5 ms·

How long's it going to be before "smart" toothbrushes become the only option? Should I start stockpiling "dumb" toothbrushes now while I still can? The other d

How long's it going to be before "smart" toothbrushes become the only option? Should I start stockpiling "dumb" toothbrushes now while I still can? The other day I was trying to buy a pair of bathroom scales and it took me far too long to find one that just, you know, weighed things without also demanding I connect it to the Wi-Fi and download a smartphone app. How is this an improvement?

humanistbot 3y ago
It isn't that hard at all. I'm calling BS, because it seems like you're exaggerating to make a point that would be big, if true. Except it isn't true. First, I've owned several wireless connected bathroom scales from high-end to low-end brands. All of them work out of the box without needing or demanding you connect it to Wi-Fi and download an app. Put in batteries, step on scale, and weight is displayed. If you want to use an app, that feature is available, but definitely not mandatory, and I've never seen the device prompt to install an app. One had a removable sticker that advertised the app with a QR download code. Second, it took me less than 5 seconds to find a non-connected bathroom scale, if you care about that. Maybe I'll assume good faith here, you may be shopping at a super high-end retail shop, or an electronics store that also sells appliances, or an online megaretailer that knows you're into tech and is recommending you smart devices? But when I search for "bathroom scale" on amazon, target, walmart, or home depot, the first result is a basic digital scale that has no connected features. Same when I look at what is in stock in stores where I live in San Francisco. If there is a place where retailers would think they only need to stock connected bathroom scales, that would be the place. Nope, plenty of non-connected scales that only need a single button CR battery.
- arrowsmith 3y ago
  Christ, I make an offhand comment about a trivially minor frustration I had a few months ago and I come back to find that I've summoned the Spanish Inquisition. I never claimed that it's impossible to buy a non-connected set of bathroom scales; all I said was that it took me "far too long" - by which I mean I wasted maybe five to ten minutes deciding which bathroom scales to buy because the first few ones I looked at turned out to be overengineered piles of Wifi/smartphone-ready bullshit that I didn't want. Looking on Amazon UK now, I see several "non-connected" scales in the search results, so I'm not sure why I found it so difficult last time, but my memories are what they are. This is, of course, as trivial of a first-world problem as they possibly come, but it felt vaguely relevant to the current discussion, and it's part of a general trend in consumer electronics that I constantly see people on HN complaining about. Sorry you found it so offensive.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jackvalentine 3y ago
> The other day I was trying to buy a pair of bathroom scales and it took me far too long to find one that just, you know, weighed things without also demanding I connect it to the Wi-Fi and download a smartphone app. How is this an improvement? First site I went to, first search term I tried. https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=scales https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=scales
- rjh29 3y ago
  Also the first results on Amazon UK...
  - jackvalentine 3y ago
    I don’t know what compels someone to lie like that. It’s just bizarre.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      That's a strange conclusion to jump to. Perhaps the commenter wasn't shopping online, took a while to find such a scale in the stores, and so wasn't lying.
      - humanistbot 3y ago
        No. I'm pretty sure it is an exaggeration for rhetorical effect. You have to try really hard to put yourself in a situation where the only bathroom scale you can buy is non-connected. OP is either really intellectually lazy on this or is exaggerating to make a point. Maybe if you go to an electronics retailer that also sells appliances like Best Buy, that's all you can find. But I live in a very techy area (San Francisco) and my local Target has plenty of non-connected digital scales for sale. For $10 more, you can get the connected version.
        JohnFen 3y ago
        I'm just saying that calling someone a liar is a pretty extreme thing, and you should be really certain that they're lying before you do so. I don't see how you can have that level of certainty in this case. Now, saying that they're wrong is much more supportable and doesn't require you to engage in the tricky business of trying to read someone's mind.
beefield 3y ago
My pet peeve with bathroom scales is that it is impossible to find one that actually does what it claims and has accuracy of +-0.1kg. They do show the measurement to 0.1, but just shifting your weight differently can cause a difference of hundreds of grams. Does anyone knlw a scale that actually measures at 0.1kg accuracy?
- JohnFen 3y ago
  People confuse precision with accuracy all the time. It's one of my geekier pet peeves.
- criddell 3y ago
  The best scale I’ve ever had was the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. A couple of years ago I wanted to upgrade my bathroom scale to whatever the best one was and I found that there are no really good scales out there.
  - snorremd 3y ago
    This actually tracks as the Wii Balance Boards needs good sensors to accurately sense how you are shifting your weight. I imagine they use better and more weight sensors than your average bathroom scale. I have a "smart" scale from Polar that fortunately could be used as a regular dumb scale. I think Polar is really great in this regard. Their watches and other equipment can be used without syncing or connecting to their cloud, but the cloud does provide you extra value if you want to use it.
- Freak_NL 3y ago
  Is it ever significant to know? Your body weight varies naturally depending on food intake, waste disposal, and even when you last went for a hair cut. If sub-kilo variations are medically relevant, I would expect one to measure more than just weight.
  - automatic6131 3y ago
    >Is it ever significant to know? When making weight for a sport. Any more time than necessary spent dehydrating is energy and recovery you're not going to have for the event.
adql 3y ago
We just need to convince normies to stop buying every stupid gadget ... so yeah, we're doomed
quickthrower2 3y ago
I have one similar to this: https://www.medshop.com.au/products/seca-750-flat-scale-mechanical-150kg https://www.medshop.com.au/products/seca-750-flat-scale-mech...
HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago
A lot of bathroom scales are too "smart" and display recent cached weights rather than real measurements each time, in order to appear more consistent. Accuracy on some is also very bad if you store scales vertically (e.g. propped against wall) as that requires step-on, step-off re-calibration which people forget to do. I'm not sure you can even buy "just works" dumb mechanical scales any more.
- userbinator 3y ago
  I'm not sure you can even buy "just works" dumb mechanical scales any more. You can, they're just more expensive (relatively speaking) because they cost more to make.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - secabeen 3y ago
    Not my much, even; the analog scale on amazon is $27, compared to $20-30 for most digital scales.
    - userbinator 3y ago
      Do they have the same accuracy?

humanistbot 3y ago

It isn't that hard at all. I'm calling BS, because it seems like you're exaggerating to make a point that would be big, if true. Except it isn't true. First, I've owned several wireless connected bathroom scales from high-end to low-end brands. All of them work out of the box without needing or demanding you connect it to Wi-Fi and download an app. Put in batteries, step on scale, and weight is displayed. If you want to use an app, that feature is available, but definitely not mandatory, and I've never seen the device prompt to install an app. One had a removable sticker that advertised the app with a QR download code. Second, it took me less than 5 seconds to find a non-connected bathroom scale, if you care about that. Maybe I'll assume good faith here, you may be shopping at a super high-end retail shop, or an electronics store that also sells appliances, or an online megaretailer that knows you're into tech and is recommending you smart devices? But when I search for "bathroom scale" on amazon, target, walmart, or home depot, the first result is a basic digital scale that has no connected features. Same when I look at what is in stock in stores where I live in San Francisco. If there is a place where retailers would think they only need to stock connected bathroom scales, that would be the place. Nope, plenty of non-connected scales that only need a single button CR battery.

arrowsmith 3y ago
Christ, I make an offhand comment about a trivially minor frustration I had a few months ago and I come back to find that I've summoned the Spanish Inquisition. I never claimed that it's impossible to buy a non-connected set of bathroom scales; all I said was that it took me "far too long" - by which I mean I wasted maybe five to ten minutes deciding which bathroom scales to buy because the first few ones I looked at turned out to be overengineered piles of Wifi/smartphone-ready bullshit that I didn't want. Looking on Amazon UK now, I see several "non-connected" scales in the search results, so I'm not sure why I found it so difficult last time, but my memories are what they are. This is, of course, as trivial of a first-world problem as they possibly come, but it felt vaguely relevant to the current discussion, and it's part of a general trend in consumer electronics that I constantly see people on HN complaining about. Sorry you found it so offensive.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

jackvalentine 3y ago

> The other day I was trying to buy a pair of bathroom scales and it took me far too long to find one that just, you know, weighed things without also demanding I connect it to the Wi-Fi and download a smartphone app. How is this an improvement? First site I went to, first search term I tried. https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=scales https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=scales

rjh29 3y ago
Also the first results on Amazon UK...
- jackvalentine 3y ago
  I don’t know what compels someone to lie like that. It’s just bizarre.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    That's a strange conclusion to jump to. Perhaps the commenter wasn't shopping online, took a while to find such a scale in the stores, and so wasn't lying.
    - humanistbot 3y ago
      No. I'm pretty sure it is an exaggeration for rhetorical effect. You have to try really hard to put yourself in a situation where the only bathroom scale you can buy is non-connected. OP is either really intellectually lazy on this or is exaggerating to make a point. Maybe if you go to an electronics retailer that also sells appliances like Best Buy, that's all you can find. But I live in a very techy area (San Francisco) and my local Target has plenty of non-connected digital scales for sale. For $10 more, you can get the connected version.
      - JohnFen 3y ago
        I'm just saying that calling someone a liar is a pretty extreme thing, and you should be really certain that they're lying before you do so. I don't see how you can have that level of certainty in this case. Now, saying that they're wrong is much more supportable and doesn't require you to engage in the tricky business of trying to read someone's mind.

beefield 3y ago

My pet peeve with bathroom scales is that it is impossible to find one that actually does what it claims and has accuracy of +-0.1kg. They do show the measurement to 0.1, but just shifting your weight differently can cause a difference of hundreds of grams. Does anyone knlw a scale that actually measures at 0.1kg accuracy?

JohnFen 3y ago
People confuse precision with accuracy all the time. It's one of my geekier pet peeves.
criddell 3y ago
The best scale I’ve ever had was the Nintendo Wii Balance Board. A couple of years ago I wanted to upgrade my bathroom scale to whatever the best one was and I found that there are no really good scales out there.
- snorremd 3y ago
  This actually tracks as the Wii Balance Boards needs good sensors to accurately sense how you are shifting your weight. I imagine they use better and more weight sensors than your average bathroom scale. I have a "smart" scale from Polar that fortunately could be used as a regular dumb scale. I think Polar is really great in this regard. Their watches and other equipment can be used without syncing or connecting to their cloud, but the cloud does provide you extra value if you want to use it.
Freak_NL 3y ago
Is it ever significant to know? Your body weight varies naturally depending on food intake, waste disposal, and even when you last went for a hair cut. If sub-kilo variations are medically relevant, I would expect one to measure more than just weight.
- automatic6131 3y ago
  >Is it ever significant to know? When making weight for a sport. Any more time than necessary spent dehydrating is energy and recovery you're not going to have for the event.

adql 3y ago

We just need to convince normies to stop buying every stupid gadget ... so yeah, we're doomed

quickthrower2 3y ago

I have one similar to this: https://www.medshop.com.au/products/seca-750-flat-scale-mechanical-150kg https://www.medshop.com.au/products/seca-750-flat-scale-mech...

HarHarVeryFunny 3y ago

A lot of bathroom scales are too "smart" and display recent cached weights rather than real measurements each time, in order to appear more consistent. Accuracy on some is also very bad if you store scales vertically (e.g. propped against wall) as that requires step-on, step-off re-calibration which people forget to do. I'm not sure you can even buy "just works" dumb mechanical scales any more.

userbinator 3y ago
I'm not sure you can even buy "just works" dumb mechanical scales any more. You can, they're just more expensive (relatively speaking) because they cost more to make.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- secabeen 3y ago
  Not my much, even; the analog scale on amazon is $27, compared to $20-30 for most digital scales.
  - userbinator 3y ago
    Do they have the same accuracy?