BeakerBuys

I’m a sucker for anything that lets me collect and analyze biodata — data about my body; nutrition, sleep, HR, etc.

Today the Withings WiScale showed up and the entire family was excited to see it unboxed and put to the test.

It’s an Apple-inspired design, well made and packaged. Setup was relatively simple:

1. Connect to the Withings website & setup an account. Registration was simple; normal email/password uselessness.
2. Download an app (on my Mac)
3. Insert the batteries and select the lb/kg/lbst units
4. Connect the scale to my Mac with the supplied USB cable which allows one to connect the scale to your home WiFi network (you’ll need WiFi for this to work) which associates your scale with your credentials
5. Once done, the dashboard comes up via their website…you enter your name, height, DOB, est. starting weight, sex, measurement mode and then…
6. Go step on the scale. After a few seconds the measurements are done.
7. Refresh your web browser and the analysis in a rather attractive UI are completed for you (see below.)
8. You can download a free iPhone app that shows you the same measurements.
9. You can then choose to share these measurements on social networking sites such as FB or Twitter…<shudder>

I then setup my wife and one of my kids. Same process. The scale, once initially setup, will automatically recognize who’s stepped on the scale without any manual intervention.

Accuracy-wise the weight is comparable to my other scales within 1%. The BF% measurements are always tricky on scales — the WiScale is about 1% higher than my other electronic scale (Bowflex) and my manual caliper readings are lower than that scale.   My Bowflex scale says 10.8% my calipers show 10.5%…it all smooths out in the wash.  I was down at one point in the 6-8% range and my wife told me I looked ill so I put a little more junk in the trunk to satisfy here (OK, OK, I started eating a more good-fat diet and doing less cardio…sue me 😉

Keep in mind that BF% measurements are also very dependent upon how hydrated you are and there are various measurement modes — specifically for high muscle mass, low BF% folks there is an athlete setting — this is what I use as otherwise the scale shows 20+% BF which isn’t correct (and no, that’s not simply denial 😉

All said, it’s still handy to see charted over time your weight, lean mass, fat %/lb, etc.  You’ll see nice charts over time as the number of samples increases.

The scale cost $159 + $9 S/H

I will enjoy seeing how my measurements fluctuate over times throughout the day and how my training affects my weight/BF% without having to manually chart it anymore (which I do.)

I give it 4/5 beakers.

/Beaker