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.

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.

After buying and giving up on 3 digital scales in the last year, I decided to invest in quality and reliability. The digital scales seemed to be playing some kind of guessing game -completely unreliable. I LOVE THIS SCALE! The box had been damaged in shipping and was partially torn, but the styrofoam and ties kept all the scale’s parts in perfect condition. I was a little apprehensive about assembly, having read the reviews about needing two people. I live alone, I’m 65 and not that strong, but I had this scale assembled in 10 minutes. No strength required. I love just looking at the scale and observing the beams remaining in perfect balance, perfectly calibrated day after day. Does not require recalibration. The weights are accurate and reliable. Get on and off as many times as you want - it will always read exactly the same weight. I also like that the weight is read at eye level. So much easier.

I bought this scale to replace a similar Health O Meter balance scale I purchased in Texas in 1975. That nice old scale survived multiple moves including two trans Atlantic crossings, but a few weeks ago it began" sticking " so I ordered a new one. Before it was delivered I was able, much to my amazement, to fix the old one ( there was debris stuck under the standing platform ). On that basis the seller kindly agreed to accept the new one back, which I appreciated. However, I subsequently decided to gift this new one to a friend who needs daily super- accurate weights for significant medical problems. I assembled the new one, which was relatively straightforward. It does take two people--or rather two ladies of a certain age--in order to heave it around while connecting the standing platform to the tower. Wine seemed to help that part too. It weighs accurately and consistently. The only caveat : The upper poise weight is light and ? a little flimsy, so care needs to be taken to return it to the zero mark after weighing in order to keep the pointer correctly centered. I hope it lasts as well as my old one, a 41 year old crucial ally in my long term weight control saga.

8/11/23 UPDATE! We have used this scale for nearby 2 years now and absolutely love it! It is accurate and dependable. A couple of hours ago this scale would have received only 1 star. I received the package (well packed) right before noon. I opened it and tried to assemble it. Folks, this job should be a no-brainer because all you have to do is insert the column into the base with 4 nuts and hook the steel rod at the base of the scale, stand it up and weigh yourself. I had already read the instructions online before receiving the product and read the reviews and questions posted on the website so I decided it would be an easy task. Admittedly I am not a handy person but with this scale one should not have to be handy. However, after working with it on and off all afternoon, I gave up. That hook would not stay on the rod when I stood it up. When my husband came home that evening, I asked him to look at it. He is good at "seeing" things and being able to figure stuff out. Just a few minutes into working with it he realized that there was no tension at the base rod therefore something had to be unhooked, broken, or left out at the top of the scale. Sure enough, the steel rod was unhooked in the top part of the scale (which is supposed to come fully assembled, not needing any fiddling with). He hooked it, then went back to the base and this time there was tension there and he hooked the bottom hook to the steel rod and we were able to weigh. So if you're having difficulty hooking the bottom of the rod (especially if there's too much play in it), look at the top part to see if it's unhooked there. I will try to post an update to this one after I use the scale some. When we weighed ourselves, the weight appears to be accurate right now.

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.

Works great. Easy to connect the base. Fast shipping, well packaged. Highly recommend.

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.