Garmin Adds a New Smart Scale, Fitness Tracker to Its Product Line

If your company makes fitness trackers, then it's probably wise to make your own scale, lest a rival firm steals your lunch from under you. It's a lesson that Garmin has belatedly learned, which is why it's now launching its first ever smart scale, although it's previously offered weight recording with other devices. The firm is also revamping its Vivosmart activity tracker, adding a built-in optical heart rate sensor that'll keep track of your vital statistics all through the day.

Eagle-eyed gadget fans will notice the trend towards companies putting heart rate monitors into their mid-range activity trackers. In recent weeks we've seen both Sony and Polar adding such technology to the SmartBand 2 and A360, respectively. Much like the Sony band, or the Basis Peak, the device offers 24/7 heart-rate monitoring, and yet promises a battery life of up to five days.

In addition to the usual fitness monitoring tech, the Vivosmart HR will get smartwatch-style notifications, inactivity alerts and music control. Meanwhile, the Index Smart Scale will measure your weight, BMI, body fat and water percentages, and can track up to 16 different users.

Of course, buying the pair together would probably make a measure of sense given that we're not too far away from renewing that resolution to lose weight. Fortunately for you, both devices will go on sale at Best Buy from the start of November, and each will be priced at $149.99 -- with the Vivosmart HR available in black, purple and blue, while the scale comes in a choice of black or white.