Good, but with some caveats
We recently moved across the country and had to leave some things behind. One of them was an old, bulky doctor's scale that we used every day. Why did we still use an ancient doctor's scale in this day and age? Because regular bathroom scales, even the more expensive ones, are just amazingly inaccurate, seemingly never displaying the same weight twice, even during the same weighing session. Old-fashioned doctor's scales simply work better. But they tend to be expensive.
So when I came across the Detecto 439 at only about US$150 and with generally very good reviews, I ordered it. Shipping was prompt via UPS, and it came in a big, heavy box. I had feared that the scale might LOOK like an old-fashioned doctor's scale, but be a lightweight, flimsy modern-day implementation of one. Not so. The 439 is a sturdy, heavy metal piece of gear.
Putting it together is simple. Six screws is all it takes, and then making sure the draft rod inside is hooked up properly.
Initially, the scale seemed a huge disappointment as you literally couldn't take a breath or shift a fraction of an inch when standing on the base without the scale showing a different weight, like several pounds different. It was so bad as to render the scale useless.
That's when I remembered a loose metal hook in the box that I thought was some sort of packaging fastener. I laid the scale on the floor to look at its innards, and found that the errant leftover S-shaped hook was actually one of the scale's hangers that had fallen out during shipping. I put it back in, and now the scale worked properly. Whew!
That said, I still think the Detecto 439 is sort of "nervous." You really need to stand very still on the narrow base to get a reading that I feel can be trusted. Yes, it's quite sturdy, but it's also nowhere near as solid as our old doctor's scale which felt much more trust-worthy and precise.
Overall, the Detecto 439 is good and well keep it and try to get used to it, but you still get what you pay for, and $150 isn't very much for a big, heavy piece of equipment like this one.
A couple of final things: we still haven't figured out how to extend the hight rod assembly so that an adult's height can be measured. There must be some secret mechanical handshake. And the customer satisfaction card that came with the scale and urged users to go online and report is exclusively geared towards corporate customers.
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Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
