I tried a set but the results seem pretty inconsistent and my guess is they are not very reliable – am I right?

I like idea of hydration data as I seem prone to dehydration.

Correct. At best you can use them to record trends.

I have a set and would say they are not brilliant, may be partly because I wander around barefoot a lot and as such have quite hard soles and I think that affects the readings. Looks more normal if I ensure my feet are moist before I stand on it.

A lot of them have an athlete setting, use that and you lose quite a bit of bodyfat. Tells you something about how they work.

A lot of them have an athlete setting, use that and you lose quite a bit of bodyfat. Tells you something about how they work.

Yep, they are utter rubbish.

Try this test: Measure yourself, then drink a pint of water, wait 10 mins and try again. The % fat reading will change by a few %.

Hopefully not accurate, I have a laugh after I weigh myself it comes up with fat 45% and water 45%, that’s only 10% left for blood, bones, muscles and the other sh1t 🙂

On dehydration, and interesting article I read during the week…

Do you really need to drink eight cups of water a day?

Try this test: Measure yourself, then drink a pint of water, wait 10 mins and try again. The % fat reading will change by a few %.

Actually, that proves they do work, if you understand how they are supposed to “measure” fat.

I’ve found them reasonably consistent IF you use them at the same time every day & the same level of hydration, etc – which for me is when I get up in the morning, after taking a dump but before having a drink 🙂

As someone mentioned above, they are best for monitoring trends – but that is also true when weighing yourself anyway.

Thanks all – back to Argos they go!

You can get a better idea of body fat when using those scales if you put them in front of a mirror 😉

If you’re genuinely interested in body fat% then you’re better of with a set of calipers and one of the online calculators:

Here

and

here

A lot cheaper and a lot more accurate.

I’ve only been using mine for about a month, but it seems pretty consistent so far, I’ve been keeping a close watch on my weight as I lost 2 1/2 stone due to cancer treatment earlier in the year and I’ve struggled to put any back on.

Flippin image won’t show up.

Actually, that proves they do work, if you understand how they are supposed to “measure” fat.

No, it proves they don’t measure fat at all, or are at least piss poor at it.

They just measure conductivity and try to infer fat from that, but as there is no one to one relationship between conductivity and % body fat, they need lots of other info (eg Sex and build and or Athletic status) to try and improve the very crude guess work (look up tables) they use.

More detailed report on dehydration and BMI is here it’ll show just why those scales are pointless a marketing gimmick.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01dgf1w/Trust_Me_Im_A_Doctor_Episode_1/