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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A scale that keeps getting better and better, October 21, 2009
The Withings Wi-Fi scale is a fascinating step forward in the use of Wi-Fi to share information for the consumer's benefit.
I purchased my scale from the Withings web site but it was shipped from their U.S. Amazon store. It appears to be one of the first scales to ship within the US as I received it in early October 2009.
After the scale is configured for your Wi-Fi network, and the account on the server is set up, the process of weighing goes like this: Step on the scale. The scale will fluctuate for a moment while adjusting to your weight. After a few moments, the scale should accept a weight, and then display a bar moving across the display from left to right as the data is uploaded to the server. When the bar display is complete, the scale then displays your Body Fat % and then displays your BMI. If the scale has a problem thinking that the person on the scale is not centered, there will appear an arrow in one of the corners where it believes there is too much weight and it would like you to adjust your weight away from that corner.
The scale is a pretty straightforward device and will not require any in-depth learning but some users might desire a user's manual as there is none beyond the slip of paper that instructs you how to insert the batteries. A pdf document that a user could download would be a great addition for those that would like to better understand what the capabilities are for the device and how they can make best use of the product. After all, this scale is not a cheap scale and most users who purchase it will be technically minded with curious wonderings beyond what is obvious. Withings does have an online forum for ongoing discussion and if you have a question, visiting the forums helps as there are always other users who are experiencing the same issues or have found an answer for something you may come up against.
The scale has the ability to recognize more than one user. There is an algorithm that the server uses to determine which user is on the scale as it expects each user to have a significantly different weight and/or body fat % composition than other users. If it can not detect which user is on the scale from 2 different users, the scale will show an arrow so that by adjusting the users balance on the scale, the user can indicate which user they are. If there are 3 or more users using the scale, this process will not work and the users must each 'claim' or 'refuse' the weight on the web site for their tracking. Unfortunately, having a single user claim that weight will not remove it from the other user's records and each other user must also remove the 'unknown user' weight.
Because I have an iPhone, I was intrigued by how I (or others that I allow) could watch my weight change and body fat changes over time. It is impressive how quickly the iPhone receives the weighing data and Withings has been smart to use a badge on the WiScale application to notify the user that new data has been received. I have not noticed any Alerts yet on the iPhone but they are aware of that capability given that the preference exists within the iPhone settings.
For the techies that like to take things to the next level, there is a capability to download a CSV delimited file containing your weighing history. The file is perfectly formatted to slide right into your Excel program.
There are a couple of things that I expect to see happen as Withings moves to version 2 of their software. Currently, there is no ability to upload data to the server so as to benefit from having historical data that you have accumulated prior to your Withings scale purchase. Manually entering historical data is limited in that the server does not accept data with the precision similar to what the scale records. Withings says that this will be fixed in a future update.
A feature that is missing is the ability to indicate that the user is an athlete and that the Body Fat should be analyzed with that significant difference in mind. Many users who choose a scale such as this might well be expecting this recognition by the software.
The Basal Metabolic Rate would also be a nice feature that may be included at a later time but is not currently calculated or shown.
Withings Scale Pros:
Attractive
Capable of ongoing improvements in features through firmware updates
iPhone application for ease of sharing your success
Capable of multiple users being tracked
Can be set for metric (kg) or imperial (lbs)
Very responsive to customer feedback
Withings Scale Cons:
Accuracy is limited to your typical home use scale.
Not the cheapest product that does this kind of analysis but one of the more innovative.
Executive bottom line: The scale has some fun potential but it should be recognized that technology does not necessarily bring about increased accuracy. I've rated this scale with 5 stars because it is what it appears to be, the design is beautiful and the scale uses technology in innovative ways. The scale has potential for becoming an an awesome product as Withings has the capability to enhance its current capabilities easily. Let's hope they continue to give us even more as time go on.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome little gadget - who woud have thought wifi in a scale, October 9, 2009
When I first read about this product on Engadget I was like "why would you want wifi on your scale???".. but I have to say, the next day after I was entering my weight/body fat into my ipod touch and I thought to myself wouldn't it be cool if I had a scale that would log all this for me every time I weighed! Did some research and that's exactly what it does! So I got one! Seriously it tracks your weight and BMI (lbs of fat) for you on a cool chart (many options on the chart) -- so you can see if you making progress or bad habits are starting to effect your weight/body fat. You can label certain days with any notes you want. I enter in my waist measurements once a week (so I can make sure it's decreasing along with my fat percent - because sometimes you may not loose weight but you're replacing it with muscle so your waist is shrinking and your body fat is decreasing, which you can tell from this scale)... The scale even connected through my wifi which is encrypted with WPA-PSK security!
Looks: It's a purdy little thing! It's almost so nice you don't want to stand on it and get your foot prints all over it :) The display is large and it displays your weight (seems vary consistent unlike my previous scale).. then pops up a progress bar (measuring your body fat) and tells your BMI / lbs of fat (and I'm guessing at that time it uploads it to the internet cause within a minute it's online for me to view).
One cool thing I like is that the website allows you to set goals for weight/fat and so you can see how close to your goal you are. Oh and it will actually show you the battery level of your scale when you're on the site, cool little tidbit of info. I'll update more after I've had the scale for a few months, but as of now I'm thrilled! Today I was telling my coworkers about it, who are always after the latest gadgets and staying in shape, and showed them the graphs through firefox and there were like that's awesome (which is where I got the title from). Two of my friends were especially excited because they're having a weight loss contest (who can loose the most weight but you have to keep it off for a month) - so this is an easy (CAN'T CHEAT) way to really tell who's winning the bet!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Only good about it is the WIFI and auto on/off., January 19, 2010
The only benefit of this scale is the WIFI and website that keep records of your weights automatically. It also turn on and off automatically.
The design is also sleek.
It could improve its accuracy however. The weighing accuracy is different from my Tanita scale by 1-3% for body weight and body fat. I trust my Tanita more.
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