BodyTrace rolls out GSM-enabled eScale
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 15th 2010 5:31PM
posted April 15th 2010 5:31PM
Sure, a WiFi-equipped scale may be good enough for most people -- since, you know, you're likely to keep your scale in your house -- but it looks like those not satisfied do now have another option in the form of BodyTrace's new GSM-enabled eScale. Of course, the big advantage here is ease of setup rather than portability, since you'll be able to automatically (and privately) upload your weight to the BodyTrace website without having to first mess with WiFi settings and whatnot. Somewhat surprisingly, the eScale is also actually cheaper than something like Withings' WiFi scale, with it running just $59.99 including a year of service -- or, alternatively, $9.99 a month with a $9.99 up-front setup fee (which also includes the scale).
Bezel.
/s
If it's GSM+WiFi, then it's good.
If it's just GSM, they can get bent.
@Plazmic Flame
GSM only, which means the scale is $59 but to use it you have to pay $10 a month.
@Plazmic Flame Well, but your momma is so fat she'll trigger a DoS attack when stepping on it..
@Johanu Win.
Am I the only one who thinks this is just silly?
@GenericMessage
I was toying with the idea of replying "yes" just to mess with you, but who the hell would I be kidding?
@GenericMessage
No, you can do this http://www.break.com/usercontent/2006/7/29/women-lie-134383
Who needs to bring a scale with them? Most people know they are overweight and do not need a scale text messaging a service to keep track of how fat and lazy they are.
The way I remind myself how fat and lazy I am is by eating Cheetos and commenting on Engadget.
Cool! This can go with my GSM enabled digital photo frame!
@n8equalsd
At this rate my GSM bills are going to be higher than my car payment.... I guess I will need to jog to work... wait a minute now I get it!
@n8equalsd and my GSM enabled pot plant, I get a happy or sad face on my phone to tell me if I have forgotten to water it
This is nonsense, is it for someone who travels with a scale? *shrugs*
I love tech... But pen and paper still has a place in my life
@Okjeff171 Amen.
this is absurd, clearly the people who are happy to see their weight on a scale are motivated enough to type it into the computer themselves!
I'll beat that with my Satelite enabled sScale. You'll pay me $150/month so you can measure and upload your weight wirelessly while you travel in the Death Valley.
So will it tell me when I'm Ovar 9000?
$60/yr. or $10/mo. for what? maybe 8 bytes of data a day? Jeeze, that makes text messaging seem cheap! Yes, the whole concept is a joke, but if it was priced properly, say at $1/month, maybe they'd sell more than five. At that rate the carrier still makes out like a bandit. How many useless services do these companies think we'll spend $10/mo. on?
great, now i can broadcast my weight over the air for all the sniffers out there.....
btw, where is my tin foil hat..... i lost it with my tube of fluoride....zomg
@Eli Haj
So you can track your weight change. I don't even have to think in the morning, just stand on my Withings scales before I've even got my eyes to focus and brain in gear, then jump in the shower, I can then track my weight when I feel like it. It's kind of interesting to see the fluctuations associated with being on holiday or going on a big night out, it's also helped keep me focused to lose over 10% of my original bodyweight in the 4 months I've been using it.
Yes, I know a pen paper and excel could do something similar but the enjoyment I've got from using it and having to go buy a new suit as my reduced belly now isn't sufficient to keep my trousers from the old ones up has definitely been why it's been useful to me!
I'm not sure why you'd need it to be GSM though really, although my wifi network wasn't going for a while when I moved house, the scales I have stored up all my readings till they connected to a server again and then added them all back in in one go, I guess you'd really need to be moving around a lot for these to be worthwhile and the Withings ones look a lot cooler in my opinion. Plus they're dead easy to set up on wifi assuming your iPhone can connect to your home wifi network, all you have to do is lay it in the grove on the back and press a button and it sets them up for you.
I've written too much I realize but I'm quite a big fan of my scales!
This company was either too small to work out a whispersync-style deal with the phone companies, or they already have, and are pocketing a huge amount of that $10.
And isn't it a little inaccurate to say it's cheaper, when there's a fee built in? The WiThings scale doesn't have a fee, so after just 10 months this one isn't cheaper anymore, and will eventually be FAR more expensive.
@Dignan17 Oh, and the readout on that scale looks like they took it out of the 80's. The WiThings display is much prettier with far more information.
In this case, uploading lowest score = winner?
I can almost feel my dream come true of a GSM enabled stove for only $9.95 monthly service fee...
Actually the $59 price includes 1 year of free service, so its really not that expensive afterall. I just bought a scale at walmart for $40 and it does not do anything. So for $20 more I could see my weight online for 1 year. Plus whatever other service they proide....