Crane Body Fat Scale

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On New Year’s Day each year, many Americans wake up to the sober realization that they probably ate too much over the previous six weeks. Starting in late November, family and friends come together for a parade of gatherings that may include (but is not limited to) Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. Add in the sugar-fueled activities surrounding Halloween, and there’s no wonder that so many people make attempt New Year’s resolutions.

A typical New Year’s resolution is followed by the likes of gym memberships and perhaps purchasing some exercise gear. But before that? Taking stock of the situation. And the first step in that process is evaluating where you’re at in your fitness.

Some things you may already know, just from the feel of your jeans waistline or how tired you are after walking or jogging a mile. There are other things you might guess at but don’t know until you put a data point to it … like, say, your weight and your body fat. You might not want to know these things, but discovering what they are marks the first step in making goals about where you want to be.

Aldi sells a bevy of exercise and fitness gear to launch each new year. Among that gear is, often, a scale. Despite the fears of what we might discover — about ourselves as much as anything — we picked up one.

The Crane Body Fat Scale is an Aldi Find. Each store gets one shipment, and once that shipment is sold out, you won’t be able to find one again until they come back, which might be as far away as the next year. Aldi doesn’t offer online ordering for this scale after it’s sold out at your local store.

We paid $9.99 for the scale. Aldi sold this same scale for $14.99 in 2022, the latest example we’ve seen of of Aldi lowering prices on Aldi Finds this past year. In addition, this scale is cheaper than any other body fat scale we can find on Amazon.

Crane, it should be noted, is not a separate company, but instead is a house brand that Aldi has. According to the package, the scale is made in China and is backed by a three-year warranty serviced by Protel, a common Aldi warranty provider. Beyond that, it’s not clear who makes this scale.

According to the packaging, the scale comes with the following features:

• Memory for up to 12 people (height, age, and gender)
• Weight capacity of 396 pounds
• Measures weight, body fat, water content, muscle mass, and bone mass
• Recommends calorie intake
• Auto power on and off
• Low battery indicator
• Made from glass
• LCD display
• Battery included (CR2032)

Of note, the battery the scale comes with and uses is a common button battery that isn’t too hard to find.

The contents of the box. The sticker at the bottom of the scale can be removed before use.

The manual contains a laundry list of instructions and warnings. The scale, for instance, is slippery when wet and should be kept a suitable distance from, say, a bathtub. The manual also gives directions on how to preset different users — you don’t have to use those settings, but you can’t access data points beyond weight if you don’t.

The LCD display is bright and clear. The weight reading is easy to make out. Some of the other data points can be a little on the small side reading them from a distance.

Using the scale is relatively simple. If all you want to do is check your weight, you just step on the scale and it will give you your weight. Using it this way doesn’t trigger any of the preset profiles on the scale.

If you want to do more, there are a couple of steps. First, you have to create separate profiles. I was able to create four profiles for my family in just a minute or two. You can customize age and height. You can also choose either male, female, or “athlete.” The athlete mode is for people who perform more than 10 hours of intense exercise on a weekly basis and have a resting heart rate of less than 60 beats a minute.

Once you’ve set up profiles, you have to access the profile you’re assessing. To do this, you have to:

1. Step on the scale until it lights up
2. Press the set button to bring up the profiles
3. Use the arrows to scroll to the profile you want to assess
4. Step up again on the scale, with your feet on the metal strips, and wait for it to collect information

It’s important to know that, for a more advanced reading, you need to be barefoot. You don’t necessarily have to be barefoot to get just your weight.

For the more advanced reading, the scale spits out several pieces of data across alternating screens. On one screen, you’ll see weight, body fat percentage, body water percentage, and a fat level indicator bar. On another screen, you’ll see recommended daily calorie intake, muscle mass percentage, and bone mass percentage.

The manual has recommended ranges for several of the metrics.

How accurate is the scale? The weight seems pretty accurate. We compared the weight against another existing scale that we owned and they were within half a pound of each other. Our existing scale seems pretty accurate compared to doctor’s visits, so on that front we feel pretty good.

As for the other metrics? We’re not sure. Body fat scales like this one work by sending a small and painless electrical charge through your body — that’s why you stand on the metal plates — and using that to calculate the various numbers. As you might expect, a home scale has limitations compared to more advanced tools available in a medical setting. In addition, factors like how hydrated you are can affect the readings.

The only way to know for certain how accurate this scale is regarding things like body fat and muscle mass would be to compare it against a professional assessment. We didn’t do that here. We figure that, while this scale is probably good for getting a rough idea of certain numbers, it isn’t, as you might expect, a substitute for going to the doctor.

The Verdict:

The Crane Body Fat Scale is a simple scale that can either give you your weight or spit out a list of other body metrics if you want it to, and all for a lower price than any other scale of this type we can find. The weight seems pretty accurate, but we couldn’t say how precise the other metrics are, and they’re really only meant for rough guidance anyway. Time will tell how long the scale lasts, but the three-year warranty is a plus.