Omron Body Fat Monitor and Scale
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Our Price: $39.25 Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Omron Body Fat Monitor and Scale
Customer Review: Scale is Accurate, Fat Measurements are NOT accurate
Summary: 2 Stars
The Omron HBF-500 fat scale measures your weight, body fat, skeletal muscle, BMI and resting metabolism. It can also give you a relative value for your visceral fat. All this from a stand-on scale. The question is - is it accurate?
We already own several devices to determine our body fat. We have a stand-on scale, a handheld unit as well as a traditional fat caliper. All of these other units agree completely with each other as to our fat percentage. However, this Omron HBF-500 is always MUCH higher than that "correct" value.
For the actual scale part (the pounds you weigh) it is very accurate. When we compare it against other scales we have, the values are typically within two tenths of a pound.
The problem is that you can get a regular weight scale for MUCH less money than this. The scale goes up to 330 pounds which will not be enough for many obese people to get a handle on their weight issues.
The reason you would get this high end scale is for its extra features - the fat measurement, the muscle measurement. However, we have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that the body fat measurement is grossly inaccurate. There is no way that all of our other fat measuring systems (by different makers) are ALL off to get the exact same value, and that meanwhile this Omron machine is the only one to peg the right value.
Since we know the fat measurement is wrong, how can we trust the muscle measurement, or the visceral fat measurement?
BMI is easy - that is simply a ratio of height and weight. Since you program in your height, and it tells you your weight, it can calculate your BMI. Any of us can do that :) It MUST match other readings as long as your height doesn't change ;)
It is nice that it has a built in memory, but again most scales of this level have that for you. And having it remember your values so it can give you inaccurate results isn't very helpful.
It really concerns me that people will accept as a given that the fat values must be accurate because the scale says them. I really recommend people pick up a $10 caliper and learn how to measure this the old fashioned way. It's quick, it's easy, and it means you can KNOW if any fancy gadget you get after that is telling you the truth.
I want to say it is VERY important to track your weight and fat levels. I definitely think people should have a good quality scale in their home to use at least weekly. My issue here is with this one, and with the numbers it provides.
I'll give it 2/5 because the scale part is great - but the fat numbers are just wrong. I really recommend getting a good quality scale (which will be much cheaper) and then a functional fat measuring device of your choice.
Customer Review: Excellent Scale - Very Accurate - Built WELL
Summary: 5 Stars
Hi All,
First things first...I have recently started the Atkins diet, yet again, and thus wanted to get a scale that I had faith in. We went to Target and bought a regular Taylor Digital scale...but I was a bit perturbed by the way that thing behaved. I figured I would try Amazon and get a higher quality scale and give it a shot. Here is my story.
I setup a physical with the DR yesterday evening, the 1st day I decided to start my change in food based lifestyle. I knew the scale would be at home when I got there since I had it shipped via Amazon Prime 2nd day. The DR did the usual and took my weight (without shoes, fully clothed). I came home and without too much of an afterthought I set this scale up (it requires 4 AA batteries NOT INCLUDED). I went ahead and weighed myself without shoes again and voila....the weight was almost identical to the DR's office. I mean its hard on those DR scales to get a ACCURATE read-out...but I had a good idea and this scale was 99.9% dead on. I then proceeded to try the Taylor (which we still have until it gets returned) and my weight was off by 2lbs....off on the lower side. There was no way I lost 2lbs that quickly. HAHA. As a side note...I did place the scales at the same location when weighing myself so that there was no difference in floor/etc....
All that being said... I dont really care about the BMI measurements, YET. That will be something I get more into when my body starts to make changes. However, here is the cool part, this scale will remember up to 6 users in its memory. Basically you go through a simple setup and tell it about a users age, weight, height, and male/female. While it may not allow day to day tracking of weight loss, it does keep track of your weight and BMI on a daily basis.
The build quality of the SCALE is nice...it also looks great in stainless steel and looks like a professional unit. If you are wondering..it is probably about 2 inches in height from the ground. The LCD is large enough to see clearly and guides you through your weigh in. When I say it guides you, I mean that when you turn it on and get to your user settings it blinks to 0 and then you simply watch the lcd display until it has done your weight and BMI.
One of the best features is that it turns it self off when you are done and you simply can hit the power button towards the front lip with your toe to tun it on. You can also use your toes to press the buttons to get it into your USER settings so it can memorize/track your progress.
I think it is a great scale and would highly recommend it. I hope my review gives you some helpful insight into the product.
Customer Review: Not for anyone even remotely in shape.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have recently lost 30 lbs and bought this to check my progress in my fat loss. When I got it I was dissapointed in myself because of the high fat content. I thought I had made more progress, but this rated me at 28.1% fat. I used a skin fold caliper from the gym and it said I was 26.1% fat. Not too far off. I thought I could use it to track my progress. I started lifting weights 4 days a week for an hour and a half a session. I monitored my intake of protein, carbs, and fat. I drank 2 protein shakes with creatine and glutamine a day. I hit the treadmill for at least 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. My weight dropped 4 pounds in a month, but the scale said I was losing muscle and fat. I was pretty upset with my progress. I was hoping it was the scale. I decided to read some of the negative reviews here at amazon and saw other people have similar experiences. One reveiwer did an experiment holding weights while standing on the scale and I thought I would try that. With no weights I was 27.1% fat, holding 10 lbs I was 28.6% fat, 20 lb weights = 29.9% fat, 30 lbs = 31.6% fat. This scale apparently just takes your weight, height, and age and gives you an average fat percentage.
The scale said I was 27.1% fat. A loss of 1% body fat that month(loss of 3 lbs of fat and loss of 1 lb of muscle). I got the caliper from the gym again and found I had actually dropped to 22.6% fat in that month (lost 8 lbs of fat and gained 4 lbs of muscle). This scale almost made me give up on trying to get in better shape. I know it says its not for athletes, but they didn't give their definition of athlete. I certainly don't consider myself an athlete, but I guess the manufacturer of this scale does.
If you workout at all, this scale is not for you. If your just on a diet, it's probably OK.
Customer Review: My daily sanity check & motivator!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have lost approximately 70 lbs. in the last 4 months... I'd have an exact figure if only I had not put off purchasing this scale until 2 and a half months ago!
This is the best scale I've ever utilized and provides me daily input as to the reality of my momentum! Prior to this scale I never listened to scales as I started off as a 300 lb. large framed male, my weight could fluctuate as much as 12 lbs. in a day and 3 of the 5 reputable weight charts out there have my end weight falling below my actual lean body mass as I am large framed and am putting on considerable muscle. I'd weigh myself but pay more attention to how I fit into clothing as a motivator.
This scale tells me everyday exactly where I am and where I'm going! Each morning I hop on and log my weight, BF%, SM% and BMI in an Excel spreadsheet, no one measurement matters and as such, no more getting bummed when I see my weight boomerang because of water retention or a skeletal mass increase. Heck, weight has become a secondary motivator to an increase in Skeletal Muscle and decrease in Body Fat percentages. What's more, it allows me enough insight to recognize a potential plateau and break the pattern.
I've read some gripes about the BMI accuracy, I qualified mine weekly with calipers for the first 4 weeks and the deviation was a rounding error, it's very accurate. About the only complaint I have is that the weight differs about 2 lbs. from utilizing the general scale and testing with your profile and handle bar.
This has been a great purchase and allows me to focus on my personal body type and track realistic goals. I recommend it to anyone whose trying to maintain discipline in weight loss, fat loss or muscle gains.
Customer Review: Good scale, uncertain body fat monitor
Summary: 3 Stars
The good.
As a scale, the device seems accurate and solid. This seems likely to be a durable scale.
Setting up parameters for estimating body fat was straightforward.
The not so good.
When setting up the scale, you are asked to enter your age and height (I am 58, 6', ~152 pounds, run 30-40 miles a week, not much spare fat anywhere; was a decent caliber distance runner when younger and am perhaps 2 pounds over my weight in those days).
Following the procedures, my body fat estimate was about 19.6%, which put me on the bottom end of the average range.
At a fitness center I visit occasionally, I used their body fat estimation system. The estimate was 10.5%, which is with 1-2 of what the trainers there would have estimated based on visual examination. That's a pretty serious discrepancy from what the Omron scale is indicating!!!!
The Omron manual indicates that readings for the elderly and the athletic (and perhaps I'm both) may not be accurate, but I would have expected something a little better than a 100% error. To try to circumvent this problem, I re-entered my age as 25. That still resulted in body fat readings of 15%. Now, I'm sure someone will say, "well, why the heck would you want a device to measure body fat anyhow when you are near 10%?" Well, it was primarily for other members of my family, and now the problem is we don't know how accurate it may be for them.
Now perhaps this device, assuming it is stable, can be considered a useful "relative" body fat indicator, such that if one is seriously working at making changes, perhaps the device will provide a good indication of that. Only time will tell on that one.