Salter Academy Analog Bathroom Scale for Body Weight - Large 18.25 x 13 Inch Steel Platform, 400 lb Capacity, Oversized 7.5 Inch Dial, Non-Slip Mat, Silver Chrome

It was time to me to start keeping track of my weight. Simply going by how I looked in the mirror or how my clothes fit wasn't really working for me. It was time to get a bathroom scale. I wanted something that had excellent build quality, something that was low maintenance, and something that was consistently accurate. I began my research looking at various digital scales. Those things a thin, they are pretty, and the readouts are quite easy to read. The problem is that I read accounts of weight innacuracies, problems calibrating the unit, and the endless supply of batteries need to run it over a lifetime. I had forgotten about the analog alternative and decided to give them a look. That is when I ran across this Salter unit. I really love this scale. It is very accrurate, it is a simple design, it is easy to calibrate, and best of all doesn't require any batteries. My only problem with this unit is with the aesthetics. It looks a bit clinical. I had seen instances of this scale in black but I wan't able to locate them. Second it's kind of bulky. It will take up a lot of space in your bathroom, but if you have a larger bathroom that shouldn't be a problem. Overall I am very happy with this scale. It is a simple design that is very accurate all the time and I'll never have to feed it batteries.

Had this scale only a few days. But its accurate, followed the instructions to calibrate it and it was right on for both my wife and me. Nothing has fallen off. I'd say its well made. Numbers are large and easy to read. Which is great. Hard to believe it's this good after some of the negative reviews. I bought this scale because its mechanical, no batteries, no digital. If that's what you want I'd say its a good buy. Yes, its big but we had no problem finding a place for it on the floor of the bathroom.

I was kind of excited to get this scale. As excited as one could be that is. I am dieting and I want to see a nice accurate picture of weight loss. I, too, like many of the others decided that I did not want all the bells and whistles and thought my Health o Meter HDM560DQ-05 Digital Weight Tracking Scale, Black might be a little too complex. I thought I would move toward simplicity. Ok ... so I thought I was headed in the right direction. I unpacked the behemoth of a scale (this one is really long and large and you might want to think of space available for it). This goes far beyond the space for a bathroom scale. But I knew that by reading the other reviews on here. I was ready to make the room because this scale looked worth it. It cost more than some of the others in it's class - so I thought cost might equate to quality. In this case, not so. When I anxiously unpacked my scale and took out the key (I turned the scale upside down to do this) the plastic lens from the dial came off. As I inspected the scale further (and attempted to re-seat the lens into the bezel) I quickly realized that this scale was made using cheap materials. That chrome bezel that looks so pretty in the picture ... it's plastic! When I saw the tabs on the lens and the slots in the bezel that lined up I realized that the tabs were too small and the lens would never stay put with any minimal jostling. I would forever be wrestling with a plastic lens coming off and dust and grime getting into the dial ... not to mention condensation if in a bathroom. I currently use my Health-o-meter weight loss scale and it's definitely better than this one - but I wanted the simplicity and large numbers because of eyesight (I have MS and my eyesight stinks). Another design flaw I saw was mentioned by another reviewer. The dial to calibrate the scale to zero is right under the dial. This could be moved by a toe, a shoe, etc. Too easy to access and too easy to move that dial. Like most other scales, a spot under the top or bottom edge would have sufficed. The dial might be large, but the numbers are written in a sans serif font that isn't even bolded and becomes difficult to read, especially if eyesight is any issue at all. The dial is pretty, but it's difficult to read. How about that plastic lens - what happens if it starts to get scratches on it and the dial becomes even more difficult ot read? What about all the plastic ... will it hold up to bathroom condensation over time???? This could have been a nice scale, but I think they should send it back to the design shop or cut the price in half. I expected better quality all around and a little more thought put into the design. The scale may look sturdy ... but looks can be deceiving. If I thought that this scale would have been worth it, I would have returned mine for an exchange because defects happen. Instead, I decided to go for a refund and will either stick with my current digital scale or look for something less cheaply made. 1 star.

ACCURATE RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX! Tried three digital scales, all highly rated, all off the mark by around 3#. (My gym has two balance-beam scales, both calibrated and showing the same weights; I compared weight to those.) I suspect that the digitals all use the same silicon chip. Anyway, I decided to go with an analog scale and this one looks great, seems well-built and was on the money. The graduation lines are close together, so it's a bit hard to read compared to the digital, and it doesn't go down to fractions of a pound. But what's the point of easy-to-read if what you read is bogus? Very happy w/ this one. And thanks to Amazon for its return policy; all this trial and error cost me nothing (except for the higher price of this mechanical one.)

I have had a digital scale for several years. It works OK, but I got tired of having to change the batteries even though I don't use it that often. Also, to turn the scale on you had to step on then off and wait for it to come on. When the last battery I had in it finally died I decided I wanted to go back to a mechanical scale. First and foremost, the scale seems to be accurate. It was within a pound of what my digital scale showed I weigh (180 lbs). I also took four 5 lb weights and stacked them one at a time onto the scale. At the 5 pound mark it was off about a little less than a pound, at 10 lbs it was off by less than half a pound, but at 15 and 20 lbs it was exactly on. I'm sure the slight inaccuracy at the very low weights was just due to normal "looseness" in the system that it takes a few pounds of pressure to get out. Since this scale isn't really meant for weighing those low weights anyway I would say it is a non-issue. The construction seems pretty good. It feels solid enough and nothing on it looked flimsy. Where you stand is covered with a material that provides some decent grip, however I wish it was a little more rubberized and provided even a little more grip, though this is a small complaint. If you need to adjust the scale to zero it out the adjustment dial is on the top right at the bottom of the dial face. The scale has both pounds and kilograms, which is one feature I wanted since my wife is from Asia and prefers kg. This scale is somewhat large compared to many of the digital scales and does take a little bit of room, but is still small enough to fit under most sinks or in a closet with ease. Please take note that the product pictures above vary slightly. The product description says it is for weights up to 330 lbs and the very first picture has 330 lbs as one full turn of the dial. It also has no weights marked for use on the second turn of the dial. If you look at the third and fourth product pictures it shows a slightly different markings on the dial and you can see it says "Max 400 lbs" on the dial face. You can also see it has weights marked for use on the second turn of the dial (after it goes one full turn) up to 400 lbs (which the first picture does not have). I received the latter one that goes up to 400 lbs so it looks like the product may have been updated, but the product description is lagging behind.

This scale is beautifully designed and is made with quality in mind. I was surprised at how substantial and heavy it is. The dial is nice and large so you can easily read it while standing on the scale. I do have to recalibrate it every so often, but that's no big deal. You can't go wrong with this scale!

This scale is decent. Its nice and classy looking. The big numbers are easy to read, but even I have to squint when reading the small ones. The scale itself is built on a spring device (internals) which means that in different climates and humidity settings, you will indeed get slightly different numbers. I weigh myself on this scale pretty routinely - and used a Doctor's scale today (as if this should be a gold standard.. which it is not!) -- this "Salter Academy Professional Scale" that I have was 8 pounds light. I'd assume that because its a spring scale, that as your weight goes up the tension in the spring will have a greater deviation from the true mass on it (and of course, over time years and years, that spring tension will decrease as well). For me, I weigh-in at 200 on the "Doctor's Scale" but only 192 on this scale. I'd assume for someone in the 150 range, that they might weigh-in closer to their real weight at about 145 on this scale, with a smaller deviation. All said and done, its a nice scale, and produces consistent results.

Reading the reviews of this scale before I bought it had me a little concerned. Lots of people discussed inaccuracy and challenges zeroing the scale. Were they correct? Fundamental to almost all the negative reviews was a common assertion something like "I went to my doctor and I weighed X, but when I got home this scale said I weighed something else." This is a misunderstanding of weight. Human weight changes constantly throughout the day. We eat and drink - that adds weight. As we move around and our body burns calories that reduces weight - as does exhaling water vapor, bowel movements and urinating. For example - a normal human urinates half to two liters of water a day. A liter of water weights about 2.2 pounds. That's up to 2.2 pounds of variance per day depending on what you take in and what you eliminate - and that's just water not food. Regardless of what scale you buy you will see variations in weight. This can be challenging if you're dieting and want proof of progress. Weight loss (or gain for those looking to add mass) isn't about a single number but a trend over time. So - to the scale. The scale comes with a key locking the spring and directions that state you should remove the key and let the scale sit for several hours to fully acclimate to your environment. Then you zero the scale following a simply procedure of stepping on and off several times and adjusting the dial. It took two days and three adjustments to get my scale to reliably zero to the same setting. Once it had it worked perfectly - reliable, consistent readings each time. As temperature can impact any scale, from time to time a small adjustment to zero is required and this is easy and quick. I've now used the scale for some time and the readings are consistent within a normal range of weight changes (see above) daily. This scale looks great, performs well, and doesn't require batteries. It's sturdy, heavy and well constructed. Great quality for the price.