Withings Wi-Fi bathroom scales

Sometimes, there are problems that cry out for a technological solution. Problems like “How do I remember my weight and BMI for the time it takes to go from the bathroom to the computer.” And the WiFi bathroom scales from Withings, sold by Firebox, are the solution to just that problem. Withings WiFi Scales Weight and see: …

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously...

...are their that many people with to much money.

Heres an idea. look down, does your belly stick out and wobble when you move? yes then your out of shape.

Now give that £120 to charity, eat less, excersice more and everyone benefits.

What a shallow fucking world we live in.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes it is

Yes, it's a very shallow world when "eat less, exercise more" becomes a mantra for everyone who doesn't have weight problems to spew relentlessly toward those who do.

Funnily enough anorexics eat less and exercise more. Good advice, clearly.

[David McMahon]

Please..

Don't confuse diet with an eating disorder!

[fatchap]

Disorder

Actually many of them dont exercise more they just deny themselves food as it is that that gives them the sense of control. Excerise more is pretty good advice anyway.

[Natalie Gritpants]

Stand on one leg!

Waste of space. Your height does not change so all you need to remember is your weight to get your BMI. And your weight doesn't change much so remembering is easy. (Hint - it's probably the same as yesterday or maybe a bit more, never less). Once you move to remembering your weight you can type that in to any number of free computer/internet/iphone programs to track your increasing weight. Then you only need a cheap pair of analogue scales that don't require you to log in by hopping your user id in morse.

Alternatively jump up and down naked in front of a close friend and ask them if you wobble in the wrong places.

[Jason Hall]

help

Isn't it obvious?

These scales do so much to help you keep that spare tyre off by also reducing the amount of 'pie money' you have.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're missing the equilibrium.

If you get fat enough you'll burn a pies worth of calories getting it from the fridge and warming it up.

Try and tell anyone over 30 stone that isn't the prefect diet.

As for bathroom scales, do JCB make stair lifts?

You fat bastard, you fat bastard you eat all the .....erm.. penguins??

[Anonymous John]

my height in metres and weight in stones

If mixed units are good enough for a NASA Mars probe, they're good enough here surely?

Why store the info on their website, and not on the owner's computer?

[Marvin the Martian]

Other way around

It should twitter your Daily BMI? Automatised tweets like "@FatMarvin: just a bit fatter today, .05BMI increase!"

I'd never thought I'd read a bathroom scales review. I'm now advocating a scales roundup, to get the register's recommended one. Important point to consider then is batteries --- are they normal ones? AA are right, 9V are acceptable... Too many scales have oversized watch batteries as power, expensive and takes a week to replace as you don't have spares around (nor rechargeables).

[daka]

Review fail

Couple of minor comments: - You obviously aren't the target audience, since you didn't even figure out that is also plots lean vs fat mass (very useful when you are working towards a target of getting fit without actually reducing weight or BMI). You don't stand on one leg in the delightful manner you hint at, just shift weight slightly to one side to move an indicator. The batteries it comes with are shocking, and last less than 2 weeks (normal decent batteries last for months), more evidence that you didn't really use it for long. Flicking the switch for kg/stone may be annoying, but you only need to do it once, and individual accounts can set up their own preferences.

Overall it is ideal as part of a concerted drive to change lean vs fat mass, or reduce weight as part of a new regime, and really, how often do you change your scales? Once a decade? A smidge over a quid per year isn't too bad.

(Paris - even she could figure them out.

[Anonymous Coward]

Blimey...

...no wonder you need a gadget to tell you if your fat.

Cost

"Once a decade? A smidge over a quid per year isn't too bad."

Decade = 10 years @ £1/year = £10?

Now to work out why I'm not loosing weight, after all I've now added a carrot to my daily gut-buster fry up.

[daka]

Meh

....a mistake, yes. Still a tenner isn't bad either. Anyway you used the wrong 'your'. You meant 'you're'. Good this, isn't it!

[NightFox]

BMI?

Are you sure you mean BMI and not body fat percentage? BMI is just a very broad calculation that takes into account just your weight and height based on the assumption that the heavier you are, the higher you should be to still be healthy. Why you would have to take your shoes off to assess this doesn't make sense as the scales don't measure your height, you enter that data into the PC manually.

Body fat % is, however, a somewhat more accurate indication of whether you're carrying too much fat. Some scales have an ability to measure body fat to passing an electrical current through your feet when you stand upon them and by analysing the resistance in your body calculating your body fat % and other statistics within a margin of error. I'd suspect that this is what the scales are measuring and logging, not BMI.

[Matthew Anderson]

tweet tweet

Excellent gadget for all the fatties! Weight watchers should incorporate it into their diet plans so they can keep tabs on all the rolly pollys chomping on mars bars when they supposed to be eating wabbit fewd.

Roll over fat boy, you've just been tweeted.

[Code Monkey]

Not 1st April

Good. Lord. No.

[MrJP]

But...

...how does it look covered in mildew and suspicious black hairs???

[Anonymous Coward]

One for the MMS[*] crowd.

Personally, I use a set of digital scales which cost me all of a tenner from Asda and an OpenOffice spreadsheet. No doubt someone skilled in the black art of circuit bending could perform some suitable hardware hacks on the scales if they so desired.

Simple, effective and cheap, although it is reliant on the user a) remembering to weigh themselves and b) put said value into a spreadsheet.

[*] - More Money than Sense.

(19st 6lbs, for anyone who gives a damn)

[Kieran 2]

Just bought a set.

I'm so lardy that my current scales say "error", but these ones will do the job (they go up to 28st). Hopefully the web/app-based tracking will help with the motivation (although not picking up an injury every time I get serious about the gym would be a bigger help).

[Dennis 6]

How accurate are they?

Bathroom scales are a measurement device, so their most important property is their accuracy. I once looked at all the bathroom scales in John Lewis, ranging in price from about £13 to £120 and not one stated its accuracy, and not one offered a recalibration service. They might be quite decorative but they are not serious pieces of equipment, more random number generators than scales. How accurate are these?

[tom 49]

It's for pros. Get a pro's view

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/05/withings-wifi-scale-in-depth-review.html

[Fred Bauer]

Clustered

Be sure to check out the clustered and load balanced configurations, about 1/2 way through that review.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pros?

Re. "It's for pro's" comment...

Professional dieters?

Er, surely weight loss is one of those things that if you are doing it constantly, you're not doing it right....

(Speaking as one contemplating joining a "fat club")

[Elmer Phud]

WiFi Drive by

Ah, I can see it now, user looking at thier laptop screen after a busy workout only to find "You fat bastard!" from an unknown admirer

[Bo Pedersen]

tweeting scales

I suppose that explains the glut of "Fat Bitch" tweets appearing :)

Mine's the Bathrobe

[Anonymous Coward]

fail

onward to the wi-fi toilet, although i shouldn't be joking like that, the Japanese probably already have it!

[JB]

Reminds me...

Reminds me of the time my wife and I were house-sitting for my father-in-law. He had these rather posh-looking bathroom scales in the bedroom, and I decided I'd give them a go and see how much lard I'd put on over Christmas. I was just resting my feet on it when there was a beep and a crackle from a speaker, and a voice said "and how are we doing today, Mr Smith?". It was like something out of 2001. It frightened the life out of me. The voice said "Mr Smith?" a few times - it turned out that these scales were linked to some kind of call center, and whenever you got on them it rang up your 'personal assistant' who discussed your weight and diet, etc. Makes these rather pointless scales sound rather nice. I personally prefer to use my wetware to store the magic number long enough to get me to the pad on the fridge door!

[gimbal]

Novel.

I, for one, welcome our novelty-peddling overlords... if they aren't here already...

[Anonymous Coward]

The real deal clincher with this

is whether I can hack into the one owned by the fit woman next door and monitor what she weighs?

Aghh! Creeped myself out there

[Anonymous Coward]

Not as creepy as

When she weighs herself before and after a poo and you make a note of what she ate as you watched her only an hour ago...

[heyrick]

BMI is useless...

Different people in different places have different normal body sizes - some French girls around here would probably be classed anorexic in the UK, but it is their normal, healthy, size.

How much do you think Arnie weighed in his "Conan" days? Would he have been classed as overweight because BMI is too simplistic to distingiush between muscle and fat, never mind bone density etc.

.

Here's a much simpler test that costs nothing. We all go shopping. Find a mall with split levels (three floors is good). Now run up the stairs from bottom to top. If you can't make it, you're overweight - diet and excercise; if you're sweating profusely in an air-con mall, you're waaay overweight. If you make it but you're panting - excercise; if you're wheezing, you might want to think about kicking the habit... If you make it, you're fine. If you feel dizzy, or have to stop and sit down, you're underweight - eat more, and excercise too.

Now go spend that £120 on more productive things. Learn how to make a lemon drizzle cake, a proper hotpot, mitarashi dango, what all those E numbers mean and why many should be avoided, and how to make proper al dente pasta the *correct* way, accompanied by a sauce freshly made with tomatoes, basil, and rosemary from your garden...

[Robert Forsyth]

Wii Fit balance board

The Wii Fit will record your weight (and useless BMI) over time, as well as giving you some exercises to do.

But hats off to them for Wi-Fi/Blutoothing every day objects.