Scale saga - FYI

"Richard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I decided to buy one of the Tanita scales that I've read
so much about. Bad move. I can weigh myself 3 times in
succession and get 3 different results. Often the
variation is as much as a pound. Totally useless. I'll
stick with my old scale.

--
Richard Since 1938
250/236/177

Variations in weight? Or, in body fat percentage? I have an
older Tanita (model 555, I think), and when I've reweighed
myself, the results are always spot on, or within 0.2 lbs
(assuming I position myself the same on the scale).

The Tanita units were recently reviewed in Consumer Reports
and were found to be one of the more accurate units for
weight. For body fat percentage, they were not as accurate
as another brand, but they were reasonably consistent.

Perhaps yours is defective...

GG

Place it on a solid floor, not carpet? Or a board on carpet.

Mine seems pretty accurate altho, I take the fat percentage
as a relative value. It is usually with .5 to 1 pound of my
official WW value.

But if your old one is good, stick with it.

Richard said:

I decided to buy one of the Tanita scales that I've read so
much about. Bad move. I can weigh myself 3 times in
succession and get 3 different results. Often the variation
is as much as a pound. Totally useless. I'll stick with my
old scale.

One other thing, is to make sure you're not using the carpet
feet on a hard surface. That throws off the calcualtion. I
called Tanita a few months ago for the feet because mine
were missing and they made a point to ask if I was going to
use on carpet or tile. Then the guy went on to explain that
using the feet on tile will throw the measurement off.

...for what it's worth.

Julie

"Richard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I decided to buy one of the Tanita scales that I've read
so much about. Bad move. I can weigh myself 3 times in
succession and get 3 different results. Often the
variation is as much as a pound. Totally useless. I'll
stick with my old scale.

--
Richard Since 1938
250/236/177

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 06:27:48 -0800, "GaryG"

garyg@shasta_SPAMBEGONE_software.com said:

"Richard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I decided to buy one of the Tanita scales that I've read
so much about. Bad move. I can weigh myself 3 times in
succession and get 3 different results. Often the
variation is as much as a pound. Totally useless. I'll
stick with my old scale.

Quoted message said:

Variations in weight? Or, in body fat percentage? I have an
older Tanita (model 555, I think), and when I've reweighed
myself, the results are always spot on, or within 0.2 lbs
(assuming I position myself the same on the scale).

Variations in weight.

Quoted message said:

Perhaps yours is defective...

This might be the case.

Richard

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 07:09:51 -0800, Fred <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Place it on a solid floor, not carpet? Or a board on
carpet.

Solid floor.

Quoted message said:

But if your old one is good, stick with it.

My old one is a doctors style where you slide the weights
across. I just wanted something smaller and modern.

Richard

Stick with your drs. type scale, it really is the most
accurate form of weight if kept balanced. I had an old one
(about 20 years old) and replaced it this year only because
it had been so well used that the slots/grooves that the
weight slide moves into were no longer there. <G> I replaced
it with the same thing, only taller so the bars were at eye
level instead of waist level. I check it about once a month
to make sure that *0* is still balanced at *0*. And I keep
it in the basement, so don't worry about the appearance of
size or age.

Joyce

Richard said:

Fred said:

Place it on a solid floor, not carpet? Or a board on
carpet.

Solid floor.

Quoted message said:

But if your old one is good, stick with it.

My old one is a doctors style where you slide the weights
across. I just wanted something smaller and modern.

Richard

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But if your old one is good, stick with it.

My old one is a doctors style where you slide the weights
across. I just wanted something smaller and modern.

Modern is not necessarily better. Most bathroom scales are
very inaccurate. If it weighs to within a pound it's almost
certainly within tolerance. I have a fairly accurate scale
downstairs that I use to weigh myself seriously, but it's
big and ugly (and scratched and the glass is broken from
when I dropped a dumbell on it - oops!). Upstairs I have a
wood, glass, and steel contraption that looks wonderful, but
is accurate to within about 5 pounds 🙂 If you want accuracy
stick with the dictors scale.

Ray
--
rmnsuk
273/199/182

"ray miller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But if your old one is good, stick with it.

My old one is a doctors style where you slide the weights
across. I just wanted something smaller and modern.

Modern is not necessarily better. Most bathroom scales are
very inaccurate. If it weighs to within a pound it's
almost certainly within tolerance. I have a fairly
accurate scale downstairs that I use to weigh myself
seriously, but it's big and ugly (and scratched and the
glass is broken from when I dropped a dumbell on it -
oops!). Upstairs I have a wood, glass, and steel
contraption that looks wonderful, but is accurate to
within about 5 pounds 🙂 If you want accuracy stick with
the dictors scale.

Ray
--
rmnsuk
273/199/182

I think the newer digital scales are much more accurate
than what you describe. The doctor's balance scale may be
the gold standard, but the new digital ones are pretty
close. My Tanita compares very favorably, and is highly
consistent (back to back readings are normally spot on, or
within 0.2 lbs).

GG

Joyce said:

Stick with your drs. type scale, it really is the most
accurate form of weight if kept balanced. I had an old one
(about 20 years old) and replaced it this year

Thanks Joyce. I will.

Richard

Quoted message said:

I think the newer digital scales are much more accurate
than what you describe. The doctor's balance scale may be
the gold standard, but the new digital ones are pretty
close. My Tanita compares very favorably, and is highly
consistent (back to back readings are normally spot on, or
within 0.2 lbs).

Do you have any details of accuracy? I couldn't find any on
the tanita site. Google came up trumps eventually - The
claims made on the websites I looked at claim accuracy to 1%
of bodyweight. Maybe you have done some tests that aren't
generally available? Consistency is one thing, accuracy is
another. Neither is very good for domestic scales.

Ray
--
rmnsuk
273/199/182

On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 14:18:32 -0800, "GaryG"

garyg@shasta_SPAMBEGONE_software.com said:

I think the newer digital scales are much more accurate
than what you describe. The doctor's balance scale may be
the gold standard, but the new digital ones are pretty
close. My Tanita compares very favorably, and is highly
consistent (back to back readings are normally spot on, or
within 0.2 lbs).

Mine must be defective. I just weighed 3 times on it. I got:
236.8
237.0
238.2

Richard

ray miller said:

websites I looked at claim accuracy to 1% of bodyweight.
Maybe you have done some tests that aren't generally
available?

Weighed 3 times in succession this morning.

236.8
237.0
238.2

Richard