My doctor recommended picking up one of those electronic body fat% monitors that are apparently much more accurate than calipers and online estimators. Sharper Image apparently has them. I found one by Tanita (stand-on scale and body fat %) and a handheld one by Omron. Both appear to use some form of low level current. Anybody have any experience with any models? Recommendation.

I got one (I'll have to look at home to see what brand) and I'm very disappointed. If I put in male, I get one % and female, I get another % (I'd think that if it was really measuring resistance, they would be the same, or at least closer than they are!). The female result is MUCH higher than the calculated one I from the website and other books (I understand some difference, but didn't think it should be that far off). And then to top it off, someone told me that Consumer Reports rated those scales and basically said they were all pretty useless. I haven't read the CR article to know which, if any, are better, but I'm thinking the money might better be spent on an immersion test once or twice a year... Robbin

[quote:375be3a7c5="angelrob"]I got one (I'll have to look at home to see what brand) and I'm very disappointed. If I put in male, I get one % and female, I get another % (I'd think that if it was really measuring resistance, they would be the same, or at least closer than they are!). The female result is MUCH higher than the calculated one I from the website and other books (I understand some difference, but didn't think it should be that far off). And then to top it off, someone told me that Consumer Reports rated those scales and basically said they were all pretty useless. I haven't read the CR article to know which, if any, are better, but I'm thinking the money might better be spent on an immersion test once or twice a year... Robbin[/quote:375be3a7c5] I've also read those scales aren't very accurate. The difference you get between male and female totally makes sense to me. Besides sensing the difference, I would think the scale is probably programmed to interpret the result differently because males have greater muscle mass than females. Just my guess. I've never owned one of those scales. Sue

[quote:95d4a45811="samchar"]My doctor recommended picking up one of those electronic body fat% monitors that are apparently much more accurate than calipers and online estimators. Anybody have any experience with any models? Recommendation.[/quote:95d4a45811] I have used a scale type for many years. I have also had a couple other types of tests, and I can tell you that the absolute accuracy of these scales is not good. However, on a relative basis, they do quite well. They repeat quite well for me, and I can tell if I am gaining or loosing body fat (as long as I make my measurement at the same time of the day under the same circumstances). What I did was to get an accurate test, then lie to the scale about how tall I was until I found a height that made the body fat % agree to what I knew it to be. From then on everything was fine. However, if you gain or lose a lot of fat, you may have to go through this calibration procedure again. The body fat calculator on this site should give you a ballpark estimate of the right number. If you vary the inputs up or down one notch and see the effect on BF%, you will have an idea of how much the calculation might vary from the real number. The scale should give you an answer that is within the range of BF% numbers you get from this site. The emersion test is the most accurate for a true calibration of a scale, but you can also get an accurate answer by averaging several different types of BF% tests and calculations.

I have also read that they are not accurate in terms of a real measurement but are accurate if you just want to track changes from measurement to measurement to see if you are losing or gaining body fat. In other words you can say "I have changed ... percent of body fat", but could not accurately say "My body fat is ..."

[quote:07a72656ff="JJinNJ"]I have also read that they are not accurate in terms of a real measurement but are accurate if you just want to track changes from measurement to measurement to see if you are losing or gaining body fat. In other words you can say "I have changed ... percent of body fat", but could not accurately say "My body fat is ..."[/quote:07a72656ff] True! Consumer Reports did a study of them. (Forget which month, 2003 - I think.)

It doesn't surprise me that the bodyfat % will be different from a male to a woman. Men and woman naturally have different %'s of fat (by volume) and a different % of LBM. Im sure the electronic caliper measures the amount of fat accordingly with different constants.

No, it didn't surprise me that the body fat % would be different for a man than a woman, but my understanding was that the scales were done by resistance testing some low voltage/frequency waves, and in that case, it shouldn't make a difference if I am a man or a woman, fats is fats :-) It also surprised me that it is quite different from what I get based on the calculation tables (like 23% on tables vs 30% on the scale - I can't be pulling the measuring tape THAT tight! :wink: ) Has anyone had an immersion test done? Does that use different calculations for a man vs. woman or is it just weight/displaced water? I do know that I displace much less water this year than I did last year because the amount of lead I require to go scuba diving has dropped 8 pounds!! :D Robbin

They measure my body fat at Curves monthly using the hand held model. I punched in my measurements on the Zone calculator and it matched the hand held one very well. I tried the Tanita stand on one and it was way off from the other two. I think the Zone calculator would be all you would need to track your progress. Kim