Tanita BC-533 Digital Bathroom Scale - Japan Technology Clear Glass Smart Innerscan Body Composition Monitor, Measures Weight, Body Fat, Muscle Mass, BMI, Bone Mass, Visceral Fat - FSA/HSA Eligible

This is the second scale of this exact model of have owned. I was sad when the first scale died, I had it so long I can't remember exactly when it was purchased but I believe I owned it for over 15 years, maybe more. I decided to buy a new scale of the same model since i was happy with the old one, and was happy to see the new scale seems to work just as great as the first one. I prefer this scale because it shows body fat , and visceral fat, among other readings, as well as weight. There are so many variables in your overall weight, looking at just weight number is not giving you the full picture. Your body fluctuates in water composition, adding or subtracting to your overall weight. Also your body fat is a very important component of overall health. This is why is dislike BMI. BMI does not take into account muscle mass or body type, just height and weight. While BMI may give a quick overview for some, it may be inaccurate in measuring heath in others. I personally have a more muscular build and a larger torso than my height would normally have, so my BMI is always high. So I prefer to look at body fat percentage. I feel the weight is acceptably accurate on this scale and the body far percentage seems accurate as well when I compare to other body fat readings. I also really like the visceral fat reading, this is an important measure of health. While I can't attest to the accuracy of the visceral fat reading, after many years of use and recording my numbers. In general the visceral fat is higher when my overall body fat is higher and lower when body fat is lower regardless of my overall body weight. Tracking thisnover time can so important trends in your visceral fat levels. I also like the lean body mass feature, as well and % water, and the calories calculation feature. Overall this scale is very useful for someone wanting more information than just weight in a single number. When you look at all of these features, this scale offers a much more in depth review of overall body composition and health. Pros: shows weight, body fat %, visceral fat, water %, bone density, resting metabolic calorie calculations. One con I see is the stability of the scale, you must step on carefully it can rock if your weight distribution is uneven. This is easly preventable by stepping on carefully.

This provides a lot of information, much more than just weight, and is very consistant. We have used this every day for over 15 years and it seems to function very well. I read other reviews from other websites on this, like thecompetitiveedge.com. Do some research. I weigh my dog on it (by holding him then weighing myself and subtracting, getting the difference, and the same with my luggage), too (you can select just 'weight' with your toe). Great memory (age, height, and fitness settings, too) and holds several people's information and has a guest setting. You can also choose adult or child. Do not use if pregnant or plan to be at the time of use as an un-feel-able amount of DC goes through your legs (not the belly or above the waist). It is about the size of a typical bathroom scale. I cannot vouch for its fat 'accuracy' but it seems right or at least close enough to compare. The scale seems very accurate. Though it will weigh someone up to 330 lbs., one may need the larger scale if they cannot see the readout. I changed the batteries once in 8 years (it has auto off, but it has never failed or indicated I needed to nor does it become inaccurate over time. The glass seems unbreakable and I would not worry about it; it has rubber feet. I do not recommend using this on carpet, but it does reset itself to 0; just seems to me the carpet/pad could absorb some weight. On a 'scale' of 1-10 I give this a 10, meaning tops. This is one of those good investments that can save you much more in medication. I highly recommend this nice looking informative lightweight scale, would buy again, and I hope this helps someone.

UPDATE (5/31/17) -- This scale still works fantastic! I am so happy that I made the purchase over 7yrs ago. It has survived moving across the country twice without glitches or damage. My only complaint with it is that the settings do not automatically update the age in your profile. I don't know if this affects the accuracy in any way, but I'd assume that it would only affect it minimally. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ORIGINAL REVIEW -- I bought this scale over two years ago after reading about it in Women's Health magazine ([...]). It was one of their top choices in their write-up on body composition technology after comparing it to several other methods widely used by health professionals. The scale has 4 presets (so you and 3 other people and quickly and easily check your body composition). The machine asks several questions in setting up each profile including height and activity level. One gripe is that the scale doesn't automatically update your actual age (so, according to my profile, I'm still the age I was when I bought it -- but that doesn't affect the performance of the scale. It only affects the profile ID, so I haven't updated it). The weight, water %, muscle weight, and fat % functions are measured to the nearest tenth. The scale seems pretty sturdy (no glitches in 2+ years) and it looks sleek. It also provides additional indicators (visceral fat, metabolic age, etc.) This is a great choice for an in-home, at-your-finger-tips, body composition reading. I highly recommend it. It would be really cool if it could store you past readings on the scale for a quick comparison, but that is something that you can easy track on your own. It's a good tool to track your overall health, but always remember that every piece of technology has glitches so never change your eating/exercise regime if your composition numbers fluctuate a little. If you are very concerned about your body composition or overall health, you should see your doctor.

I purchased this scale because I was primarily interested in the bone mass measurement. I also have an Omron Body Composition and Scale (available here on Amazon). The Omron has scale plates you stand on and also a hand grip. The Tanita only has the usual foot scale. My review will compare the two. First, both are sensitive to hydration level. I think the Tanita, however, is more sensitive. Now that I've used it for a few weeks, I can pretty much predict my muscle mass and body fat percentage just by the hydration level. As hydration goes up, muscle mass goes up and body fat percentage goes down. This is true for the Omron but it seems to a lesser extent. Overall, for muscle mass and fat percentage, the two scales are pretty close in their measures over time. The Tanita does consistently indicate about 2-3% higher value for fat than the Omron. For weight, the Tanita has me consistently about one pound lighter than the Omron. For both scales, visceral fat percentage stays consistent with no variance. Bone mass also stays very consistent on the Tanita. There might be a slight increase of .2% given hydration level but, overall, it stays very consistent (e.g., out of 40 measurements, 3 were .2% higher due to a higher than usual hydration level). It also seems to be accurate, in broad strokes, in terms of having average, low, or high bone mass. Both scales provide an estimate of your metabolic age. On both scales, I come in below my chronological age. However, Omron has me about five years older than the Tanita. Also, on the Tanita, my metabolic age varies two or three years based on hydration (more hydration = younger). In summary, I think the Omron with the hand grips might provide more accurate measurements of body composition simply because the hand grips enable a larger area of the body to be measured. However, as other reviewers have noted, the measurement trends give the most accurate overall picture and although the exact numbers might be different between the scales, both scales seem to provide longer term trend consistency.

If you're looking to purchase the Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor you're probably someone who takes fitness seriously, or you're trying to make an effort to take it seriously. My wife and I purchased this scale 3 years ago to help us with our New Year's resolutions - that should tell you which group we fit into. :) By now, you've probably read all the specs, so I won't tell you what you already know. But it is important to know how well it works. Shortly after making the purchase I went to a local facility and had hydrostatic body fat testing. The results were very close to what the Tanita had indicated - within 1%. This was perfect confirmation that the scale was well worth the high price tag. *** TIP *** At times the Tanita would give us inconsistent results. After some time and deduction my wife and I concluded that it was much more accurate just after getting out of the shower. As if the moisture in our feet somehow facilitated the measurement. I don't purport to have any scientific evidence to support this, but I can tell you, without question, it was far more accurate that stepping on with dry feet. The only downside, albeit a HUGE one, was the durability of the unit. About a year after we purchased it, it became very unstable. It would only power on half of the time. We'd replace the batteries and it still would not work. Eventually I noticed that the battery contacts were rusting. A little cleaning worked temporarily, but after time they completely corroded, rendering the scale lifeless. For the price, I would expect that this scale would have better protection against the moisture that is common in any household bathroom. CONCLUSION: Buy the scale, but don't keep it in the bathroom.

For many years I used a digital scale that gave me a different readout each time I used it. I like to weigh daily but found that stepping up and down on the scale several times to get an average weight was frustrating. I thought that was the norm with scales until I started reading scale reviews and discovered that many people found the Tanita line to be accurate. If they weighed several times in a row they got a consistent readout. They did not have to take an average as I did with my Health-O-Meter. As a treat to myself, for losing 10 pounds, I decided to purchase a Tanita and after doing some research opted for the Tanita BC533. The Tanita BC533 is a state of the art scale that measures your weight (to two-tenths of a pound), body fat, visceral fat, bone mass, metabolic age and muscle mass. It is very simple to operate. You input your height, weight, average physical activity level and age. The Tanita will remember this information for up to four people so you only have to do it once, unless your information changes. (There is also a guest mode if a visitor wants to try it.) Once you have programmed the scale you toe tap your number, step on the platform and you will see your weight and body fat measurement. (Note - If you wear socks the body fat measurement will not work.) Then you can toe tap other buttons of your choice. A little figure gives you a visual cue as to what the buttons are. For example for muscle mass the figure is holding weights. For bone mass there is a tiny skeleton inside the figure. You decide which body composition features you wish to check. You may for example want to check your bone mass once a month, or then again you may want to check it weekly. It's up to you. It's as simple as pressing the corresponding button, and takes only seconds. Tanita has also introduced the Ironman Innerscan line. I was not sure of the difference so I called customer service. Amber went out of her way to explain the benefits of the Innerscan line, and the basic difference between the regular Innerscan and the Ironman. The Ironman gives you your BMI or basal metabolic caloric rate. This is the basic number of calories your body needs. The regular Innerscan (like the BC533) gives you your DCI instead. The DCI is a calculation where the BMI is multiplied by your activity level to tell you the number of calories you are taking in to maintain the weight you are. When you see this information you can then adjust up or down to help you gain or lose weight or stay the same. Nifty! Tanita includes a guide with the scale that explains exactly how the scale works. The scale is a bioimpedence device. A low level current (which you don't feel) passes through your body and the impedance or resistance level is used to calculate body composition. The booklet explains healthy ranges of body fat and also explains what body water percentage, visceral fat, etc. mean. The scale is also very attractive. Sleek styling and easy to use. Those with poor vision may find the buttons a little hard to see. But the visual clues will help. Despite the glass surface the scale stays very clean. The BC533 is an outstanding tool to help you accomplish your health goals!

Not as intuitive to operate as you might imagine. If you haven't had a Tanita before, this is one of those products you can't just pull out of the box and use. You'll need 15-20 minutes of looking through the manual to get the hang of it. The manuals (yes, there's 2 of 'em you have to read), fortunately, are pretty good and give you the information you need to get started. It's also a shame Tanita didn't think to put a memory function on this particular model. The scale will store your age, height, and activity level, but it won't allow you to check your readings from past weigh-ins. So you have to take a reading, have a pen and paper nearby to jot down the 5 or 6 numbers the display shows, and do it all before the auto-off function kicks in (or play around with the buttons to keep it from turning off). You'll need a concrete or ceramic tile floor to get accurate, consistent readings. The scale is very sensitive to the surface it's placed on, so don't use it on mats or your bedroom carpet. As for precision and readings, no complaints there. The scale does what it says, and body fat and weight readings are consistent and accurate. The rest of the readings are derived from formulas, so in a general sense they're correct but your mileage may vary depending on physique and personal background. This particular model displays your weight, body fat, bone mass and water content as values (you get kg and %). Visceral fat is displayed as a rating (1 is perfect, 5 is ok, 15 is over, 25 excessive, etc), would have been nice to have it as a % value. If you're a home user, who hits the gym 2 or 3 times a week and wants a bit more info to fine tune the workouts, you'll probably be satisfied with this product. Serious trainers or athletes should look to other models, IMHO, as they'll probably find this one lacking in functions and data.

The Innerscan was very easy to set up right out of the box. Within minutes, I was stepping on the scale and seeing weight, which I was already painfully aware of. But seeing the body fat percentage really woke me up. I'd already begun changing my diet and exercising more, but knowing that I can now watch the fat percentage go down (please!) and muscle mass increase, I am more inclined to use the scale. I know that watching just weight can be frustrating, as fluctuations due to water weight can be annoying. But I am now even more motivated to continue improving my lifestyle. I do believe that some convenience of use was traded off for style and appearance... you basically have to step on the scale, wait for weight and body fat % to be read, then get off the scale and either get down on the floor or pick the scale up to check the other readings. The buttons that you press to view bone mass, muscle mass, water %, etc. are fairly small and use icons that aren't easy to see six feet away. But frankly, the two readings that are important to me are weight and body fat %, and those are displayed automatically, so this is a minor inconvenience. And bottom line, it just looks cool. The documentation provided with the device is excellent, including not just usage instructions, but some real information on what the numbers mean, an overview of healthy goals, keys for getting the most accurate readings, etc. After using this just once, I'm convinced that everyone should check their body fat percentage on occasion... it may very well come as a surprise. One extra cool thing is that it measures the fat around the abdominal area, which research is showing is a significant contributor to heart disease. The one area I'm normal on!!

This measured metabolism is not accurate, too young。

Esta si es más exacta que la Omeron por ejemplo en % de grasa la Omeron me sacaba 24% y esta me saca 18.5% ya sabia que tenia margen de error la omeron, siento que si es más real porque estoy flaquita y no como mucha grasa, saca el peso en kg de músculo creí que sería en porcentaje pero no esta mal y el vidrio si esta duro y fuerte, hasta ahora se ve bien, espero me ayuden en mis consultas nutricionales con mis pacientes 👏👏👏

I'm quite happy with my new Tanita! It arrived quickly and was easy to set up and understand. Looks sharp in my gym and is VERY consistent. After reading reviews, I decided to not even try the batteries that came with it and just put in my own new batteries.

Cumple con todo lo que viene en la descripción del producto

The first thing I would do in the morning is turn it on, step onto it and check the figures. This is a must have Body Composition Monitor at home. I reminds me to eat diet and workout hard. I lost 15 pounds in a year.