BodyPedia: the most powerful scale for body composition analysis

An interesting smart scale has just hit Indiegogo. Once BodyPedia properly launches in January, it might just be the most feature-packed smart scale for home use in existence.

We have been following the release schedule of Withings Body Scan with much interest. The smart scale is due to start selling in the EU on December 6th. US availability should follow once the company secures the necessary regulatory approvals. Hopefully, that won’t take too long.

What distinquishes the Withings product from the competition is that it can assess nerve activity, detect Afib and monitor segmental body composition. That’s quite a nice list of features that goes way beyond what is currently available. But the French outfit might get some stiff competition pretty soon.

BodyPedia – a powerful device on paper

The BodyPedia scale sounds pretty great on paper. According to its Indiegogo page, the device provides much more than weight readings. This is courtesy of 8-point tactile electrodes (typical smart scales have 4) and three frequency currents (typical smart scales have only 1) at low, medium and high frequencies.

For starters, all of this ensures great accuracy. In fact, the company says BodyPedia is 97% in line with measurements you would get if you paid for a DEXA (Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry) scan. This is considered to be the gold standard in case you were wondering. More than 10,000 tests comparing with medical devices have apparently confirmed this accuracy.

Those of us who already have smart scales in their home know how inaccurate they can be. For the most part anything outside of the weight measurement should be treated with scepticism.

The novel features of the scale go beyond accuracy.

The list of features of BodyPedia is quite long. In addition to weight you get measurements for more than 40 body points. For example, you can get individual readings for the circumference of your neck, chest, waist, hip, arm and thigh. You could even put in an intensive training session and see your immediate body fat or muscle progress by stepping on the thing. It is said to be that accurate.

Essential reading: Top fitness trackers and health gadgets

What’s more, the scale allows for direct segmental measurement of the left arm, right arm, torso, left leg and right leg. A bit like human body modelling. For each segment there is info on body composition, muscle-fat, obesity degree and more.

Potentially you could even create targeted training plans. Identify your weak areas and work to improve them. In fact, the scale will do some of this for you. It will spit out health recommendations custom-made for your body measurements. Best of all the detailed stats allow you to follow your progress (or lack of) over time.

An individual measurement goes through two stages. The first stage is stepping on to the scale to allow it to measure your weight. For more detailed info there are two retractable handles which you are meant to hold for 26 seconds. The analysis and insights can be viewed in the accompanying smartphone app.

All of this sounds really great. Hopefully the product will deliver on its promises. BodyPedia has raised nearly $300,000 on Indiegogo and is still available on in-demand. It runs at $149 a pop which is quite reasonable considering the feature-set. Backers can expect to receive the device in January. Usual warnings about crowdfunded projects apply.

Price:$149 and up

Funding total:
$295,500 raised by 2,261 backers

Estimated delivery: January 2023

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