Weight Watchers WW34D Glass Precision Electronic Scale

Like many other users I too wanted an accurate scale and the specs for the WW34D seem promising. Wow.. one tenth of a pound.!

When I first tried the scale it did indeed give the same result every time I stepped on and off the scale. Just as advertised.

Curious to test it a bit I stepped on the scale, stepped off, waited 15 seconds, weighed again.. same weight. Tried the same at 30 seconds... same weight. But with 45 seconds (approximately) between weighings suddenly the scale gives a totally different result - usually within a half pound, but different every time..

Why??? Well clearly (to me) it doesn't re-weigh you if you step on and off; it just stores the weight in memory for a while.

As a second test, I tried stepping on the scale, stepping off, then immediately weighing myself holding a 15 pound weight, then stepping off and reweighing. Sure enough, in this case the intervening 15 pound differential was enough to clear the memory so the second weight was different from the first, even only a few seconds later.

My first response was to get quite annoyed, since I'd expected a super accurate scale, so I called Customer Service and asked to speak to an engineer. When I explained how I was getting different results he told me that even though the readout is in tenths of a pound, the scale actually is only accurate to within two-tenths of a pound. This really means that it can be two-tenths high then two-tenths low and still be within spec. So the scale works as specified, but the advertising is misleading.

Thinking about it it did in fact make sense and I decided rather that send it back, just to use it and change my expectations. After it really is a but much to expect that degree of consistency and accuracy from a $27 scale !

My current practice is quite simple. I take five distinct readings first thing in the morning, using the 15 pound dumbbell between weighings to reset the scale. Then I drop the high and low and average the remaining three readings. They usually are within a half pound range which is accurate enough for me now. I have done this hundreds of times now and never ever had five readings the same.

Since this test is easy to perform I would encourage other users, especially those reviewers who though the scale highly accurate, to try the same and report back.

As a last note I'd add that with sets of five or seven consecutive weighings using my method first thing in the morning, the first weight is almost always the lowest of the set, with subsequent values increasing .Get more detail about Weight Watchers WW34D Glass Precision Electronic Scale.