Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
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List Price: Our Price: $89.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
Customer Review: Sometimes the truth hurts...
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm 6' tall and 199 lbs. Comparing me to the sea of obesity that is modern America, friends and family always say "You're not fat". Government and insurance company tables, however, say that a 6' tall man should weigh between 150 and 185 lbs. depending on frame size. I bought this scale to replace a 10-year-old Tanita that has always had an annoyingly flaky memory. The new scale is consistent in weight measurement with the old one, to within about 0.5 lbs. Unlike the old scale, this one presents a lot more information including the fact that I am "medium frame obese", i.e., with a moderate amount of muscle but an excessive quantity of fat. Sometimes the government is right after all.
The scale gives dramatically different readings at night or first thing in the morning. Overnight I shed almost 10 lbs. of muscle and gained 3 percent in body fat. So the best that one can hope for with the body composition measurements is consistency, not accuracy (in fairness the manufacturer does explain that there is an ideal time of day to measure oneself if accuracy is desired, but I'm on the Steve Ward Diet and need to weigh myself first thing in the morning in order to decide how much food to eat during the day).
Maybe the billions of dollars that the TSA is spending on body scanners for airports will give us more accurate measurements every time we pass through airport security. For a device that costs less than $100 and touches one's body only at the feet, I think the Tanita does a pretty good job.
I will sign off like Eric Cartman... not fat, just big-boned.
Customer Review: How to Set this:
Summary: 4 Stars
I gave this 4 stars, but can't really judge it yet.....I have ordered this, and just talked to a Tanita rep. The manuals don't lay all this out, but this is apparently important for getting consistent readings: 1) Weigh yourself at approx. the same time AND later in the day when you are hydrated, and NOT when you first get up in the morning. Your body needs to be hydrated for the bioimpedance aspect of the scales to work well. 2) Whether to set ADULT or ATHLETE mode.....If you typically have a resting heart rate of 60 OR if you work out 10 hours or more weekly, set it for athlete. Otherwise, set it for ADULT.
I hope this model is better than the Tanita TBF 622 I got several years ago, although I admit I didn't know the info I posted above until just now. On my own Tanita I consistently measured a good 5% points higher than on my doctor's $3500 Tanita Professional scale. And then the other day I measured 11% below my Tanita setting when measured at the gym with an Omron hand held fat analyzer. However, I'm sure the same useage requirements apply for the professional scales, and I just hopped on his scales at an arbitrary time, and same case with the gym. Also, previously I was measuring myself in the morning after getting up and before eating. I think I read somewhere that you should also measure about 3 hours after eating.
Customer Review: Great looking scale with plenty of functions
Summary: 4 Stars
I am a geek and I like all geekly stuff, at least initially. Even though I am only an average exerciser, I do have all sorts of gadgets telling me that "you are an average exerciser". This scale adds to my gadget collection well. I had previously used Tanita scales before and find their products consistent. If you use these types of monitors regularly, you should be much more concerned with consistency. If you are looking for one-time measurement, the variation of body composition throughout the day will skew the results depending on the time of measurement; but such is the limitation of this technology. However, if you measure daily over a period of time, you can really see the trend and correlate with your exercise levels, eating habbits, etc.
Which brings to my only complaint why this product did not receive a 5 rating. Tanita could had easily increase the cost of memory of this unit by a penny and enable trending. I don't write down my daily measurements so I can only go off memory what my previous results were. If trending is part of this machine, I would had given it a 5.
Customer Review: I can't believe how accurate this scale is. Very Happy!
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this scale because it was highly rated as being accurate, on sale (39.41) and had free shipping. I was only interested in being able to get an accurate weight reading. All the other features were just icing on the cake.
I'm very impressed with the accuracy of this scale. It will even weigh things down to less than one pound with amazing acuracy (within two tenths). I have weighed everything I could find around the house that is sold by weight and it is dead on. It makes a great scale to weigh packages for shipping.
I would have given it a five star rating but I have not used the body composition features very much and don't know if they work as advertised or not. They are nice to have available. Also a larger button to turn it on would have been nice as all the buttons are a bit small to operate with your toe, but it is possible to do so. Otherwise you have to bend over and use your fingers to turn it on and I find that very inconvenient.
I was looking for a highly accurate bathroom scale and that is exactly what I received. I am very happy.
Customer Review: Very Good Scale
Summary: 4 Stars
The weight seems to be very accurate. The scale looks great. It has a lot of other measurements/features that are nice. You enter your age, height, gender, and activity level. The activity level is defined in the owner's manaul-- 1 is sedentary, 2 is moderate activity of lower intensity workout and 3 is athlete/active. They define athlete as someone who excerices 10 hours per week and has a resting heart rate of 60 bpm or less. I wish they had a broader spectrum of selection. I would say that I am a 2.75 if it were a continuous scale. The problem is you have to select, in my case, 2 or 3. I select 2 and I get a 18.4% body fat. I select 3 and I am at 11.4%. I think I am much closer to 11.4%-- probaly 13% or so. I suppose I could do some linear interpolation, but that is a pain. It is very important to compare the numbers from the same time of day (I do it after I wake up, relieve myself and drink a glass of water). In the end it is all relative, so if you compare apples to apples you should get solid feedback on your diet/excercise efforts.