EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale w/ Extra Large Backlit 3.5" Display and "Step-On" Technology
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Customer Reviews of EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale w/ Extra Large Backlit 3.5" Display and "Step-On" Technology
Customer Review: Pure and simple functionality
Summary: 5 Stars
Edit -- 7 August 2010:
Now that I've had this a couple of months, I'm starting to notice something I'm not particularly happy with. When I step on in the morning, it wants to give me the same weight as yesterday. If I step off, grab a heavy towel, and step back on, then it recalculates, of course. When I get rid of the towel and step back on, the weight is different than the first weight, sometimes higher and sometimes lower. Then I repeat a couple of times and, if I get the same weight without the towel 2-3 times, I take that.
It doesn't sound like a big deal, but when I'm working really hard at losing weight, I want my scale to show me the fruits of my efforts.
Original review -- 8 June 2010:
I needed to replace a scale that I had stored, unused, behind my dresser for so long that it just decided to die of neglect. I'd been weighing only at the doctor's office, but was now ready to start weighing at home again. I wanted an accurate scale that was easy to read and wouldn't balk at my weight. Too many scales don't go up high enough.
I wanted it to be accurate, but more than that, I wanted it to be consistent.
It doesn't quite match my doctors' scales, but theirs don't always match each other, either. It's close, and that's all I care about. More importantly, it's consistent. It doesn't swing around, I don't have to balance a beam, I just step on and wait a few seconds for it to do its thing. Then, in a nice, large display that I have no trouble reading, it tells me what I want (or sometimes, don't want!) to know.
It's important to read the directions. You'll have to calibrate it the first time you use it and then re-calibrate it every time you change batteries or move it. I have to move it a lot because my bathroom is small, but re-calibrating is easy. Just step on, let the numbers stabilize, step off, look for a "C" in the display, wait for it to get back to zero, and shut off. You're ready to go. Then, step on again to see what your real weight is, now that the scale has automatically calibrated itself.
I was so impressed with this scale that when my sister complained about her old scale acting up and giving her a different weight every time she got on it, I ordered another one and had it sent to her.
Customer Review: Great Scale - even though it cheats
Summary: 4 Stars
First of all the most important fact: Yes I'd definitely buy this scale again!
And considering I'm very picky with my scales, that's not something I was able to say about too many of them in the past.
So what makes this EatSmart scale this good?
- Very accurate and consistent results
- Easy to use and no unnecessary nonsense
- Can display lbs as well as kg (I'm used to kg, so this was rather handy)
- Very competitive pricing
Furthermore I was quite impressed to get an email from them a couple weeks later asking how happy I am with my purchase (Not something they'd do if they weren't 100% certain their products are great!)
So the question is: Why no 5 stars?
Actually I was even uncertain whether to rate it with 3 or 4, for it shares an annoyance with most modern scales: A storage of your last result.
This means: You step onto the scale, take your weight, get down, pick up something of around 0.5lbs up and get onto it again.
-> Your result will be the same instead of 0.5lbs higher.
This scale stores its last result and shows it again if you seem to be in the same weight range (something around +- 1lbs)
Actually this is quite easy to see, as the result will immediately be displayed instead of the scale doing some math before showing the final result.
If you are in a household where multiple people use this product or do not care about every minor change you won't bother - I know I do though!
While it gets reset after a while, it can be very frustrating to see its not actually measuring anything after you step onto it a whole day(!) since you last took your weight.
Fortunately this is easy to circumvent: Only one value gets stored at a time, so just put one foot onto it, wait till it gets some fake value and you're good to go again!
This way you'll also see that it's not 100% the same if you use it multiple times in a row, but the highest difference between immediate measurements I have seen so far was 0.4lbs, which is pretty good compared to most other products.
tl;dr
If you're looking for a great, accurate scale at low cost, this is it!
Singles just better not forget resetting it whenever it seems way too fast with getting your weight.
Customer Review: The pendulum swings...too far!
Summary: 4 Stars
I read most of the reviews for this unit before purchasing it, so I expected to have to learn the "firm tap" technique to turn on the scale. Boy, was I ever wrong about that! Perhaps the manufacturer has addressed the common complaint that the scale is too hard to turn on, and made it much easier. Much MUCH easier. In fact, far TOO easy.
This newly-oversensitive scale now turns on WAY too easily. If I step anywhere in the room where the scale is located, the scale turns on. A light tap on the floor (with even just one finger) anywhere within several feet of the scale will turn it on. I have to place a soft pad such as a folded towel under the scale to keep it from turning on everytime I open or close the door to the bathroom, or make any move in the room. This means I have to pick up the scale and set it on the hard floor to use it, then replace it on its pad when not in use. Otherwise the scale is OK, but the oversensitive issue is a nuisance.
Also, it should be mentioned again, as it has been in some previous reviews, that stepping on the scale repeatedly to check its consistency is NOT a meaningful test. (Many reviewers seem to think it is.) The scale is programmed to repeat the same reading on successive usages with approximately the same weight to give the ILLUSION of consistency. This is to trick you into thinking the scale is more consistent than it actually is. You have to trick the scale in order to actually test its consistency. Other reviewers have suggested some techniques for doing this. The technique I used is to alternate weighing myself naked with weighing myself while holding a fifteen pound dumbell. When I did this, weighing myself ten times, I found the scale to be fairly consistent with most readings within .2 lbs. and the largest error to be .8 pounds. I consider this acceptable for a low-cost bathroom scale. But don't be fooled by the built-in trickery.
Altogether I like this scale and consider it a reasonable purchase at the price I paid. I just keep it on a folded towel, lift it onto the hard floor to use, and replace it on the towel after use. And as I am satisfied with consistency within <l lb., I'm happy with this scale.
Customer Review: Excellent, Elegant Product Overall
Summary: 4 Stars
My original review (posted on 01/31/10):
"When I opened it, I was pleased with its style and it worked as instructed the first time I used it. However, since then it hasn't worked correctly. It tells me I weigh 88 lbs. when I actually weigh 140+. I tried it again several times and it's continued to work incorrectly. It was entirely a waste of time and especially money. Please don't waste yours too."
However, just hours after posting a very poor review (see above), I received an e-mail from the company's owner, William Geronimo. Receiving such a thoughtful e-mail regarding my review of the scale was a lovely and unexpected gesture. I think it speaks quite highly of the company's customer service and care of their product quality.
Mr. Geronimo stated that "the scale typically is very reliable and consistent, but we obviously get a number of defects no matter how much time we put into quality control. It sounds like you maybe just got a lemon which does happen unfortunately... Obviously I would like to replace it immediately and get you a new one under our warranty program. We actually have a new version of this scale with 'step-on' technology that we haven't released to the public yet and I would like to send you. We strive really hard to put out the best possible products even though some percentage of defective products are unavoidable..."
Since I specifically chose this scale due to all the positive Amazon reviews, as well as its sleek style, I took up Mr. Geronimo's kind offer. He promptly put the new, updated scale in the mail & kept me posted on its arrival.
I've since used it every day for a week and am happy to report it's working correctly. YEA!
CONCLUSION: There are only two reasons why I gave it 4 stars (instead of 5). One is due to originally receiving a broken scale. And the second reason is that I wish the "tap" necessary to turn the scale on was more sensitive. However, overall this is a great, easy-to-use scale that has a much more upscale design than expected for the price.
Review updated on: 02/09/10
Customer Review: precision not as high as claimed
Summary: 3 Stars
Like many other reviewers who purchased this scale, I was tired of the unreliability of my analog scale and would like one that gives consistent readings. After reading the overwhelmingly positive reviews I decided on this EatSmart scale. I've used it for a little over a month now, tracking and recording my weight almost daily. For the most part I agreed with the positive reviews: it is nice to look at, easy to use, and does give out consistent readings. However, I've also noticed some anomalies.
What I've noticed is that this scale (mine at least) only gives out a couple of different numbers for the first decimal place of a given pound reading. What I mean is, if the scale tells me my weight is 110.4 (fictitional number) on that day, the next time my weight hits the 110 range it would still be 110.4. If my weight is 111.6 one day, next time my weight hits the 111 range the first decimal place will very likely be 6 and not some other numbers.
This all could be a coincidence so I decided to run a little experiment. I used two oranges, weighing between 8 to 9 ounces each (about .5 pound). I first weigh myself and get one reading, say 110. Then I weigh myself again with one orange; the scale would still report 110. Only until I weigh myself with two oranges I get an increment in reading, say 111.2 for example. Now if I remove one orange and weigh myself again, the same me with one orange would now weight 111.2 instead of 110. After I remove the last orange and weigh only myself again, my weight reading would return to 110. The result of this crude experiment, and my experience of using it daily, suggests to me that there may be some memory mechanism in the scale to make it give out consisent readings for repeated measures over a short period of time. It could also be that the scale applies some heavy filtering mechanism to remove all fluctuations below one pound to make multiple readings consistent.
The bottomline is it's probably a good scale to track relative body weights at the pound level but I wouldn't trust the claimed 0.2 pound precision.