Of the handful of smart scales I’ve tested, the Index S2 has the highest-quality display. The information it presents is bold, bright, crisp, and — rare among scales — multicolored, creating a surprisingly pleasant viewing experience from above. Minimalist and budget-friendly, the Xiaomi Mi Smart Scale 2 wouldn’t be out of place in the Apple store with its hidden LED screen and smooth, rounded edges. Looking at the stats is easy on the app: Simply tap on the different sections to see your readings, with a definition of the metric. The trouble is, there is little insight into the data, so without doing some serious Googling it’s hard to know what your results mean and how they relate to your overall health and fitness. I successively weighed myself to ensure the results were the same. All devices were highly similar and highly consistent with no significant variation at all. (like 100g or 50g variation) Consecutive Body Fat readings I did have some initial issues trying to get the scale to pair with my Google WiFi guest network, however, once I set it for the primary Google WiFi network it worked fine. There’s no technical differences between those two to my knowledge, and Garmin isn’t clear either if perhaps it was resolved by a software update that occurred moments later on the scale.

In terms of weight measurement, these scales were consistently 0.1kg (3.5oz) above those on the Withings and Omron scales. The closeness of these numbers across three different brands points to a high degree of accuracy. This isn't a scale you'll want to be carrying often (it's much heavier than the others in this listing), but its two-layer design with no feet means it can be used on any type of floor. That's a real win if you want to weigh yourself in a carpeted bedroom – electric scales are usually only suitable for hard floors,You might have two houses, you might want to connect to a hotel WiFi or a holiday house WiFi or you might want to go to a friend/family’s house to regularly weigh one of them. My use case is to go to a nearby elderly relative in a care home. Regardless of the use case, you need to do this

The S2 is consistently 4-5% off compared to other measures. When I searched to see if anyone else had this problem, I came across this thread on the Garmin forums: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/healthandwellness/f/index-s2-smart-scale/255098/s2-body-fat-not-accurate Now – what about accuracy? Well, given the current world climate it’s a bit difficult right now to waltz in and get a fancy body fat analysis and such done. Though, I have done so in the past and recruited a bunch of people to test various devices. When I look at the Index 2 vs Index 1, the weight is almost always nearly identical – such as .1lbs apart. The body fat however was pretty substantially different, usually about 2-2.5% (generally higher) with the Index 2. In our tests, we were particularly impressed by the simplicity of the whole process. If you only want to see your weight then no setup is required at all, but the scale allows up to six people to keep profiles with comprehensive stats including fat and muscle mass, BMI, and even estimated basal metabolic rate. When it came to body composition, however, these scales were notably different to the others that we were comparing them with. Typically, body fat readings were around 3% higher than on any of the other scales we tested.A connected scale that has all the data in the world, somehow doesn’t pull the data in from arguably Garmin’s best customers (the ones who are buying yet another scale from the company). It’s mind-boggling. So in my case, I’ve got piles of data that would show up here – and most importantly from a vanity standpoint, show up with a nice decreasing trendline over the past while. But nope. The process for invited users is that they have to have a Garmin account and it has to be “Linked” to mine – that is explained. Basically, they send a small current from the base of the scales throughout the body,” he said. “The current will flow freely through water and relatively freely through muscle, because muscle is around 80% water. When it hits the body fat, that current will meet resistance and that is how body fat is measured.” This is where you’ll grab your smartphone to set it up, using the Garmin Connect app. It’ll find the device just like a watch. And, once this post goes live the image and codename Garmin uses will magically change to the correct product image and real name instead of placeholders (Garmin does this for all products, to minimize leaks).

If that sounds confusing, don't worry – it's all clearly explained when your data is synced with the Withings Health Mate app (via either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi). together with practical advice to help you improve your readings. Eufy's Smart Scale P2 Pro is a feature-rich full-body monitoring system that can measure 16 different metrics for multiple members of your household, including pets and babies. But this smart measuring device can do more than just measure weight and body fat – the P2 Pro can also measure resting heart rate, protein percentage and body age, among other things. The app also pulls in data from third-party apps like Apple Health and Google Fit, letting you see stats like your activity levels, and compare them with your changing weight and body composition metrics. If you're interested in getting a detailed overall picture of your health and developing better habits, it's a great choice.And it’s easy to say ‘Sure, it’ll fill in over the course of the next 30 days’, and yes, it will. But that’s not the point. Its entire point in life is to be a CONNECTED scale. It fails somehow at this most basic task for the most pro-Garmin customers. Yet, it pulls in the weather data just fine. 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. Once you’ve hit ‘reset’ the scale will prompt you to pair with the Garmin Connect app. It uses Bluetooth for this bit, but then the rest of the updates happen via WiFi. Input your gender, height, weight and date of birth, then your activity level (low, medium or high) and name or initials (to identify which user you are) and you should be good to go.

To see how well the multiple user feature works, I tested it out with my husband, who was already one of my Garmin connections. Since he already had Garmin Connect on his phone, setting him up was as simple as sending him an invitation through the app (Garmin Devices → Index S2 → Manage Users → Invite People). Once he accepted the invite and answered a few questions, the scale started to recognize him and sync his data. It’s unsurprising that the scale consistently detected who was who between the two of us, given that there’s about a 60-pound difference between our weights, but I’d be interested to see how well it differentiates between more similarly-sized users. The emphasis on multiple daily weigh-ins sends the wrong message

What are the best smart scales to buy 2023?

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. I like the Fitbit as it consistently said I had 5.2% body fat (five point two) – maybe it was visceral fat? The manual says it measures body fat percentage. Garmin told me I was a more believable 15.95 +/0.1% and Tanita RD953 said I was something between 19% and 22% and the BC-558 said 19.5%. I would have thought I was a bit lower than 16% as I’m pretty skinny, thus the Garmin gave readings that seemed to me to be more likely to be correct. Consecutive Bone Mass readings