da_Fonz said:
Big BUMP to MM2 those will be off depending whehter or not you just ate and how much water is in your system. Calipers works great and are 96% accurate if used correctly.
Unfortunatley, 96% of the time, callipers are not used correctly and I think this is a horrible way of measuring bodyfat. Callipers are usually way off.
The best way is to get hooked up with some nice electrode pads and have someone measure it that way in a lab at a University near you. That is 100% accurate 100% of the time.
Also, if you buy a high quality impedance scale, they can be fairly accurate.
I had my bodyfat measured in a University lab and then went to some fitness stores to try out all their bodyfat scales. I found that there were two kinds to get. You could get a regular run of the mill bodyfat scale which usually gave me 4% higher than what I actually was, or you could buy an "Athletic" bodyfat scale which was 95% accurate all the time. The Athletic scales were about twice the price.
You're going to pay for what you get when buying a bodyfat scale. Some of them can be very accurate.
As far as what was said about having it depend on what you ate or if you've had water to drink. This is simple to get around. Just use the bodyfat scale first thing in the morning when you wake up. You will have an empty stomach and you can consistenly measure yourself without anything throwing off your readings.
Oh, I don't like the handhelds. Just a good expensive foot scale works better if you're going for something like that.
Good luck.