Like most people, I have a challenging relationship with the humble scales.
I don’t like them. I don’t want one. All they do is make you feel bad about yourself, obsess about numbers and who ever said the scales was a good way to measure health anyway?
In an ideal world, I would banish them from the house, never to be seen again. But for various reasons, they lurk in the bathroom, dragged out once in a while to blow off the dust and take stock of things.
The new generation of scales, however, can offer more than a dose of self-loathing and rapprochement. They will look at your body composition instead of simply your weight, and tell you how much is muscle, bone, water and body fat.
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In theory, that gives you a better idea of your overall health; even smarter scales will communicate the information to your smartphone so you can pinpoint trends and see if anything has changed drastically in recent months.
That doesn’t mean they are any good though. A “smart” weighing scales told me (fairly recently) that my body type was “sturdy and obese”. I’m not sure where it got sturdy from, but obese was definitely a stretch, at least by Irish metrics.
Thankfully, the Homedics Glo Body Analyser refrains from issuing such judgments. It will provide all the data you need to keep an eye on your health, and it will do it all for under €45. Which, if you’ve been paying attention, is less than half the price of some of the “smart” scales on the market.
It has its own app, refreshingly free of upselling to a premium subscription, that can track your information over time and pinpoint trends, or you can connect it to Apple or Google’s built-in tracking apps to build a bigger picture of your health.
If you plan to use any of these body composition analysers, it is worth remembering the devices give you a general idea of how things stand, but there is a margin for error on metrics such as body fat.
The scales use bioimpedance, passing a low-level, safe current through your body, but that can be impacted by hydration levels, for example, or exercise. If you are dehydrated, it can overestimate your body fat; drink too much water and it can underestimate it. In other words, don’t take the readings too much to heart.
Where it really comes in handy is in tracking trends: if your body suddenly shows a marked decrease in muscle mass or the bone mass shows a steady decline, it is best to get things checked out with a medical professional.
So with that in mind, how did the Homedics device stack up? Surprisingly well, given the price.
What was surprising was how detailed the data was. While I expected the usual body fat percentages and BMI calculation, the Homedics scale went further. It tells you how much visceral fat – located in the abdominal cavity to protect your vital organs – you have, and rates it from “good” to “excess”. That is different from subcutaneous fat, with different health implications for both men and women. And as you age, these measurements become a little more important in terms of flagging any potential health issues.
It also calculates your metabolic age, based on your basal metabolic rate and how that compares with your chronological age group. Ideally your metabolic age should be lower than your chronological age, indicating higher muscle mass and lower body fat.
The app allows you to take dates and compare measurements, identifying trends over longer periods of time. You can even focus on morning versus evening measurements.
And then there is the “Glo” part of the product. The Homedics device comes with its own light effects, a steady glow that kicks in when it detects motion.
As features go, it is not necessary, but it is a nice extra when you stumble to the toilet at 2am. No more glaring lights waking you completely, and while it wouldn’t make me feel any more kindly towards the concept of weighing scales, I felt less like throwing this one out the window.
Motion is motion though, and the scales didn’t distinguish between adult humans and small, energetic cats. That meant the battery wound down more quickly than I expected. It is an easy fix though, with the scales relying on standard batteries rather than needing to be recharged, so you can get back up and running quickly.
Good
Neat body analyser that won’t take over the bathroom. The light is a handy extra, but it can be disabled if not needed. And the price is definitely right on this one – at €40 it is significantly cheaper than some other smart scales.
Bad
The light killed the battery more quickly than I’d like.
Everything else
The scales connects to the Homedics app to keep track of your progress, making it easy to follow.
Verdict
Homedics keeps it simple – and budget friendly – with the Glo body analyser.
