Tanita Scales and their marketing drivel

[SadieKate]

There are no Tanita scales to be found in this town so I'm doing my research on their site. Their regional sales director just gave me a bunch of useless vague mumbo-jumbo.

None of your posted brochures discuss the need or validity for the other data (bone mass, DCI, etc.). Where are those? Why should I buy a more expensive monitor when you haven't made a clinical case for the additional information?
Depending on the user, they may find the bone mass and DCI or Physique Ratings useful. These are all data features created by Tanita from the other data derived from the body composition reading, not to be taken as scientific data but as a way to monitor any changes in those data points. You don't have to purchase our most expensive products to get the same quality and accuracy as the rest of our products. They all vary in size, shape, and look and many come with multiple features that you may find useful.

Gosh, sorry that I asked you to go out of your way to tell me why I might find some of these features useful. Let me just hand you my debit card and PIN while we're at it.

Do you have anything on your website that would help a customer narrow down the appropriate scale? Sort of a product finder wizard?
Since we don't sell our product directly, it's up to the distributor sites or the consumer to narrow down based on the features they are requiring. We have them separated by body fat, body water, and full body composition, or weight only. Hopefully they will contact someone that can help them.

Gosh, if I had someone to contact, why am I emailing Tanita?

And lastly, put your MSRP on your website. Having to go through multiple clicks on every single model to determine the price is just going to make me go click on a competitor's web site.
Again, we don't sell directly from Tanita to the end user. They would have to choose the distributor they feel comfortable purchasing product from and make their selection from their site.

Yeah, I absolutely LOVED clicking on every single model several times to get to a commercial site (that supposedly has no direct sell agreement with Tanita, uh huh) just to narrow down which models are in my price range. Since the models are not listed in order of price, I had to look at every effin' one. And since not every distributor sells every model, doing my research on their site is only logical. Grrr.

She also directed me to a comparison chart that doesn't list all models which I specifically pointed out to her. I can just see her rolling her eyes about another consumer who actually wants some facts not just trust her "cuz we say so" approach.

Is there any other body fat/water scale manufacturer that get good reviews for consistency? I know the numbers are not going to be accurate, but I do want consistent because then I can track the trend. And are any of the body composition features of value? Again, just for trending purposes.