Last Updated on October 10, 2020 by James Matthews
There are plenty of high-tech items out there, particularly when it comes to fitness, that are pretty gimmicky and not really worth your money and time. However, that is simply not the case for smart scales. These scales can help you track metrics that you would previously have to go to a specialist or purchase extra equipment to attain. Being able to track these metrics will help you fine-tune your fitness goals and better define for yourself which modes of exercise and diet plans are working best for your body.
The best smart scales are going to deliver information to you quickly and easily, and sync that information into a free app that will help you track your progress. This app will ideally have the capability to sync with the fitness apps of your preference, be it MyFitnessPal or Apple Health.
The Garmin Index Smart Scale integrates with an app many runners already love; Garmin Connect, so it has a leg-up on the competition as it is. It tracks most of the key metrics that athletes are looking for, and can be a huge advantage to the success of your training program.
How Does A Smart Scale Work?
Smart scales are able to measure weight, body composition, muscle percentage, body fat percentage, bone mass, and water weight percentage.
It is important to note that the measurements a smart scale makes aren’t necessarily as accurate as what you would get at a doctor’s office with more expensive equipment, so don’t take their readings as 100% accurate. While weight will be highly accurate, everything else will have a margin of error that you should keep in mind when comparing your scale’s results with those that you get at your doctor’s office.
These scales then take those metrics and integrate them into a tracking app over your home’s WiFi. Most of these scales will show you your metrics on the scale, so if you don’t have good WiFi you can still see your daily numbers. However, being able to track your progress over time is one of the best things you can do to motivate your fitness journey, so it is important that you are able to sync your data. Try adding a signal extender to ensure that you’re getting great WiFi in the bathroom, or move your scale closer to your WiFi router if you are experiencing connectivity issues.
Why Should I Use A Smart Scale?
If you are on your weight-loss journey, it can be really demotivating to hit a plateau. However, if building muscle is part of your journey, sometimes hitting a plateau weight-wise is not the same as hitting a plateau body-fat wise. Muscle weighs much more than fat, so if you are losing fat and gaining muscle, your overall weight might stay the same. If your body fat % is dropping, even if your weight won’t budge, this can help motivate you to keep pushing forward, and ultimately help you succeed in your weight loss journey.
The research behind weight loss and fitness suggests that noticing small changes helps us quickly reverse poor fitness and diet decisions and correct them. This includes both weight loss and fitness journeys. Being able to get all the data you need on a daily basis and having that data stored in an app that will show you trends over time can be crucial towards succeeding. Superstars and professional athletes shouldn’t be the only ones that have access to these types of metrics in order to achieve their goals.
What Makes The Garmen Index Smart Scale The Best?
There are quite a few features that make the Garmen Index Smart Scale one of the best smart scales you can buy on the market today. Below, we will go over all the different features that make this scale such a good choice for those who need help on their weight loss or fitness journeys.
Types of Measurements and Tracking Data
The Garmen Index Smart Scale comes with a variety of different biometrics it tracks in its app for you. It measures the following body metrics:
- Weight
- BMI
- Body Fat %
- Water Weight %
- Skeletal Muscle Mass
- Bone Mass
Garmin Connect App
The Garmin Connect App that you download when you receive your scale automatically syncs your daily data into the app so you can track your progress over time and easily see trends in the data. For instance, if your weight is progressing downwards but your body fat percentage is trending upwards, you know that you need to incorporate more weight training into your routine and possibly increase your caloric intake so that your body burns more fat, not muscle.
The Scale Itself
This smart scale is easy to use and you don’t have to do anything annoying to get it to work like some smart scales. Simply step on and the app will record your data. Some smart scales require you to open the app in order to log your data, but you don’t have to do that with this scale, which is a major bonus.
Pros And Cons Of The Garmin Index Smart Scale
Now that you know a little bit more about the Garmin Index Smart Scale, let’s talk about more of its features and how they work for you and your goals.
The Pros of The Garmin Index Smart Scale
Integrated and Easy To Use App
All of the data you collect from your scale is stored in the Garmin Connect app. If you are already on your fitness journey, particularly if you’re a runner, you likely already have this app and use it. This will allow all your fitness data to be in one place.
However, even if you have not used the Garmin Connect app in the past, you will like its easy-to-digest layout for looking at your biometric trends over time. You will also appreciate that the data it collects will sync with other apps you may use, such as Apple Health if you use an Apple Watch to collect fitness data while you are working out.
Helps You Attend To Your Hydration Needs
You can use the body water % feature in your data to help you determine your hydration needs over time and whether or not you are drinking enough water to support weight loss and peak physical exertion capability. Drinking water is a key part of any weight loss or fitness journey, but it can be difficult to calculate on your own if you’re actually getting enough water or not.
One of the things you can do is perform a sweat rate test, where you look at your body water % before and after working out. Performing a sweat rate test will help you determine your unique hydration needs in order to get the most out of your workouts, which will ultimately help you achieve faster results.
Helps You Attend To Your Hydration Needs
If you do start to gain weight while on your weight loss journey, you will be able to use the muscle mass data that your Garmin Index Smart Scale collects to determine if you are simply gaining muscle in a larger proportion to how much fat you are losing. This can ultimately help you stay motivated and allow you to continue down the correct path without resorting to binge dieting or severe calorie deprivation.
Conversely, if you are trying to gain muscle so have increased your caloric intake in order to put on more weight, being able to track your muscle mass quickly and easily will help you determine if you are in fact converting those excess calories to muscle or if you are gaining more fat. This can help you alter your calorie and macro goals accordingly and help you see better results over time.
WiFi Connectivity
While you may see some reviews that state that the app doesn’t have very good connectivity, the reality is that most people simply don’t have great WiFi in their bathroom. We have found that the scale has no issues with connectivity when it is in the presence of a strong WiFi signal.
As we mentioned before, if you are having problems with your Garmin Index Smart Scale’s Connectivity, you might need to add a WiFi range extender to your setup or move the scale to a non-traditional place that gets better WiFi signal. This should help fix the problem. If it does not, you should reach out to Garmin and see if they can help you troubleshoot. Like most tech products, there is a warranty with these scales, so if there is a major defect, Garmin will be happy to help you solve those issues.
Multiple Users Are Supported
If you are on a fitness journey with your partner or another member of your family, this scale is perfect for you. It supports up to 16 separate users, which makes it one of the better smart scales out there for multi-user use.
The Cons Of The Garmin Index Smart Scale
Does Not Track More Than One Reading Per Day
Our only complaint with the Garmin Index Smart Scale is that it does not track more than one reading per day, which can make it difficult to track real-time results. For this reason, it is very important that you try to weigh yourself at the same time every day, and make sure that you aren’t wearing any clothing as that will give you too much variance in your readings.
However, after your initial weigh-in, you can weigh yourself later in the day if you are curious to see the difference throughout the day. The scale will give you the reading, it simply isn’t going to be logged into your Garmin Connect app to be utilized as a data point moving forward.
Unclear User Manual
The Garmin Index Smart Scale comes with a user manual that does not seem to be written in native English, so it can be difficult for customers to comprehend how to perform the initial setup in order to get their scale to connect with the app in a timely manner.
If you are finding the user manual to be a bit too confusing, it is best to pull up a how-to guide on the internet or watch a Youtube video for your model. This will help you avoid any issues with setup and be able to get your scale ready to go in no time at all.
While this is an easily fixable issue by doing a bit of your own research, it is annoying that the user manual isn’t more user-friendly, so it’s worth mentioning here.
Overall Review Of The Garmin Index Smart Scale
The Garmin Index Smart Scale is one of the best smart scales out there, and our final take is overwhelmingly positive. While you will have to spend a little bit more on this scale than some of its competitors, it isn’t a fortune and the features on this scale blow most of its competitors out of the water.
We have found the measurements on this scale to be overwhelmingly consistent and in-line with the measurements that are given to us at a doctor’s office. Many smart scales on the market have notoriously unreliable data, so this is overwhelmingly positive news.
This smart scale is easy-to-use and comes with a free app that is easy to use and integrates with your other fitness apps easily. It tracks more data points than most other scales on the market.
Finally, we love the clean and modern look of this scale. It comes in a couple of different colorways, so it will be easy to buy one that matches the decor of your home. No one wants a clunky or ugly scale taking up space, and that won’t be a problem here.
Conclusion
If you are on a weight-loss or fitness journey, the Garmin Index Smart Scale is one of the best scales that you can buy for yourself. Its clean design, easy-to-use app, and large number of data points make it a no-brainer for anyone who will feel empowered by the data they collect in order to further their health and prolong their life.
