Looking for the Best Smart Scale? Step On Up
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Eufy Smart Scale C1Read more
Wyze ScaleRead more
Omron BCM-500Read more
Garmin Index S2Read more
The humble bathroom scale could certainly stand to learn some new tricks. After all, who needs to devote a lot of precious real estate to a device whose purpose is merely to tell you that you’re fat? The good news is that the “smart scale” industry is on the rise, with numerous devices on the market that can measure numerous additional health metrics, keep track of multiple users’ stats over time, and sync up with your phone, so you can track your expanding girth 24/7.
Smart scales come in two basic flavors: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The former connects directly to your phone to sync its readings. The latter uses your home’s wireless network to sync readings straight to the cloud, which your phone’s app can then access. Wi-Fi scales are more expensive but more versatile. Just know that their wireless connections can be primitive (2.4 GHz only, across the board) and erratic.
Virtually all smart scales use the same type of system to gauge your additional vitals: Bioelectrical impedance analysis, which involves sending a minuscule electric current up one leg and measuring what happens when it comes down the other side. Some mathematical magic converts all of this into any number of derived measurements about things like your body’s percentage of fat, water, and bone, body-mass index, and, sometimes, arcana like your basal metabolic rate, a measure of your body’s energy consumption at rest. All the scales I tested are able to sync data with Apple Health and Google Fit, either directly or by passing data via the app.
So, just how smart can a scale really be? And which should you buy? If an accurate weight is what’s most important to you, don’t sweat the decision too much. All of these scales were quite accurate in my testing. My highest and lowest weight never varied by more than 0.6 pounds when testing across the sextet and usually landed within 0.3 pounds, so if tracking your weight is what matters, get one of the cheapest options.
However, if you’re serious about weight loss or physical training, you’ll probably want to get further into the weeds and consider the accuracy of the additional body metrics, the wireless format, and the overall usability and robustness of the hardware and software. It’s here where I’ve spent the bulk of my testing time, rather than breaking out my apothecary weights to quibble over a few ounces of accuracy. And, with all that in mind, I have some thoughts.
- Photograph: EufyEufy Smart Scale C1
Eufy’s $36 Smart Scale C1 doesn’t exactly come stuffed with features, though its inclusion of a whopping 12 “insightful measurements of your body’s health” and support for up to 16 users is impressive. The scale connects to your phone via Bluetooth, and it sets up quickly. To get measured, you step on the four metal electrodes—they give the scale a somewhat industrial but not quite homely appearance—and it quickly gets to work, taking its measurements significantly faster than most competitors.
The scale offers only a weight readout on the display; you’ll need the EufyLife app on your phone to get the rest your data. Those insightful measurements can be a bit arcane (what is lean body mass versus muscle mass?) and sometimes suspect (could I weigh 172 pounds, have 133 pounds of muscle, and have “high” visceral fat?). For the most part, the readings are on target, though I had a little trouble getting measurements to sync some of the time. It’s a simple and versatile scale, but ultimately it’s the incredible price tag that seals the deal. Rating: 8/10, WIRED Recommends.
- Photograph: WyzeWyze Scale
Wyze has built its entire business by offering smart home technology at a fraction of the price of other brands, and its products always manage to be capable and well made. The Bluetooth-based Wyze Scale is no exception: At just $20, it’s just a little more than half the price of the next-cheapest scale on this list. The scale’s 11 total metrics seem on target, though my 61 percent water reading seems awfully high. A barely documented feature of the scale is that it can measure your heart rate, but this didn’t work reliably in my testing, sometimes showing up after a weigh-in but usually not. Other than that, the scale is reliable and quick, and it supports up to eight users. Setup is painless, and the overall value is downright insane. Rating: 9/10, WIRED Recommends.
- Photograph: OmronOmron BCM-500
With its large LCD panel, quartet of onboard buttons, and oversized, silver electrodes, the Omron BCM-500 is an eye-catching masterwork of brutalist design. If your bathroom is decked out in concrete and wrought iron, this scale will fit right in. The Bluetooth unit syncs with Omron’s HeartAdvisor app, but it provides all six of its body metrics directly on the scale, cycling through them with each weigh-in (for up to four users). It can be difficult to read the label for each of the data points, in part because the LCD isn’t backlit, but the app is somewhat easier to follow, offering front-page graphs of weight, skeletal muscle, and body fat. On the other hand, the presentation is rather clinical, and the app is surprisingly slow to sync. For a scale without a Wi-Fi connection, it’s decidedly expensive too. Rating: 5/10
- Photograph: GarminGarmin Index S2
The Index S2 is the brand-new update to Garmin’s first smart scale, the key new feature being a color display that walks you through its six body metrics (for up to 16 users) with each weigh-in. The display also provides your weight trend over time in graphical form, and it can even display the weather. The scale connects directly to Wi-Fi and Garmin’s cloud-based storage system, so you don’t need a phone nearby in order to track your progress like you do with Bluethooth-only scales.
A phone running the Garmin Connect app is of course handy, so you can keep track of everything over time. Unfortunately, as health apps go, Connect is a bit of a bear, so expect a learning curve—especially if you want to make changes to the way the scale works. You can turn its various LCD-screen widgets on or off in the app, but finding everything can be difficult due to the daunting scope of the Garmin ecosystem. The color screen is nice at first, but ultimately it adds little to the package. Rating: 6/10
- Photograph: WithingsWithings Body Cardio
Withings (which was briefly part of Nokia and is now independent again) has been in the smart scale business for more than a decade. Recently it dropped its most advanced scale yet, the Body Cardio, a sleek system that offers a few unique spins for up to eight users. For starters: The Wi-Fi-ready scale is rechargeable via a mini-USB cable, so the usual phalanx of AAA batteries aren’t required here. It only has seven body metrics, but one of them is what makes it “Cardio:” It can detect your heart rate through your feet. As with the Garmin Index S2, all of these metrics (plus the weather) are displayed each time you weigh in, and you can turn them on or off individually in the settings menu of Withing’s Health Mate app.
What’s the trouble, then? Most notably, you have to position your feet exactly right on the scale for the electrical-based measurements to work, and since there are no exposed electrodes, this can be tricky, especially if you're trying to get your heart rate to register. I also had trouble getting the Wi-Fi configured properly and there were some disconnect issues over time, but eventually my frustrations largely eased. (That said, am I really 80.3 percent muscle?) The good news is that the Health Mate app is streamlined and quite usable. However, $150 is a lot for a scale that’s quite finicky; you can get almost as much done with one of Withings’ less expensive models. Rating: 6/10
- Photograph: QardioQardio Qardiobase 2
The QardioBase 2’s sleek, circular design immediately sets it apart from a field of squared-off scales with no real design aesthetic. The QardioBase scale doesn’t even have a dedicated screen: Your weight (and a smiley face) magically appears between your feet whenever you hop on. Like the Withings Cardio, it has a rechargeable battery, so no AAAs are required. The Wi-Fi scale supports up to five users, and while it had the smoothest Wi-Fi setup of the scales I tested, it was also the only one that gave me any major trouble when I started using it. Namely, it recorded my weight every time I stepped on the scale as 255.0 pounds (which is about 80 pounds high). A call to tech support straightened things out, and eventually everything began working fine.
None of QardioBase’s measurements felt like outliers, and I liked the way it splits your weight into four simple components that add up to 100 percent: fat, muscle, water, and bone. But I didn’t care for the vaguely judgmental way the scale presents your weight, almost accusingly displaying: “173.5 pounds … 18% fat … Chris.” No, you are! Rating: 7/10
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