[m0zg]

Body fat number is pretty much made up though, do not rely on it. The only somewhat decent way to establish body fat percentage is a DEXA scan. I agree that wifi (and effortless multi-year progress tracking enabled by that) is a game changer. Also, they still support older scales - I thought when Nokia bought them they'd cut them loose, and for a while it looked like they would. But then Nokia fixed their app/service/whatever, and now it works like it did before. Impressive. You typically don't expect this level of customer support for old products.

[nradov]

I have had several DXA scans and own a Withings Body+ scale that claims to do body fat measurement. In reality it seems to be hooked to a random number generator. I have seen fluctuations of over 2% from day to day, which is obviously not physiologically possible. It's a toy not useful for any real health or fitness monitoring.

[Foivos]

They are not meant for a precise measurement, but it is useful to monitor a trend over time. In my case, the fat measurement is in line with what I see on the mirror.

Also, if you use only one source of data (ie. the fat measurement of the scale) and do not mix different sources, accuracy is not that important. Since, if there is a systematic error in the measurements, it applies to all the measurements and the trend is always true, even if there is also a small randomness component.

The main selling point here is convenience. You can do a somewhat decent fat measurement in your bedroom. The Dexa can not beat that.

On the other hand, my model (one I bought in 2015), also supports heart rate and this is total rubbish. To the point that it might give me 120 bpm at rest, then go on and do a workout and immediately after the work out, it reports 70.

[tonyarkles]

I just scrolled back in Health Mate and I made my first measurement on my OG Withings scale on June 20, 2012. It is still working as good as ever, and fully supported by both the mobile app and the desktop (Mac) app for configuring the wifi. I’m pretty impressed!

[moviuro]

> Body fat number is pretty much made up though, do not rely on it.

I would have said that too, but during the lockdown and stay-at-home period, it made a meaningful rise, and it fell back when I could go back to walking and doing sports. Fat percentage: made up? Probably not. Precise? Also probably not.