Salter Pro-Helix Professional Oversized Bathroom Scale with Black/Red powder-coated steel coated base, Anti-Slip Bath Mat, 400 LB Capacity, Analog Scale, 18.25 x 13.0 Inch, Black/Red

Reading the reviews of this scale before I bought it had me a little concerned. Lots of people discussed inaccuracy and challenges zeroing the scale. Were they correct?Fundamental to almost all the negative reviews was a common assertion something like "I went to my doctor and I weighed X, but when I got home this scale said I weighed something else." This is a misunderstanding of weight. Human weight changes constantly throughout the day. We eat and drink - that adds weight. As we move around and our body burns calories that reduces weight - as does exhaling water vapor, bowel movements and urinating.For example - a normal human urinates half to two liters of water a day. A liter of water weights about 2.2 pounds. That's up to 2.2 pounds of variance per day depending on what you take in and what you eliminate - and that's just water not food.Regardless of what scale you buy you will see variations in weight. This can be challenging if you're dieting and want proof of progress. Weight loss (or gain for those looking to add mass) isn't about a single number but a trend over time.So - to the scale. The scale comes with a key locking the spring and directions that state you should remove the key and let the scale sit for several hours to fully acclimate to your environment. Then you zero the scale following a simply procedure of stepping on and off several times and adjusting the dial.It took two days and three adjustments to get my scale to reliably zero to the same setting. Once it had it worked perfectly - reliable, consistent readings each time. As temperature can impact any scale, from time to time a small adjustment to zero is required and this is easy and quick.I've now used the scale for some time and the readings are consistent within a normal range of weight changes (see above) daily.This scale looks great, performs well, and doesn't require batteries. It's sturdy, heavy and well constructed. Great quality for the price.

I have had a digital scale for several years. It works OK, but I got tired of having to change the batteries even though I don't use it that often. Also, to turn the scale on you had to step on then off and wait for it to come on. When the last battery I had in it finally died I decided I wanted to go back to a mechanical scale.First and foremost, the scale seems to be accurate. It was within a pound of what my digital scale showed I weigh (180 lbs). I also took four 5 lb weights and stacked them one at a time onto the scale. At the 5 pound mark it was off about a little less than a pound, at 10 lbs it was off by less than half a pound, but at 15 and 20 lbs it was exactly on. I'm sure the slight inaccuracy at the very low weights was just due to normal "looseness" in the system that it takes a few pounds of pressure to get out. Since this scale isn't really meant for weighing those low weights anyway I would say it is a non-issue.The construction seems pretty good. It feels solid enough and nothing on it looked flimsy. Where you stand is covered with a material that provides some decent grip, however I wish it was a little more rubberized and provided even a little more grip, though this is a small complaint.If you need to adjust the scale to zero it out the adjustment dial is on the top right at the bottom of the dial face. The scale has both pounds and kilograms, which is one feature I wanted since my wife is from Asia and prefers kg. This scale is somewhat large compared to many of the digital scales and does take a little bit of room, but is still small enough to fit under most sinks or in a closet with ease.Please take note that the product pictures above vary slightly. The product description says it is for weights up to 330 lbs and the very first picture has 330 lbs as one full turn of the dial. It also has no weights marked for use on the second turn of the dial. If you look at the third and fourth product pictures it shows a slightly different markings on the dial and you can see it says "Max 400 lbs" on the dial face. You can also see it has weights marked for use on the second turn of the dial (after it goes one full turn) up to 400 lbs (which the first picture does not have).I received the latter one that goes up to 400 lbs so it looks like the product may have been updated, but the product description is lagging behind.