Garmin Index S2 Smart Scale - Black

Product Information

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. 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. 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.

Ultimately, the Garmin Index S2 works well, with accurate results in testing, but it slightly under-delivers for the high price. If this product isn't for you Xiaomi Mi Smart Scale 2 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. The Garmin Index 2 uses bioelectrical impedance to measure tissue types. Essentially, it runs a small current through your body (hence the need for bare feet), and different types of tissue cause different degrees of resistance. The scale measures weight and BMI, body fat percentage, skeletal muscle mass, bone mass, and body water. Skeletal muscle doesn't include the muscle in your heart, or the muscles that apply pressure to your organs and blood vessels. You can delete weigh-ins if you want, as well as add a weight goal, which will show up on your trending charts both on the app and on the device itself:

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. Your partner has to create a Garmin Account and FIRST get connected to you. Only then can you give your partner permission to use the scale in the scale settings under ‘Manage People’. Garmin has just announced the new Index S2 smart WiFi scale, building slightly upon the previous first-generation Index WiFi scale released nearly 5 years ago. This new model switches to a color display that’ll show weight trending information, helping to visualize the normal day to day fluctuations. It also adds a handful of tweaks like being able to customize the data widgets on-screen, showing difference to previous weigh-in, as well as increasing the sensitivity of some of the sensors driving the algorithms related to body fat & impedance-based measurements. Overall it’s a minor upgrade. And believe us when we say, there's nothing quite like taking a look at your BMI and body fitness age to motivate you to work harder in the iron jungle. These smart scales are an underrated and versatile tool in any fitness fiend's arsenal, so long as you take advantage of the stats they give you.

Press the reset button on the underside of the scale for a few seconds. After a few attempts, you will get the gear icon on the S2 Scale display. Likewise, if you do have issues around your weight or numbers on a scale are particularly triggering for you, a smart scale may not be the best option to keep you healthy. How we test smart scales 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 ReadingsThe electrical charge is safe for most people, but if you have a pacemaker, medical implant or are pregnant, it’s best to speak to your doctor before you use one. Are smart scales accurate? Is it worth it? I think Ray asked that, and so did I. As a curiosity, it’s been interesting. It sure provides a lot of information. My previous scale is likely over 13 years old, and it provides BMI and hydration status as well, but is limited to those 3 measurements. This one claims to measure so much more.

Whilst I couldn’t trust the accuracy of any of the 4 devices I tested, the Garmin Index S2 was certainly the most believable and consistent. I will continue to use it indefinitely. 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.It seemed to me that the last reading of the day is saved in Apple Health and that Apple Health only stores one reading per day. I’d also read that Apple Health gives priority to certain sources so it is possible that the Garmin S2’s reading can be inadvertently overridden by another source. That said the last Garmin result is kept in Garmin Connect. similarly, deleting an incorrect, historical reading in Connect will sync that deletion with the Garmin ecosystem but it will not delete the matching record in Apple Health from what I can see. 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 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 was the best of 4 relatively expensive smart scales I reviewed. However, the Index S2 experience could have been improved by a better design and onboarding process. 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.

So that’s handy if you’re focused on losing weight, rather than finding out three months later that your watch weight is still at a substantially higher value. 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. Manually link Garmin Connect to Apple Healthkit or Google Fit. You can then connect other apps to Apple/Google. This seemed to work OK for me but an Apple developer did tell me that “ Apple does not permit people to write to Apple Health without the user being present“. So bear that in mind.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. This should be more correctly entitled ‘Adding Existing Connections’ ie people who have a Garmin Connect account that is already connected to yours. For example, you can’t just add one of your teenage children, they need to have a Garmin Connect account first and they need to be 16 years old to do that. You can’t show off your new toy to a guest, all they will see is their weight and none of the other fancy metrics, they need a Connect account linked to you. Let’s deal with the easy case, your live-in partner wants to get access to your shiny new scales.