Skilled's Ranking
Professionals
- Spectacular segmental physique composition scanning
- Scans physique, coronary heart well being, and nerves
- Straightforward-to-use app
Cons
- Fairly costly
- Overkill for most individuals
Our Verdict
The Withings Physique Scan gives an exhaustive array of, effectively, scans in your physique. It’ll test your weight, physique composition, cardiovascular well being, and even nervous system – however that comes at a literal value, and should you don’t want all of it you then could be higher off with a less expensive various.
Worth When Reviewed
Not obtainable within the US
There are sensible scales, after which there are sensible scales. The Withings Physique Scan is a sensible scale.
Loads of scales today hook up with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to share your outcomes with an app. Some may also measure your physique composition, possibly test your coronary heart fee.
The Physique Scan does all that, after which some: it measures visceral fats, not simply subcutaneous; it offers a segmental evaluation of the place your fats and muscle sit in your physique; it may take an ECG studying and report your ‘vascular age’; it's going to even measure how wholesome your nerves are.
This a one-stop check-in in your physique, about as shut as any of us will ever get to a personal physician giving us a look-over each morning.
It’s additionally costly, particularly should you embody the (refreshingly non-compulsory) Withings Well being+ app subscription, and possibly overkill for many of us. In case you simply wish to know the way a lot you weigh, or whether or not you’re gaining muscle, cheaper scales will do the job simply as effectively. However should you’re severe about well being monitoring, the Physique Scan has you lined.
Design & construct
- Sturdy, heavy design
- Glass-topped
- Distinctive pull-string deal with
At first look, the Physique Scan seems similar to different Withings scales just like the Physique Comp or Physique Cardio, with a easy sq. designed topped by striped glass and a small show. If something, the most important change is that this time round it’s solely obtainable in black, with no white model.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
Like earlier Withings scales it has a reassuring weight and heft – you gained’t knock it across the flooring simply by mistake – and each seems and feels premium.
Whereas Withings recommends utilizing it on laborious flooring, I really discover that it really works superb and weighs precisely on my bed room carpet – although word that this can be a fairly quick pile, so thicker carpets or rugs could pose an issue.
The show is positioned on the prime of the dimensions, and is huge, vivid, and simple to learn – even by bleary pre-coffee eyes – with vibrant animations and clear graphics.
Probably the most uncommon facet of the Scan’s bodily design is the deal with. Sure, deal with: there’s a skinny plastic grip that’s hooked up to the bottom by a twine, which you pull as much as waist peak to take measurements.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
That is strictly non-compulsory, however Withings says it improves accuracy of the physique composition readings, and is what allows each the phase evaluation and ECG, so you might be lacking out should you don’t use it.
My one concern is that with solely a skinny twine connecting the deal with to the bottom, this does really feel like a attainable level of failure, particularly if the dimensions is in attain of inquisitive pets or youngsters.
Battery is straightforward too – the dimensions is topped up over USB-C, identical to most telephones, and will final a full yr on one cost.
Software program & setup
- Easy setup – with some Wi-Fi fussiness
- Each metric included in free app
- Non-compulsory subscription to Well being+
Organising the Withings Physique Scan is straightforward sufficient. In case you don’t have already got a Withings account you’ll must create one, and in any other case it’s mainly only a matter of turning the dimensions on, opening the app, and going from there.
It takes a couple of minutes to work by the straightforward steps, and I solely hit one hurdle: it’s a bit fussy about Wi-Fi throughout setup, and whereas it advised I may skip this and arrange over Bluetooth, that merely didn’t work.
I resolved the issue by shifting the dimensions proper subsequent to my router in the course of the setup course of, after which shifting it again the place I needed it long-term – like many sensible residence merchandise, it merely wants a stronger Wi-Fi sign first time spherical, however fortuitously isn’t so specific day-to-day.
That is value preventing by, as a result of Wi-Fi assist is a key (and simply missed) function right here. Bluetooth scales require you to maintain your cellphone close by and infrequently with the app open to be able to sync knowledge, however it will add your measurements to the cloud mechanically, prepared so that you can obtain onto your cellphone the subsequent time you open the app – each time that's.
The app in query is Withings Well being Mate, which is free and obtainable on each iOS and Android. That is one in every of my favorite health or well being monitoring apps, and helps each Withings product – reminiscent of its wearables and sleep trackers – consolidating all of your knowledge in a single place should you personal a couple of little bit of Withings equipment.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Contemplating how a lot knowledge is accessible, the app is clearly laid out and easy to make use of. At the moment’s metrics seem first on the dashboard, and diving into every one lets you see in-depth and historic knowledge too. It does typically take a couple of seconds to load the most recent readings, however tapping into one and again out often refreshes issues.
The app additionally lets you observe battery ranges and particular person settings for particular units, plus customise your profile, any household profiles, and hook up with the likes of Google Match, Apple Well being, Strava, MyFitnessPal, and extra.
Comparatively new to Withings is the Well being+ subscription. Subscriptions are all the fad in health monitoring today, whether or not it’s choices like Fitbit Premium that gatekeep particular metrics to paid subscribers, or the likes of Whoop or Oura that just about lock all the pieces behind a paywall.
Well being+ had me involved – particularly given the comparatively steep $9.95/£9.95/€9.95 month-to-month price (or $99.50/£99.50/€99.50 for a yr) – however in truth Withings has taken a distinct tack to its rivals.
In the interim, completely none of your well being and health knowledge is tied to a Well being+ subscription – each single metric the Physique Scan gives is included only for shopping for the dimensions.
What Well being+ gives as a substitute is a collection of ‘habit-building’ well being and health packages. Most final six weeks, and goal particular parts of health, vitamin, and sleep well being, providing you with day by day missions and focused recommendation primarily based in your targets. Relying on the Withings tech you personal and this system you’re on, your output could also be recorded mechanically or you may manually log sleep knowledge, exercises, or meals.
It’s refreshing to see a subscription that genuinely is non-compulsory – all the pieces the Physique Scan advertises is included within the buy value, and Well being+ is simply there as an additional for individuals who desire a day by day nudge to assist them construct more healthy habits.
From my temporary pattern of the packages I’m undecided I’d personally pay the asking value for them, however I like the truth that you’re free to disregard it and keep on utilizing the dimensions as-is should you favor.
Monitoring & options
- Standard weight and physique composition
- Superior segmental physique composition too
- Coronary heart fee, ECG, and ‘pulse wave velocity’
- Nerve well being measurements
So let’s get to the guts of what the Physique Scan does – the clue’s within the title.
For starters, it clearly takes your weight. This bit’s fast, straightforward, and primarily based in your weight it's going to additionally well establish who’s standing on the dimensions, with assist for as much as eight profiles. Impressively, it’s able to studying weight to a precision of 50g (0.1lb) – extra exact than most.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Subsequent up is physique composition. It could possibly measure how a lot of your physique is made up of fats, muscle, and bone, and provide you with indications of wholesome ranges to purpose for.
It could possibly additionally go one step additional and measure your visceral fats – that is the fats that sits round your organs, relatively than the seen subcutaneous fats that makes us all jiggly. Visceral fats is extra harmful, related to graver well being dangers (together with coronary heart issues and diabetes), so it’s an essential one to look at. The Physique Scan provides you a rating out of 20, the place readings from 1 to five are ‘regular’, and something above that's doubtlessly harmful.
As talked about earlier, should you seize the Physique Scan’s deal with then the corporate says your physique composition readings shall be extra correct.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
This additionally unlocks ‘segmental physique composition’, which exhibits you a easy illustration of your physique, indicating your fats and muscle ranges throughout your torso, and every leg and arm, and telling you the way your figures evaluate to different Withings customers of the identical age and peak.
You'll be able to select between a feminine, male, or gender-neutral physique sort for the picture (a pleasant contact), although oddly one factor you may’t do is see historic knowledge right here – which means there’s no solution to chart whether or not you’re constructing muscle in your arms, for instance. Maybe Withings is attempting to discourage the inaccurate view that you could ‘spot take away’ fats from particular physique components, however for muscle improvement the info over time may very well be useful if added in.
In order that’s your physique as an entire. Subsequent up, your Physique Scan can have a look at your coronary heart. Probably the most primary studying right here is simply coronary heart fee, which generally is a good information to shifts in your resting coronary heart fee, particularly should you weigh very first thing within the morning.
Then it may take an ECG studying, which signifies whether or not you may have a wholesome sinus rhythm, and may function an early warning system for AFib and another coronary heart circumstances.
Lastly, pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a studying that’s particular to Withings, assessing arterial stiffness – apparently a key indicator of cardiac well being, together with blood stress issues.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
In nations just like the UK the place Withings has been given the suitable medical certification, this comes within the type of a particular pace. Even nations with out the certification can get a vaguer ‘vascular age’ rating, which tells you in case your cardiovascular system is in line the place it must be in your age.
Lastly, there’s another studying the Physique Scan can ship, and it’s a brand new one to me: nerve well being. Measured by stimulating the sweat glands in your toes (a stunning thought if ever there was one), this nets you a rating out of 100, with a easy binary: above 50 is nice, under 50 is unhealthy, and an indication that you could be endure from peripheral neuropathy, which could be attributable to diabetes, some infections, and some different issues.
Withings warns that it's going to take a full month’s value of readings to get a particular rating, although I’ve discovered it remarkably constant within the week or two I’ve used the Physique Scan. I’ll admit that it’s given me an entire new anxiousness I didn’t have earlier than, however my predicted rating of 93 appears relatively good, so I can most likely relaxation straightforward.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
With that exhaustive listing of measurements it's possible you'll effectively fear that you just’ll be standing on this scale for an age on a regular basis. In complete it takes rather less than a minute to get a full set of scores, 30 seconds of which is taken up by the ECG.
It’s customisable for every person although, so if there’s something you don’t care about you may merely drop it off and save a while – or conceal sure parts so that you just don’t must, say, see your fats share should you’d relatively not.
Worth & availability
The Physique Scan is pricey.
It prices £399.95/€399.95 in Europe. It’s not on sale within the US but, however was initially introduced to price $299 – that was in early 2022 nevertheless, and with inflation since (plus that European pricing) a $399 price ticket now appears extra probably.
That value does at the least embody an non-compulsory three-month free trial of the Well being+ subscription, which as talked about earlier than is $9.95/£9.95/€9.95 month-to-month, or $99.50/£99.50/€99.50 for a yr.
In a way the worth is difficult to check to rivals – nothing else available on the market does what this does.
The query to ask is that if you really want all the pieces this gives. Withings’ personal Physique Comp scale is less expensive at $209/£199/€209, and just about solely misses out on the segmental physique composition and ECG readings. Most individuals shall be higher off with this cheaper choice, and even the older Physique Cardio, Physique+, or low cost and cheerful Physique.
Rivals together with Eufy or Fitbit provide cheaper options too, although their choices lack most of the high-end monitoring options discovered right here. Try our rating of one of the best sensible scales to seek out out extra.
Verdict
No different client sensible scale does it fairly just like the Withings Physique Scan.
In case you can afford it that is an all-singing, all-dancing medical check-up out of your bed room each morning. It’s dependable, fast, and easy-to-use, with an non-compulsory further subscription that gained’t attempt to rip you off.
The overwhelming majority of individuals merely don’t want this a lot medical tech at residence, and Withings has a variety of cheaper choices with totally different options and value factors – so should you largely care about physique composition readings or vascular age, you will get these for much less.
The Physique Scan nails what it units out to do although, and should you can justify the fee it’s laborious to think about coming away disillusioned.