Hand Held BF% readers.

We have one of those hand held, looks like a go cart steering wheel, BF% readers in my gym. I hit it up every once in a while just for laughs. Today I punched everything in right, held it out and hit start, it came back saying my BF% was 7.4. My question is, how accurate are these? I know damn well I dont have 8% bodyfat, hell I wouldnt be surprised if I were in the 15-20% range actually.

not very accurate.. neither are the impedence scales.... best bet is hydrostatic measurement or calipers with measurements taken by someone who knows how to use them

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.

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.

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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.

Well they can be off, but in the hands of someone experienced like myself then they can be great. Just like anything though cnsistency is the key. You have to use the same person and do it about the same time.

If you care that much, just get dunked. Its the most accurate way and you can f' that up. Go to a college near you and you can easily have it done.

I used them when I was the slimest I have every been which I later found out was 9%. The handhelds told me I was 15%. I would take what the say with a grain of salt.

the one I have usually reads at half of what my BF actually is,bump SC, I wish mine was @ 7% as well! but I do find they are helpfull in tracking if BF is up or down, just don't believe the exact number...