Customer Reviews

Tanita BC550 InnerScan Body Composition Monitor

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

 

 

I purchased this scale specifically for the ability to measure fat percentage. I realized after reading lots of reviews on the web that the fat percentage would not be too terribly accurate, but my hopes were that the delta of the fat percentage would be. In other words, I wasn't so concerned with the actual percentage, but how the percentage changed over time. As long as the scale was consistent, it would provide a good benchmark that my workouts and diet were working towards my goal. When I got the scale, I started weighing every day to track the readings to see how consistent they were. Basically, over the three weeks that I used the scale, my weight dropped 6 lbs. However, my fat percentage swung wildly over a percentage change of almost 7%. The change between two consecutive days may be as much as 3%. I am not sure if this is a flaw in the method used by the scale or if the variables that affect the technique used make it unreliable. Either way, in my opinion, this brings the other measurements on the scale into question except perhaps the actual weight measurement which did seem to closely follow the weight which appeared on my old analog scales day by day.

I've owned this scale for about 3 years and have been very happy with it. There are 4 people in our family, so the memory buttons (there are 4 with 1 guest spot) make it very handy since each person's vital stats are recorded on the scale (i.e. male/female, age, activity level). I've noticed some reviews have negative comments about the consistency of the body fat readings, but this may be due to not following the instructions carefully? The instructions state that it is important to weigh yourself in consistent conditions each time to obtain the best results, i.e., I always weigh in the morning, with an empty bladder, etc. Also note that your state of hydration can make the body fat measurement vary widely because the scale is using electrical impedance (resistance) to measure body fat. A dehydrated body will have a different fat percentage reading than a hydrated body, all other things being equal. If you weigh immediately after intense exercise in hot weather, your dehydrated state will affect the body fat measurement. One additional note...I had my body fat measured in the immersion tank at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. Immersion is recognized as one of the most accurate measures of body fat available. Within an hour of the immersion test, I measured myself on the Tanita scale and found it was within 1% of the measurement I obtained at Cooper's clinic.

It's incredible! About the only thing this mighty mite of a scale can't do is serve your morning coffee. If you're serious about maintaining or reaching an appropriate weight and taking good care of your health, this is a must-have.

Tanita Innerscan Body Composition Monitor is a long name - the short of it is this scale provides vital information about your body to you in your home. The Innerscan, Tanita's latest innovation, not only offers weight, body fat percentage and body water percentage, but also:

Daily caloric intake, that is the estimated number of calories that can be consumed within the next 24 hours in order to maintain your current weight.

Your metabolic age rating, meaning it compares your basal metabolic rate to the average age associated with that level of metabolism.

Visceral fat, the fat in your abdominal cavity surrounding vital organs.

Muscle mass, the weight of muscle in your body.

Bone mass or the weight of bone in your body.

All of this was absolutely amazing to me. The information is determined by the level of resistance, and the user's height, weight and gender. Even more amazing is the fact that the price of this scale is decidedly accessible.

Everyone knows the importance of drinking enough water. I thought I was until I saw my body water percentage. I immediately began drinking more water - it does make a difference. The scale has memory for four, so it can be used by an entire family.

Here's to good health!

- Gail Cooke

I've had this scale for almost a year. While I was originally sold on this scale because of its ability to calculate body fat %, I quickly found out that consecutive uses yielded inconsistent readings. Even though I followed the directions on the Tanita website to the letter to get the most consistent readings possible, the body fat percentage still fluctuated by at least 4% every day.

I was originally drawn to this scale because of all the extra special features. I was under the impression that this item could give accurate readings if you really tried to get it right. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for me and now the only function I use is the basic weight reading.

I got this scale to monitor my body fat percentage to see if I was gaining muscle mass from weight training. To set it up, you feed it all sorts of information, including your age, height, gender, and activity level. It uses this information to poll a pool of statistical data from thousands of people who are weighed and have their body fat measured, which is then correlated to their resistivity. By measuring your resistivity and weight, it guesses where you would fit in this pool of data. So by lying about your height, or activity level, you can get a different reading. For example, if I set it to athlete mode, I get about 7%, active mode, it's about 11%, and sedentary mode, it's like 17%. So there's quite a range of variability there. In reality, I'd like to think I'm closer to the 11% number, but I've never had calipers done.
As to the repeatability of the measurement, I'm more sure of that than the overall accuracy. Like all resistivity fat monitors, hydration plays a big part in the variability of the measurement. So unless you measure yourself under the same hydration state every time, you'll get wild crazy results. I measure myself before I go to bed and immediately when I get up in the morning. From morning to morning, my fat % is generally within 0.1% of the previous day. If I eat a lot the night before, work out extremely hard, or starve myself, I can generally predict the reading it will show. Another weird effect is that if you measure yourself immediately after a hard workout, you will end up with 1-2% less than what you would expect. I assume this is because the sweat on your body causes less resistivity, which fools the scale into thinking you are more fit than normal.
It has some other features like measuring water%, daily caloric intake, or bone mass, but I feel like there is no way these functions can really be accurate to use as a daily metric. Maybe it could provide some approximation, but I would not build my diet around the scale.
You can set up 3 different profiles for body fat %, as well as guest mode, which solely does weight.

This is a great scale from Tanita. It is easy to use and very accurate. Only downfall is the display shuts off quickly after giving you your results, so if you are recording all of the info you need to be ready.

This Tanita home scale with body composition capablity works as expected. After purchase I took it to a facility that has a commercial body composition test device, also manufactured by Tanita, to compare the results. The results were essentially identical. I do not get a print-out with this device that is available with the commercial device, but the weight and percent body fat were the same.

Excellent!

Had it in use for only 3 weeks! It suddendly started turning on & off for no apparent reason. It is now officially dead!
Quite displeasing as this is my second Tanita (first one lasted 10+ years). I'll post my venture with Customer Service...trust the novel will have a happy ending.
Jim

Upon the reading of some reviews about this item, claiming that it had a lot of features, I was really excited to see what this scale could do. When I recieved this item, I was dissapointed to find that it didn't have all of the features that it claimed it did.

These are the only things that the scale does:

Weight: Whenever I weigh myself on this scale, it seems like it gives me a different weight every time, but this is only due to the fact that this scale is really sensitive (in a good way), and that I do it at differnt conditions (which the manual tells you not to). If I start weighing myself the way it says in the manual, I bet that the results will be consistent. As far as acuracy goes, this scale is deffinately accurate; this morning I put two of my mom's 8 pound dumbells on the scale and it said 16.0 lbs which means that it is accurate!

BIA: This feature tells you your body fat percentage by sending a small, harmless electric current through your feet. So far, it seems like this feature is the farthest from accurate. Considering that I haven't taken the readings under the same conditions every time, I am going to give the scale the benifit of the doubt and say that the innacurate readings are my fault.

Body Water: This feature will not work if you are under 18! This feature is a nice tool to have, but I am sad that it isn't able to work for me (I'm 16)!

Muscle Mass: This feature will not work if you are under 18! This is also a very nice thing to have, but once again I am dissapointed that it doesn't work on me!

Daily Calorie Intake: This feature will not work if you are under 18! If I am not mistaken, I think that this feature tells you how many calories you need to eat in a day to maintain your current weight. I am also sad that I can't use this feature!

Overall I am very pleased with this scale: it was cheap, and it is very accurate!
I would deffinately recommend it!