What is a bathroom scale ?
Checking your weight is easy with a bathroom scale and today there are professional quality scales available. Traditionally, the medical scale is a needle scale. Many healthcare professionals use a mechanical scale. Home users often prefer an electronic scale, mainly for accuracy. Many give results accurate to the nearest 100g.
The difference between a scale and an impedance meter
Whether mechanical or digital, a bathroom scale only shows your weight. With an impedance meter, you get additional information. Brands such as Withings and Terraillon make impedance meters to find out your weight, body fat, muscle mass, water and bone mass. The amount of information varies between models. Impedance scales calculate your BMI (body mass index) or your biological age.
A very weak electric current passes through the scale's electrodes. It is safe, but not recommended for some people, especially those with pacemakers. An impedance meter scale is useful for sportsmen and women or for major weight loss.
Les différents types de pèse-personne
There are 4 main types of bathroom scales.
The mechanical scale is the solution to have a scale without battery. Some models are capable of weighing up to 200 kg. The other advantage of the mechanical scale is its simplicity. It is a good option for buying a cheap scale. But not for an accurate scale! There are some excellent and reliable mechanical scales that work for many years, but none are as accurate as an electronic scale.
Electronic scales come in a variety of price ranges. It needs a battery, but it can last a long time and its main advantage is its accuracy. Electronic scales can also keep track of your weight for comparison purposes.
Some electronic scales are impedance meters. This is the preferred purchase if you are looking for a scale to find out your body fat, but not necessarily to get a more accurate weight.
Other scales are connected. With a connected scale, you can use an app on your phone to keep track of your weight.
How to adjust an electronic scale?
An electronic scale does not usually need to be set up, unless a weight unit has to be chosen or there are several users. Tefal, Beurer or Terraillon, each brand offers an instruction manual, but the electronic medical scale is easy to use. With some scales that store several profiles, you have to select your profile. With others, recognition is automatic.
Which scale to choose?
Choosing the right scale means knowing the main features of the scales. The mechanical scale is quite simple, but the maximum weight tolerance can vary. For a 250 kg scale, you can find a digital scale. These are called bariatric scales. Most other electronic scales go up to 150 or 180 kg and some up to 200 kg.
For the price of a scale, it ranges from about 30 to €150 (more like a professional medical scale). For the options, you mainly have the cardiovascular check-up and the recording of the weights of different users. A smart or connected scale offers more options via the app.
