Garmin S2 Scales - How I got accurate bodyfat readings 

Thank you very much! I bought these scales 3 months ago and it gave me a reading of 27% fat when I am actually 13.5% fat. I have now adjusted them as per your advice and they are working perfectly. I had given up on the scales and thought that I had wasted over $AUD200 until I saw your video. Great video well done!

I've had a cheap smart scale for a year now so great to see all the logs. I jump on them most days, first thing i do and on the exact same spot. They aren't 100% accurate but its easy to see the trend which is the most important.

I have one of those, and I like it. It has its limitations, just as you say, but as long as you are aware of them it gets the job done.

You, Sir, should be included in the instructions. I am 176 cm and weigh 82 kgs and lift weights 4 times a week. I also do cardio 3 times a week and am im the shape of my life at 36. Garmin tells me I'm overweight and should loose 18 kgs to be my best fitness age. Will have my fat calibrated and this sorted shortly. Thank you kindly!

Thanks. I got my scale two or three months ago and it's been whacked most of the time. Who knew we could set it right from Garmin Connect!

This video was really useful for understanding my new Garmin S2

Good information I have just ordered mine just to be sure, I will have a professional measurement done before using it :)

i look at change instead of expecting perfect results, thatsthe way to approach this type of scales

Thank you! I was about ready to get rid of my S2 scale.

Thanks for this great, no nonsense discussion about smart scales and this Garmin one in particular. I see so many negative user reviews about pretty much every smart scale out there, but I think it's that people expect super easy, accurate, day-to-day measurements from a little electrical impedance. As you say, you have to be consistent about when you measure and use the measurements for ballpark, long-term trends only. Until we have some crazy home body scan system, seems like this is the best we can hope for. Not sure when you lost all your weight but congrats on that!

VERY useful advice, thankyou!

I used to use one of these gadgets about ten years ago. I had visible abs at the time and was trying keto and 16/8 and stuff to get lean. I worked out they were mostly useless but because I used it daily, at the same time, for months, and kept a log book. It became moderately useful, I knew that hydration, food, exercise affected the reading mightily, but over a period of months, it was useful. These were ones in a gym.

I follow my progress using a tape measure really. Measured standing up straight with good posture. Next shred i aim to get my waist lower than half my height. I take into account waist size to what i weigh. Like i weigh 7kg more now than when my waist was at the same size at one point, so i know i have at least 7kg more muscle than at that point

Very informative video 👍🏻

How am I supposed to trust this thing though? If I have to tell it the answer beforehand to give an accurate reading, why should I trust that it tracks changes correctly?

great review, very informative. Just ordered mine index s2 scale - do I need to calibrate it once or few times to have it calculate my BF correct?

What is your hydration? As I am losing weight my hydration is going up 49.1 to 49.9

Hi I just got my scales but only see activity class in the user settings area. Do you still see set body composition? Update: It allowed me to do it through the web portal/desktop..and now it's also showing in the app.

Great thanks for sharing

I've seen a lot of bad reviews about these scales which put me off. Maybe I will look again.

Thx for the video. living in Sweden i don't have this options in mine connect app

BMI has been even more oversimplified than it used to be. Somewhere along the way they stopped sorting light frame vs medium frame vs heavy frame and I guess just decised everyone has the same size frame. At least the old charts were less inaccurate than the current ones. 🤔

If you need an initial external reading (caliper or DEXA) to get the balance to work - it seems as if all could be done with software / algos vs hardware which leads me to believe the scale sensors (other than weight) are total trash.

I have a different brand and no matter how much weight I lost I was always between 19-20% when in reality I was 13

I just purchased the scale and in the Garmin connect app the body fat calibration setting that is shown in this video is not available. Is there any other way for me to do it?

Great review thank you!

Is the general trend still relatively accurate if I don't put in my correct body fat ? I'm more interested in just having the overall trend. Nowhere near me to really get an accurate testing

I agree that long term trends are useful but have you done any tests involving hydration levels caused by carb intake that pulls three parts of water into muscle alongside the replenished glycogen storage? Because the scales are measuring impedance, the body fat composition measurement is more likely muscular hydration. I've also noticed that stress reduction over a few days changes metabolism in a way that provides (visceral) fat reduction, increased muscle synthesis, and overall weight reduction. Forget the GPs. Most are hopelessly out of date with their research knowledge.

Exactly that kind of information I was looking for. Body fat percentage was way of on my new Garmin s2 scale. Do I need to erase previous weight data (which have wrong fat percentage) or do the scale automatically adjust from the new input that I manually type in?

I have a doctors office near me that does BMI with one of the professional scales. With that being said, if you were to have the doctor do it every 3 months; would you recalibrate it each time if the figures are different? What's your opinion?

I too like my garmin S2 for its convenience and i would not give it away anymore. But i am less positive on the bodyfat estimate. I got it 2 years ago and the Initial estimate was 25% (182cm, 94kg, 50y) I was clearly a bit on the heavy side but not unfit and overall not a freak phyisique. I also tried calipers and navy methode and both put me into 22ish territory. At this point i changed eating and activity (increased cardio + resistance training 1st time). One year later i had lost 8kg, some veines became visible and even a hint of abs. Garmin still estimated me at 23.5% while the other methods went down to 19! At this point i decided to callibrate the Garmin S2 since the scale calling me overweight was clearly nonsens and hurting. Another year later with consistent resistance training i am at 83kg and the S2 Rates me at 18.5%. Seeing your video i decided to check against alternative methods again and those see me at 16% and thats pretty consistant with how i look. So for the average male, simple measurement of waist circumference is imho a better progress indicator for bodyfat and for very low numbers, looks is probably better. I dont think the S2 van eben be used to track Trends in bodyfat.

7:50 Thank me later

How much ?

It’s unfortunate that Garmin won’t just let you add your %body fat. I like my scale but you shouldn’t have to buy one to get it entered. Also why won’t they use BP in the fitness age calc even using the Garmin one.

Hi , thanks for the video , one problem is there's no set body composition option under Activity Class . I have APP version 4.72 . I'm in Australia and maybe different versions for different countries ?.

I Got the s2. Lost around 35kg. Im 195cm High weight Is 83-84kg. Damn thing says I’m 21%ish body fat :) so it’s totally off here

That BMI calc pisses me off. When I was a young body builder, my health insurance cost doubled because I was considered obese even if I was lean.

Better use caliper method for bodyfat measure

did they fix the s2 accuray