So first tries to get it to connect to Connect, and they failed. I was getting indications that it needed an important update, and wouldn’t (apparently) connect without it. Unlike most smart scales we’ve tested, the Renpho refreshingly comes with a rechargeable lithium battery and USB charger (included) rather than triple AAAs. It also has unlimited users and baby and pet modes.

Note above though that you can’t have a ‘Biggest Loser’ style scale and not show weight at all (just take readings). Compare this with the Withings Health Mate app, which offers extra detail, tips and explanations of the different metrics being measured, and it makes for a very bland experience. We felt strongly that Garmin should have offered more here, especially given how comprehensive the app is in other ways. From here the scales can indicate things like body mass index (BMI), muscle mass, body fat percentage and bone density. They can even tell you how much visceral fat you have - the kind of dangerous fat that clings to vital organs and puts you more at risk of chronic diseases including heart disease, diabetes and obesity. And they’ll reveal if you need to eat more protein or up your water levels. The scale proved very popular at launch, and at the time of writing (April 2021), there’s a wait of between five and eight weeks for delivery. Design The Withings Body+ is another superb smart scale, with all the essential features you need for monitoring your health and weight. Setup isn't quite as effortless as the Eufy Smart Scale C1, but it's still straightforward, and if you have any other Withings devices (like a Withings Scanwatch, for example), all the data from these will be collated with info from your scale in one convenient dashboard.

Garmin Index S2 smart scale review: Price and competition

It’s Bluetooth-enabled, which means you need to open the companion Zepp Life app to see your 13 body composition stats. You can only see your weight on the scale itself but the app offers more insight, although some of it felt slightly clunky. I have to say, the devices on test seem archaic in the design and operation, and generally untrustworthy with their results. The Fitbit Aria 2 and Tanita RD953 were appalling considering it’s almost 2021. In isolation, I probably would have slated the Garmin Index Scale S2 but in comparison to the others, I perversely decided I liked it and will definitely keep using it! Why? A: Consistency. I have no faith that the non-weight numbers are correct HOWEVER they do ‘feel’ consistent. So whilst I won’t trust the absolute value I will place some credence in the trends the Garmin Index S2 displays each morning/evening. Ultimately, if you’ve got a Garmin device and want weight automatically updated on your account/devices, there are not many clean options. There are some 3rd party integrations that have half-heartedly worked over the years (like MyFitnessPal syncing), but usually they eventually break. This one tends to just work with minimal fuss, even if it’s at a substantial premium compared to competitor offerings. Now, how do I get YouTube running on that display? Behind the scenes, this data is saved on Garmin Connect, and thus accessible from Garmin Connect Mobile or Garmin Connect. There’s a widget you can add to the dashboard to show your current weight. Alternatively, you can view more details in the ‘Weight’ section under ‘Health Stats’

The Body Water Percentage feature shows what percent of your total mass comes from fluids. It can help you see how hydrated you are. Accuracy can be difficult to judge, as smart scales manufacturers have their individual algorithms for calculating body composition. But there are some general observations we can make. Like Withings' other scales (listed below). the Body+ is well designed has a particularly large, bright display that's easy to read when standing up, and a sizeable toughened glass platform that makes it easy to balance. Measurements are consistent, and comparable with those from professional gym scales. Now within the Index scales you can tweak your profiles Activity Class (seen above), which in theory improves accuracy for body fat measurements on more athletic people. Though, in my case it made no difference. Typically this would be for people closer to single-digit body fat %’s. There’s been too many late night Stroopwafels for me lately for that to impact my testing. Anyways, as I was saying – if I look at impedance metrics like body fat and muscle mass, based on all the testing I’ve done historically, I don’t focus too much on the absolute values, and instead look more at trending. After all, the fact that one scale has me 2.5% higher than the other side by side is a great example of that. Undoubtedly Garmin would argue (perhaps correctly) that the newer technology/sensors/algorithms in the newer scales are indeed more accurate.The design is sleek and minimalist, the display (which only appears when the scale is in use) is bright and easy to read while standing up, and the non-slip glass platform feels sturdy and stable underfoot. Setting up the Garmin Index Scale S2 is straightforward but there are a few annoyances and one pitfall.

Garmin was always either 2.8kg or 2.9kg and Tanita RD953 was always 4.1kg. Each seemed confident they were correct with repeated measurements. At least one of them wasn’t. Consecutive Body Water Readings What we like about these scales is they are fully customizable, so you can change which widgets you want to display during weigh-ins. You can see lots of stats on the scale itself – including skeletal muscle mass, body water, BMI and bone mass. Each metric has a color icon above it on the scale, which you soon recognise after multiple uses. Open the app and you can see changes in these stats over the course of a day, a week, four weeks and a year. There’s no doubt the Garmin Index S2 is well made and looks sleek, but it’s an expensive bit of kit that doesn’t offer enough for the price. We struggle to think of many reasons why this might be helpful. For most people, weighing in multiple times a day is unnecessary, and could be counter-productive if it encourages obsessive behaviours.The data algorithms for body fat & muscle mass have been improved over the original Index Scale and all the data in Garmin Connect and on the scale is well presented and I find that aspect hard to fault – your day-to-day experience will be great. There are a few other niggles that I cover further below but these scales will finish off as a recommendation…for the right person. Once you’ve stepped off the connected scales, measurements usually get fired over to a fitness app on your phone. That’s also the place to get everything set up and view detailed information like graphs, health data, and trends over time. The Garmin Index S2 smart scales are a product that we’d like to love. They do everything you’d expect body composition scales to do, and they do it competently. It isn’t a terrible product. But it feels like almost everything could have been done better. And at this price point, we’d really hope to see more. Adding that body composition analysis along with weight data can give you a more comprehensive view of your overall health, helping to shape the type of exercise, nutrition and hydration decisions you make based on those insights. Measuring body fat and seeing it drop while your overall weight remains the same, for example, shows that you're putting on muscle while reducing your fat mass — something a traditional scale would never be able to show you. Do smart scales work with apps from Fitbit and Apple Health? In our tests, the measurements were very consistent across multiple weigh-ins, and (as expected), the muscle mass value was significantly lower than on other scales due to the difference between total and skeletal muscle. Most scales don't differentiate between the two, which is worth bearing in mind if you're switching from a different brand. Companion app

In any event, after it’s done showing you that trendline, it’ll iterate through the following metrics: Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Fat Percentage, Body Water Percentage, Skeletal Muscle Mass, Bone Mass, and Weather. Another new feature with the Index S2 scale is the ability to customize which of these metrics it’ll show each time you step on it. So if you don’t want to see a particular metric you can disable it within the settings on the smartphone app: However, there's a couple of small design issues here that stop it from being a must-buy. For one thing, the in-app presentation of these metrics can get a bit confusing. There's only a couple of ways the information is presented, and most of these use a green sliding scale without offering too much information about your results. Are they good? Bad? Average for your sex, height and weight? Sometimes, it's hard to tell, especially with the more esoteric metrics. We also found in testing there is an emphasis on multiple weigh-ins, which could be useful for pro athletes but for the average person could lead to obsessive behaviors.And here’s the scale sitting atop its wrapper. This is the cleanest it’ll ever be. From this moment forward it’ll look worse, even if you never touch it. Dust collects at an astonishing rate on this thing. I do in general find WiFi scales a far better option than Bluetooth only scales. WiFi scales tend to be ‘set it and forget it’, versus a Bluetooth scale usually has dependencies on having your phone nearby, the app opened, Apple or Google not having broken something in the recent update, etc… Whereas a WiFi scale doesn’t care about your phone and does it all behind the scenes. The “scales” don’t even show weight unless they detect naked feet. So you can’t weigh your suitcase on the way to the airport. That was a real surprise and not mentioned in the manual. If like me, you are vested in the Garmin ecosystem then the Index Scale makes sense for you. However, one of the reasons you bought it is perhaps to let your nearest and dearest share its features and they may well not even have a Garmin account. Here’s how you give them access. For the weight scale itself there are a few options in the Devices menu. As noted earlier you can change the widgets, as well as invite additional users to the scale.