Tanita ES-100 Handheld Digital Nose Can Tell You Just How Bad Your Funk Is Kickin

A Japanese company is doing something that will help people feel better about going out in a crowd. No one wants to go out in public smelly, but some people can’t seem to tell when they stink. A company called Tanita has a new gadget going on sale this month that is designed to smell your stink for you and assign it a numerical ranking.

The device is the ES-100 (why is it not called the Stank-o-Meter?) and it is essentially a handheld smell checker that measures the intensity of body odor on a scale of 0-10. A ranking of ten is the worst. It works in a similar fashion to the alcohol breath analyzers that Tanita also makes. Rather than scanning for alcohol on the breath, this device scans for body odor.

Use requires nothing more than turning the ES-100 on, extending the sensor, and then pointing the device at whatever part of your body you want to check for stink. The sensor has to be in proximity to the body part for ten seconds to assign it a ranking. The device can also tell users if they have gone too heavy in the application of perfume or cologne.

Pricing for the device hasn’t been announced, but Tanita doesn’t sell directly and will leave pricing up to the individual retailer to determine. The company is mainly positioning the device for people in an office environment, but it does note the device is good for people getting ready for dates as well. It's unclear if the device will be sold outside of Japan.