARDLESS of what they actually detect UNLESS the weight changes by more than a certain amount.

You can easily verify that.

Weight yourself holding a known weight like a bottle of water or jug of milk (by preference more than a couple of lbs as some scales identify the user and won't even budge for differences that are not measured in lbs). And then weight yourself without the large weight. Is the difference equal to the known weight? (you could weight the known weight on your kitchen scale. they tend to be more accurate in terms of total grams of error.

Let's try the opposite. Weight yourself. And now weigh yourself holding a SMALL weight that is bigger than the gradation the scale is supposed to detect but not too big.

If your scale is supposed to show .1 or .2 of a lb, how about you weigh yourself holding something that is more than 2 oz, or 57gram. Say a half full tube of toothpaste <-- your scale should detect this, right? I

n all probability it won't, it will return a weight equal to your previous one. Don't feel bad.

They are still remarkable instruments for the price.

And really these are all single measurements and what matters is the TREND over a six to eight weeks, not any individual measurement and not the day to day variations.

(personally I engage my scale's calibration routine every time so as to get a "fresh" perspective and then log the info to a trending weight web site or app such as trendweight.com, libra or happy scale)

The opposite for me. I went from digital to analog and was up. I should’ve just gotten a new digital scale.

PAV8888 wrote: »

I agree with the spirit of what you're trying to achieve but there are a couple of nits that I have to bring to your attention.

There is a problem comparing measurements at two different locations in that you are not weighing in at your doctor's office at the same time and wearing the same clothes you were at home.

Plus did you eat, drink, or eliminate anything between your home and your doctor's office? Sweat? Exhale and use energy driving and walking? etc.

If you weigh before going to the doctor's office and don't strip or pile on clothing in the car, what you're wearing isn't a problem. I don't usually stop along the road while I'm going to the doctors to relieve myself, or eat a meal while I'm driving. The amount of mass lost to sweat, exhalation, and walking a few steps is negligible.

Bottom line: if you weigh before the visit and the doctor's scale shows 2.5 lbs more than your scale, you can safely assume you can add 2.5 lbs to the weight on your scale to get more or less the "real" weight you'd see at the doctor's - which is an approximation anyway, because most of us do not weigh ourselves naked at the doctor's.

I haven't personally done this sort of check against the doctor's scale, because it really doesn't matter to me how accurate the numbers are at home - it's only the relative change and the end point that are significant for most of us.

The second issue is that unfortunately modern scales lie. They know that people want to be "re-assured" that they got an "accurate" (or as you correctly identify "consistent") number from their scale. So they employ fake consistency.

In other words the scales are programmed to show the same result REGARDLESS of what they actually detect UNLESS the weight changes by more than a certain amount.

The recalibration threshold for the scale I use is I think half a pound. But as the user manual points out, you can force a recalibration to override this if you choose. People are welcome to weigh themselves carrying certain objects if they wish, or weigh themselves four times a day, but as my musician dad used to say, my scale is "close enough for jazz".

I only record weights if they go down, because it's the positive reinforcement of logging a lower weight that's motivating for me. In my opinion some people in this forum spend way too much time agonizing over numbers reported by an imperfect instrument, and over whether they should log that breath mint or the calories in their multivitamins.

And really these are all single measurements and what matters is the TREND over a six to eight weeks, not any individual measurement and not the day to day variations.

(personally I engage my scale's calibration routine every time so as to get a "fresh" perspective and then log the info to a trending weight web site or app such as trendweight.com, libra or happy scale)

All I want or need to see is that the needle's going down in the right direction over time. Once I get to my maintenance range, I can worry more about the exact numbers but until then, it doesn't really matter - the only real reasons for anyone to weight themselves while losing or gaining rate are to make sure they're still on the right track, and as a behavioral reinforcement - and in my opinion people should weigh themselves at a frequency that's positively reinforcing rather than negatively reinforcing (if someone's worrying about day to day fluctuations, they should try not weighing themselves every day).

I find the highest quality and accuracy digital scales from ScalesGalore.com