Garmin Index S2 Smart Scale - Black

Product Information

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. While I don’t use it myself, a bunch of people seem pretty happy with it. Alternatively, for iPhone users, there’s also the HealthFit app, which can pull the data that Garmin Connect Mobile puts into Apple Health, and from there send it off to 3rd party platforms. 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. Easy to set up with convenient WiFi and Bluetooth connection, the Garmin Index S2 is a decent but expensive smart scale suitable for lots of people. 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.

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: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. It suggests a “body age” and gives a body score out of 100, giving users a label (e.g. “good” or “poor”). It’s a fairly simple ranking but could be helpful to some people. Like most smart scales, you can view a section on how your weight and body fat has changed over time, but it doesn’t show info for the other metrics, which feels like an oversight. Maybe 2024 means Garmin will release a new Index (Index S3?), and it will be easier to setup, and include a ‘Pandemic Factor’ to remove a few pounds from the total. Hah! 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. Stats: Weight, weight trend, BMI, bone mass, skeletal muscle mass, body fat percentage, body water percentage, weight-only option, multiple daily weigh-ins

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? The scale is fast; your weight is displayed on the crisp, bright screen almost immediately. By default you’ll also be shown your body composition stats and the weather, but if you prefer there’s also an option to show your weight only. 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. Tanita RD953 varied from 57% to 56% with Garmin at 61.4/61.3%. Each seemed confident they were correct. At least one of them wasn’t. The BC-558 came in at 59.5%/60% which didn’t especially help to decide which was correct! Garmin Index S2 Review – day-on-day accuracySmart scales are a relatively new way of looking at a person’s weight, by looking at a lot more,” Ramsay said. “The reason why someone may want to know a bit more about their metrics is because there are some limitations to just measuring weight when on a weight loss programme that includes exercise. Muscle weighs more than fat, so an exercise program — with a healthy diet — may elicit an increase in lean muscle mass and a reduction in body fat. However, if you are looking at just your overall weight, you may not see the reductions that you expect. This can lead to inaccurate reporting of progress and a drop in motivation.” The Body Water Percentage feature shows what percent of your total mass comes from fluids. It can help you see how hydrated you are. 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

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

Go for the Garmin?

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 I didn’t specifically test that each user’s screen preferences are separately saved, I assume they are. Garmin Index Scale 2 – Getting your data elsewhere