I have been using Garmin connect with their smart scale for quite a while now and I wonder if anyone else has been frustrated with this glitch/design flaw:
The scale it self appears accurate -- might not like what it says but day to day the readings are logically believable. IE plus or minus 1-2 lbs average. But for some inexplicable reason, the app will record entirety erroneous readings, such as an increase or decrease of anywhere from 10 to 40 lbs. I'm sorry, but I did not lose a leg in my sleep and drop 20 lbs.... Even if I would like to claim that particular reading, it just can't be right. I believe there are two possible explanations that can be deemed correctable design flaws.
Either A. The app records only one reading in a given 24 hour period and it assumes the user based on average weight over time. So if a guest without a profile saved in the system choses to weigh themselves and is within a reasonable margin (which is apparently a rather wide margin) to one of the registered users of the scale, it will assume that the known user weighed themselves a second time and overwrites the accurate reading from earlier that day.
Or B. An item (or animal) fell (or jumped) onto the scale with enough force to register a reading likewise within the "reasonable" margin of the registered user and likewise assumes an additional reading and overwrites the accurate information.
Both of these situations could be remedied by a simple design alternative : DON'T OVERWRITE ANYTHING. If all readings that the scale assumes to be the registered user are recorded separately within a 24 hour period, then when the user can review the readings they can manually delete any erroneous readings that do nothing but throw off the stats-- and still have the accurate readings.
As a fail safe for my data, I currently mark down the actual reading from the scale in a separate app which will not be overwritten by any automatic process... As the point of the app is to automatically record the readings so that the user doesn't have to, this rather makes it pointless.
The other possible explanation is a basic glitch in the system where a random erroneous reading is recorded, lost in the Bluetooth between the scale and the app. This possibility does explain the inexplicable future recordings that appear before I've even gotten out of bed.
Whatever the cause, over the two years we've been using the Garmin products, I would estimate a 15-20% failure rate. The issue beyond the annoyance is that, if the app goes unchecked for a few days or longer between syncs, the erroneous readings can cause the registered user to not get recognized because the true reading us outside the "reasonable" margin to assume their identity. This can be corrected by paying attention to the readout on the scale and tapping the center until the correct name appears. But of course if the sleep-dazed person doesn't pay attention to the name readout and they don't correct the ? Icon, their accurate reading will be lost in cyberspace. For instance, this very morning, I weighed myself and had to select my name. I synced the app -- it had yesterdays correct weight in "My Day", then it updated and changed to todays correct reading. BUT while I had in fact lost .3 lbs, it showed in the alpha that I had gained 22.2 lbs :confused: So I went to the calendar and even though it showed the correct last reading before it updated, it had erroneously replaced yesterday's with some random reading that included all the other stuff (usually erroneous readings have only the weight).
Side note: I used to manually correct the erroneous readings by deleting and entering the measurement I recalled from the morning. However, sometime ago, it began to sometimes (not always) refuse to delete the reading and of course you can't enter one if it already has one. And now, I found just the other day that after I deleted an erroneous reading, the option to manually input the correct weight is not even available. Just another reason why I write it in another app too.
It would also be nice if the app would resync with Apple Health after I delete the incorrect readings so I don't have to go and do the same thing again in the apple health app...
I'd love to know that someone else has experienced this and please, Garmin, can you at least change the overwrite function?