Body weight scale recommendations?

MaggieGirl135
MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,033 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Any suggestions? Just looking for a simple one to step on and read a number, not a tall one with weights that you slide to balance a beam. Thanks, mine is starting to lie to me. (It was already a love/hate relationship, but this is just so wrong!)

Answers

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    edited August 26
    I’ve been very happy with an el cheapo digital/bluetooth Renpho scale I got off Amazon.

    I like their app, which shows trends clearly, going back to the day I got it five or six years ago, and it automatically syncs my weight with MFp.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    edited August 26
    I gave up on my digital/battery powered one and bought an old-school mechanical scale.
    It can be zeroed-out on any hard floor, and it never needs me to go to the store and buy it a battery. It doesn't give me widely varying numbers within 20 seconds like digital ones do. I could never really feel good about any one weight reading on the digital scale - because I could step off it and right back on and get a different number, sometimes with the variance of a couple pounds.

    The mechanical one isn't measuring down to the ounce, but I like that better. I have a five pound range I stay within, and I'm happier with a fuzzy number like five pounds than worrying about whether I'm at 141.2 or 141.6. That point two or point six pounds is crazy making for me.
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,033 Member
    Thank you both so much; I appreciate your input on this thread and for your responses to so many others. Your comments on this thread and others have been helpful.

    @cmriverside I like the idea of the weight not being precise down to a fraction of a pound; I can see how that can be beneficial when weighing yourself, head-wise, so to speak.

    @springlering62 I decided to go for a Renpho because the reviews for electronic scales seemed just a touch better than the mechanical, repeatability-wise.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,306 Member
    edited August 26
    Sorry to disappoint.... but they (renpho), just like the one I bought which is the etekcity, and most other brands, including the big names, use fake repeatability (or fake consistency).

    Basically on repeat measurements you don't see the actual number being measured unless the detected difference exceeds a manufacturer determined threshold. Sort of like the fuzzy numbers Riverside mentioned 🤣.

    Grab a toothpaste or something that weighs the ounce or two or three the scale is still supposed to detect. Weight yourself a few (3 to 5 sometimes) times till consistent results. Continue without the small weight .... no change..... fake consistency. Grab a jug of milk... Look... the numbers change.

    It used to drive me nuts and I spent a lot of time looking for scales that didn't have it.

    But you know what? Long term trends couldn't care less about individual measurements. Yet all our body cares about is the long term trend!

    Looking at a cloud of measurements it's easy to see the 5lb trends that start to matter.🤷‍♂️
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    FWIW: My Buerer electronic scale did not exhibit false consistency, so I liked it. When it gave up the ghost (after a few years), I got another Buerer. This one, too, doesn't exhibit false consistency, but it's absolute trash: It started falling apart after only a few weeks, and I didn't subject it to unusual or extreme abuse. It wasn't expensive, but I'd still rate it the worst consumer device I've bought in ages.

    I'm not sure whether this is a warning or an endorsement. It's a data point, though - maybe two.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    My (probably) no-name scale does that too at times, but not always. Like I can step on the scale, go to the loo, step on the scale again and my weight is down. But not always. But it's consistent in that it shows change over time, and that's all I need. Plus it needs batteries that are easy to get here.
  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 603 Member
    I have 2 different basic electronic scales that work fine. One wont measure finer than 1/2lb, but the other weighs in 1/10th lb increments (decimalised)
    If I ever want to check them, I carefully put one of my kettlebell weights on it to confirm.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    edited August 30
    Not sure what you mean by “fake consistency”, but I (being eternally curious) weigh myself right after I get out of bed (before a large breakfast anda minimum of 50oz fluids to hydrate) and before lunch, after several workouts.

    I always get different weights recorded on my Renpho scale - typically a variation of 1-4 pounds less the second weigh-in.

    Now if I weigh in, get off, weigh in, get off and weigh again, I do get the same weight (grout lines or not, and whether I like it or not lol) I do get the same consistent weight.

    I have even (curious, remember?) popped all my vitamins, habitually drinking a 3oz Dixie cup per vitamin (it’s one way I make sure I’m hydrated before those workouts begin) and reweighed within a few minutes of my first weigh-in, and am up a pound or two- as I’d expect from tossing back eight 3oz cups.
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,033 Member
    I wanted to get back to this thread to share my experience with my new scale. I purchased a Renpho scale and replaced one that was Etekcity. I understand what you refer to as fake repeatability, @PAV8888 ; I thought the Etekcity scale was doing that. It was just too unbelievable that day-after-day my weight would be EXACTLY what is was for quite a few days running. In fact, I was asking my husband to step on it everyday to fake it out/mix it up, so to speak. I have not found the Renpho scale to be doing this and waited to report my results with the new scale until I had the scale for a bit. The two scales compare well, weight-wise; I just can’t use the Etekcity without giving a it good week between readings. I like to weigh myself every day, so I’m thinking the new scale was a good purchase for me.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,306 Member
    Which model renpho did you buy? Asking for a friend! :wink:
    (My current method is simple: I just grab a big bottle of something and weight myself.... then do it again without the bottle--and, preferably, before resorting to drinking the bottle!)
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,033 Member
    Model BG260R. I think it is a zero, not the letter ‘O’, but not sure. $20.99 (USD). Hope it helps.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,306 Member
    Came up no problem. Thank you.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,899 Member
    Eat Smart Products Digital Bathroom Scale with Extra Large Lighted Display, Free Body Tape Measure Included, Grey and Clear https://a.co/d/159cGAb

    I've had this one since 2014, replace the batteries (AAA) periodically and it's been great.

    Doesn't do anything but show you your weight.

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