Amoeba

Found this product Tanita BF680W at amazon.com for like $45 shipped.


Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor with Athletic Mode can monitor both body fat and body water percentages. This scale also features a daily calorie intake function that estimates how many calories should be consumed in a 24-hour period for a user to maintain current weight level, and a dual recall feature that compares both current weight and body fat readings to the previous readings.

It got good reviews from users on amazon...what do you guys think?

Doc.Booty

Bodyfat scales are worthless, they're far too inaccurate.

phipark

A scale is only good for one thing, weight.

How the heck would a scale be able to read your body fat, just by standing on it? I've never understood why people buy them.

Doc.Booty

The scale sends an electrical signal through your body. Bodyfat affects the resistance to electrical current in your body, so by measuring the amount of resistance in your body the scale can tell how much bodyfat you have.

The problem is there are a lot of factors that affect how well your body transmits electricity, so the scales are typically way off, and rarely even consistant.

Whiskers

I have that Tanita and my bodyfat % changes every time I get on it.

Amoeba

3 Reviewers seemed to really like it.

I don't care if the body fat % is spot on, i just want to see if its consistent on the scale and see how much im improving. How about the water weight part of it? Seems pretty cool

Doc.Booty

The % isn't even consistant. That's why it's worthless. The same problems would apply for the water weight part of it.

Amoeba

Have you personally used it?

ccannizz11

That's why I use one. And the one that I use is pretty consistent, I usually take the reading 3-5 times each time I use it. All the readings are within 1.5% of each other, which is good enough for what I use it for.

vtec187

Ummmmm,body fat ratio's are not supposed to be consistant. If your hydration level changes it affects the ratio of bf to lean mass in the body. Body fat should be averaged by a weeks results. These scales are not the most accurate, however if you measure at the same time of day every day it will give you a good idea when you lose or gain bf. I just re read your post. If you mean consistant by different % for different times of day, then what I said stands. If you mean not consistant by diff readings right after one another I would have to disagree. I have one and if I weight myself 5 times right after one another it's always within .2 if it changes at all.

Amoeba

Which one do you guys have that works pretty well?

Doc.Booty

This specific model? No. But they all work the same way.

They are not accurate, they are not consistant - even if you measure once a day at the same time and average the results. That helps keep things more consistant, but even then they are not consistant enough in my opinion. A change in moisture on your skin, or extra salt in your diet, or any number of other factors affects the results.

If you really want to dump the $50 on the scale, go ahead. If I thought it gave consistant results I'd buy one myself - being able to measure bodyfat changes that easily would be awesome. But I suggest you take that money and buy a camera and a mirror. That's the best way to gauge progress.

Whiskers

^^ I can get on mine and it will give me one %, step off and get back on with a different %. I hope I didn't gain any body fat in 10 seconds....

vtec187

All I can tel you is mine costs $100 not $50, and it works flawlessly. These same changes in hydration affect bf calipers also. BTW, for the original poster mine is the Tanita BC-534 and was worth every penny. Like I said before if I step off it and get right back on the body fat will change by .2% if it changes at all, which it almost never does. The camera and mirror WILL NOT reflect minor bf changes, however a bf scale or caliper will. I can't tell you how many times I thought I lost weight because I was fitting in clothes I didn't before only to find out my weight was the same and my bodyfat dropped 1.5 to 2%. I guess everybody is entitled to their opinion no matter how wrong it is.

massr1

I have this exact model and it was well worth the money. Tanita is the best for body fat scales, so i've heard. I don't really go by the bodyfat percentage, rather i use it to track my percentage lost. It's most effective in the morning, but not after a workout.