Best weight/BMI/body fat scale

[philchenevert]

Just looking for some info on your experience with those "Weight/BMI" scales.  Anything good or bad to say about particular ones?  I'm looking to buy something to keep track of my BMI/Fat to Muscle stuff and am tapping into your helpfulness here.  Thanks everyone. 

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

@philchenevert: you’re probably confusing BMI (body mass index) and BF (body fat): any ordinary scale will let you calculate BMI on your own, since all you need is your weight (told by the scale) and your height (which you probably already know). If you enter your weight in your Fitbit account, you will see your BMI calculated for you there (both in the Dashboard and on the mobile app, if you’re using a mobile device). Slightly smarter scales can estimate (stress on "estimate") your body fat %. The method they use is BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis). Some scales (for instance, the Fitbit Aria) only do BF%, while some other scales also attempt to split lean mass between water, bones and muscle. Again, these are estimates and there are known limitations to the BIA method.

Since you’re in the Fitbit ecosystem, you probably want a scale that integrates with it. Naturally, the Fitbit Aria does (it automatically syncs your weigh-ins - both weight and BF - to your Fitbit account, over WiFi). I have one and it has been working fine for me (purchased it in June 2013). However, although I’m a big fan of Fitbit products, this wouldn’t be my first choice if I were in the market for a new scale now, in 2017. The Aria is difficult to set up, it only supports an old variant of WiFi (802.11b), does not support Bluetooth and only comes with a 1-year warranty. Since it’s impossible to repair if it fails, you’re pretty much stuck if it happens to fail after the warranty has expired. At least two other brands can also integrate with your Fitbit account, indirectly by linking their own apps to the Fitbit app: Withings and Weight Gurus (from Greater Goods). I was familiar with Withings for a long time (I even own two of them), but only learn recently about the Weight Gurus scales. I don’t know how good/accurate/reliable they are, but at least they’re cheaper than both the Aria and Withings scales and they come with a 5-year warranty. It’s been speculated (I’m one of the culprits for this rumour!) that a replacement to the Aria could come out in the near future, but there’s nothing official about it.

Finally, if/when you get a smartscale that integrates with the Fitbit ecosystem, you definitely want to link your Fitbit account to TrendWeight, a free service you’ve probably seen mentioned many times here. TrendWeight is very good at helping you make sense of seemingly random daily fluctuations. You can also use TrendWeight without a smartscale, but you’ll have to manually enter your weigh-ins in your Fitbit account.

[philchenevert]

Wow! that was extremely helpful AND informative. Thank you a lot!! Yes I
was getting confused by the terminology. All I is some way to track my
growing fitness (or lack thereof!) in a way other than just weighing
myself. I'll check out all those things you mentioned.

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*Phil Chenevert*



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