I bought this because I didn't trust my digital scale. It's one of those cheaper ones that slightly rounds up numbers to give the effect that it's incredibly accurate, but is in fact simply telling you what you want to hear by not allowing the number to move until your weight changes by a fairly large amount. I want more increments than that, and not a locking digital thing where you can't tell if it's programmed to give you a rounded up or down number. So, I wanted to buy one of these. Funnily having this scale did in fact tell me that the digital scale was pretty accurate to roughly a quarter of a pound, but until it crossed those thresholds, it would usually give the former weight, and that isn't helpful with weight loss. It seems very nicely made and finished. I chose this one over a square tube version, because this one was frankly a little heavier, and that seems to suit these old fashioned scales. The less they flex the better, but on putting this together, I'm wondering if the square tube design might not have been the one to go for over this.. On installing the upper main head piece, one of the tiny self tapping screws stripped immediately, and the other went in seemingly fine. I notice one other reviewer said exactly the same. It took so little force, I feel I never obtained any grip or over extended too much force at all to even say it stripped exactly, more that the screw is in fact too small for the drilled hole and simply couldn't bite. These aren't mega money, but aren't cheap either, so, for a brand new thing, this is a tiny bit irritating. I'll contact the manufacturers and see if they can recommend a larger screw size. It seems to be a piece that stops the top rotating, and so one is likely enough either way, but again, disappointing. Other than that, it seems incredibly accurate. One notable thing.. The measuring rod setup is rather counter intuitive. And even when setup, isn't as robust in feel as the scale is. It's designed to have the measurement taken from underneath the plastic sleeve once the patient steps away, (I suppose that would make sense if you were taking the height of someone fairly tall, and you were a ways shorter) yet the point of the bar that touches the top of your head is almost an inch higher. That wasn't obvious at first, and so I attempted to calibrate the measure to a measure held right next to it, only to find it wouldn't calibrate to it, and my initial thought was, the measure was manufactured poorly. The point of contact is not the same as the point of measure itself for calibration, or the point of reading :D It's best to set it up in the one of two locking positions that allows calibration to your scale (only one worked for me - the other was too far out), loosen the fine tuning screw that allows you some free movement in each direction. Measure say, 35" on a locking tape measure and hold it up to the bar that will touch your head, then adjust at the fine tuning bracket until both numbers correspond at the point where you will be reading the number from. (this only seems obtainable from underneath the measuring bracket. Above again seemed to make neither setting on the bracket allow calibration. Finally lock the screw down when you find the right spot. Seems a little ott to me, but I guess once you get it done, it's done forever. I'll update the stars when I hear back from the manufacturer. I think they would do themselves a big favor to have the same beefiness of bolts as the rest of the setup on that section of tubing.. Once you've installed the other bolts, it wouldn't be particularly surprising to find yourself stripping them out, just assuming a decent hold could be obtained, similar in feel to the larger bolts. I really babied my install, and still had that one strip out. The measure is so, odd.. It seems to have been designed with the ability to return it to a smaller size more in mind far outweighing the usefulness or accuracy. If your patient is taller than the lower setting, the upper part of the measure must be extended. Upon extending this lower part, the measurement is then displayed from the point above where the stick extends up from, and no longer from underneath the flip down stop. The stop itself, is incredibly flexible, and not particularly straight in the first place, yet the lower gauge is aluminum and robust. Once you extend the upper to a great deal of height, the amount it can move back and forth, combined with allowable flex in the stop makes the entire method frankly, pointless and not accurate. We should remind ourselves that having this as an option on something like this scale, means it should work, not be a pointless thrown on addition to make it competitive to other brands. If it isn't easy to calibrate, or accurate, and gives varying results, it's better off that you don't have it at all, as it makes your product look inferior. At this stage of purchase, I find myself very solidly of the opinion that I will be holding onto the box, just in case I need to return. I'm going to continue using and see how accurate the scale presents itself as being. It does thankfully seem to be of a higher quality than the measure, and also the problematic issue with the self tapping screws being too small.
