Health o meter 402LB Mechanical Beam Scale, Height Rod, 400 lb. Capacity, 10-1/2" x 14" x 3-1/4" Platform

8 years in and the scale is still excellent! Original review follows... The scale just arrived (2 days!). It took 5 minutes to put together. Weighed me to within a pound or so of the electronic scale I am replacing. The difference is, when I step on and off the electronic scale, consecutive measurements can vary by a couple of pounds. This scale, I can step on and off as many times as I like and it does not give me different readings. Resolution to 0.25 lbs. I've found the way to get the best consistency from a scale like this is to find your weight (beam is somewhere between top and bottom stops), hold the end of the beam against the top bar, adjust the sliding weight downward slightly, then gently (slowly, without moving your body) release the beam. If the beam *just* moves down from contacting the top stop and stays clear, you have found your absolute minimum weight (for this scale) - I have not checked the absolute accuracy of the scale, since (as I said) it measures close to what I expected and I am more interested in consistency than absolute accuracy. I stepped on and off the scale several times and my weight stayed the same. I picked up 4 AA batteries sitting on the dresser (3.375 ounces, or less than 1/4 pound) and the beam contacted the top stop. In other words, without my stepping on or off, the scale detected that I had added 1/4 lb to my weight. The difference in weight between the beam just barely contacting the top stop and just barely contacting the bottom stop was ~1/2 lb. So, even if you aren't as nutty about obtaining maximum consistency, as long as the beam is somewhere between the top and bottom stops, you can be confident your weight will be "correct" (for this scale) to within +/- 0.25 lb. The scale is not as heavy-duty as I would like, but what do you expect from a ~$170 scale?. Based upon the construction, I believe that if I don't knock it over, toss it across the room, jump on it, or otherwise abuse it, it will be accurate in perpetuity and I will never have to worry about it getting wet or wonder whether or not the batteries are dying. If anything untoward happens over the course of the next few weeks or months, I shall update this review.

Only 4 bolts and the connecting rod to assemble and for me no calibration required. I checked it against several known weights and all read dead-on! Best of all it reads 2 pounds less than my erratic digital, ( thank you, God!) which will go into the next trash run. As has been typical with the Useless Postal Service....AKA UPS, the box was delivered ripped open, and no instructions were inside! I went online and easily got them, and assembled the scale. Then, this morning I found the missing instructions out in the street! The scale is the size of a doctor's office scale ,but well worth the price and possible location accommodation knowing you are getting an accurate reading. It's very well made, and all metal, in spite of one description that it's plastic. It's built to last forever! I honestly do recommend this 402LB.

This is exactly what I was looking for. It consistently weighs me the same, no matter how I stand on it, and provides feedback to 1/4 a pound accuracy. It also includes a height measurement, which some scales don't. It doesn't include any wheels to move it around, but the scale isn't overly heavy. Any man should have no problem moving it around, and most women could probably move it, as well. If this is for an old person or someone not in good health, then just get someone to move it for you. In fact, the weight of the scale is a good thing, as you don't have to worry about it getting knocked over easily once it's in place. It lists the max capacity as 500 lb, but the scale without the counterweight only goes to 350 pounds. If you want to weigh something more than 350 lb, you have to add the counterweight, then look at the included chart to get your weight. This isn't a big deal because 1) it's rare to find a scale that will go up to 500 lb, and 2) how often are you weighing something that weighs more than 350 lb, anyway? The only problem with it is that a scale like this takes up more room than one of those standard crappy bathroom scales. You can't shove it into a corner because the top is wider than the bottom. And it has to be on a hard surface. If you put it on carpet, the scale will rock when you get on it because the carpet will give. So just make sure you have a place to put it, or just accept that the door to the toilet won't open the whole way because the scale is behind the door (or whatever problem you may encounter). I paid $165, which included shipping and no tax, which is a great deal. If you have a place to put it, you'll love this scale.

This scale gives me the accuracy and precision I was looking for that I didn't have in cheap electronic bathroom scales. I showed that its mass measurements are accurate by calibrating it with water of a known volume, using the density of water at room temperature to calculate the exact mass the scale needed to give me, and got the right answer to within the measurement error of the scale and the volume measurement instrument. I measured its precision to be plus or minus a half an ounce or so, depending on how you choose to quantify this variable. For two standard deviations as the quantification of the scale's error, that would be plus or minus an ounce or so. So in other words, if this scale tells you you're 150 lb 0 oz, there's a 95% chance that you're weight is greater than 149 lb 15 oz and less than 150 lb 1 oz, and not some other far-flung number. So it's pretty much to-the-ounce precision with this scale. You eat a 6-oz cup of yogurt, and your weight goes up by 6 oz on the scale (to within measurement error, of course); the scale will even pick up your weight loss due to breathing out carbon dioxide and water vapor + sweating/transpiration if you sit for an hour or two without doing anything. The scale is not for the faint of heart, mathematically and scientifically, though, if this idea is appropriately defined. You *do* have to assemble it yourself, and the "ounces" I'm talking about don't appear by themselves on the scale. You have to be familiar with fractions in order to use the comparatively user-unfriendly markings on it (e.g., that one-fourth of a division past two divisions, given that there are four divisions between each pound, would be 9/16th of a pound, or 9 ounces). Also, it requires a fair amount of manual dexterity to control that little slider on the beam with the required delicacy to get the precision I'm talking about -- plus you do have to watch what it's doing when it's coming to equilibrium and not forget whether the beam seemed to prefer the top or the bottom the last time you checked marking division 3 or whatever. So if you're looking for extreme accuracy and precision, ditching your cheap bathroom scale for this one would be a good idea. But if you're just interested in your approximate weight, rather than, say, the contribution of the weight of your clothes to your daily weigh-ins, just stick with a cheap bathroom scale that you can get for $20 or $30 at Walmart. They'll do fine for those purposes.

This scale is just what I expected it'd be. Came calibrated, was easy to set up and seems to be consistent and accurate. It doesn't have as sturdy as the one in the doctor's office, but it's plenty heavy....and I'm sure a lot less expensive than his. Only difficulty is finding a good place to set it where there is a flat, non-"spongy" surface, i.e., no carpet. It takes a fair amount of floor space (about 22" deep, 17-18" wide and about 58" tall). I was so focused on width and depth that I forgot about height. Now I have to reach around the scale to reach the light switch on the wall. Other than that, works just fine.

First, a few notes about setting the scale up: (*) In the box are a base, a pedestal, directions, and a baggie with four nuts and a laughably chintzy but functional wrench. (*) Protruding from the pedestal are four threaded studs. The studs can only go in the base one way. (*) With the base on the floor, you hoist the pedestal, guide it downward to the base and fit the studs into the appropriate holes. (*) Then, the hard part -- or, more accurately, the closest you'll come to a hard part while putting this thing together: You must hoist flimsily attached pedestal/base together and lay the pedestal on a table, so that you can hand screw and then wrench-tighten the nuts onto the studs accessible from the bottom of the base. You'll want a firm hold on the base/pedestal assembly while doing this, and, if you care about scuff marks on the table, will want to cover it with a tarp or tarp equivalent beforehand. (*) After the nuts are on tight: you slide a hook through a metal loop in the back of the pedestal (as described in the directions; it's easy, and obvious), put the whole shebang on the floor and you're done. You might need to turn a screw to get the balance beam to zero. I didn't. It was perfectly calibrated out of the box. I'm happy I got it. My weight is fine, but keeping it fine has been a daily effort for many, many years. I keep close tabs on my weight, and I think it was worth the money to know how much I *really* weigh, without the variability of spring scales. I might not recommend this for anyone who anticipates having to move in the next few years; this thing will be one more headache to cart along in the U-Haul. But, if you're planning on staying where you are ... I've never owned another pro scale and can't compare this to others on the market. It's one of the less expensive balance beam scales available, and all the Amazon reviews were good. That's why I chose it, and now I can contribute a positive review of my own.

Scale is consistent. Unlike conventional bathroom spring scales I have tried, I can get off this one and get back on and get the same reading. Scale reads to the nearest 1/4 pound, which is also good. There is no secondary scale on the end with the balance pointer (unlike commercial scales I have seen), so I would not try to go beyond that in accuracy. The numbers are painted on. It is not the commercial-grade high quality like the one in my doctor's office, but is more than sufficient for home purposes. Some assembly is required, and I thought the instructions were clear. The necessary wrench is provided. I did need to use a small screwdriver to make the final calibration to the weight scale. I got the version with the height ruler. One somewhat odd thing is that the scale reads the weight only in pounds but the ruler shows your height in both inches and centimeters.

The scale looks nice and seems like a good scale out of the box but that's as far as it goes. The sliders for weight are made of cheap plastic, the height rod is very difficult to raise and lower and catches and is also off to the right of center by about 4 inches since the entire height rod is twisted on the scale. It goes out of balance of about every 4 patients and I have to adjust it and zero it again. Very frustrating issues to have. Most frustrating is having to zero it so often and the height scale being catchy and off to the side. Since it is so hard to slide, I've hit a couple patients on the top of the head with it which is embarrassing and not something you want to do in a clinic or gym to clients and patients.