Customer Reviews

Health o Meter BFM681-63 Body Fat Scale, Clear with Silver Accents

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought the scale a few weeks ago. I was very exciting when it arrived (fast). It was very nice-looking; the glass surface was large, perfect for my boyfriend whose shoe size is 13. The set up was pretty straight forward, especially if guided by the menu. It measured weight, body fat, water percentage, etc.
However the second day because I didn't step on it when it was ready, the LCD got messy. I tried taking out and putting back the batteries, it didn't help. I tried to push the buttons to reset. I held them for a few seconds, then it seemed working.
After that, the scale has been perfect. I guess the LCD display of my particular scale is not that stable.

I bought this scale at Walmart and kinda like this scale because it has .1 increments on BF and .2 increments on weight. There is some variability in the measurements so I'm getting the tanita one that's costing me 3 times as much. We'll see if it is a lot better. Generally this scales does good enough. That is because I use it with a spreadsheet I created that you can copy if you like at:

[...]

In that spreadsheet I keep a weekly average of my measurements which helps to even things out. The spreadsheet also allows for the calculator I wrote that calculates the date to reach particular body fat and weight to adjust the measurements by the amount the scale is off. For instance I am African American and these scales don't adjust for our higher bone weight. I went to hospital and had my body fat measured using hydrostatic weighing. I then used that measurement as the accurate one and put a percentage offset in my spreadsheet against what the scale reads.

This is a great scale and gives consistent readings weekly average to weekly average. Weigh yourself at the same time in the same condition every day, preferably first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom.

Pros:
Directionally consistent.
BF fluctation is minimal (usually +-.2%)
Construction.
Price.

Cons:
some fluctuation in BF measurement but do any of the scales not fluctuate?
Stores only last measurement (but I use my spreadsheet to store and it gives much more information than any scale could give so it's not really a con for me)

I have had regular bathroom scales; I never thought it would be worth the money to have something that did all the stuff this does. I was very wrong, and for several reasons.

*First, you get what you pay for and this one is very durable and sturdy. Most of the "spring" types fail within a year and are wobbly or feel off. This one is like standing on a brick, so it feels solid and there are no moving parts.
*Second, their instructions actually inform you about weight loss and showed me that there are reasons for all the other numbers and how they affect me. BMI, HYDRATION, MUSCLE MASS, WEIGHT
*Third, this scale was very motivational because it always showed improvement, in small increments most of the time, but better than the wobbly scales that seem to stay still or have eratic results.

I have been using this scale for about 5 months now, every day and night. It has helped me understand several things, like drinking coffee and how it changes the weight through dehydration and not loss of fat percent. It will show you this, and muscle mass too. So if your strength training, and trying to loose fat, you will see the weight and those other numbers to determine how your actually doing.

I always hear; "Muscle weighs more than fat, thats why you don't see the loss." Well, now I see what is actually happening and it wasn't muscle, it was that I needed more cardio. Now I am loosing pretty well.

This scale is like a personal trainer, if used with some motivation. :)

Oh, and by the way, I have the same batteries in it as I did when I first bought it.

I Like it a lot, and it looks nice.

I have some serious questions as to the validity of the privious two reviews before mine (26Sep08):
1) Battery Life is great; 5 months and I am on the original batteries. I use it about twice per day.
2) The instructions are in plain English, and another language actually; the scale is easy to use and setup. You will spend about 10 - 20 minutes learning and its done forever. Your friends will ask questions, so help them out - once. :)

Bought this at Walmart for like $37.99; much cheaper than on Amazon, perhaps that's the reason for all the negative reviews, people bought too high and expected the world. In any case, I doubt the validity of a number of them. Battery life has been fine so far (3 months) and I had no difficulty using it (really people, you just tap the lower right edge of the scale to turn it on, wait for it to establish zero, and step on). The instructions were quite clear and cleared up any lingering questions I had (what range my water weight should be). As I said in a comment to another reviewer, body fat %'s and BMI's are wildly inaccurate on electromagnetic testing, don't take it too seriously, mine varies 1-2% points (usually only 1 at most). The problem with it is that they can't really distinguish between muscle and fat, so if you have a bodybuilders body as opposed to a lean swimmers build, it may not accurately measure you. Do caliber testing if you're serious about it. Loved the history feature and the 4 profiles you can create. Scale accuracy seems to be pretty good, could be a bit better if you ask me (about .4 variance from time to time, but this sometimes be attributed to human error such as the scale being dirty, or simply moving it a bit to allow it to reset itself).

Ok, so I know that your weight will vary from day to day, and even throughout the day. However, I didn't think the body fat was going to vary so much. I've had this scale for less than 24 hours, and EVERY TIME I STEP ON IT, I get different numbers. Now, I'm a small girl, weighing around 120 with a body fat percentage of... well, I don't know. I stepped on it once, and the body fat was 22.7 percent. Stepped off, let it turn off, and stepped back on. Body fat 20.5 percent. And on and on and on. Went the same way with the weight. Everything from 119.4 to 123.6 within a matter of FIVE MINUTES. I don't know if my posture was different, or if my feet were in different places, or whatever, but if it's going to change that much from moment to moment, it doesn't serve my purposes. I'll be returning this one immediately, and trying a different brand.

I was really excited to use ths scale. It promissed a great deal of fetures and all kinds of measurements of your body. However when I finally got the thing from the mail, it couldnt even manage to give me a reading on my weight. I literally spent a few hours trying to figure out what could be wrong not believing i got a super scale that didnt work. Maybe i got a defective one, but i was very disapointed and got my money back.

:-( I was so excited to get this scale in the mail. I hate to write a bad review of it, but I was really disappointed. First of all, it's kind of large. Secondly, it's a little confusing to use. But my primary problem with the scale is that the batteries run out literally every other week. Way sad.

THIS SCALE IS ADVERTISED FOR WEIGHTS UP TO 400LBS., BUT IN REALITY IT IS ONLY GOOD UP TO 330LBS.