Rush at the house of lidl to try to evacuate the extra pounds? On Monday January 5, the distributor put on sale a connected scale, the Sanitas SBF 73, at only 21.99 euros. In these times of overweight due to the excesses of the end of the year, and in this period of thin cows, due to inflation, we bought the scale in order to test it. “Lidl, the real price of good things”, says the ad. But is it worth it?
Faithful to the Lidl method
Lidl has become accustomed to attracting customers to its shops with high-tech products at bargain prices. We are thinking, of course, of small household appliances (under the Silvercrest brand), such as the famous Monsieur Cuisine robot, the great low-cost competitor of the Thermomix. Or even DIY devices, such as high-pressure cleaners, screwdrivers (under the Parkside brand)…
At the beginning of January, the SBF 73 connected scale from the Sanitas brand arrives at Lidl at the right time. It is time to worry about the traces left by the excesses of the last holidays. As for the price of the device (21.99 euros), it seems like a bargain, while the 15th of the month has not yet arrived and there are only a few coins left in the wallet…
Bluetooth and not wifi
Unpacked, the scale absolutely does not cheap. Measuring 30 x 30 x 2.3 cm, in steel blue colour, it has a safety glass top that can support up to 180 kg. It is surmounted by a large monochrome LCD screen (8 x 5 cm). Three LR03 batteries are supplied, as well as four small feet to fit into those existing if you plan to use the scale on the carpet. One Quick Start Guide and a French manual are in the box. The implementation of the scale takes a handful of minutes, the time to associate it with the Health Coach application, also in French.
Observation: this scale, which has two stainless steel electrodes, is only Bluetooth. Some models, like the Body Cardio of the Withings brand, or the MasterFit de Terraillon prefer Wi-Fi: at each weighing, the data is saved in the cloud and can be accessed at any time from the application. A Bluetooth scale will need to be synchronized manually: either by weighing yourself with the application open on your smartphone placed nearby; or by synchronizing the application in the same way after several weighings. Which is less convenient.
A limited application
The data of the Sanitas SBF 73 scale sold at Lidl is not limited to weight. Each time we get on the device, our fat mass index (BMI), body fat and muscle mass rate are also measured and evaluated; water level. These data appear very clearly in the application with a color code (blue, green, yellow, red) which allows you to know if you are in a good average.
For its part, the evolution of weight can be displayed in the form of a graph by day, week, month and year. Too bad that this curve does not appear directly on the large screen of the scale when we weigh ourselves, as with the Withings scales. We also note that the application remains very limited in its approach. If it makes it possible to aggregate other Sanitas brand devices (such as blood pressure monitors), it is impossible, for example, to set a weight loss goal. Despite our research, it is no longer possible to add other users to the application (although it is indicated “8 memorizable users” on the packaging!). This model therefore remains a basic basic for classic use and monitoring your weight, rather than for “healthy” use.
Tested for a week, the SBF 73 impedance meter sold at Lidl did not cause us any other particular problem. The Facebook page However, the distributor is full of negative opinions, referring in particular to pairing problems (in our opinion, many of these difficulties also come from a lack of understanding of the procedure).
Surprisingly, we connected the scale with an iPhone 14 Pro, where the list of compatible smartphones (accessible via a QR code on the box) stops at the iPhone 11 and the Samsung Galaxy S10. Either iOS 14 and Android 8.0. It therefore seems that the SBF 13 is a somewhat old product (2019?). And a limited product. For its part, the brand Sanitas storefront. It is a German brand of the group Butter, specialist in health products. At 21.99 euros, the SBF 73 is probably the cheapest scale currently on sale, but there are many others around 30 euros, such as the BF 720 from Beurer. Which looks strangely physically like the SBF 13 from Sanitas… But whose application is much better developed.