The Best Bathroom Scales

The Scale X is the least expensive of the models we tested that consistently detected weight changes within a half pound while providing fresh readings (not ones from memory) at each weigh-in. It has a long battery life, and its backlit display instantly turns on and off and shows your weight for 5 seconds after you step off the scale. We also like that it’s completely silent—no beeps. The Scale X can measure weight in pounds or kilograms (but you need to use the app to switch to kilograms from the default pounds). It’s warrantied for one year.

We interviewed health and fitness experts, including Dr. Linda Everett, a bariatrician (a physician who specializes in weight loss) and Rachel L. Pires, a weight-loss counselor and the author of Diet Enlightenment. We also spent hours poring over customer reviews of bathroom scales on Amazon and at other retailers.

• As Wirecutter’s senior staff writer for health and personal care, I’ve tested dozens of scales, both “smart” and regular.

• Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

Many people can benefit from owning a good bathroom scale. You’re weighed at every physical exam for a reason: Being over or under healthy weight recommendations is linked with having a greater risk for certain health problems. Significant weight fluctuations can tip you off to health or lifestyle changes that need your attention.

Even simply monitoring your weight could help achieve weight loss goals in the long run: Several studies have found that regular (at least weekly) weigh-ins are one of the most common characteristics of people who lose weight and keep it off for years afterward.

That said, weight is not a self-contained measure of overall health. Your weight fluctuates throughout the day (by on average five or six pounds) due to factors including your hydration, when you last ate, and even what you recently ate. “As long as you don’t become overly fixated with the number on the scale, the advantages to using one definitely outweigh the disadvantages,” said Pires.

Many bathroom scales (including our top pick, which can be used as a smart scale if desired) can now do much more than simply weigh people. Some record weight and other biometric readings in an accompanying app, allowing you to automatically track your weight and other health factors over time. Smart scales aren’t necessarily better than other digital scales—they just have more connectivity features and (possibly) offer more metrics, such as an estimate of body-fat percentage and body mass index (BMI), which is an estimate of body-fat percentage based on weight and height that experts have criticized.

The two most important factors in a scale’s ability to give a useful measurement are accuracy (the scale reads reasonably close to your true weight) and precision (the scale gives the same reading if you take two or more readings in a row).

Our survey of more than 600 Wirecutter readers helped us discover the other features people want most in a scale (including, importantly, digital readouts—which led us to eliminate analog or mechanical scales from consideration). Beyond reliable measurements, we considered:

• Weight limit: We preferred scales with weight limits of at least 400 pounds, which is typical for digital bathroom scales meant for home use.

• Platform size: Generally speaking, larger scales are easier and more comfortable to stand on.

• Display: Backlit displays are easier to read. We preferred scales with display times of 5 seconds or more, which is enough time to check the readings before the display goes blank.

For each round of testing, we set up all the scales according to their manuals and calibrated them as instructed. Then over the course of a few weeks, we weighed ourselves on each scale several times in a row, using books, jackets, water bottles, and dumbbells to add and subtract different weights and see if the scales could pick up on the differences.

We learned that some scales offer a seemingly manufactured sense of precision and accuracy: They may calculate your weight based on the memory of your previous readings rather than actually weighing you each time.

For example, after weighing myself, then weighing myself while holding a 10-pound dumbbell, then weighing myself yet again without the dumbbell, I found that one of the scales said I weighed 10 pounds more than I did. Other scales would at first correctly show the additional weight difference when another tester was holding a sandal that weighs 0.4 pound, but they would then revert to her previous weight measurement without the sandal, suggesting that the scale doesn’t pick up on subtle weight fluctuations.

To get accurate readings on any bathroom scale, you need to place it on a hard, flat surface, and you should calibrate it every time you move the scale.

We gave each scale a maximum 0.2-pound margin of error. So, for example, if a scale weighed one tester at 120.0 pounds and they then got back on the scale with a 0.4-pound book, we considered the scale to be accurate if it said she weighed anything from 120.2 to 120.6 pounds.

It’s understandable to desire perfection from your bathroom scale, but according to the experts we spoke to and our own testing experience, 100% accuracy and precision is generally not feasible with a household bathroom scale due to a variety of factors—floor evenness, scale movement, and a person’s balance, to name a few.

To get accurate readings on any bathroom scale, you need to place it on a hard, flat surface, and you should calibrate it every time you move the scale (by quickly stepping on and off it). If the scale is placed on an uneven or carpeted floor (bathroom mats included), it might not be able to display fresh weights, as we found out in our testing—no scale was able to overcome uneven flooring.

To get accurate readings on any bathroom scale, you need to place it on a hard, flat surface, and you should calibrate it every time you move the scale (by quickly stepping on and off it). If the scale is placed on an uneven or carpeted floor (bathroom mats included), it might not be able to display fresh weights, as we found out in our testing—no scale was able to overcome uneven flooring.

The platform is made of plastic. The HD-662 has a plastic platform that can feel less slippery and is much less likely to shatter than a glass-topped bathroom scale.

The HD-662 scale is available in black or white (each has the same, ultrabright backlit blue display) and comes with a substantial warranty of three years—triple that of our pick’s more-typical warranty period.

It has a lower capacity than our top pick. The HD-662 has a 330-pound maximum weight measurement (70 pounds less than our top pick).

This is not a comprehensive list of all the bathroom scales we’ve evaluated. Here we include those we tested that are still available.

The EatSmart 550 Pound Digital Bathroom Scale we previously recommended as the best higher capacity scale was not as accurate as our picks at picking up weight changes within half a pound. However, if you need an extra-large scale that can accommodate up to 550 pounds, this is a fine choice.

In retesting our previous top pick bathroom scale, the EatSmart Precision Ultra-Wide Bathroom Scale, we found it did not reliably detect weight differences of less than half a pound.

The Eilison 2-in-1 Digital & Analog Weighing Scale did not pick up on incremental weight changes within half a pound as well as our picks.

None of the Etekcity scales we considered performed as well as our picks. These were the EB9380H, EB4887S, EB4410B, EB4074C, and EB9388H.

The Greater Goods AccuCheck Scale was not as precise at picking up weight changes under ½ a pound as our picks.

The Hopkins Medical Products EZ Carry 550 LB Digital Scale has a handle for easier transport, but it was not as accurate or precise as our picks in our testing.

The Inevifit Bathroom Scale was accurate and precise in our testing, but it has a less-legible display and usually costs a lot more than our picks.

While customer reviewers glow about the Renpho Travel Scale for Body Weight, it did not always pick up weight changes of less than half a pound, and its (purposefully) compact size made it difficult to use for testers with a foot size above around a women’s 7.

We found the Taylor Digital Bathroom Talking Scale to be generally accurate and precise. If you need a scale that speaks your weight out loud and are okay with a few errant measurements, this is an adequate choice.

The Seca 813 Digital Flat Scale was accurate, features an extra-wide nonslip rubberized platform, and—like the Tanita HD-351, which we think is worth considering—measures weights up to 440 pounds. But it’s much more expensive and doesn’t save past weights.

The Taylor Digital Glass Bathroom Scale wasn’t as accurate as our picks during our testing.

The EatSmart CalPal Digital Bathroom Scale, Escali Bamboo Bath Scale, Greater Goods Bathroom Scale 0390, Ozeri WeightMaster II, Taylor Digital Stainless Steel Bathroom Scale, and Taylor 7558 and 7506 scales performed poorly when compared with our picks in controlled weight-adjustment testing.

This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.

1. Svetlana Chentsova, FNP-BC, CBN, program manager at One Healthy Boston, phone interview, March 28, 2019
2. Linda G. Everett, MD, MHA, medical weight loss physician, Everett Medical Weight Loss and Management, phone interview, April 17, 2015
3. Rachel L. Pires, author of Diet Enlightenment, phone interview, April 15, 2014
4. Lisa Quintiliani, PhD, associate professor of medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, video interview, September 23, 2022