Withings Body Cardio Scale review

From the self-proclaimed inventors of the smart scale comes a scale that’s first in its class to measure heart health. The Body Cardio Scale does everything its predecessors can do with the addition of heart rate and pulse velocity reporting — an ongoing look into your health, including the cardiovascular system, with a metric called pulse wave velocity. These features aim to provide a more in-depth picture of how your lifestyle impacts your wellness over time than that of a traditional smart scale.

The scale is priced at the higher end of the range for the best smart scales but provides additional metrics, including multiple modes for body type. It uses the standard bio-electric impedance to take body composition measurements and reports weight to the nearest 0.1kg.  

Although the Body Cardio provides more health reporting than other scales, it is wise to investigate the accuracy and significance of these additions before committing to the purchase price. Read on for help deciphering the pros and cons in our Withings Body Cardio smart scale review.

Withings Body Cardio Scale review: Price and availability

The Withings Body Cardio scale is at the upper end of smart scales with a $149.95 purchase price on the Withings website. Many big box stores such as Best Buy carry the scale, and you can find it online on Amazon.

Later in 2022, Withings will be releasing the Body Scan smart scales, which are proclaimed to conduct segmented body composition analysis and ECG measurements. 

Withings Body Cardio Scale review: Design and display

The Withings Body Cardio scale is sleek, thin, and sturdy, constructed from a tempered glass top with an aluminum base. The scale measures 12.8 x 12.8 x 0.7 in., and such has a larger surface area than many other scales with a low profile. It comes in black and white with a striped design and four weight sensors for accurate readings. The scale is heavier than most at 2.6kg.

A high contrast display screen, which measures 2.4 x 1.6in, makes readings easy to see. It displays measurements in 0.1kg (0.2lb) increments, which is slightly less accurate than a scale, such as the Withings Body+, that reports to the 0.1lb. 

You can choose to see your weight in kilograms, pounds, or stones. Other display features include a weather report and yesterday’s step-count, along with your selected metrics.

The Body Cardio smart scale uses bioelectric impedance analysis, which is standard with body composition scales. This particular model includes a “patent pending body position detector” and boasts highly-accurate analysis. However, as with any scale relying on bio-electric impedance, it’s important to note that this measurement technology is not a very precise method of reporting for body composition. The numbers reported are estimates of your body composition that rely on general mathematical algorithms. It’s wise not to draw definite conclusions from the numbers you are given. Rather, use these reports to monitor progress and change over time.

Withings Body Cardio Scale review: Set up

As with all Withings scales, the Body Cardio scale is very user-friendly and seamless to set up. Once you take the scale out of the box, plug in the included USB to charge it if necessary. The scale I tested arrived partially charged. Download the Healthmate app and follow the prompts on your screen. The process is completely guided in an easy-to-follow step-by-step format. Note that you will need to enter your personal information, such as sex, age, and height, to get the correct body composition measurements.

With set up, you can choose preferred units for displaying your metrics (pounds, stones, or kilograms, for instance) and how you’d like to see body composition measurements reported, either in percentages or total weight measurements.

With the Body Cardio scale, you can set up WiFi connectivity or use Bluetooth instead. Bluetooth connection requires your phone nearby for weigh-ins to be picked up and recorded. The scale can auto-recognize and save data from eight total users. Each user is recognized by their weight, so if you have two users of very similar weights, the scale will need you to verify which user is weighing in. You can see which user is being recorded with the first three letters of the profile name indicated on the scale.

Withings Body Cardio scales have unique measurement reporting abilities for different body compositions. There is an athlete mode, which takes people with higher lean mass and lower body fat into account, as well as a pregnancy and baby mode. Athlete mode is vital for anyone who consistently exercises and has a higher lean body mass than the average person. Any body composition reporting will be largely inaccurate without the ability to choose athlete mode, a due to the incorrect algorithm being used.

Pregnancy and baby mode remove the bio-electric impedance feature to make weighing safe. The baby mode allows users to weigh themselves holding their baby and does the math to report the baby’s weight by subtracting your own after two measurements (with and without baby). You can create a baby profile that stores the baby’s weight and monitors growth over time.

Withings Body Cardio Scale review: App features

Withings’ Health Mate app is well-thought-out and highly valuable. The app provides in-depth health information customized to your specific goals and current metrics. Information provided in the app is vetted by professionals such as obstetricians, cardiologists, and other medical professionals. 

You can choose to follow along and view more information as you use the app. There are challenges, meditation programs, a pregnancy tracker, and personalized health insights. You an also use the app as an all-in-one health databank for yourself. With the Body Cardio, you will be able to log your blood pressure, while the scale can pick up and save your heart rate and calculate your vascular age.

Resting heart rates between 60 and 100 are considered healthy, and lower rates in the 50s and 60s can indicate superior fitness and cardiovascular health. When your heart rate trends down after beginning a new healthy lifestyle habit such as exercise, that is a likely indicator that you are on the right track toward improving your health. Pulse wave velocity measures how flexible your arteries are, with arterial stiffness making it more difficult for your heart to pump blood through your body.

Before measuring your heart rate with the scale, be sure you are calm and have been standing for a few minutes. Raising from seated to standing or measuring immediately after activity will provide a higher heart rate reading than your normal at-rest measurement.

All metrics such as BMI, body water, body fat, muscle, and weight are tracked on your dashboard. Additionally, you can link the app to your fitness tracker, Google Fit or Apple to track activity and log workouts and food intake, making the Health Mate a one-stop portal for storing and tracking your health information.

Withings Body Cardio Scale review: Compatibility

App compatibility is vast with the Withings Body Cardio scale. More than 100 compatible apps are available to link and sync your data, including MyFitness Pal, FitBit, Apple Health, Google Fit, WW, Noom, Garmin, Map My Run, Lose It, and several others.

Withings Body Cardio Scale review: Verdict

Withings is dedicated to high-quality smart scale production, and this is evident with the Body Cardio smart scale. The biggest selling point is the app which is superior to other brands on the market. If you will be motivated to stay consistent with your efforts, including improving your cardiovascular health, by tracking your lifestyle habits and metrics within the app, this scale is an excellent choice.

It is worth noting that you can also track your heart rate using other devices, so if you already own a heart rate device, you likely do not need to use a scale for this purpose. However, the vascular age reporting and ability to track trends are valuable additions to a plethora of body composition measurements and fitness trends you can monitor with the help of this high-quality scale.

If you’re looking for a more affordable smart scale, the Withings Body Plus is our top pick. The smart scale is very similar, but doesn’t have the heart health feautres offered on the Withings Body Cardio, although as mentioened above, if you already have a heart rate device, this shouldn’t be an issue.