Weight-Loss Software > Electronic Bathroom Scale

Finding the Best Electronic Bathroom Scale

By Terry Dunkle, DietPower Editor-In-Chief*

An electronic bathroom scale is an excellent tool for weight control, but only if it measures accurately and comes at a reasonable price. When shopping, always consider these five points:

Accuracy

An electronic bathroom scale is always more accurate than old-fashioned spring scales. A balance-beam scale may give you slightly greater precision—but it will cost more and make your bathroom resemble a doctor’s office.

Most electronic scales are accurate to 0.2 pounds (0.1 kilogram), but some measure to half that tolerance. Repeatability matters more than resolution, however. If your scale fluctuates by half a pound from one reading to the next, it certainly isn't accurate to the nearest tenth.

Special Features

Besides weight, your scale may measure body fat, water, muscle, and bone—or a subset of these. Adding such functions doesn’t change a scale’s accuracy. It requires the scale to pass an electric current through the body, but the current is far too weak to harm you.

Memory

Some electronic bathroom scales remember your previous weights. Some also have multiple-user memory, to separate your gender and age settings (needed for body-fat calculations) from those of other users.

Price

You shouldn’t pay more than $35 for an electronic bathroom scale accurate to 0.2 pounds. Adding a body-composition display shouldn't raise the price over $80. If you buy on the Web, allow $10 to $15 for Parcel Post or $8 to $40 for Priority Mail shipping, depending on distance.

Warranty

A good electronic bathroom scale usually comes with a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty. Don’t accept any less.

 

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*Terry Dunkle ia national award-winning medical editor who founded and directs DietPower, Inc., which develops weight-loss software and sells bathroom and food scales.

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