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93 of 94 found the following review helpful:
 Works Perfectly if you are Detail Oriented Apr 20, 2008
By Lisa Shea
"medieval swordfighting enthusiast"
Back in the old days before they had scales and hand-held devices to measure your body fat percentage, you actually had to "pinch your skin" to figure out your body fat. Maybe you remember this from grade school? You can still do that if you want to! Here is a digital caliper, the Fat Track II.
First, how a caliper works in general. You pinch a portion of your skin up away from your body. The three locations are your thigh, your abdomen, and then an "upper area". For men the upper area is the chest. For women (for sort of obvious reasons) it has to be somewhere else, so they go with the back of their arm. This gives a general overall body fat measurement.
How can this work? Fat tends to line the inside of your skin. For example, that is why people who were obesely overweight, who then drop down to only "overweight" have "pouches". It is because they still have fat inside their skin and that fat is pulling the skin down. If you watch The Biggest Loser, you know that if you really do lose that fat, your skin tones up. You lose the pouch. The caliper is measuring the thickness of that fat layer against your skin.
The downside of this technique is it can be VERY hard to learn how to do. You have to pinch the skin in just the right spot to get it to fold. You have to measure that exact same spot each day, to keep the results consistent! If you measure one location one day, and another location the next, you aren't measuring apples to apples.
Plus if you are very overweight it might simply be hard to get the skin to pull out and fold. It might be tight against the underlying fat.
However, the only "real" test that is 100% accurate is to go to a health club with an underwater scale. You submerge your entire body (including your head) underwater and weigh yourself there. Since fat, muscle etc. has different densities, this guarantees that the scale can determine how much is fat. Most of us can't afford to do that!
How does this compare with the electrical current systems? The upside for the electrical current stand-on scales and hand-held measurers is that that they require no skill. You stand on it or hold it and your fat number is provided. The downside is that, since it involves an electrical current, your body needs to be conductive. If your feet are too wet, or lotioned, or too dry, the current won't conduct properly. Some people try those scales dripping wet or bone dry and then complain they don't work properly. Also, those scales tend to be expensive.
So this caliper has the advantage of being relatively cheap, and second only to the full submission technique in its POTENTIAL for accuracy. However, if you aren't good at measuring in the exact spot - or doing it with the right technique - it *cannot* be accurate. A system designed to measure fat at the upper thigh isn't going to work if you're using it on your lower thigh. A system designed to measure skin fold fat isn't going to work if you're using it on your muscle. So there is a LOT of room here for human error.
That all being said - if you take the time to learn about the areas you're measuring, and pay CLOSE attention to the spots you use, and are precise about how you fold, this can work amazingly well! In that sense, everything is far more "under your control" than with an electronic scale. The caliper is small and fits in your purse. It's cheap. It's very reliable and reproducible.
So in terms of potential and doing what it should, I give this a 5/5. But as a caveat - if you know you're just not a precise person, and won't pay that much attention to the details - I'd say buy a scale. The scale is FAR easier for most people, and is very accurate. Just have your feet medium moist and lotion free when you stand on it. Either way you should have SOME fat measurement device in your home. It is extremely critical in your goal of maintaining a healthy weight to know not just your "raw weight" but also how much of you is fat.
105 of 107 found the following review helpful:
 Missing key information in instructions Jul 22, 2005
By Brian Bush
I just got this thing and I'm happy with it in general, but there is a reference to an "IMPROVE YOUR MEASURING SKILLS" guide that is not included. It is impossible to get reliable results with this tool without a diagram of where to get the measurements. Just saying chest, abdomen, thigh is ridiculously unclear.
It is also somewhat difficult to learn how to pinch fat only. The first few times you are likely to get crazy results.
I was able to find this manual page on the internet:
http://www.accufitness.com/products/fattrack_pro_manual2.html
It cleared up most of my issues.
--brian
39 of 45 found the following review helpful:
Not only tracks fat, but can be a motivation source May 01, 2005
By W. Hill
"crusherv65"
No guessing or benefit of the doubt here. Exactly and quickly measures body fat for any age and gender. Will track 3 people complete with records. Know your fat % in about a minute. I'm a mid 30's dad who always lifted weights, so with bigger muscles it helped to look "in shape" even when my waist went up to 36". Testing with Fat Track every week was awesome! I went to a 31" Calvin Klein jeans, (working out OF COURSE)still weighing about 200 pounds. How awesome THAT felt! Better than high school, baby! For my wife too! It REALLY helps to see the results a week after you don't exercise and eat that fried seafood dinner, or go nuts with the chocolate fudge! Your fat % goes UP over the next week or so! Get motivation from exercise...you see the results. We lost ours and I'm ordering another one because BOTH of us are gaining weight now without it...that tells me it REALLY makes a difference. (We must lie to ourselves, but Fat Track tells us the horrible-or terrific- truth.)
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Very easy to use Jul 11, 2004
True, the included instructions are a bit hard to understand, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to use. It might be a little easier for men because the sites to measure are easy to get to (chest, tummy, leg). I found the FatTrack to be pretty consistent and the MyoTape is really easy to use. If you want to get just one..I too would suggest the myotape..you can use www.mybodycomp.com to calculate your body fat. Something I just found out was that this item is reimbursable from most insurance medical saving accounts.
12 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Good tool, but requires careful and proper technique. Mar 09, 2006
By R. Johansen
The AccuFitness AccuMeasure FatTrack Gold Body Fat Caliper is not hard to learn to use technically, but if you don't know how to pinch the right part of the skin in the right places you can end up with wildly varying readings. Once you have the technique down and get consistent readings each time the results are pretty accurate.
I tried it the same day that I was hydrostatically tested and it was within 1.5%. However, if you pinch too much or too little skin your readings will be meaningless. It Takes some practice.
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