As we know more and more about our health and weight, we discover more clues about how the relationship between our health an weight works. We start eating healthier, exercising in more efficient ways, and monitoring our weight and our health factors closely.
The most important part of monitoring our weight, is having an accurate and well made set of bathroom scales. Choosing the right digital bathroom scale is not quite that easy though. With so many different types of scales available on the market today it can difficult choosing. Some are capable of monitoring more than just our weight. They can assess our overall body makeup, including water weight and muscle weight. Some can even keep a record of our health stats so we can look at our progress. Others are just a good old fashioned scale.
For some people, the best bathroom scale, may still be the classic analog scale. They are generally safe to use. You can easily set it to zero before use with a small gear, and as long as the springs keep working, the scale will work ok. The analog scales, however, are becoming almost obsolete these days. Digital models are taking over the market. The analog models don’t have as wide a range for measurement, nor do they have the capabilities (and often accuracy) that their digital competitors have.
To choose the best digital bathroom scale, think about your needs and budget. The first thing to consider is what you’d like your scale to do for you. Do you want to just look at your weight? Or are your goals to build muscle, or lose more fat? Are you worried about your overall health? And would like to have a way of keeping an eye on the way your body is progressing with time? Another think to think about is the number of people who are going to be using the scale and their concerns. Some digital scales have built-in or transferable memories for multiple users to store and track their progress. All these factors will determine the type of scale you’ll need.
The things you can expect from a scale these days go way beyond your old 90s bathroom set. Today’s scales are made more to monitor your health than just your overall body mass. You can now program your age, height, gender, and activity level in your scale and it can estimate your metabolic age and even advise you on calorie intake. Digital scales these days can also show you how your mass is spread between bone mass and muscle mass as well as body fat and visceral fat. In essence they go far beyond measuring just your BMI, to establish your health. And, for most scales both measurements in pounds and kilograms are available and some still have measurements in stone (but these are harder to come across).
1. NEED HIGH ACCURACY?
Some of us like to measure daily, or even pre and post work-out so accuracy and reliability is key. It is good to know that the scales with all these monitoring capabilities are best for people who just want a general understanding of their body. If you are a professional athlete, however, or a body builder, and you regularly measure your body fat and muscle weight by visiting health centers then the at home scale accuracy might be an issue. Studies have shown that the monitoring features of different scales show differences in accuracy. You’d be surprised because an increase in price spent on a set of scales does not always show an increase in accuracy. Some more budget digital scales have excellent accuracy.
2. BUDGET-CONSCIOUS?
Some of us don’t want to spend a fortune on digital scales. If you are on a budget and would like a cheaper product, you might want to go for a more simple model. Added features can dramatically increase the price of your scale. If accuracy of the body mass, and the bone mass and such are of great importance to you, you could purchase a medical scale. Medical scales are more expensive and are not designed with aesthetics or transportability in mind, but they are the most accurate scales out there. And they could just be the best digital bathroom scale for you.
3. COLOR AND STYLE COORDINATED?
Many of us leave our scales out for easy measurements and our visitors to see. That’s where good design and color choice factors in. If you have on of those homes with a designer coordinated interior, or you just plain like looking at beautiful things, then the way your digital scales look could be an issue. All of our reviews clearly display a picture of the scales we are talking about. So you won’t get caught buying an ugly set.
4. POOR EYESIGHT?
Straining to read the numbers displayed way down at your feet is plain frustrating. If you have poor eyesight, the digital bathroom scale for you could be the talking scales. They announce your weight as well as displaying it. Many of the talking scales have different language options available such as Spanish, French, and most other European languages. If you are self conscious about your weight and don’t want to risk your stats being broadcast throughout your home, there are also scales with very large display numbers, or easy to see back-lit displays. The large numbers or the talking scales are the best, however, as when the screen light has a problem it could be a hassle to fix. Remember that those types of scales that can keep a journal of your weight, also can show you what the recorded weight was after you get off the scale so you can have a closer look.
5. WIDER WEIGHT RANGE?
There is no point in measuring that hard earned weight loss if your scales don’t cater to your starting weight. If you are overweight, you might want to look for a scale that has a wider range. Many scales go up to 300 lbs with some topping out in the mid 400 lb range. If you are concerned about battery use, you can choose a scale that is solar powered or has a plug adapter. These scales have small solar cells that allows them to charge and recharge without the need of changing their batteries. And if you are sentimental, or just need something to weigh yourself and don’t care about other features, you can get an analog one. These are cheap, less than $10 scales that many believe to be more accurate than the digital models.
Please read through our reviews, we have taken considerable time in testing each unit and hope you find exacly the digital weight scales you are looking for.
