Product Description

From Tanita, The Body Fat Experts, comes the BC 554 Ironman Innerscan Body Composition Monitor. This scale is a unique and highly accurate body composition monitor. This product not only measures weight and body fat, it also tells you your muscle mass, body water %, basal metabolic rate (BMR), metabolic age, bone mass, visceral fat and rates your physique! The muscle mass feature indicates the weight of muscle in the body. The Body Water % is the total amount of fluid in the body expressed as a percentage of total weight. The BMR is the daily minimum level of energy or calories your body requires when resting (including sleeping) to function effectively. The Metabolic Age compares your BMR to the average age associated with that level of metabolism. The Bone Mass is the weight of your bone in your body. The Visceral Fat is the fat in the abdominal cavity (stomach), surrounding the vital organs. The Physique Rating is a rating of your body type; 1-9. Its sleek, modern design of glass and silver accents is a compliment to any bathroom. Monitor your health and fitness with an Ironman Body Composition Monitor.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2212 in Health and Beauty
• Color: Glass and Silver
• Brand: Tanita
• Model: BC554
• Released on: 2005-04-10
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 12.00" h x 2.00" w x 13.00" l, .0 pounds

Features

• Highly accurate body composition monitor
• Easy to read 2.25" LCD display
• 4 person memory
• Weight, body fat recall, body water and muscle mass recall
• Physique rating

From the Manufacturer
The Tanita BC554 Ironman Glass InnerScan Body Composition Monitor Elite Series 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, this monitor analyzes a full range of body measurements, including weight, body fat percentage, body water percentage, metabolic age, bone mass, and physique rating. It's a mouthful of measurements, but what it means is that with the Tanita BC554, 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.

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.

The Tanita BC554 Ironman delivers advanced body monitoring technology with a sleek, stylish design. View larger.

With the Tanita BC554, up to four users can benefit. Simply supply your gender, age, height and weight in 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. As you become more active and reduce the amount of body fat, your physique rating will also change accordingly. The physique rating helps you maintain a diet and fitness program to achieve your desired level. 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 BC554 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

Directionally Correct, but Accurate???
I've used a simple model from Tanita for over 5 years and was as happy as a man with one clock -- I knew exactly what time it was. The added features of the BC554 were irresistable, but now I had 2 sources of data and they were not in agreement by a significant amount (e.g. 3% body fat difference on a base of 16%).

The weight measurement is as good as ever: precise, accurate and consistent. The best that can be said of the other functions is that they seem to be directionally correct and some are simply 'figures of merit', not measurements at all.

Customer support is surprising. When I asked the inevitable questions via their web site, I received a phone call from them. The answers made sense, but only reinforce my assessment.

It seems that the algorithms are based on a statistical sample using gender, age, height, and 'athleticism'. If your actual profile is close to the sample population, the accuracy is probably pretty good. But as you progress toward 'athletic' and away from the calibration population, accuracy declines.

It seems to me that anyone purchasing this model is serious enough about fitness to fall into this 'no man's land'. The other issue is that I would expect some continuity between the measures for 'standard adult' and 'athletic adult'. But there is a chasm! I measured 19% at 'standard' and 9% at 'athletic'. The first is clearly too high and the second is too low. Maybe a calculated average is closer to an accurate reading, but that is a serious shortcoming in a top-of-the-line product.

So, simpler & cheaper is my recommendation. Accept the idea that you are getting directionally correct numbers that are only accurate if you match the calibration population profile.

Careful in choosing a Tanita model to fit your needs
Great looking scale, just wish they hadn't put stickers on the glass part that leave residue which is close to impossible to remove. There are several types of Tanita scales out for choices in functionality. This "high end" model only really gives you an expanded recall function over most of the others, that recall function is horribly engineered by the way. It only recalls the LAST measurements, shows no statistics and is pretty much useless in my opinion. I use a pad and pen, it works ten times better. The manual that comes with the scale is essentially non-existant, it has a five sentence explanation of what most of the measurements are looking at. It never explains how it comes to these conclusions, mostly for the reason that to explain the calculations, would invariably reveal how innacurate the result set would be. The other issue with this scale is that the icons backlight by LEDs are about a 1/4 inch big, making it impossible to see them when standing on the scale. The only way to recognize the setting that you are currently looking at is by memory or getting off the scale and down on your knees. The accuracy of the weight function seems dead on, however, I have had four people step on this scale and the body fat, muscle mass and other "features" are ridiculously off. One of the people to step on the scale was a nutritionalist who was very familiar with her measurements and it was way off, by at least 20% in fat measurements. The biological age feature is a joke, I change ages daily according to the scale. The thing that I will say is that the fluctuations are registered so that you can see if the measurements are either decreasing or increasing. My suggestion is that if you are interested in these scales, and they do have their merits, go with a much lower end model than this one as it is really not worth the extra fifty or so dollars from much similar models. Go out to Tanita's website and compare them to see what you would like to have as far as options are concerned. For myself, it does give me some record to set goals against and I like that, I just wish I had gone with a more reasonable model that a $100 selection.

Great scale--shows real changes in physique over time
This was the top of the line consumer Tanita scale when I bought it ($115 US), and I'm glad I chose this model. I'm sure I won't use it as much as time goes on, but currently I am using it 3 times a day for the last month and plotting all the readouts in excel. I know you don't care, but just to prove that it does work, I have been constantly adding reps to my workout, and I am seeing results only a scale like this could tell me. My weight is staying constant, but my body fat is dropping by 0.06% per day and my muscle mass is increasing by 0.1 lbs per day. That's 3 lbs of muscle and almost 2% body fat in only a month! I only regret I didnt get this scale sooner. Oh, and it only stores your last measurement, so don't expect to track your changes with just the scale.
Their instructions say to take your reading just before your last meal of the day. I also take mine right when I wake up and just before bed, but the afternoon reading seems to be the most reliable (smallest standard deviation from the trend for those math majors out there).
If you are what Tanita considers to be an athlete (10 or more hours of workout per week or resting pulse of 60 beats or less), then you definitely need a scale with an athlete mode, bc otherwise your body fat % will be discouragingly high. I have had a few other people take their measurements using this scale (different heights, ages, body types, and genders), and the consensus is that it is pretty accurate for them as well.
Yes, it does use electrical resistance for the readings, but you could chew the two AA batteries it uses and not feel anything. (I disclaim any liability for injuries resulting from chewing batteries)
The instructions and reading material that come with it are informative and gives you explanations of all the extras (like BMR and visceral fat) along with the healthy ranges for both male and female.
If you are serious about getting in better shape, I encourage you to get this scale or one like it. It will motivate you to keep going and think twice about that fourth doughnut. If you just want to lose weight, don't waste your money, any scale can tell you that.