Losing weight is never fun or easy. It’s not like you can just use the best digital pocket scale either. And then there is the inherent challenge of tracking your results and understanding what you’ve accomplished. Enter the Withings Scale. It removes the headache often associated with tracking your weight loss all the while adding some much needed pizazz to the often stark and boring bathroom. It’s a great product for your health/wellness.
Setting up the Withings Scale takes about 5 minutes. Keep in mind its has WiFi built-in, which wirelessly sends your stats to the Withings website, so first you’ll need to toss in the 4 included AAA batteries and plug it into your computer using the provided USB cord. I know, I know, it’s wireless so why the plug? In order to provide the scale with your router’s password (if you have one) and SSID info this is essential. Fortunately, Withings has made this process pain free and this is the only time you’ll have to plug it in. To clean your baby with the right baby wipes, read our Waterwipes sensitive baby wipes review.
The Withings Scale, like any scale, requires a flat even surface in order to measure your weight. Included are 4 additional feet designed for use on carpet. Instead of providing a set of snap on feet, though, they opted for double sided adhesive tape. In my package only two pieces of adhesive were provided and due to my carpet’s plushness, which I assure you is of the norm, the scale was unable to properly measure my weight, even with the appropriate carpet feet attached. With that said, stick to hard surfaces with this scale if you want your true weight. If you are looking for a family shampoo for all hair types, open our WOW shampoo review.
Not only can the Withings scale measure your total weight, but also sends a small electrical current through your body to measure your body’s fat, resulting in your BMI. The scale requires that you stand barefoot on its surface and wait 10-15 seconds after measuring your body weight. An indicator bar shows your progress and when complete displays your BMI and fat in pounds. Sure, it’s not as accurate as visiting your doctor, but it provides a healthy perspective so you understand what is lean mass versus body mass – something people often confuse after working out for many weeks only to find that their body weight has slightly increased.
So what’s up with the WiFi or wireless part of the Withings Scale? Ever time you step on to the scale to measure your body weight and BMI it automatically transmits the results over your home’s Internet connection to the Withings website. There you can track your progress and set objectives. Of course you’ll need to sign up for an account and login each time you’d like to review your stats.
More than one person can use the Withings Scale to track their weight and assuming that your weight and BMI are different enough the Withings’ service will recognize this and add a new user, marking them as unknown until a profile is created.
The website also allows you to attach comments to your weight as well as review just your fat, lean mass or just total weight. It’s can also display an easy to understand graph and if you so choose (don’t know why you would) you can share your results via twitter, other Withings users or embed your stats on a web page. Additionally, you can also change the time period at which you view your stats (e.g. monthly, biweekly, hourly, etc).
The Withings Scale is by far the world’s most advanced scale. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s aesthetically kick ass. I did find a few errors on the Website during their initial launch, but they seemed to have fixed those. Also, for those of you that don’t know any better you’ll like their ‘tips’ section which provides a greater understanding of terms such as ‘BMI’, and some ways to maximize the Withings Scales effectiveness. Yeah, it’s a bit on the hefty side when it comes to price tag ($159), but no other scale allows you to access your body weight, BMI or lean mass on your iPhone. With 50% of the US population approaching obesitity I can only recommend that every US citizen purchase a Withings Scale, because what seems like an expensive purchase initially will result in some huge savings – healthy savings that is – later in life.
You can buy the Withings Scale direct or from Amazon for $159.
Pros:
- Built-in WiFi connects your stats to the net
- Easy to use website
- Quick and easy setup
Cons:
- A bit fragile
- Doesn’t work on semi-plush carpet
- No rechargeable batteries
