Anyone have the Aria Scale? Is it worth the money?

[vintagechick67]

Just wanting to know before I throw done $130 for a scale. I have a digital one but don't feel its as accurate and would love to use the wifi option to sync with my fitbit stats.

[whome]

How sure are you about your current scale being inaccurate? A common problem is the surface that the scale is sitting on. If it is not a solid, level spot the scale can be affected, and putting a more expensive scale in the same spot might not help.

Good luck

[catiecat7]

I'm in the same boat as you. I have a Weight Watchers digital scale that I've been thinking wasn't accurate. Pretty much confirmed it yesterday when I was weighed on a digital scale at a dr appt yesterday. Was 8lbs less fully clothed then my AM preshower home scale read. I researched the Aria last night. Seems like there's alot of broken/non-working Arias for sale on ebay. Definitely a big investment for a scale so would like input from others who have one, too. 

[tlmille2]

I have the Aria scale and love it.  For me the greatest benifit is the ability to wake up in the morning, jump on it and not have to think about my results until later in the day.  Its great to monitor your progess over time and keep you accountable for your weight gain or loss.  In terms of accuracy to your actual weight, I have seen mine to be fairly precise to what my doctors office and my Aria show. 

When deciding if the Aria is right for you, I think it comes down to how you plan on using the data your Aria provides.  If you're a tech person that loves to see graphs and progress overtime without having to worry about manually inputing your weight, then you should get an Aria. 

[Miss_Primrose]

I like the aria too. It lets you track your lean muscle & body fat individually.  So you may not lose weight but you might gain muscle which increases your metabolic rate.  The only thing I'm not sure of is when I first step on it in the morning I get a number that is always 3 to 5 lbs higher than when I step on it again for a second time 5 minutes later.  I always take the 2nd lower number as being more accurate. 🙂   I like the wireless sync option with the graph. That's less for me to do. Good luck all on your weight loss!

[justlyn64]

I recently bought the Aria scale after months of trying to decide between it, a Withings or another Tanita scale.  While I LOVED my Tanita scale for years of accurate use, I really liked the idea of weighing myself and not having to remember the number because it sends it right to my computer 🙂  I've been enjoying the Aria for a week now... easy set up and it goes hand in hand with my FitBit!  My daughter is enjoying my old Tanita scale at University lol

[petitmiam]

I used some of my long accumulated credit card points (I forgot the password and didn't look for over a year) to buy an Aria scale. I think it is truly wonderful. If I weighed a little more than I liked before I got the Aria, I often I just pretended that weigh-in didn't happen. Can't do that now, the moment I weigh myself, all the data goes straight to my Fitbit account. That is great for someone like me, someone who is constantly in denial about just how overweight I am. It also gives a nice little graph of everything, and I get badges which keeps me motivated. $130 sounds like a bargain, they're NZ$200 here.

As for someone's mention of all the broken ones about, I've had mine for over a year, and it still works perfectly.

[franksj]

Hi!

I've had the Aria for a couple of years and love it.  They say that what gets measured gets attention and gets changed.  Without the WiFi collecting of data, it would just be manual or in your head.  With the Aria, you can see how the weight is trending and that is very motivating.  Seeing your weight move down as a result of your actions encourages more.

I also like the BMI reading.  As a guy I want to maintain weight then reduce the BMI.  The two together are very powerful.

So it is worth 130 dollars to reach your weight goal and to improve your health?  I think so.  Compare that to one month's cable or wireless bill.

Hope this helps put it in perspective

Love and peace,

Jim

[Bobbinyc]

NOT worth it. It's a scale. Why waste that kind of momey that you probably worked for? Unless you work for fitbit. You can use any scale and enter the number ib about 5 seconds. We, myself included, get so caught up in needing technology, we forget this is about health, and if we get good at taking care of ourselves, we dont need gimmicks. If we arent thoightful about our health, all the toys in the world won't help. excuse me while I go recharge my overpriced pedometer.

[JovonnaChere]

When reading about the Aria, I read that if you move it and/or store it vertically, it will have to recalibrate the next time you use it, which can take you getting off and back on 1-5 times. 

[Dominique]

Yes, you will need to recalibrate it, which indeed means stepping on it several times in a row. So if you can leave it in the same place all the time, it’s better. Otherwise the Aria is not cheap, but you’re paying for the convenience of not having to input your weight manually into your account. However, it’s a bit outdated (for the WiFi part) and can be difficult to set up. Hopefully Fitbit will be releasing an updated model soon.

[petitmiam]

No, I don't think that's true. I have been storing mine vertically since I got it a few years ago, and I've never had to do that. I only have to step onto it once every time, and it's quick, I'm pretty sure it's not doing a calibration. I suppose if you squeezed it too hard while it was vertical it might become active and go out of calibration, but I've never had a problem.

[pevil]

It's not worth full price. I have had one for maybe 2 months now and do love it but I got it 'cheap' (£65 in Tesco). I previously had a Salter scale that had cost me around £35 from Amazon and I tried them side by side for a few days. The weight was within 1lb of each other and the body fat % within .2% so they're certainly not more accurate than the cheaper scales. That said I do like the fact it auto-syncs as some days if I wasn't happy with some weight gain I'd "forget" to add it to my Fitbit profile! No chance to do that with the Aria as it's sent there as soon as I step off, ready to shame me for all the world to see.

So I would say if you spot a deal on them, go for it, otherwise maybe don't bother

[Dominique]

Yes, you pay a premium for the convenience of having your weight and body fat data automatically added to your Fitbit account, instead of manually entering them. Whether that premium is worth paying is up to anyone of us. I bought my Aria at the full price in June 2013, so it has been serving me for already 3.5 years and I feel it was worth the investment.

There are a number of digital scales that can estimate BF% using the BIA method, but only two brands can sync to your Fitbit account: Fitbit (Aria) and Withings (Body, Body Cardio). Until/unless Fitbit releases an updated version of its Aria, I’d personally recommend the Withings Body, as it is more modern and versatile (supports the newer WiFi protocols and Bluetooth, as opposed to the older and slower 802.11b WiFi protocol and no Bluetooth for the Aria), yet costs about the same. The Withing comparison page also lists their older, more basic scale at US$ 49.95, which is great value IMO, as it is functionally equivalent to the Aria.

As to the "for all the world to see" part: it’s only true if you choose to make your weight data public. By default, it is set to private (only you can see it). I’m mentioning this just in case someone believes getting an Aria automatically means everyone can see your weight. It is not the case.

[LTH]

I 

I have one and am not thoroughly convinced of it's accuracy, I think the body fat reading is taken more off the mathimatical formula than an actual electrical impedence reading. There is a lean option button that you can switch on (if you work out a lot) and it took 10 points off my body fat reading but here's something weird, if I gain a lb the bodyfat goes down, if I lose a lb, the body fat goes up??????whadupwtdat?????

[Dominique]

@LTH: it’s not the way BIA devices work. They work by comparing your bioimpedance reading to that of a database of people who had their body fat % determined with a reliable method. If someone in the database is of the same sex, has a similar age, height and weight as you and got a similar bioimpedance reading, then the device will assume you must have a similar BF %. This is why the Aria (and other BIA scales) won’t be able to estimate your BF % if you don’t "tell" it whether you’re a female or a male, how old you are etc. Body type (lean vs. regular) provides an additional clue as to whom in the database you should be compared to.

If you change the body type from "regular" to "lean", you will get a very different result, and this is expected. Same if you pretended you’re 10 years older or younger, 10 cm shorter or taller etc.

Btw, just in case someone not familiar with the Aria thinks (based on your post) the lean "button" is on the scale itself: it is not. The "button" is found in your settings (in the Dashboard):

The second sentence of the Help screen for regular vs. lean is slightly misleading IMO:

 Just because you "workout for several hours a week" doesn’t automatically make you lean: you could also be a normal dude like me. 

[LTH]

Sent from my iPad

[franksj]

I like the Aria very much. I use it almost every day. Great way to track
your weight and BMI.

[elle22]

I love my Aria scale too, it keeps me on track.  I can't speak to the precision of the number (who knows, no way to really tell?) but I can say that it's consistent over time which is more important to me.  As for if it's worth the money-   that's always a subjective call, it's was worth it to me.

[Salitann]

I have the Fitbit hr and it is hook up to my smart phone can you hook

it up to the phone