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douginoz
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Withings Internet-connected Bathroom Scales review

  • Price Paid:$0.00
  • User rating:
    (4.6)
  • Would buy again from this company: Yes
  • Used product for: 1 months
  • # of logged workouts:

"It's still very early days for home Internet-connected devices, but if you like to use technology to support and reinforce your training programmes, the Withings scales are a fun additional gadget to have. There's an explosion of cloud-based pervasive and inter-connected devices and applications coming out for mobile phones, social networking websites, and fitness sites like BT. These scales are really an input device into this all-knowing network and time will tell how these websites and apps can utilise heart rate monitors, GPS trackers, bathroom scales, and who knows what else.

Probably at least 60% unnecessary, but at least 40% fun!"douginoz

(5)

Ease of installation

Simple installation - just insert the included batteries, connect the USB cable, and go to their website. If your wireles router needs a password you can enter it. Once the scale connects to the website, you just enter your personal details and it's done.

(5)

Ease of use

Once it's set up, you just step on the scales every day like you normally do. The display indicates your current weight, BMI, etc.

(5)

Quality of Construction

Brilliant looking. When I opened the package at work, people thought I'd either bought a new laptop or they thought it was an iPad!
Glass surface reinforces a minimalist design aesthetic.

(3)

Value

My friends thought I was nuts for paying AUD$200 for bathroom scales, but I think it's good value because it's yet another tool that reinforces my commitment, and commitments, to training on a daily basis.

(5)

Appearance

Gorgeous! Really stunning looking. The LCD display is very very large and bright and keeps the information displayed onscreen for long enough to read it when when trying to wake up. But it doesn't even matter if you forget to read the display, since you can view your weight later online!

Strengths

It tracks your weight and other stats automatically. I've always done this manually, but might forget occasionally or round up/down. It also records the time of day that you weighed in, so you can get a realistic idea of your weight over time and ignore abberently high or low readings due to differing times of day.
The website tracks all your stats - weight, lean mass, fat, BMI, etc. and can automatically send updates to other systems like Google Health, Microsoft HealthVault, etc. Although there's no interface for linking to BeginnerTriathlete, I can still manually copy over the data at the time I enter my workouts.
The MyWithings website has a good visual display of your stats over time and lets you set and view progress towards weight and fat % goals. I like being able to set a bodyfat % goal and see how my training is affecting my overall weight and porportion of lean mass vs. fat mass.

There's also an iPhone app that allows you to view and track your weights and goals in realtime.

Weakness

Like any consumer scale that measures BMI etc, you have to take the figures with a grain of salt and remember that they are affected by your hydration levels, salt levels, and many other factors. It's the overall trending that's of value, not the absolute numbers it tells you.

Buyers clubInternet-connected Bathroom Scales
  • 0 people use
  • workouts logged
  • 0 miles / 0 hours logged