Withings Body Cardio smart scale is as impressive as it is frustrating

Jason Cipriani

June 26, 2016 at 9:48 PM

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Going beyond recording the now-standard aspects of what we’ve come to expect from a smart scale — weight and body mass index — Withings's latest smart scale, the $179 Body Cardio, can record your heart rate, and something called pulse wave velocity.

According to Withings, these two data points can be a strong indicator of your overall health. Is there any truth to it? I decided to find out.

Besides sounding like an overly complicated medical term, just what is “pulse wave velocity?” In simpler terms, it’s a measurement from the amount of time a wave, created each time your heart beats, takes to travel through your arteries. The faster the wave, the stiffer your arteries are, in turn indicating an increased risk of health issues. The slower the wave, the healthier your heart is.

Fancy stuff, right? After spending a couple of weeks using the Body Cardio scale, I’ve found it to be as frustrating as it is impressive as it relates to measuring anything heart related.

Set up is a breeze

Initial setup of the Body Cardio scale was quite simple — you power on the scale, press and hold the pairing button for three seconds, and then connect your smartphone to the ad-hoc Wi-Fi network created by the scale.

The rest of the process includes entering your home’s Wi-Fi information into the Withings app, thus telling the scale which network to use to sync each weigh-in.

Image: Jason cipriani/mashable

In total, it took less than five-minutes from unboxing to my first weigh-in.

On the box, Withings touts the ease of sharing the scale with family members. Supporting up to eight different users, the scale can automatically identify who is standing on the scale and sync the information to the appropriate account.

You have two different options when sharing the scale: You can create a single Withings account and add users to it, or invite users to share the scale. The former solution means each user’s information will be viewable by all users, whereas the latter solution keeps each user’s private.

You’ll need to use the scale five times before it will present you with your first pulse wave velocity reading. Sounds easy enough, but in practice it’s actually quite frustrating.

Step on, remain still, and make no noise

Knowing the scale would take five baseline readings before I could see just how healthy my heart was, I didn’t look in the app for a reading until after my sixth weigh-in. Unfortunately, I had incorrectly assumed the scale was able to gather the required information it needed during each use.

Image: JASON CIPRIANI/MASHABLE

Image: jason cipriani/mashable

Instead, for whatever reason, I was greeted with an indicator the scale had only recorded a single pulse wave reading. It turns out, you need to stand on the scale just right, remain absolutely still, and try to remain as quiet as possible for the scale to get a reading.

The Withings app provides instructions, detailing the heel your foot needs to be on the second from bottom stripe on the scale. Furthering the confusion, just because the scale is able to record your heart rate, that doesn’t indicate it was able to record your pulse wave velocity.

There’s zero indication during a weigh-in whether or not your pulse wave velocity reading was successful. You have to get off the scale, wait for it to sync to Withings via Wi-Fi, then check the app on your phone.

It’s a frustrating experience. Ultimately I repeatedly stepped on and off the scale until Body Cardio was able to gather the required information.

Image: JASON CIPRIANI/MASHABLE

Adding to the frustration is that even after gaining my first successful reading, there are still days when Body Cardio still doesn’t capture my pulse wave velocity reading.

Withings drives home the importance of using the scale at the same time every day — for me it was just after my alarm went off in the morning — because your pulse wave velocity can change throughout the day based on time elapsed from your last cup of coffee, the last time you ate or worked out, consistent use is key to getting an accurate daily reading. Meaning if you check the app for your current health stats an hour later, after eating breakfast, stepping back on the scale to get a reading is out of the question.

I was stressed, and it showed

Image: screenshot: jason cipriani/mashable

My first pulse wave velocity reading was 8.2, which apparently is not good for someone my age, or as the app politely puts it "not optimal."

I was surprised when I saw the reading, and kind of panicked a bit. My heart isn’t healthy, oh my God, am I going to die? instantly ran through my mind. Reading through the app’s FAQ section, I quickly realized what was likely causing my sub-optimal reading: stress.

Being overweight, stress, anxiety, salt intake, and alcohol consumption can all lead to a faster pulse wave velocity. The good news is, by changing your habits you can improve your readings, in turn bettering your health.

Image: screenshot: jason cipriani/mashable

My second successful reading was 7.6, lower but still not good enough. Subsequent readings fell into the acceptable range, with my latest reading of 6.7 — dead center in the “normal” range.

Looking back during the time of the higher readings, I was extremely stressed. Various projects for work, along with three trips in as many weeks created the perfect storm of anxiety and stress. Once those events were over, my pulse wave velocity reading went down, as did my stress.

Is this a medically sound diagnosis? Far from it, but I did find it surprising that my stress level corresponded to my pulse wave velocity.

It’s no doctor

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Outside of the fancy heart-reading the Body Cardio provides, you can also view your muscle, water, and bone mass directly on the scales display. If you don’t care about one or all of those stats, the Withings app will let you remove or reorder any information displayed. Now if only Wihings would add a card to let users know if his or her pulse wave velocity was properly recorded.

If you’re in the market for a connected scale that goes above and beyond, Body Cardio is worth a look as long as you go into it knowing you may have to jump on and off the scale a few times before it captures what it needs.

Also worth mentioning: Don’t depend upon the scale as the only means of judging your heart’s health. Sure, having the additional information is nice, but nothing can replace a real doctor’s visit.

Body Cardio is available right now in black or white, directly from Withings or in Apple Stores across the globe.