This paper reviews the litterature on pad weighing tests designed to measure urinary incontinence. These can be divided into short-term (one to two hours), as suggested by the International Continence Society, or long-term (12 to 48 hours). Apart from practical disadvantages the short-term tests have a low sensitivity and require retrograde filling of the bladder to reach acceptable reproducibility. The long-term tests have practical advantages, better sensitivity and acceptable reproducibility. The validity of the long-term test as a measure of the symptom of incontinence is evident, whereas it is unclear what the short term test measures. An evaluation of the value of pad-weighing tests in different kinds of incontinence is lacking.