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Body fat %

marklees1972
over 4 years ago

Hi,

Just bought the Garmin Index scales as I wanted to track my weight and body fat. 

Problem is the bf% reading is completely off, saying I'm 8%. I knew I was definitely not that low, so had a dexa scan just to see. This is coming in at 18% bf - a big difference. I wasn't  expecting the scales to be completely accurate.... but 10% off!!

I have tried changing the activity level on my garmin profile to be below 8, but this has made little difference. 

This is really frustrating as these scales aren't cheap and are now only really giving me a trustable body weight value. 

Anyone else had these issues? Anyone resolved these issues?

Thanks

Mark 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    My body fat reading on the scale was 5% and it took a long time after I bought the scale to get my body fat measured and it was 12%. It was so bad I had to immediately change my diet five nights at freddy's

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Yes, IMO everybody has this exact problem because this scale does not measure anything correct except the weight.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    esta báscula, miente demasiado, me dice que tengo un 19% de grasa, en realidad tengo un 10%, medición por nutricionista 

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Juanjo

    Found this on Garmin Help, it states that Activity class over 8 is Athlete mode, under isn't, therefore fat reading differs because the algorithms are different for each class.  I'm in athlete mode but it still says I have 25.9% fat today... I still don't think that is correct.  

    1. Select Activity Class.
      • To enable Athlete Mode change the value to 8-10.
      • To disable Athlete Mode change the value to 1-7.

      • The value you select has no bearing on your weight metrics other than being on either side of the value of 8. Lower than 8, athlete mode is off; 8 or higher and it is on.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Yes. I took delivery of my Index S2 scale last week and have had problems with the scales showing inaccurate readings compared with my Tanita BC-1000 scales. The Tanita scales have been calibrated to be within 2>4% of formal medical body fat readings etc, which seems to mirror other experiences form users in these forums, so I know the Index S2 is way off. It seems to approximately double the Body Fat readings which then pushes off many of the other readings rendering the Index S2 somewhat useless.

    Following some investigation, the issue I have tracked to the fact that there is no ‘Lifetime Athlete’ setting available in the Index S2 user settings. This is available through the Garmin Edge 800 / 810 User Profile settings that sync's my Tanita BC-1000 readings.

    If I switch ‘Lifetime Athlete’ off on the Garmin Edge device(s) the Tanita Body Fat readings get closer to the Index S2, although it is still off by approx 4>6% so somewhat academic as the Tanita still gives greater accuracy.

    So the question I have for Garmin is why is there no ‘Lifetime Athlete’ setting in the Index S2 user profile settings?  On the evidence working with my Tanita through the Garmin Edge 800/810 this would possibly make the Index S2 device useful with a better degree of accuracy, albeit still @4>6% off the Tanita which still gives greater accuracy.

    For now this is an Index S2 heading back to Garmin until this gets sort out.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to crazynrg

    This is the reply I got from Garmin!  I’ve gone back to using my old scales!! 

    Due to the nature of internet forums, people will express their personal views which they are entitled to do and we have no control over this. Our preference would be for them to contact us first so that we can offer support.

    You will likely therefore, find other users that have experienced similar issues to yourself, and the same can be found for any electrical device and potential issue, but these do only make up a very small minority of users, and very few of these turn out to be genuine faults.  As such, whilst regrettably faults can occur, as they can on any electrical device, there are no known faults with these, which can cause this.