Body Fat Monitor Reviews

Tanita InnerScan Body Composition Monitors

Tanita makes various models in InnerScan body composition monitor series. At the company website you can read information about the BC-533, BC-534 (picture), BC-551 and BC-573.  

A comparison chart of some of the models is also at the Tanita website, though unfortunately it is somewhat out-of-date.  

It is not easy to find objective reviews online about body fat monitors and scales. Commercial sites like Amazon.com and Epinions provide customer reviews, and these are well worth reading.

In August 2005 the TechnoLawyer Blog provided an extensive report on the Tanita BC-533 InnerScan monitor:
 

The scale works by sending an electrical impulse through your body — completely harmless unless you're pregnant or use a pacemaker, in which case you should not use the scale. To get started, you enter your age, height, gender, and activity level. The scale has 4 presets (if you don't have 4 people in your household, you can use more than one preset for yourself to play around with activity levels), plus it also has a guest mode (great for dinner parties — uh, maybe not!).

The Five Star Review website carries a feature on Tanita body fat monitors. Here’s an excerpt:

Independent research at several major universities (including Columbia University in New York City) has confirmed that in clinical settings, the Tanita Body Fat Monitor is accurate within +/- 5 percentage of the institutional standard of body composition analysis--Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA). It should be made clear that there is only one method of calculating body composition that is close to 100% accurate, and that is an autopsy. Tanita believes its method to be the most convenient and accessible to accurately predict body composition. The TBF Series results are repeatable to within +/- 1 percent variation when used under consistent conditions.

In May 2005, US News & World Report gave a glowing review to Tanita Innerscan body fat monitors:

At last, a scale that people can't wait to step on. The $120 InnerScan from Tanita not only reveals your weight and body fat percentage but goes on to calculate visceral fat (the amount around the organs), bone mass, metabolic age (the average age associated with your metabolism), a physique rating, and an estimate of daily calories to maintain your current state. If you're self-conscious, take heart: At least it doesn't laugh at you.  

A reviewer at the About series of websites wrote:

I'm no fan of scales. In fact, I haven't even stepped on a scale in years, which is why the space-age looking Tanita InnerScan surprised me. My, how far scales have come over the years. What makes this scale actually interesting to me is that it doesn't just tell you how much you weigh, it also tells you your percentage of body water, daily caloric intake, metabolic age rating, visceral fat, muscle mass, bone mass, physique rating and what you should eat for dinner. Okay, not the last one but still...not bad for a scale....It's a bit complicated to set up but, if you weigh yourself under the same circumstances once a week or so, you'll be able to see if you're losing fat and not muscle.
 

* Get the Latest Prices on Tanita InnerScan Body Composition Monitors.

February 23^rd, 2006
Updated: April 1st, 2007
Updated: November 8th, 2007

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