The best smart bathroom scales effortlessly keep tabs on the ups and downs of your pounds, allowing you to look for trends in your weight over time. One mid-priced new model, the $99 Koogeek S1 Smart Health Scale, is a fine option for people who have modest needs. It tracks weight, body mass index (BMI), and a few other metrics for up to 16 people. Syncing is reliable, and in my testing, the readings were accurate compared with other scales in my house. It doesn't have any exciting features, though, and more importantly, its companion app needs work. If you're in the market for your first smart scale, the Koogeek S1 is worth considering. But if you're creating a total home health setup, you'll want a scale that does more and can connect with a range of other apps and devices. The QardioBase ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) and the Withings Smart Body Analyzer (WS-50) ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) are our Editors' Choices.
You Can Trust Our ReviewsSince 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. (Read our editorial mission.)Price and SyncingThe Koogeek scale lists at $99, which is a bit less expensive than other smart scales that support both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi syncing. Not all smart bathroom scales offer both. Some use only Bluetooth, which can help to keep the price down but makes them much less convenient to use because you need your phone nearby to get your weight recorded in the companion app.
Other scales in this price range include the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) and the Runtastic Libra ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) . The Libra uses Bluetooth only. The Withings Smart Body Analyzer and QardioBase both offer Wi-Fi syncing, but are slightly more expensive at $149. They have the best overall usability, however, and include an excellent array of features. At the low end of the price spectrum is the Nuyu Wireless Scale ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) . It does not support Wi-Fi syncing and only integrates with a limited number of devices.
4.5Outstanding Read Our QardioBase Smart Scale Review4.5Outstanding $99.00See It at AmazonRead Our Withings Smart Body Analyzer (WS-50) Review 3.5Good $90.00Check Stockat AmazonRead Our Polar Balance Connected Smart Scale Review 4.0Excellent $169.95Check Stockat AmazonRead Our Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale Review 3.5Good Check Stockat AmazonRead Our Runtastic Libra Bluetooth Smart Scale Review 3.0Average $59.99See Itat AmazonRead Our Health o Meter Nuyu Wireless Scale ReviewDesign and UsageNearly every smart scale I've tested has the same basic look: an all-white or all-black square with rounded edges and a glass top. The Koogeek S1 ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) toes the line. It's an all-white scale with a glass top and a Koogeek logo in the center. Itmeasures 1.1 by 12.4 by 12.4 inches (HWD) inches and weighs a little less than four pounds. A display at the top illuminates with a neon blue readout when you step on. A plastic silver edging protects the rim of the scale and gives it a slightly unique look. The scale runs on four AA batteries.
To use the S1, you need a smartphone and the Koogeek app. If you don't have an Android or iOS device, you won't be able to see your weight tracked over time, and you won't be able to get any readings beyond weight. These include BMI, body fat mass, lean mass, bone mass, total body water, basal metabolic rate, and visceral fat.
The first time you use the scale, the Koogeek app will walk you through the setup process. I had no problems getting it to work in about two minutes, which included time to install the batteries. You can choose to see your weight in pounds, kilograms, or stones.
When you step on the scale, only your weight appears in the display, but it shows up fast. The scale then shows a series of dots while it uses electrical impedance to capture other body data and compute the rest of your results. All those results show up in the app, and you can see them immediately.
You can use the Koogeek scale in combination with an at-home blood pressure cuff the company sells, and with any other compatible fitness app that sends step count data to Apple Health. With your permission, Koogeek can pull step data from Apple Health, but it doesn't work natively with any fitness tracker.
AppThe Koogeek app tracks your weight over time, which you can see day by day or plotted on a graph. The rest of the metrics appear day by day only. The app shows them to you on a sliding scale, with the health range shaded in green.
Navigating the app still isn't intuitive to me, and I've been using it for more than a week. I find myself doing a lot of tapping around until I land on the chart or item I want. The app clearly needs work.
You can create a weight goal and a date for when you want to reach it, but the app doesn't give you any recommendations about what's realistic or even safe. You can enter whatever you want. When I said I wanted to lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks, which would put me well under a healthy weight and on a dangerous schedule, the app shrugged any responsibility for the safety and set my weight loss goal for the first week at 20 pounds. Yikes.
Some smart scale apps, particularly those that work with fitness trackers, usually recommend setting a goal based on losing somewhere between half a pound and two pounds per week, but no more. Polar's scale, the Polar Balance ($205.55 at Amazon Canada) , and its app, called Flow, are excellent at guiding you toward specific recommendations for reaching a weight goal. In addition to tracking how much weight you should lose or gain per week, it also gives you examples of how much more exercise to do and what kinds of foods to add or subtract from your diet. It might say you should eat 1/4 less of a hamburger, or one ounce less chocolate, or run an extra 60 minutes. I love how specific it is, and that it gives you a range of options that help you develop a better understanding of what it takes to change your weight.
The Koogeek app does have one unique feature that helps you find the weight of a baby, although it's not exactly high tech. You weigh yourself holding your baby (it works for cats and dogs, too!), and then you weigh yourself without the baby, and Koogeek does the subtraction for you to find the baby's weight.
The S1 doesn't have a pregnancy mode. Pregnancy modes on bathroom scales generally disable the bioelectrical impedance. People with pacemakers and other implanted electrical devices often need this feature, too (or else they buy a scale that doesn't use impedance from the get-go). The QardioBase has a pregnancy mode that goes one step further. Pregnant women will always see a happy face appear on the scale no matter their weight or change in weight. They can even hide the weight from appearing on the scale at all, so that they can track it for their health care team without ever looking at the numbers themselves.
ConclusionsIf you're shopping for a bathroom scale, I highly recommend buying one with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth syncing that automatically logs your weight and body mass in a connected mobile app. The Koogeek S1 Smart Health Scale works fine, but the app needs some work. It gets the job done if all you want to do is track your weight over time. But other scales do it much better and can become part of a whole home health kit. And to that end, the QardioBase and the Withings Smart Body Analyzer are your best bets.
3.0Check Stock$60.00 at AmazonMSRP $99.00View MoreKoogeek's S1 smart bathroom scale measures weight and estimates other body metrics for up to 16 people, but its companion app needs work.
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