Body composition/ 'smart' connected bathroom scales: Triathlon Forum: Slowtwitch Forums (2024)

Sep 3, 23 14:14

We've got some Garmin Index S2, got them free as part of a promotion when I bought my Fenix.

I don't really use the body fat percentage, but love the fact that I no longer have to manually entered weight. Just stand on it and it filters to pretty much all my training places

Sep 3, 23 14:20

Our partners at SPREN (EliteHRV team) just released the first phone camera-based ML DEXA equivalent. Didn't do a bad job for me. Worth a try.

https://athletica.ai/
https://hiitscience.com/

Sep 3, 23 14:54

Speaking of consistent, I have a Tanita scale that registers the same BF and hydration status, no matter what. It's sort of like a random number generator, except you wouldn't expect the same random numbers every damn day.

Sep 3, 23 15:45

I have the first gen Garmin. For years it wouldn’t connect properly to the wifi network and the support site is littered with threads of folks unable to connect, and Garmin just did nothing.

It finally seems to have been fixed after five years of ownership, by giving it its own network, which is hidden. So now it’s connected.

Then there’s the info it provides. On Saturday I did a 2:45 hour turbo session followed by an hour treadmill brick. I lost 2.3 kg from the day before (not before session / after session). I assume the vast majority of that was water as the floor under the turbo was a lake and humidity here drops from 90% to 80% during the day with 30°C. Well, Garmin had my “body water” increase for the lower weight right after training. I was really flattered the weight loss came from BMI change and losing over half a KG of muscle mass and some bone mass, which I miraculously put back on the next day… If only I could gain muscle mass like that! I’d quit sports for bodybuilding.

It’s basically a lying scale and I’m not even sure if the weight is accurate. I assume it is but I’m not stepping on several scales to verify it…

The Smart Scale was why I vowed never to buy another Garmin product again, something which I went back on and own a FR945, and now Epix Pro. Damn you, Garmin. Damn you.

Sep 3, 23 15:47

Really the first? I beta tested Amazon's Halo phone-based bodyfat estimator like 3 years ago. Definitely ML-based. It worked OK.

Sep 3, 23 16:13

Sep 3, 23 16:29

Had no idea... thanks

https://athletica.ai/
https://hiitscience.com/

Sep 3, 23 18:44

This is also me, but I hate Garmin as it was a really nice gift from a friend, and basically it’s $100 or whatever one costs to avoid typing in a weight once or twice a week…

Sep 3, 23 20:34

I have the Garmin S2, it's a big upgrade over the S1 and you can effectively weigh yourself multiple times per day if you want to do trends with a morning and afternoon weigh in and it will segment this on Garmin connect. The bodyfat is all based on water so would say it's semi-accurate. The thing that definitely makes no sense is how bone mass can lower from day to day, but maybe a doctor can tell us why that would be?

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Sep 3, 23 21:44

I've got one called "Escali" & it does what I need it to do, dependable but slows on read out if the battery dies/gets old. I use it almost daily not for a weight obsession reason, but purely to check on hydration. When I wake up & after a workout. I chedk my body composition by whether I need a belt for my jeans or not--that's as far as I need to go. I've been so out of shape before my rear end holds them up just fine. Been needing a belt the last few years though...so it's all good...

However, they did just open up a brand new Voo Doo Donuts a month ago so--that's a potential issue there...

Sep 4, 23 10:31

I been using a Withing Body Comp for a couple years and love it. It replaced an old Tanita and was a nice upgrade. The weight is accurate. Like every other scale I have used, BF and other metrics seem very influenced by hydration level day to day. I doubt the BF number is my actual BF but it gives me useful info on hydration day to day and over time it does track my observed BF changes (i.e. long term if I get fatter, the number goes up, and when I get skinner, it goes down. But day to day it does jump around a bit).

I love the connected feature. No more manual recording! It syncs flawlessly with TrainingPeaks (and with other apps). It has no trouble automatically figuring out if its me or my wife on the scale and it looks nicer in our bathroom than the Tanita it replaced.