In this video, the host compares various body fat measurement devices to determine their accuracy, convenience, and integration with other wearables. The devices tested include handheld scanners, smartwatches, fitness trackers, smart scales, computer vision tools, and medical-grade scanners like the DEXA scan and Bod Pod. The results varied greatly among the devices, with some showing a difference of up to 10% in body fat readings. The Amazon Halo and Zozo Fit Suit were the closest in accuracy to the DEXA scan. The host concludes that while none of the devices are perfect, the Amazon Halo may be the most accurate and convenient option.
Key Insights:
- There are various devices available for measuring body fat percentage, including handheld scanners, smartwatches, smart scales, and even medical-grade scanners like Bod Pod and Dexa Scan.
- Price ranges for these devices can vary from $20 for a smart scale to $200-$400 for other devices.
- The time and convenience factor also varies, with some devices taking as little as 7 seconds to measure body fat, while others require longer processes or even appointments at medical facilities.
- Accuracy and precision can vary among devices, with differences of up to 10% in body fat readings compared to a gold standard Dexa Scan.
- Integration with other wearables and apps is a factor to consider, especially if you want your body fat data to sync with other health metrics.
- The Amazon Halo and Zozo Fit Suit using computer vision technology offer quick body fat measurement through smartphone apps, but their accuracy can also have a wide range.
- Ultimately, it’s important to take the data from these devices with a grain of salt and consider trends rather than singular measurements.
- Some recommendations include using a cheap smart scale for regular weight measurements and a smartphone app like Amazon Halo for monthly body fat measurements.
- Getting a Dexa Scan once a year can provide a more accurate baseline and allow you to track progress over time.
- The goal should be to maintain a healthy body fat percentage that aligns with your genetics and promotes a happy and balanced lifestyle.
Transcript
– Now if you want to improve your body fat percentage you ideally want to know where it is at today and how it’s changing as you change your diet and exercise. I’ve always been trying to reduce my body fat percentage. You know, it’d be nice to be shredded, but maybe just healthy is good enough. In the past, I’ve compared a cheap versus expensive body fat scale. But today, I wanted to compare every single one. From the Samsung smartwatch to the Bod Pod and every other smart body fat scanner thing I could find versus the gold standard, which is the Dexa Scan.
– The Dexa Scan is not the golden standard.
– Alright, well it’s the best we’ve got. My roommate Tajas and I, we’re doing a fitness transformation competition. Tajas-pooh, my son. So we’re competing over 90 days for who can increase their fitness levels the most. You’ve been skipping the gym, no?
– No, I’m not skipping the gym man.
– And we need a way to measure our body fat.
– Did you wanna get schooled in body fat? (Both guys laugh)
– This is one of many videos of testing different tools to help transform our bodies and our health. Turn on your notifications if you wanna see more. We’re gonna be rating these body fat devices on four categories. Price. Can we get the value that we need with the least amount of money possible? Time and convenience. How long does this take? Do I need to travel anywhere? Accuracy and precision. Is it gonna give me the same amount of data if I hop back on it five times in the same five minutes? Integration with other wearables. So a lot of fitness trackers take into account your body weight. So if you’re able to update it automatically from your smart device, then those devices are more likely to be accurate in terms of all the other things they’re predicting for you. But Shervin don’t you say all wearables are wrong and some are helpful? Yes. Take all this data with a grain of salt, okay? We’ll go through a category of four different kinds of body fat scanners. I did want to get Greg Doucette who’s actually the real gold standard.
– Eye laser eye vision is way better, more accurate.
– I DMed him on Instagram but he didn’t reply. Maybe if he comments on this video, I can post an update. If somebody knows him, can we find out how much he charges for a body fat measurement? Next is gonna be the hand stuff – like feet?
– Sounds really weird.
– First up, we’ve got this Omron handheld body fat scanner. I remember using this when I was like 17 years old when I first went to the gym. Never seen one of these ever again.
– Omron is a similar brand as the other one as that scale right over there. But this is just the hand part. Are you normal or are you an athlete? I think you’re normal.
– Hey man, put me as an athlete. I’m not like a couch potato. You know I’m active but I’m not an athlete.
– I’ll just do normal. I’m an athlete. I hit start. I’m just gonna grab it. 90 degrees, 15.5% body fat, 27.6 bmi, 9.8% body fat 7.1% body fat.
– Oh dang
– Okay. Damn! The margin of error is crazy here. 18.40% – That normal, just think I’m very normal.
– Okay, 18.5, you think that’s accurate?
– No I think higher than that
– Convenience factor. This was absolutely the fastest, it took Seven seconds. I can pick it up. Press on. Go, done. Price. This was like three, $400. Pretty pricey for a small piece of technology. Makes sense? Why? I don’t know anyone who has one. integration with other wearables. It just shows you on display. There’s no app and there’s no Apple Health or Google Fit. Next is the Aura Strap – Okay
– This thing is very similar just much smaller and half the price. This is a hundred
– Half impress on that?
– This this one is $350.
– Oh my god!
– That is $150.
– Not including the Apple watch though.
– Not including the Apple watch. Touche. And you wanna keep your elbows, your arms away from each other. And I’m gonna hit to start. All right, so this one sometimes throws errors too.
– You feel the electricity
– Do, Do you actually feel something? – Placebo.
– All right, it’s almost done. Complete 12%. So that was consistent. – 25% – 25% body fat – Wow! – 16% body fat. So my body fat went up 1%. So automatically pulled in my weight from the scales that we just used, which is really cool. This took about 36 seconds. Sometimes it can be buggy and you have to kind of retry it but for the most part it works like 80 to 90% of the time. Integration with wearables it automatically imports all your data into Apple Health. So that’s super convenient. Well shervin. Not everyone has an iPhone. What about us Android users? Samsung Galaxy Watch five Pro. You’re gonna put your fingers, your middle pointer finger there and it, it’s gonna measure your body fat. – Okay? – Your body composition. Hold your armpit, arms up. Yep. And then it’s gonna give you a percentage. – This is wild. – Is it? It’s built into the Samsung watch. Isn’t that kind of cool? – The animation’s sick. – Boom. 89.7, muscle mass, fat mass, 42.4, 20.7 body fat again so consistently is showing the right amount but it’s definitely more different than everything else we’ve used so far. – Oh my, 21% – 21% body fat at 163 pounds. – Okay, 3%, – 3.4, 3% body fat. What? – Let’s go. – That makes no sense. – I’m a skinny boy. – Price of these watches. Four to $500 average in terms of time and convenience. About 30 seconds. And it automatically imports your data in a Samsung Health. And then you can pull that data into any other Google Health stuff that you want to. Full body and scale. So some of these scales you just stand on and it’s gonna send an electric current through your legs and then down your other leg and get an estimated body fat percentage. The full body ones, you’ll actually hold onto a handle. So you’re getting a current through both. I would like to think the full body ones are a little more accurate. This body fat scale is actually illegal in the United States, so I had to fly to Germany to go buy it. That’s how much I care about this video. This is the newest Withings scale. Go ahead and just step on it, it connects via wifi. It knows who I am already, so it picks me 10% body fat. 84% muscle – what? – 31% body fat – Gosh – 16% body fat. So I gained a little bit of body fat. – Average time, 30 seconds. There’s a Withings app, which is super easy. I haven’t had issues using it over a period of time. I love about that. It connects directly to wifi. So I don’t need my phone nearby and it automatically imports all my data into Apple Health. This is probably the cleanest and least buggy of all the apps and softwares out there. Next is Renpho. Just go ahead and step on 15.7% body fat – Damn – Did it get your body fat? – It should. – It never changes from 12.5%. – Doesn’t that make you feel good? – No man, cause there’s no way I’m 12.5% muscle mass 100 and 37 pounds. – What? Okay, that makes no sense – Exactly. So this is by far the least accurate. These pads apparently only shoot up through your legs and back down. But as you can tell, most of my body fat and everything is here in my tummy section. – This one’s way cheaper. $20 versus like the $350 version of the withings. took just as long, 30 seconds. The app is pretty good. It integrates with Apple Health, but I sometimes have issues with the integration. It doesn’t always download my body weight. So I have to like delete and reinstall the app. A little more buggy, but it works. Next is the Omron full body. This device is $80. You just press here, select you as the person. I think I already set your height and weight grab on tightly, extend your arms at 90 degrees. Body fat. 13.5. Body age 18 bro. 24.8 body age 36. – Oh – what’s going on buddy? – What? – Yeah man. Are you 36 bro? Are you, is this something you haven’t been telling me? – What – 19% body fat, 58 years old Price is relatively high for what it offers. There is no integration with wearables and the average speed around 30 seconds. Last is probably the most popular brand that I’ve seen at gyms, which is InBody. – It seems the most accurate. – It seems the most accurate, whatever that means. You just blindly put trust in one brand over the other. Huh? – Start the InBody test. Yes. – First it measures my body weight. – [Inbody Scale] Place your thumbs on the oval electrodes. – 5.3, – [Inbody Scale] keep your arm straight – and then it says pose – [Inbody Scale] your arms – you grab the bars. Oh, no error. So this is frustrating. You have to deal with this. You’re not gonna want to use this device. – Oh, there we go. – 23% body fat, 70 pounds of muscle, 15% body fat 62 pounds of muscle, 13.8% body fat, 101 pounds of muscle. And yesterday I did do it twice and there was a one pound different in muscle as well as a almost 1% difference in body fat. So not sure how trustable that is either. This one was the buggiest out of all of these smart devices sometimes I have to step on it again I tried wetting my feet and try to follow all the protocols in the manual. $350, definitely on the higher rate. But this also has an app requires you to actually open the app, hit start test, get on the InBody and then it syncs via Bluetooth to your app and then pulls it into Apple Health. This was hands down the second slowest body fat measuring device. It took around 70 seconds and that’s if it doesn’t fail. Tajas loves this one because Imbody is just a popular brand name. So we kept it. But I do like the app and how they make the trends really visible and easy to see. Computer Vision had two devices. Amazon Halo and the Zozo fit suit. Amazon first cause you don’t have to put anything – What is Amazon. – You’re gonna pull up the Halo app. You can go ahead to data and I can measure my body under body. So we’re gonna tap the camera. There’s a whole scan checklist, start scan. – [Halo App] Relax and hold this pose for the entire scan. – What is this? – [Halo App] Turn right and face sideways again – Bro. What? – You never done this? – No. – What’d you think of that experience? – This is sick! – Just four photos and then they figure out your body fat based on your height and weight. Waist to hip ratio is 0.89 27% body fat. – Okay. – Do you think that’s accurate? – Yeah. – 18%, So just the like a point difference doing it the second time. So you know it’s relatively consistent-ish – Now the Amazon halo does require a membership and I think you can buy like the bedside device or the wristband device. I have both, but I almost never use them. – Stop it. Get some help. – This was definitely on the faster end. You’ll actually set up your phone and it takes four photos of you processes that information and gives you an estimated body fat percentage faster than almost all the scales. Next was the Zozo Fit Suit. Now the last ones the funniest one. This one requires you to put on a set of clothes out of all the devices, I think this is the only one that gives you body measurements. So we can see like the thickness of my biceps. It’s another friction point. You gotta put clothes on you gotta make sure you don’t lose these clothes. And this requires like a ton more photos compared to the Amazon one. – I am a super hero. – [Zozo App] Move six feet away, turn right to one o’clock turn right to two o’clock. – Oh no measurement error, looks like some parts of the pants are folded. I think it might be too small for you. – I’m too small. – [Zozo App] Your scan has been successfully completed. – Let’s go. – [Zozo App] You can pick – Oh, the results are ready. – So it’s gonna say 18.4% body fat with all these body measurements, which is really cool. So as we do the fitness challenge, I can compare to see how has my body changed and why are my calves two different sizes, 18.5% body fat. – Everything is so all over the place. – Yeah, Wi which one do you want to trust now? – The one I’m gonna trust, – foil, body fat and lean mass. How do we decide who wins the competition right? Because if all these numbers are different what’s the metric for who wins? This was hands down the slowest one out of all of them. First you have to put this full suit on. So pants and a shirt. Once you’ve done that, it took around 96 seconds. So a minute and a half of going through the entire process after the clothes have been put on. And then you gotta add in taking all the clothes off. Whereas with the Amazon halo, I can just go in my boxers or really tight shorts depending on how much you want to show Jeff Bezos. And this one takes like, I don’t know, 12 photos or 11 photos. And then the lady’s voice is kind of mean and rude. It’s just very harsh. – [Zozo App] Turn to eight o’clock – And you have to like retake the photos sometimes. – [Zozo App] Sorry you turn too far, please turn back to eight O’clock. – But they do give you a lot more measurements in terms of your biceps, your quads and like overall body measurements too. But considering the friction point and how long it takes to start the process and get your numbers, investing in time. Whereas like a smart scale that connects the wifi is hands down the easiest. You just show up, you stand measures and you leave. I do have affiliate links for every single product I’m talking about today down below. So if you do plan to buy any of them please click that link below. It really helps support the channel. And then the last two were these science and sports labs. So I had to go to two different medical facilities for these. – Ohhh Whoa! It’s like a spaceship. – [Bod Pod Employee] Yeah, it’s whatever. (everyone laughs) And when you’re in the machine it measures your body volume. Once we have your body volume we can calculate body density literature. We know that muscle tissue’s more dense than fat tissue. So you can pop your body density into some algorithms that account for that one. Go ahead and sit down, the plastic’s gonna be cold. – Bye. – [Bod Pod Employee] 3, 2, 1. All right, all set All set. – Sweet sweet. – [Cameraman] Wow, that was fast. – 2% higher. – [Cameraman] Oh, – Ugh! – [Bod Pod Employee] 28.2 – Takes me back to my swimming days. – [Cameraman] Oh, what? That was fast. – [Bod Pod Employee] Yep, done. – All right. Woo. – [Bod Pod Employee] oh, seemed weird. This one has at 11 – 11% body fat. – Whoa. – [Bod Pod Employee] Usually I would change it to this density model actually. So we’ll go to 12.3 – [Cameraman] Whoa, that’s a huge margin. – [Bod Pod Employee] Different models. I mean we could even do it again twice in a row and see if it gets closer. Like it’s up to you if you want to, if you want to. 11%. – [Everyone] Oh – Yeah. I don’t know why it would be so much more different from the dexa, but I mean some like devices are just different on different like it’s a very, it’s a very imprecise sign because like the only truly way to measure it accurately it would be like doing a like biopsy on a dead body. – Do you guys do those. – [Cameraman] Dude, if you were 11% you would be shredded to a bone. – How do you know I’m not – I, I just saw you shirtless for like 10 hours and at home you walk around in your underwear. I know you’re body more than you do now, brother. – So time wise, very difficult. It’s not something you can be doing on a daily basis from a price perspective, these are a lot more expensive. The BOD pod I think was like 80 to a hundred bucks So now we’re gonna go to the Dexa scan place. This is an actual medical office. We’re gonna need to wear masks and everything and we’re gonna compare all of these devices to see how close are they in comparison to the dexa scan data. So let’s head over there. – Last May, so almost eight months ago. we took a Texas scan and I was 29% vodka. If I’m any lower than that, it’s a win today because I started a whole running journey. If not, then I don’t believe in physical health anymore – Texas scans, right? – [Cameraman] Yes. 17.3, all right. And I gained seven pounds of muscle according to this. That’s cool. – That’s really good. I haven’t been able to do that in I don’t know how many years. – [Cameraman] How accurate is this? – It’s most accurate. – [Cameraman] The most accurate. Okay. – How do you feel about yours? – Pretty good actually. – How’d it go? – It’s a good day. It’s a good day to be Tajas. Let me tell you. It is a good day. I’m 26.9% body fat. Let’s go. And I’ve gained um – How much muscle? – Two buts. You know, for a second I was doubting that my body was able to lose fat and gain muscle. Like just as a human being, I thought like for some reason I wasn’t able to do that. And the fact that like even though it’s not a lot, it showed me that I there’s progress that actually gotta make me happy, man. Like I’m, I’m cheesing a little bit. – Yeah, – 3% less body fat, two pounds more muscle. I, I, I trust this. – [Cameraman] Why? – I don’t know. It’s expensive and looks cool. – Alright. So I gained 6.5 pounds of muscle and two pounds of fat which I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty good. I’ll take what I can get. – That’s crazy. – You live with your body every day so you don’t see progress. So it’s cool to see by numbers. However, accurate or not like it’s cool to see that there Are trends. – DEXA scan was $200. This is in New York City Manhattan. I know it’s cheaper everywhere else in California. I think I was able to get it for like $130. I would say it takes about one to three hours cause of travel time and getting there. The appointments are approximately 30 minutes long. And then travel time back home depending on how far you live, precision and accuracy supposedly DEXA scan is the most accurate device that you can use out there within one to 2%. Now let’s start with Cole cause he didn’t do the Dexo scan but overall these devices were giving him numbers from 10% all the way up to 15% body fat. So that in itself just shows how inaccurate these devices can be and how you have to take all this information with a grain of salt. Tajas is got a range from 12.5% all the way up to 31%. The closest value to his dexoscan was actually the Amazon Halo and next the Aura strap and the Omron full body right after that. Now leaving the best for last me, what were my numbers? It ranged from 15% to like 21% ish. But what was very fascinating was the dexoscan got 17.3% and the BOD Pod gave me 11%. Like they were drastically different. And we did the BOD pod twice so gave me a really, really low number. So yeah, I’m 11% body fat, but I’m not sure why that is. Maybe I’m just shaped differently or I’m just an alien and the BOD PODD doesn’t work for me. But the closest for me were the Amazon Halo and the zozo fit both within 1% of the dexoscan and then next closest was the renpho with things in body and on the Omron handheld. So that was really interesting. But if we go off this non-science based approach of which body fat is the best I think Amazon Halo wins surprisingly. Four images straight outta the selfie camera on my iPhone takes less than 30 seconds. For Tajas and I it seemed to get the closest body fat percentage to the Dexus scan. What was interesting for me was the InBody and the Samsung Galaxy Watch had the farthest numbers away from my actual body fat percentage. In terms of price, a lot of these devices range probably from the 200 to $400 range per device. But then there’s a predicament. Some of these devices aren’t actually scales and you need to enter your body weight. So what I would recommend is get the cheapest body weight scale. So like the renpho, which is like $20. Import your body weight automatically into your smartphone and then use your smartphone Amazon Halo to visually measure your body fat percentage. If you’re trying to go for the most accurate number that I could find using two people. And if you’re a big Peteratia fan like me he does mention trying to get a dexoscan at least once a year. So maybe that’s the route to go. And then on a weekly or daily basis you could measure your body weight on a cheap renpho and then do the Amazon Halo body fat measurement maybe on a monthly basis. And the end goal doesn’t need to be to be super extremely shredded, but just to stay within healthy bounds, right? We just have different genetics for what a healthy body fat percentage is for us. So it’s about finding what’s comfortable, what’s easy and what feeds into a happy lifestyle. Since you enjoy this video, go watch my video where I test 20 different fitness trackers linked right here. Best way to celebrate your body fat test is eat more – Fat.
