Short Version: Yes, this is that scale that Tweets your weight. And yes, it’s actually pretty cool.
Features
- Built-in Wi-Fi
- Backlit screen
- Battery powered
- Body mass sensor
- $159 MSRP
Pros
- Multiple users with automatic user detection based on weight
- Slim design
- Quick readings
- Lots of reporting options
Cons
- Potentially fragile
- Seemingly low battery life
- Who wants to Tweet their weight?
Review
So the Internet made me fat. That and all the beer. Anyway, now I’m going to depend on the Internet to make me skinny again and I think the Withings WiFi scale is just the thing to get me back in Abraham Lincoln mode.
This glass scale features a body mass sensor complete with invisible electrodes as well as a backlit OLED readout. To start, you connect the scale to your computer via USB and assign your wireless hotspot. Then each time you hop on the scale you wait for the electrodes to sense your body fat (or if they can’t it just transmits your weight) and then you check your progress online. New users are “added” when they weigh themselves and show up as unknown users until you assign their measurements to an account. Because folks usually float among a few data points, your wife’s numbers won’t get mixed up with yours and the dog’s numbers will definitely not get mixed up with your son’s (Note: Do not try to put a dog on this scale. They do not like it.)
The obvious question here is whether or not you need a web-enabled scale. You could feasibly do all of these functions with a pad of paper and a pencil. However, the Withings system allows you to take BMI as well as set goals for yourself. Most importantly, you can check your progress remotely so you don’t have to worry about your weight at work. If you know you lost five pounds over the past week then obviously you can go and grab yourself another four donuts. You’re worth it!
Even if you don’t use all of the Wi-Fi features it’s still a nice scale for $159. Sure it can Tweet your weight and it also works with Google Health. It may be a great idea for a personal trainer with multiple clients. By sharing readings with a group or individual you can work more closely with that person on your regimen.
I’ve been using this thing for about two weeks and its fun to see the weight sort of fluctuate but inexorably tend towards pulchritude and obesity. Thanks, Internet! And thanks beer!
Bottom Line
A clever and interesting way to track your weight loss (or gain) regimen. May not be worth $159 but the free web service adds a great deal of value.
For those interested in purchasing this device, I own one and it’s worth noting that the fat mass calculations are quite inaccurate. I’ve seen it vary as much as 8 pounds in either direction with the same person standing on it within fifteen minutes. If you’re looking to track your lean body mass, I would recommend looking elsewhere.
I have just got it.
The body fat mass readings swing like a yoyo. I suspect it is measuring the body water rather than the fat.
About 2 to 4 kg differences between one night’s readings to the next.!!!! My body fat mass readings:
At one night: 14.6KG
The following morning right: 10.4KG
1 hour later after breakfast/shower and everything: 12.1KG
It doesn’t seem to be very accurate like others have said.
I own it. I love it.
x2. It also has a very nice iPhone app and the founders are very active in developing new features. I’ve referred to it as the Sonos of Scales. For me, I see the value in the extreeme long run. Who really cares about the .5 pound gained loss over the course of a week or month. But over time, you’ll really get a sense of how your weight is changing. I wish I had this data from 10 years and 25 pounds ago to know exactly where it came from…
I own this and the beauty of it is that you can have your data accessed by other systems such as dailyburn.com. If you are actively trying to manage your weight this thing is genius.
Not sure how stoked the wife is going to be when she realizes I can see all of her weigh-ins.
I’ve got one and I love it. Sure, I could keep the exact same info with pad/paper or in excel, but the Withings scale works flawlessly and it’s fun to use. And honestly, I won’t track the historical data if I have to enter the information manually. The Withings iPhone app is cool and the data updates to the web and my phone the moment I step off the scale. It just works.
I put my dog on it. He didn’t mind. So yes I’m able tracking both myself and the dog.
I have one too and love it. Sometimes it’s a little weird because if you move the scale from one room to another, the weight will be dramatically different, but if you keep it in the same room and don’t cheat by stepping on it immediately after workouts or right when you wake up, it’s great!
Useless useless useless… -_-
I have one too. We are two using the scale. We measure our weight both once a day. After 4 weeks, the battery was so low that only the body fat measure is not done anymore.
They should build an optional cable to power this scale via the USB port. I cannot buy new batteries every month to fully use this scale ?!?
Evrything is fine with this scale. But please fix this power issue (for existing customers too).
Not very precise, but i love it!
@DC – the most common reason for fluctuations when moving a scale from room to room is carpeting. Make sure that you always place the scale on a hard surface and you should get the same results no matter where you place it (well, at the same latitude on Earth anyway)
What I don’t quite get is why the Withings is getting all the press when Tanita also has WiFi and Bluetooth scales. Is it the Twitter connection?
Tanita Models
BC-1000 ANT+ Wireless Body Composition Monitor
BC-590BT Bluetooth Wireless Body Composition Scale
HD-351BT Bluetooth Wireless Digital Weight Scale
The BC-100 can wirelessly transmit data to Garmin’s FR60, FR60LTD and Forerunner 310XT Fitness Watches as well, which I would guess makes it compatible with any number of training software packages websites out there.
The Tanita requires either a remote display to see your info, because it is all sent wirelessly to either your watch, or your computer. If it is sent to a computer, it requires a special USB antenna to receive the signal. It has no online software to help you track your info, so it must be done (if even possible) through Garmin because of their watch display. The purchase of the scale (and the remote display or a garmin watch) puts it at over $400. Who spends that on a scale?? $160 for this is already pretty steep.
Its best feature is the public pressure it gives you to lose weight.
You don’t need a scale to burn off web-butt – all you need is friends + family in your existing social graph trash-talking (or coaching) to get you moving.
Get Scoble to challenge you to an epic random act of fitness at http://getupandmove.me.
It’s a hell of a lot cheaper than the $159 scale you’ll want to avoid after TechCrunch happy hours…
What I like about this scale is the concept behind it. Yes, its cool to track your weight over a year automatically. Yes, the online integration so I can view it from any computer, and the integration with my iphone so I can even more easily access it from anywhere is awesome! I wish we would see more products that could do things like this for us – like my freezer could detect when the icecream has been in there too long getting freezer burn, or the refrigerator could detect when it is low on milk and put it on my online grocery list I access from my phone at the store, or my bathroom sink would notice its been 6 months since I changed my toothbrush, and my car would notify me that I need another oil change.
However, as ridiculous things go, a $160 scale is pretty ridiculous, especially since it isn’t that accurate. I have a lot of other things I could do with $160, and as for the relevance of appliances in our home that track/monitor something and provide feedback, my weight is pretty low on my need for help. I look in the mirror, I see fat, and I know I’m fat. This is solved by doing exercise until I look good again, not by buying a $160 scale to tell me I’m getting fat.
So in the end, I give it points for moving our home appliances into the next generation of home-automation… but because of its price, its accuracy, and its usefulness, I say PASS!
I’m thinking of ordering this, but I haven’t been able to figure out if I need to have my computer turned on for it to record my daily weight. I typically weigh myself in the morning, long before I head to the computer, so this is a make-or-break issue for me. Tx.
Don’t need to have computer on. It uses your WiFi connection. You need the computer to set it up