Related
This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Body Fat % on Index S2 Smart Scale Seems Inaccurate

Jeff
over 3 years ago

My new scale seems to give me a wildly different reading than my old one. I was previously using a Weight Guru's scale which gave me a body fat percentage between 18 and 19 percent which seems reasonable given my overall weight and fitness level. The new Garmin scale shows me over 26% body fat. Both scales show identical weight so what gives with the wild body fat numbers? 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Garmin-Kevin

    Please add me as well. My body fat is definitely off. Thanks in advance for any additional information on the issue and suggested resolution.

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I too posted recently a similar question but Garmin closed that thread and directed me to this one. Disappointed

    Long story short, I am a 160 pound 5' 9.5" male and if you saw me you would not say that I am fat or that I even need to lose weight. 

    I have used for years a Tanita scale and it shows my body fat % to be around 20.

    Bought this Garmin scale and after several times over several days, kept showing my body fat % to be at 26.5%!!! Which would make me borderline obese and doing the math, that is over 8 pounds of EXTRA body fat!

    I returned the Garmin scale and bought the Tanita Ironman BC-558 and it shows my body fat to be around 21%.

    So, way too much of a difference and I'd have to think Garmn's scale is way off and very inaccurate.

    Garmin sent me an email telling me to do a whole bunch of things to figure out which I declined as who wants to spend the time to figure out their problem?

    I also did not like being silenced by having my original post closed and pushed to this one - huge turn off and now I will probably not look to Garmin for any future purchases.

    Good luck to the folks stuck with the Garmin scale!!!!!

    James

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to dave_TTT

    Obviously it is pointless posting in this forum because most people will only arrive here after buying this scale and finding it not fit for purpose. I have posted a review on the site where I bought the scale pointing out the issues. Everyone else needs to do the same, otherwise Garmin will just ignore this topic.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to AlexP1970

    Hey .  Sorry I missed your reply.  Hard to sort through the hundreds of replies from these threads, which is why I ask for users to tag me.  Please check your Inbox now for an email from me.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Garmin-Kevin

    Hi Garmin-Kevin , any update about this?. As you can see we are many people with the same issue ( odd %BF readings)

    Thanks.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Garmin-Kevin

    Hi. Female. Just bought a new index s2. Body fat was 29% on Fitbit Aria 2 and now 33% on s2. I remember there was a substantial jump from the Aria to Aria2 that I thought was incorrect then. I know I don’t look like someone with that amount. Prob 26%. I have my activity level at 7 although as I am over 50 I take recovery weeks every few weeks. Should I return it or is an update coming? Thank you.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 4476184

    More than a year has passed since the S2 release, we are complaining about this issue for almost a year now and they are still "investigating". I very much doubt that Garmin will/can fix it.

    I suggest returning it.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 4476184

    i think 26-29-33% is probably stretching the bounds of reasonable accuracy for this sort of device but we do need to be realistic that it is not a precise measurement tool. your's is a pretty minor example of the inaccuracy of these scales compared to what many of us are experiencing.

    to my mind, the key question is whether the scales will reflect any change in your body composition - the absolute numbers are not as important as tracking positive or negative changes. for me, i don't believe they will change and experience has backed that up, compared to my gen1 aria which did show appropriate trends.

    i think activity level 7 is where apparently garmin start applying the maximum adjustment but you could try bumping it up. the biggest thing to influence the algorithm seems to be age - garmin seem to believe everyone lets themselves go in middle age and so everyone's BF goes up with age despite plenty of people being fit and lean at any age.

    if you're not happy with the results you're getting from the scales then i'd hold out limited hope that garmin will do anything about it. as alex says, its been a year of hundreds/thousands of people complaining and they've barely acknowledged that there is a problem.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 4476184

    I would suggest you return the scale as not fit for purpose.

    Personally I will never guy another Garmin product despite the fact that I've used their bike computers for many years. The simply fact is that there is very good alternatives to all Garmin products available. If we keep buying Garmin they will keep producing junk products like the S2 scale.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Ray-H

    You are 100% correct! The S2 and Fenix 6 were my last Garmin products, the software and QA quality are unacceptable. I'm with Garmin since Edge 705 (2008) and it seems that the quality of SW declining every year. Even DCRainmaker talks about this trend. The S2 was the pinnacle of this s..t show, basically, it's worse than the S1 scale which was released in 2011. How is that even possible?