Omron HBF-510W Full Body Composition Monitor with Scale Review

The Omron HBF-510W Full Body Composition Monitor with Scale measures and calculates essential body composition criteria that can help anyone safely and effectively lose weight and achieve fitness goals. In addition to measuring body weight and calculating Body Mass Index (BMI) the HBF-510W measures overall body fat and visceral fat levels. This is accomplished by passing an unnoticeable electric current through the body using four sensors for the feet and two for the hands. The amount of resistance the current flow encounters (bioelectrical impedance) is determined in part by the amount of adipose (fat) tissue in the body. Visceral fat determination is also an important health indicator because this type of fat surrounds internal organs and is believed to play an important role in determining a person’s risk for developing serious health problems like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The HBF-510W also calculates percent skeletal muscle and this is important because the more muscle a person has the more fat they’ll burn when resting. Together, these five fitness indicators can help the user more accurately judge whether a weight loss or fitness program is reducing body fat composition without sacrificing fat-burning muscle.

Up to four people can store their personal information in the HBF-510W, information necessary for accurate BMI calculations and interpreting the results of other measurements. A guest can also enter their information temporarily for on the spot measurements and calculations. Users need to be taller than 3 feet 4 inches and shorter than 6 feet 6-3/4 inches, and weigh less than 330 pounds. The HBF-510W is shipped with four “AA” batteries and comes with a one year limited warranty. Reading the manual is highly recommended to help ensure factors that can increase the inaccuracy of measurements are eliminated or minimized and to take full advantage of the considerable fitness information contained within.

Customer reviews were skewed heavily in the positive direction, with 80% satisfied enough with their purchase to recommend the HBF-510W to others. When reading through the reviews it quickly became apparent that more than a few negative comments could be considered “nit-picking”, or the expression of concerns about shortcomings unrelated to the product as advertised. Consistent with this trend, a surprising number of positive reviews were well written and quite humorous, which begs the question: how many home appliances have motivated you to react in such a personal and positive way? The bottom line seems to be that the HBF-510W performs as advertised to the consternation of several overweight customers.

There were a few negative comments that legitimately raised concerns about the absolute accuracy of percent body fat measurements, but most happy customers seemed aware that these instruments are extremely sensitive to many variables and are therefore judged less on absolute accuracy than on how accurately changes in body composition are tracked over time. Based on the reviews, the types of customers who should avoid purchasing this instrument therefore include anyone with a percent body fat composition below 5%, has a cardiac pacemaker, is pregnant, hates to read manuals, or expects absolute accuracy every time they stand on the HBF-510W.

Given the relatively low cost and the wealth of desirable features, the Omron HBF-510W Full Body Composition Monitor with Scale is easy to recommend to anyone seeking one of the best instruments on the market for home body composition measurements and can tolerate sensitive instruments and reading instruction manuals.