REVIEW – As we come into the holiday (and eating!) season, a lot of people will be paying attention to their weight, myself included. I’m a competitive athlete, but tend toward the “big boned” side of things. So I need to pay attention to my body composition and distribution of muscle and fat to ensure strength, flexibility, and to help prevent injury. Body composition scales can be a helpful tool to do this, and I’ve tried a few in the past. Unfortunately, I just haven’t felt that they have been
accurate enough, nor did they have the “smart” features to integrate with the other health and fitness apps I use regularly. On paper, the RunStar Smart Scale accomplishes both of these. So let’s see if it lives up to the hype!
What is it?
The RunStar Smart Scale is a body composition scale that uses BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis) with eight electrodes to tell you a lot about your fitness and health. It connects to a very robust app on your phone.
What’s included?
- Scale
- Manual
- USB-C charging cable
Tech specs
Click to expand
Dimensions: 17 x 14.8 x 2.8 inches
Weight: 5.84 Pounds
Display: Full color TFT screen on retractable handle
Number of electrodes: 8
Number of biometrics: 28
Design and features
The RunStar Smart Scale uses BIA or bioelectrical impedance analysis, in additional to a traditional body weight scale to give you a tremendous amount of information about your health and fitness. The scale connects through bluetooth to your phone and uses a robust app to log and track your data, and can also sync with other apps like Fitbit, Apple Health, and Google HeathConnect.
The scale features a retractable handle which contains a full color TFT display as well as four of the eight electrodes. The other four electrodes are under your feet. Most BIA scales only use four electrodes, under your feet. The RunStar adds an additional four electrodes on your fingertips and thumbs, which supposedly creates for much more accurate readings.
The scale provides information on and tracks the following parameters: Weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), Percent Body Fat, Water Weight, Fat Mass, Bone Mass, Protein Mass, Muscle Rate, Fat-Free Body Weight, Subcutaneous Fat, Visceral Fat, Percent Body Water, Percent Skeletal Muscle, Muscle Mass, Percent Protein, Basal Metabolic Rate, Body Age, Waist-to-Hip ratio, Fat Mass, Protein Mass, Ideal Body Weight, Obesity Level, and Body Type. You get individual information in each limb, and information on the balance between upper and lower body. The app provides great information about each metric, as well as an indication of where your values fall on a gradient. You can also generate a printable “body composition report” which is useful for use in a professional setting.
Assembly, Installation, Setup
The only real setup involves installing the app on your phone (StarFit, available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store) and pairing your phone and the scale over bluetooth. That process was seamless.
Performance
It is very difficult to assess the accuracy of the biometric data outside of weight. I have done a bit of research on this, and in general, most BIA scales are not great in terms of absolute numbers. The RunStar Smart Scale uses 8 electrodes instead of the normal 4, which should increase the accuracy, but it’s unclear by how much. Where these scales are useful is in getting rough ideas of where you fall on a gradient, and for tracking your progress as you you make lifestyle or exercise changes. That’s where the app comes in.
In terms of regular use, it’s pretty easy. Every morning, I grab my phone, open the StarFit app, and stand on the scale. I grab the retractable handle and hold it at arm’s length out in front of me, and the scale does it’s thing. The screen comes to life, gives you your weight, and then proceeds to go through a little animation while the very mild electrical current (you can’t feel it at all) passes through your body via the electrodes. The app will even play you a little song for the 10 seconds or so that this takes. Then the screen gives you all of your data, and sends it to the app for graphing and logging. The app can also connect to common fitness apps like Fitbit and Apple Health. The screen is bright and clear so it’s easy to see, even early in the morning with blurry eyes! My only complaint about the retractable handle is that sometimes it doesn’t retract all the way. The retraction mechanism feels cheap and every morning, I’m afraid it’s going to break.
The RunStar Smart Scale features a rechargeable battery, recharged with the included USB-A to USB-C cable (no charger, just the cable). Battery life seems great. I’ve been using it for over a month on a single charge, and the battery display shows about half battery left.
My only complaint about the scale is that the “feet” upon which it rests sit about an inch or so inboard of the corners of the scale. So when you step off with one foot remaining on the scale, that foot better be somewhat centered or you can tip the scale, with it landing down with a clunk.
What I like about the RunStar Smart Scale
- A lot of information!
- Retractable handle with additional 4 electrodes (theoretically) increases accuracy)
- Screen on the handle is colorful and bright
What needs to be improved?
- Perhaps a more robust retraction mechanism
- Make the scale a little more stable
- Consider font size in the app – much of it is tiny, even on a large phone
Final thoughts
If you are interested in tracking a lot of data about your health and fitness with an attractive and easy to use body composition scale, consider the RunStar Smart Scale. The amount of data, ease of use, and integration with other apps make it a winner.
Price: $144
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by RunStar. RunStar did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
