Tanita body composition analyser- what do you guys think?

so i was at a fitness expo thing at the excel center on the weekend. among other stuff Tanita had a stand there. now i know from previous experience with their products. they are expensive and top notch! i have some fantastic 'jewlery' scales made by them.
 
anyway, i went over to have a look at what they are promoting. among an array of differnt types of bathroom scales that have different functions, they had one of these there
http://www.tanita.co.uk/i...xtcommerceproducts_pi1[showUid]=605&cHash=8e5b64bc46
the lovely young lady was most helpful and informed that that said product was in the region of £6000, and are very accurate.
so i had go give them a whirl naturally! now while i am pretty lean, i am in no way competition shape or anything like that. i train fequently and am visually quite muscular, but not very big.
anyway, enough of that. the results were somwhat of a shock, and showed me to be 4.6%bf. now this sound obsurd to me. realistically i think i am probably around 10-13%bf.
the other features it did have did seem quite good though, how accurate i dont know, but for 6k i was expecting a little more!

this is the printout http://i685.photobucket.c...itabodycomposition.jpg

I'm sure there are far better things you can spend 6 grand on than something telling you your bodyfat! Seriously, if you stuck a picture up on here and got several estimates of your bodyfat level from knowledgeable members I would put money on it being as accurate as any machine like this could produce and it would be free!
 
Alternatively, find a local sports science department that offer underwater weighing. It will cost about £40 and, again, will beat any BIA machine.

obviously this particular piece of equiptment is intended for the comercial market. not for my bathroom. lol. i am just using it as a point of discusion

Electro-Static body-fat measurement is not particularly accurate for anyone who is marginally athletic due to the resistance of muscle mass. It works ok on your average bodyfat ,average person.
 
Calipers are much more accurate if you know what you are doing and the most accurate of all, is hydrostatic, under-water weighing as it calculates it on the boyancy of fat from your weight out of water and your weight in water.
 
I have a very expensive electrostatic set of scales at home, they were a big waste of money as I found out after I got them home.

CheekyChappie


I'm sure there are far better things you can spend 6 grand on than something telling you your bodyfat! Seriously, if you stuck a picture up on here and got several estimates of your bodyfat level from knowledgeable members I would put money on it being as accurate as any machine like this could produce and it would be free!

Alternatively, find a local sports science department that offer underwater weighing. It will cost about £40 and, again, will beat any BIA machine.

 
Under-water weighing is the ONLY truely reliable test IMO.
 
Absolutely agree with the estimate-by-eye comment. Over the years Ive got quite good at it...  Id be willing to bet money that, to within 1 % or 2 either way I could judge as accurately visually (given a good spread of decent photos from different angles) as any electronic device, and all but the most experienced of skin caliper testers.
 
Id also bet Im FAR from being the only one that can.

Cue tac getting flooded by PMs asking for bodyfat estimates!

Have a read of this article on body composition: http://articles.muscletal...-body-composition.aspx

I have a Bodyfat scale, can't remember how much it cost but no more than £50 and when on the 'Athlete' setting and I am reasonably hydrated, I'd say it was fairly accurate.
 
Did have a Tanita Scale ten years ago, and once again as long as it has an 'Athlete' option seemed to more or less reflect my appearance.
 
Once stood on a BF scale without 'athlete' option, at the time I had some visible abs (this is the area I really have to have low bf to show anything), and it read me at 26% - which was total bollocks, I was probably around 15-17% by eye.

I have some salter bathroom scales that only cost around £30. But they dont have an athlete setting, they measure me at 22% bf

James


Have a read of this article on body composition: http://articles.muscletal...-body-composition.aspx

 
First step then
Body Dissection
Cutting up your own body is an extremely accurate way of measuring percentage and distribution of body fat.