Svelte, Sexy, Smart… Scale?
Adjectives that come to mind for our latest bathroom health and wellness gadget: svelte. Sexy. Smart. Shiny… wait, shiny?
The Withings Connected scale is all of these things, and, if used properly, perhaps you can be those things as well. (Maybe not shiny.) There was definitely some oohing and ahhing in the office when this scale arrived. What’s not to like? It’s got brushed chrome, tempered glass, a cool inverted LCD screen and even it’s own iPhone application. By now everyone should know how much we love our iPhone stuff around here. Yes, an internet-connected scale might seem to be a bit of a gimmick, but it turns out to be quite a bit more.
To call this instrument a scale doesn’t quite do it justice. When most people think of a personal scale, the image that comes to mind is the white square scale with the red line and the spinning numbers behind that line. They are never accurate, yet almost everyone has owned or used one at some point. Withings understands that the number that a scale like that gives you doesn’t actually tell you anything about your overall health. When you step onto the Connected Scale it takes a reading of your weight, but also uses bioelectric impedance measurement to calculate your fat mass and your muscle mass. You then use your height and age to calculate your BMI, which can tell you far more than just weight alone. The information collected can be uploaded to either a website via USB cable or over your wireless network, and accessed either with your computer or through WiScale, which is the iPhone application (and is fun to use, once you have enough data and can enjoy the charts and graphs).
We created three separate accounts; the scale is capable of 8 individual accounts, and tested both the scale and the web-based monitoring over several weeks. We found the Connected Scale to be accurate within a pound or two, and extremely durable. We liked the usability of the iPhone application, and didn’t have any problems transferring data from the scale to the website. There is a lot of good information to be had regarding diet and fitness on Withing’s website. Look for the Connect Scale on Withing’s website, or through retailers such as Amazon for around $160. The bottom line is that this scale can be a very useful tool in achieving your goals for having a healthy body, and that’s worth it’s weight in gold.
