What about the body fat % on the WeightGuru’s scale?
@Nate_Pearson @Jonathan I have been following the podcasts w/dexa scans and comparison etc to tanita or similar scales. I’m a cat 1 rider that has taken a couple seasons off mainly because life got hectic w/kids and schedules and a couple bouts of cancer w/both myself and my wife. That is behind and schedules have normalized some. This has allowed me to get back to structured training and a race schedule and kudos to the TR platform! Since October I have dropped a little over 30lbs. I too have a tanita scale, but my question is what do you get from the Dexa scan or should I say do you use the information from the dexa scan to impact your training or nutrition in a different way than you were prior to the results? I’m not sure if I’m asking this correct, but trying to understand if you are doing anything different w/the dexa data than you would be w/the tanita data given you all seemed to have correlated the numbers pretty closely??? Thx, Joe
I’m not doing anything different. It just gives you a bit more info about where you added muscle mass. For example my legs don’t seem to get bigger by just riding, but I’ll add muscle mass to my upper body if I lift.
So there’s not much point to doing a dexa too if you’ve got the scale.
I think they are the same in terms of measurement, but I like the Nokia because it syncs to my phone and I get the history.
I’ve had a eufy bluetooth scale for a while but my phone can’t seem to pair with it anymore so I have no way to track body fat and looking for a new scale. I loved the automatic sync to apple health but having to have the app open was really annoying so looking at a wifi based scale.
Wirecutter no longer recommend the Withings body because the app stopped working and recent Amazon reviews seem mixed. Has anyone purchased recently who can opine on whether it works?
I don’t particularly care if the app is horrible, as long as the measurements are consistent and I have some way to sync with apple health.
I’m running an old withings scale. Has to be 4-5 years old. I think it’s a w50. App still working fine. Every once in a while it runs down the batteries trying to make a blue tooth connection to my phone but I run rechargeable. When I had a scan done the w50 was within 1% of the scan. Still happy with it but would like a scale that connected with garmin connect.
Given that people are experiencing some discrepancies between different scales, I wonder how much value there is in buying a nokia/withings/tanita etc vs a cheap amazon smart scale? The cheap amazon one may give a different reading to the others, but if that reading is consistent and you can track progress then maybe it doesn’t matter that much? Do the bigger brands offer better technology that allows them to provide more consistent data? It’s the same conversation we have about different brands of power meters.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this, or experiences with cheaper scales? I’d rather have cheap and consistent readings than expensive (in my opinion) and “accurate”.
@Jack_Russell_Racing, any feedback regarding the fat %?
Thanks,
Zero issues whatsoever. I think the accuracy of the number is incorrect compared to a proper Dexa scan, but the consistency is fine. I have simultaneously used the Garmin, my old WeightGurus scale, and a skinfold caliper for the past 5 months. They all track exactly the same, with a variation of +/- 1% with my fat recording between 6.5% and 7.5%. (Yes, I’m sure on a Dexa scan it would be much higher).
The WeightGurus scale versus the Garmin scale is almost exactly .2 pounds off, every single time. (The Garmin registers me at 0.2 heavier than the WeightGurus). 137.8# on the WeightGurus is always 138# on the Garmin, for example. I sync everything via https://www.fitnesssyncer.com
Thanks for the reply!
They dont seem to sell that scale anymore, at least not in the UK.
Was there something specific that attracted you to that one or was it just a cheap one to test? I’m curious to try one but dont want to spend nokia/garmin money.
The WeightGurus scale? I was attracted to it because I was walking through the retail store “Bed, Bath & Beyond” and saw it on the shelf. Maybe the box was pretty or the person pictured on it had rock-hard abs… in other words, I have no idea why I bought that one. 
(This is the one: https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/weight-gurus-appsync-body-composition-bathroom-scale/1041867273)
But honestly, the connectivity of the Garmin is worth the price of admission – to me.
Thanks, appreciate your honesty 
I might choose a cheap one from amazon based on good reviews and report back with my findings
Know it was mentioned a good 6-9 months ago that scale integration was on the future road map… As you are in communication with Garmin over outdoor workouts stuff can you expand the conversation to get them to push their Garmin connect weight data from their Index smart scales to Trainer Road?
It’s still on the roadmap but not a priority at the moment.
Since then we worked on our new Mac/PC app and outside workouts on Garmin (and soon Wahoo) head units.
That’s great, can see you are all busy there and do appreciate the excellent improvements 
I’d also be curious how the Tanita numbers compare to the Nokia/Withings. Did you have a chance collect readings on both, Nate?
No. I keep forgetting!! I plan on doing monthly DEXAs until Cape Epic so I should remember one of these months .
I’m at the point of compulsively checking this forum like every 6 hours hoping this will be done (the Wahoo part)…can’t wait (mostly bc it’s about a million degrees in my paincave with no A/C and I’m not motivated to JRA outside).
On topic, though - I just bought a Body+ scale on prime day sale, so it’d be great to see that weight scale integration too! 
How accurate are smart scales at estimating water, BMI, etc.? There is a standard BMI for each weight, based off a google search that is approximately what my cheap amazon scale tells me. It’s also relatively the same on Garmin Connect which has me thinking that the scale isn’t actually measuring anything other than my weight and producing the other numbers based off a set of numbers associated with my given weight.
Is one scale better than the other? If two individuals with completely different body compositions, both weighing the same and being the same height got on the scale, would their readings be different? Which “at home” scale is smart enough to do this?
I understand consistency is key and a dexa may be the best approach but I want a scale that is accurate and not just giving me a BMI reading based off current weight and set height.
Thank you