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Our Favorite Smart Scales
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If you’re looking for help tracking BMI, Body Fat Percentage and other metrics consider a smart scale. Unlike a traditional scale that only measures weight, Smart Scales can track a host of metrics: body composition (e.g., percentage of bone, fat, muscle, etc), heart rate, and more. Many connect to a smart phone app allowing for easy tracking of health progress.
They also may be eligible for reimbursement from your FSA/HSA account with a doctor’s approval.
Read a short overview on how Smart Scales work – or jump straight to our favorite Smart Scales.
How Does a Smart Scale Work?
Smart Scales utilize Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). to measure a number of health metrics. Every substance, including the human body, has a characteristic electrical impedance, which is the opposition to the flow of an alternating current (AC). Different tissues in the body, such as fat, muscle, and water, have different electrical conductivities and resistances, leading to variations in impedance.
With BIA, a safe, low-level electrical current is passed through the body. The current flows from one electrode to another, with the smart scale’s surface acting as the contact points for the feet. The electrical current encounters resistance as it passes through different body tissues. The smart scale measures the impedance of the body by analyzing how the electrical current behaves as it encounters different types of tissues. Once the impedance is measured, the smart scale applies algorithms to estimate body composition.
Wi-Fi vs. Bluetooth
One of the great things about Smart Scales is that they automatically save your data to a fitness app. For some scales the app is a proprietary one but most scales are compatible with third-part fitness apps like AppleHealth or Google Fit. Most Smart Scales offer multiple user profiles (the number varies wildly by scale) allowing everyone in the household to have their own separate app account.
Depending on the Smart Scale, it will connect to the app by either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Wi-Fi scales will connect and send date over your house’s Wi-Fi network. Bluetooth scales connect to your phone so it will need to be within Bluetooth range to download the data.
Our Favorite Smart Scales
Favorite Overall Scale
Withings Body+ Smart Scale - $99.95
The Withings Body+ Smart Scale is the best-selling smart scale in America – despite being a bit more expensive than its competitors. One reason for its popularity may be that independent 3rd party labs have rated the Withings Body+ to be the most accurate smart scale on the market. It offers full-body composition analysis to help you track metrics like weight, body fat, water percentage, bone weight, and more.
It comes with the Withings app allowing you to track health metrics – including factors not measured by the scale like nutrition tracking. Additionally, it’s compatible with over 100 3rd party fitness apps.
One feature we particularly like – the scale automatically recognizes up to 8 users. Which is a great feature for crowded households.
Overall Mid-PricedScale
eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro - $79.99
The eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro isn’t just one of our favorites – it was named one of the 2 best smart scales of 2023 by the New York Times. It measures 16 health metrics including Weight, Body Fat Percentage, Resting Heart Rate, BMI, and more.
It features a proprietary app that supports an unlimited number of users so it can be used everyone in the house. The app tracks your measurements and provides a 3D body model to help track your progress.
Alternatively, the scale is compatible with 3rd party apps including Google Fit, Apple Health, and FitBit.
The P2 Pro also has an IPX-5 Waterproof rating which is very useful for a bathroom scale.
eufy Smart Scale P2 - $49.99
For a bit smaller investment, eufy offers the Smart Scale P2. While it lacks a few of the features of its bigger brother (most notably it doesn’t offer Resting Heart Rate tracking), it’s still a great option.
Favorite Budget Priced Scale
Sunny Fitness BMI Composition Smart Scale - $49.99
The Sunny Health & Fitness BMI Composition Smart Scale is a reasonably-priced smart scale from a company with a strong reputation for customer service and dependability. It tracks 20 health metrics including weight, BMI, body fat, muscle mass, and metabolic age.
It’s compatible with the SunnyFit app allowing you to track your progress in reaching your health and fitness goals. One downside is it’s lack of compatibility with 3rd party fitness apps – so if you’re already using a fitness app, this might not be ideal for you.
The scale is quite sturdy and supports users up to 400lbs.
As a Withings affilate, eufy affiliate, and Sunny Health & Fitness affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. All prices accurate as of 2/20/24.
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Additional Resources for Healthy Living
Unfortunately, there are a lot of web sites out there giving unreliable fitness advice. But there are also some great ones which we rely on when writing our articles. A few great resources for information you may want to also view include the National Institutes of Heath, the Mayo Clinic, and the World Health Organization.