Product Description

Tanita BC-533 (BC533) Tanita InnerScan Body Fat Composition Scale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6163 in Health and Beauty
• Color: Glass and Silver
• Brand: Tanita
• Model: BC533
• Released on: 2005-04-10
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 13.00" h x 1.00" w x 13.00" l, 8.00 pounds

Features

• Easy-to-read
• Highly accurate body composition monitor
• 4 person memory
• Weight, body fat recall, body water and muscle mass recall
• Glass and silver

Amazon.com Product Description
The Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor is one of the most comprehensive body monitors on the market today that's designed for home use. Using advanced Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) technology that was previously available only to medical professionals, health clubs and professional athletes,

Monitoring features help you keep tabs on your body composition and health. View larger.

There is more to healthy dieting than weight loss alone. Body fat percentage measurements are also important indicators of good health. View larger.

this monitor analyzes a full range of body measurements, including weight, body fat percentage, body water percentage, metabolic age, physique rating, visceral fat, muscle mass, and bone mass. It's a mouthful of measurements, but what it means is that with the Tanita BC533, you now have the unprecedented ability to monitor your body and the effects of your diet and fitness routines, comfortably and affordably in the convenience of your own home.

With the Tanita BC533 up to four unique users can benefit. Simply supply your gender, age, height and weight into the memory, step on the scale, and the monitor does the rest. The results are analyzed according to each user's information, and the result -- displayed in the monitor's 2.25-inch LCD screen -- is the one of the most comprehensive at-home readings you can get.

This monitor, which is about the same size as a typical bathroom scale, is ideal for anyone who is serious about monitoring their health and fitness. Knowing your body fat percentage -- the amount of body fat as a proportion of your body weight -- is essential if you want to create a diet and exercise plan that helps reduce the risk of certain conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Body water percentage is the total amount of fluid in your body expressed as a percentage of your total weight. Maintaining a healthy body water percentage ensures that your body functions efficiently. The metabolic age level is related to your body's metabolic rate and helps you maintain the daily minimum level of energy or calories your body requires when resting or sleeping to function effectively. Even though your total body weight might not change drastically over time, your muscle mass and body fat levels may be changing. Keeping tabs on them can help you stay at a lower risk of certain diseases. And knowing your levels of visceral fat -- the fat in the abdominal cavity and surrounding the vital organs -- can help you keep heart disease and high blood pressure at bay, and may delay the onset of type two diabetes. In short, this monitor gives you essential information and greater control as you work to stay healthy and live a more active, vital life.

Operating on four AA batteries (included), the Tanita BC533 is intended for use by persons up to 330 pounds and is backed by Tanita's 10-year warranty.

Note: Pregnant women should not use this monitor, and if you have a pacemaker or other internal electronic medical device, you should not use the body fat reading feature.

Customer Reviews

A nice scale
I bought this scale several years ago because I wanted to keep track of different measurements as I lost weight. So far the only problem I have with it is that if I move too much on it, it doesn't read all the measurements right (it will just read the weight). The insructions do state that, and when I first got it I didn't have that problem. I can't exactly attribute that to the scale, though. My floors now aren't exactly level in places so I have to move it around whereas before they were. Overall, I'm happy with it and would get it again.

Be wary about using your Tanita in a bathroom.
Be wary of Tanita and their warranty claims. The product itself was decent, and fairly accurate, however Tanita is not a company that prides itself in customer service and product support. I used my scale in a normal bathroom environment, and after just 3 months you could see evaporation underneath the screen. I don't know if a gasket had a crack in it, or what the issue might have been, but the unit couldn't withstand the normal humidity of a bathroom. In fact, the unit was a good 20 feet from any active water, like a shower and tub.

I shipped the unit in, and without even so much as a courtesy call, the "customer service manager" returned my unit with a note that my warranty claim was refused, even though I had spoken to someone before about the issue, and said it would be replaced no problem. The customer service manager was nice enough, but said that even though it was well within the boundaries of his discretion, he was going to refuse the claim, because they refuse all like claims regarding evaporation. He even admitted that it happens fairly often.

Stay away.

His recommendation? Buy another Tanita, and not place it in the bathroom. Right.

people over 50 need not apply
I just got my scale and tried it out, and I have to say it really makes me mad that the designers of this scale see no reason to give anyone over 50 a metabolic age rating. To them, I guess a 50-year-old and a 90-year-old are both over the hill, so why bother making distinctions?

I spent the extra money primarily because this scale has been reported as being very accurate (repeatable) in the weight measurement, but since I spent so much money on the other features, I expect to receive them. I'm 60. As far as I can tell, I could be 10 years healthier than average, or 10 years less healthy than average, and I was looking forward to seeing what the scale said. But now I'll never know. I'm not sure if I'm more unhappy because I didn't get the information I expected, or because I feel that I've been treated with contempt because I'm at an age where they feel we can just all be lumped together. Either way, I'm disappointed.