When you're seeking to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, it's critical to keep an eye not just on weight but on fat percentage. The Slim Guide Skin Fold Caliper is an inexpensive way to know your body's fat level.

There are no electronics at all here. Just two pieces of plastic and a spring. By pulling on the "trigger" you open the pair of jaws seen on the right. You pull out your skin and put it between those jaws. The spring pulls the jaws gently closed on your folded skin.

The left side then tells you the thickness, in millimeters, of the skin fold. This helps you know your fat percentage.

So many times in dieting a person "stalls" on weight loss - and it's because they are changing from fat into muscle. That is of course a GOOD thing. Muscle is better for you for so many reasons. This caliper helps you see what is happening and gives you a better picture of your overall health.

We have several other fat-measuring devices of varying complexity, both electronic and non-electronic. With careful use, this one is just as accurate as the others ones, and tends to cost less. So that seems to be a good thing.

The caveat of course is how you use it. You need to use the SAME locations each time you do your measurement. If one time you're two inches high, and then the next you're two inches low, the numbers will of course be different. You need to figure out exactly where you're going to measure and then be consistent.

Also, compared with other units we own, this one would be quite challenging to do well on your own. Half the time you would have to be a contortionist to twist your head to see the readout while holding the jaws at the right angle on the right part of your body. This is definitely a unit made for having another person do the measuring for you. If you're not going to have another person around, I suggest looking into the other options on the market.

Still, if you'll have a "buddy" to help, and you need something cheap and quick, this fits the bill.

Yes it comes with a manual, but there is FAR more complete information on the web for how to use a caliper and how to properly calculate your weight from the measurements given a wide range of criteria. So I would only consider the manual as a "starting point". You'll probably want to do research once you get into it, to determine exactly what body parts you want to measure and what calculations you want to use for your specific shape and needs.

Well recommended for its stated purpose.

I purchased my caliper with my own funds for the purpose of doing this review.

Buy the Slim Guide Skin Fold Caliper from Amazon.com


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