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Old school scales are frankly dumb compared to today's smart scales. You stood on them, they gave you a single reading that either made you happy (so you treated yourself to a doughnut) or made you sad (so you treated yourself to a doughnut).
Smart scales completely changed game with connectivity, companion apps, and a ton of useful metrics so you can understand a lot more about not just your weight, but your body and overall health.
While I strongly believe weight is just a number, it is a number that helps build a picture of your health. So let's start tracking those digits with the help of one of my super smart scales.
What We Looked For
- Ease of Use Smart scales have advanced techn behind their displays, but it shouldn't get in the way — I want a scale I can simply step on and use.
- Connectivity Any smart scale must be able to beam my data seamlessly to a companion app or smart device.
- Measurements Smart scales can tell you so much more than how many pounds you're dragging around. My top choices offer other interesting metrics too.
- Functionality Durability, battery life, easy of use, and user count are all important factors I considered.
Staff Pick
Withings Body Comp
Heart Rate Read-Out | Auto Syncing | Body Comp Metrics
These smart scales are just that, giving you a wide range of weight and health related data.
1) Withings Body Comp
These high-tech scales from the smart health experts at Withings offer you a health-geek-level array of data. While they obviously can just give you an old school weight read-out, these can also check in on multiple body metrics:
- Muscle mass
- Bone mass
- Water mass
- Fat mass
With all that data you can discover what you're really made up of (and if you really are just "big-boned").
Withings Body Comp scales can also inform you about your hidden "visceral fat" which, somewhat grossly, is the fat stored deep inside your body wrapped around your organs. You can even get a reading on your sweat gland activity. Not sure I needed that data, but apparently it's an indicator of overall good health.
Your heart is taken care of too — these scales can reveal standing heart rate and vascular age.
These scales are easy to use with a clear color display, on-screen arrows telling you where it's best to place your feet, and all the data collected is automatically synced by Wi-Fi. This can be sent to the official Withings app, as well as to over 100 other health-related apps.
From a practical point of view, Withings Body Comp scales can run for up to 15 months on four AAA batteries, can automatically recognize up to 8 different users, and have a wipe-clean tempered glass platform.
Staff Pick
Withings Body Comp
Heart Rate Read-Out | Auto Syncing | Body Comp Metrics
These smart scales are just that, giving you a wide range of weight and health related data.
2) Oxiline Scale X Pro
This medical-grade solution is a great choice for anyone who needs to monitor their body composition for health reasons — and not just because they're approved for FSA and HSA finance.
These scales give you 16 read-outs of your body composition that you can track over time using the iOS or Android companion app. They also play nice with the Apple, Google, and Samsung Health apps.
The Oxiline Scale X Pro tells you weight, body fat percentage, muscle mass, bone density, water weight, BMI, and more. Of the 16 read-outs, eight can be viewed on the display while the others are tracked directly in the app.
3) Withings Body Smart
We're including another Withings option that is more wallet-friendly than our top pick, but still has some great features that will fit most people's needs.
The Withings Body Smart scale has exactly the same looks and dimensions as the Body Comp and much of the same functionality. This can show your fat, muscle, and bone mass, water percentage, basic metabolic rate, and that yucky visceral fat index.
It can calculate your BMI by considering your height and weight (if you really want to be judged) and can let you know your standing heart rate through the sensors in the tempered glass platform.
4) Garmin Index S2
Garmin's Wi-Fi connected smart scales will provide you with all the info you need to check and track your weight and other health metrics. These scales do the usual weight, body mass, body fat percentage, bone mass, and also tell you your body water levels — useful if you're trying to ensure you stay hydrated.
I like the fact that if you only want to track weight with the Garmin Index S2, you can disable any other body composition data you don't want to record for a clearer read-out in the companion Garmin Connect app.
These scales are a social choice — if you're trying to get healthier alongside family or friends (very brave) you can create up to 16 user profiles and the others can sync and view their own stats in Garmin Connect.
5) Fitbit Aria Air
The Fitbit Aria Air smart scales are the least fancy option we're recommending, but their affordable price tag and compatibility with Fitbit's popular smartwatch app are huge bonuses.
Basically, if you're a Fitbit fan and you want a simple way to check in on your weight, the Fitbit Aria Air scale deserves space on your bathroom floor.
It connects via Bluetooth and sends weight and BMI data to the app where it's converted into easy-to-read graphs so you can check your long-term progress alongside your other Fitbit info.
Why the Withings Body Comp Smart Scales Are My Top Pick
The Withings Body Comp smart scales probably offer more metrics than you need, but if you're investing in a smart bit of kit it's kinda cool to go for the most fully-featured option out there.
These scales have you totally covered as far as weight and body composition stats go, and offer useful heart rate monitoring too. They score extra points for the excellent app integration, the color display, and the decent battery life.
Staff Pick
Withings Body Comp
Color Display | Good Battery Life
These capable smart scales offer fab app support and more weight and health related stats than you could shake a fat-free granola bar at.
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