Scale Recommendation

msecor85 · September 2019

I'm looking to replace my current scale that I have now. I'm wondering, if there is any good brands and not so good ones that I should stay away from. Currently thinking about getting one that have the added BMI feature on it.

psychod787 · September 2019

Why? BMI calculators are free online. IMHI, as long as you use the same scale, I dont think it matters. I would not waste my money on BIA scales either. BIA's are useless.

sijomial · September 2019

Did you mean bodyfat rather than BMI? (Two different things.)
Not understanding why you would want to know your BMI on a daily or frequent basis?

If bodyfat then some four sensor models can provide a reasonable trend (I had some Omron ones that were better than BodPod scans) but on the other hand many BIA devices are absolutely hopeless and a complete waste of money.

Personally digital scales for measuring weight and mirror for assessing body composition works best for me.

Satisfiedwithbetter · September 2019

I’ve owned this scale for 14 years. Absolutely the best, most consistent scale I have owned.
https://www.thecompetitiveedge.com/shop/item/123-productId.184550174_123-catId.176160793.html

Luke_rabbit · September 2019

I just ordered the Tanita HD351 Digital Scale with Memory Function. It was highly recommended a few months ago here on MFP when someone asked the same question. It does not have biometric info, but they make other scales that do. What really convinced me were the reviews that mentioned that you could weigh, take of a item of clothing, and the weight would drop .2 or .4 lbs. I wanted that sort of accuracy.

apullum · October 2019

Which scale you get generally doesn't matter so much as just making sure it's on a flat, level surface where it won't be moved. I got a cheap digital scale and it's served me perfectly well through a 100 pound weight loss and over 2 years of maintenance. Many of the functions of more expensive scales, such as body fat measurements, are gimmicks.

Luke_rabbit · October 2019

boldknee wrote: »

I just ordered the Tanita HD351 Digital Scale with Memory Function. It was highly recommended a few months ago here on MFP when someone asked the same question. It does not have biometric info, but they make other scales that do. What really convinced me were the reviews that mentioned that you could weigh, take of a item of clothing, and the weight would drop .2 or .4 lbs. I wanted that sort of accuracy.

Update: The scale really does seem very accurate. It weighs me 2.4 pounds more than my previous scale. Bummer! I had to update all of my data points on MFP and Libra so my totals would be correct going forward. My advice would be to get a new scale at the beginning of your weight loss, not halfway through.

Skrib69 · October 2019

I got Salter scales with BF function and never use it now. Whilst they are accurate for weight measurement, Im not convinced they were any way accurate or reliable at BF measurement. Personally, I would focus on a good pair of basic digital scales.

GaryRuns · October 2019

I have a Withings scale. It's really too expensive for what it gives you, in my opinion, but what it does allow for is automatic uploads to TrendWeight, so I never have to enter my weight manually to see what my weight trend is doing.

gcminton · October 2019

Anything more than weight is notoriously inaccurate on a scale, so keep that in mind. Earlier this year I decided to get FitBit's scale, primarily because it auto-uploads my info to my account and it can do that for multiple people. It does allegedly also measure BMI and BF%, which is just novelty data since it can't be trusted. It's fun making my BF% measurement change by being more or less hydrated.

I'm not getting any benefit from it that I didn't get from the previous random $20 scale I got from Fred Meyer, beyond being lazy about typing the number into a tracker.

Whatpatience · October 2019

gcminton wrote: »

It's fun making my BF% measurement change by being more or less hydrated.

Not saying the scales BF% measurement is accurate, but your BF% will actually change depending on how hydrated you are. That's just simple math.

skullsandskeletons · October 2019

I'm a fan of the run-of-the-mill, old-fashioned analog scale.

Jthanmyfitnesspal · October 2019

BMI is just your weight in kg divided by your height in meters squared. Pretty easy to calculate and not very profound.

The BF% provided by the scale depends on a resistance measurement and your body weight and is highly inaccurate. You can get another (inaccurate) number using your BMI and a table.

If you really want to torture yourself, you can buy a caliper from Amazon and do a pinch test. (I've done it. Not fun!)

With modern force sensors, it's gotten very easy to make a digital scale. A $20 one likely has an accuracy below 1lb and it is reproducible to better than that, so as long as you weigh yourself every day at the same time (e.g., morning after toilet) in the same clothes (e.g. underwear) you can track things pretty well.

If I felt like spending more, I might buy one that connects to MFP, but really, how hard is it to type in a few digits? Also, I worry about privacy of connected devices.

Here's a $20 one from Amazon that is very similar to what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Digital-Bathroom-Measure-Tempered/dp/B01HI1W1V4/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=digital+scale&qid=1571754376&sr=8-5

Jthanmyfitnesspal · October 2019

Whatpatience wrote: »

Not saying the scales BF% measurement is accurate, but your BF% will actually change depending on how hydrated you are. That's just simple math.

this made me think. the amount of fat stored by your body is in the form of triglicerides. It's mass is independent of hydration. But, your body fat % is this mass divided by total body weight, which includes the mass of your body's water content. This can vary. Shazam: your body fat % will vary! But, your total body weight generally only fluctuates within about 5lbs (total), which means the error in your BF% is less than 5%. So if your BF is 25%, the error is ~1% due to this effect.

Vailara · November 2019

I started off with Tanita body fat scales. I changed a few years ago to Omron scales, the type which have a piece which you hold in your hands (something like this https://www.omron-healthcare.co.uk/digital-scales/BF511_Blue.html). I thought this might give a better idea of body fat %, but the big selling point with these was that they supposedly measured visceral fat, and it was visceral fat I was worried about. (How they measured it, and how accurate it was, I was unable to find out). Omron make other health care equipment and I felt I trusted the brand.

Recently the Omron scale was playing up, and I wanted something with another health measure so chose a Withings Body Cardio scale as it measured pulse wave velocity. It's a bit like the one GaryRuns linked to above, but with the added pulse wave velocity feature. I had thought the Omron was expensive, but this was a step up again! It was a complete nightmare to set up. (And also, I believe the pulse wave velocity feature can't be used in some areas). I could not recommend it for that reason, or at least make sure you can return it if needed. However, I'm quite pleased with mine now it's working. It's quite fancy and it sends my weight to MFP, syncs with Google Fit, has profiles for other users, charts everything on an app and so on, and it was really interesting to be able to get the pwv measure, as I don't know anywhere else I could have got that. However, it doesn't give me the visceral fat measure that the Omron scale did, and I suspect the body fat measure may not be as accurate as the Omron, as they are stand-on only, without the hand-held bit.

I have found with the Omron and the Withings (I can't remember much about the Tanita!) that the body fat measurements do seem to be consistent i.e. no massive fluctuations.

Scale Recommendation

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