Garmin Index S2 Smart Scale

[@stefanf5433]

Thanks Tim for this review. Being a Garmin user myself this is now yet another item that is on my wishlist.

[@TimGrose]

Yeah and at least this one isn’t too expensive!

[@RunTall]

Hey Tim you are knocking on the door of a 1,000 subscribers. It won’t be long now. Great channel you deserve all the growth it’s seen. Have a great week.

[@TimGrose]

Yeah thanks - 8 more to go!

[@paulcain1285]

Hi Tim I have a similar but none Garmin set, I like the insights and if you use them regularly, you gather trend data for each stat. I feel better for knowing and being able to impact certain areas. It’s a good Vlog as might encourage others to think about this type of data, especially if the goal is all round health/fitness.

[@TimGrose]

Yeah and was quite a challenge to film this one! Realise I need some way of fixing my GoPro to look down! I have kind of been “71” kg for a good year now but realised am bit over now. A bit of extra weight right now for me isn’t a massive problem but thought this would be a “fun” way to check does not creep up too much and see if those other metrics have any value for me. I have a Tanita scale that is kind of similar but rather old and has no screen and so only used to work via ANT+ but Garmin stopped supporting connecting to such devices long ago so long since abandoned using it and reverted back to those trusty Salter scales which reassuringly seem pretty accurate.

[@user-yl7lz1hm6r]

Hi Tim, how tall are you? Always assumed you were tall, so at “71”kg you must be super light!

[@user-yl7lz1hm6r]

Just saw 195cm...

[@TimGrose]

@@user-yl7lz1hm6r 1.95m so yeah long and thin - well albeit a few kg over where was for Seville Marathon earlier in the year. Think I was around 69kg when I did my marathon PB in 2005 so fairly similar.

[@user-yl7lz1hm6r]

@@TimGrose good to know. Fellow lanky runner here @ 196cm. 80kg of weight here - mostly skin and bone but sounds like there could be wiggle room to lose a few kgs and increase the ‘W/kg’ if you will 😅. Luckily my feet max out at UK 13 depending on brand (typically 12 to 12.5) so I don’t have the same issues sourcing certain shoes!

[@KParks]

Ive got this scale but it's hard to find what my reading should even be. Like I have no clue what my bone mass and skeletal muscle mass should even be and it doesn't give you a baseline. For example I'm 6'2" 209 pounds and my bone mass is 14 pounds and skeletal muscle mass is 84 pounds. These are just numbers because I don't know what they should be I'd assume a % of overall weight but don't know the number.

[@TimGrose]

Yeah I have to admit I only really pay much attention to my weight. For BMI (Body Mass Index) there is some guidance of what the numbers could mean - e.g. www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/what-is-the-body-mass-index-bmi/

[@AncoraImparoPiper]

I got an earlier version of this scale about 4 years ago. Just for fun, I did a full body scan as well. Either way, unless you are pedantic about BMI, water % and bone mass, it is not really that wow. The full body scan told me exactly where most of my fat was accumulated ( around the middle, not surprised since I can see it with my bare eyes), but more importantly, it informed me that I had no visceral fat which is good news. I now just use the scale to measure my weight. The other details are not important to me. I know I have to lose that last 5kg, but BMI, bone mass, or hydration, these matter not. If I were exclusively cycling, then bone mass would be important to measure.

[@TimGrose]

Yeah TBH measuring and easily recording my weight was my main driver. Realised that whilst I was 71 kg for my marathon in Feb, it has crept up a bit so thought better just check does not creep up too much.

[@AncoraImparoPiper]

@@TimGrose Good luck with the weight control, with Yuletide just around the corner :)

[@TimGrose]

@@AncoraImparoPiper Every day seems quite similar at the moment but am at least done with quarantine tomorrow!

[@ffiChristian]

Hello, how did you solve the error at minute 5:44, when the scale does not recognize your name, I look for my name but only igconita appears?

[@TimGrose]

TBH I think it only happened that one time. Certainly it has been OK every time since. Did you manage to get it to work?

[@brownies-midlifeadventure]

12 sec in and all I can say is "Love the Spock eyebrows" awesome review too mate ;-)

[@TimGrose]

Thanks :)

[@MarathonRunningTom]

I never even knew smart scales were a thing 🤣 They look pretty useful!

[@TimGrose]

Yeah smart watch, phone, bike, treadmill and now scale :) Am only missing the bike now but I prefer to ride my own one on a smart trainer lol !

[@lukevirtualgameruk3523]

These scales look really good at the moment I use samsung watch not sure if the body fat reading are right. Might have to try this

[@TimGrose]

I was only on them this AM for a weigh in but which do about once a week just to check. TBH I only really pay attention to the overall weight as if that has gone up/down and I am not very dehydrated then chances are that metrics like body fat have so adjusted as well.

[@lukevirtualgameruk3523]

@@TimGrose kool.

[@Yosser70]

Be interested to hear what you think about the body readings now you’ve had it a few weeks. Does it seen accurate and consistent?

[@TimGrose]

Very consistent. All the readings are still very similar. I am just making some tentative steps to start running again after my calf tear injury 7 weeks ago and, otherwise, have been riding on Zwift for an hour or so about 4 times a week so not been doing the overly long aerobic runs or rides to help get my weight back down again to where it was for my marathon in Feb. Only 4 kg extra though so not too bad. I tend to weigh myself when get up so have some consistency there. Certainly pleased with the scale even if it is sort of telling me that perhaps I can't have too many cakes!

[@torbenwestchristensen2616]

Hey. Nice video. I just buy the same product like you. But I have a question… after I connected my phone to the Garmin there coming a code like in your video. It’s working but how if my wife also want to connecting from hers phone. Also I can’t send her a friend request. She all ready has a Garmin account.

[@TimGrose]

Not totally sure as only me uses the scale. I think it is supposed to detect who is on the scale as it were with multiple users. You should not need the phone for the actual weigh in as the data is transmitted over WiFi.

[@user-yl7lz1hm6r]

I’ve got an ‘arboleaf’ I got for 40 dollars in the US. Not as fancy looking as your Garmin but main thing is it’s bluetooth functionality to allow live syncing with Apple Health ecosystem etc. Great for data freaks!

[@TimGrose]

I thought this was "cheap" for a Garmin device but seemingly there are a lot cheaper scales around. All my watches and bike computers are Garmin though so this had that compatibility appeal and these even my HR strap as well as this scale can be controlled from the Garmin app.

[@Hanna-yn5ou]

Thank you for this review! I particularly liked that you clearly bought it yourself, for your own money. It's so hard to know who's just doing a paid promo on their channel, and who is a regular consumer! I can tell that you are the latter.. I have a question: Is there any way at all, that you can see, to turn OFF the wifi/Bluetooth on this model? (I'm a bit of a tinfoil hat and don't like to have gadgets on standby that are bombarding my house with connection requests all the time... I even have a meter to check it - and I only want smart gadgets to be connected with wifi/bluetooth on, when there is actually new data to transmit. The rest of the time, they should be off! )

[@TimGrose]

Yeah thanks bought this myself. I think you will be OK there as the scale only comes on when you stand on or tap it and it would only make a WiFi connection to upload your latest weight readings.

[@af59-photografika]

Thanks for this video Tim, very interesting, as all your videos are. I hope your rehab is going well?

[@TimGrose]

Thanks going slowly. Biking is now easier at least and walking about improving.

[@PoetWithPace]

Nice gear. I bought a Fit Track during lock down and find it gives way too much info. All i need is weight :-)

[@TimGrose]

Yeah it is a bit like a GPS watch isn't it - how far and how fast most important. Might be interesting to see if the other metrics fundamentally change when I get back to running and probably do less cycling.

[@PoetWithPace]

@@TimGrose that would be interesting to see. I have had to discipline myself to weigh at least once a month, just to see if there is any change.

[@ivanalcantaraarreola34]

Hey Tim, Ivan here. I saw that when you tried to get your first weight it didn't recognize you as a user. How did you manage to solve that??? I've been trying to connect it to my phone but haven't had any luck.

[@TimGrose]

Hi. I haven't any connectivity problems since setup it up for this video but just notice it is not showing as one of paired devices on the Garmin Connect Mobile app on my iPhone. In that app, if you do Add Device then browse to the Index > Index S2 Smart Scale does that bit just not work?

[@ruperthan442]

Hi Tim - quick question - as you mentioned your 20 year old scales give pretty much the same number as your 2020 smart scales so that value in upgrading is not really there. However, as a FR 945 user which I see you are too, I was curious to know whether the data gathered from the garmin scales contributes in anyway to the accuracy and metrics of Garmins other training metrics which the watches give you like Load, stress, performance condition, V02 max, training effect etc.

[@TimGrose]

Well I think the main advantage is that all readings get automatically saved to Garmin Connect so can now I can get a time series of those metrics. The weight does get updated for your user profile section so yeah VO2 Max, FTP etc etc is going to be honest to me. Previously I had my early 2020 weight of 71kg and now it is 75kg. One of those things that matters little in general scheme of things but I do like a connected gadget!

[@leegod100]

I bought a Eufy smart scale for £38. I really couldn’t justify the Garmin price. Does the same job but outside of Garmin ecosystem. Annoyingly (a lot) Garmin seems to refuse to allow weight/body composition readings to come from anywhere other than a Garmin device. However I can get the data into Apple Health, and then a rather tedious 3rd Party Sync app will send it from Apple > TrainingPeaks. Seriously considering if that is worth 3x the cost! 🙃 PS your right foot seems very swollen...hope you’re ok?

[@TimGrose]

Right foot is due to a calf tear 4 weeks ago. It was a lot worse and foot got so wide could barely get any shoe on. Think probably still at least 3 weeks off being able to do a jog again. Yeah perhaps you do spend best part of £100 extra to transmit your weight into Garmin Connect but I kind of like it for that sort of thing and it does "looks nice" and the other metrics are at least "interesting". In all honesty, the Salter scales I showed are seemingly still very capable of telling me my weight accurately enough.

[@leegod100]

Sorry about your calf...didn’t realise it was so bad! Fingers crossed for a good recovery. I would definitely prefer it all in Garmin. It’s much nicer when everything works together and super frustrating when it doesn’t. A bit like Stryd not working as a native power meter. Seems like Garmin are a bit annoying when it comes to these things.

[@TimGrose]

@@leegod100 I guess Garmin being market leader in running watches (if don't count Apple as more of a generic smart watch) that we kind of expect anything to work with them even if they don't make them. I have a Stryd but perhaps have never been sold on it enough to really care other than looking at a "number" on some of my runs - typically rolling long ones. I think the "problem" is the lack of standardisation of what running power means and, unlike bike power meters, you can only really use Stryd, Garmin, Polar power independently and even though Corus power seems to be fairly similar to Stryd I recall Stryd saying you can't use Corus power activity files in their Power Center so maybe each of them are as "guilty" of not supporting each other.

[@JoutarouKuujou1]

Do you still use it? Any problems with it and do you recommend? I'm very tempted

[@TimGrose]

Yes I weighed myself this morning! Still working fine.

[@JoutarouKuujou1]

@@TimGrose Thanks mate

[@LibertyLaneLights]

Doesn't work right out of the box. The App that controls it is junk. Could not get it to work. Had to send it back. Had higher expectations from Garmin.

[@TimGrose]

Sorry to hear that. It can take a few goes to get it setup right and indeed that happened to me.

[@יהודיתטרסר]

תודה.

[@TimGrose]

Thanks!

[@thomasdavidbassett483]

Garmin have stopped giving any help over the phone.

[@TimGrose]

Wasn’t aware of that. What problem or question have you got ?

[@swampymaan]

you should check you emails... ;-)

[@TimGrose]

.