[tamibeep]

Hi there!

I was wondering if one of y'all might be able to help me with a little pedometer problem I'm having. I got one last night and tried to calibrate it, and the darn thing doesn't work for beans. I would take ten steps, and it would record fifteen. Or seven. Or twelve. Or whatever it thought was a good number.

I tried wearing it on a bunch of different places, and the one time that it recorded the right number of steps, I was holding it in my teeth. Although I think that would be a very effective way to keep myself from snacking, I am not about to walk around all day with a pedometer stuck in my mouth.

I spent a whole whopping three bucks on it, and I'm taking the dang thing back tomorrow. My question is, are pedometers one of those things where you get what you pay for? Was just a super crappy one? And if I get another one, can anybody recommend one that's more accurate?

Thanks for the suggestions, and keep up the collective good work!

[tamibeep]

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention... my boyfriend Skinny Butt, tried it too, and it seemed for the most part to work for him. Do you think that perhaps it is recording extraneous jiggling as extra steps?

And if so, does anybody want to come with me to go smack the fool that designed this thing?

[niksa]

Sounds like the one I bought from wal-mart. I actually bought 2 from wal-mart, one for $3 and one for $10. Neither worked. It would actually record steps while I was sitting at the desk typing.

I found one that works wonderfully... I borrowed it from my mother for a day, who is a public health doctor doing a study on exercise in Amish communities for her master's. Needless to say it is one of those pedometers that costs hundreds of bucks. Literally. :X It was incredibly accurate though.

I'm going to be doing some research on them, I've heard a lot about the Sportsline models, and my price range is under $40 including shipping, cuz I'm a cheap college kid. But I am loking for something with a 95% accuracy rating minimum. I'll post the top brand name models if I locate them.

[niksa]

My Results for pedometers $10 to $40:

OMRON HJ112 Premium Pedometer $30.75 - $35
7 reviews
Functions:
- Tracks distance traveled in miles along with amount of calories burned
- Advanced technology provides added flexibility to count steps while pedometer is placed in your pocket or clipped to your belt
- 7 day memory function
- 1 year warranty
- Seems very popular, has gotten a lot of really good reviews.
- The manufacturer has run out of it at the moment, but they're still available at some stores and online sites.

Oregon Scientific PE316CA Pedometer with Calorie Counter $15-$20
34 reviews
- Some report that it overestimates steps by about 5% but this was just a handful of the people reviewing it.
- Some said it was hard to open.

Sportline 360 Fitness Pedometer $30
11 reviews
- Several reports that it was inaccurate or stopped working quickly.

Sportline Electronic Step Pedometer 330 (EA)
$10
1/2, 4 reviews
- Some reports that it stopped working after a soft fall
- extreme inaccuracy
- No extra features, just steps

Oregon Scientific Pedometer With FM Radio, Model PE316FM
$15-$20
9 reviews
- runs on replaceable LR44 1.5 V batteries
- everyone made complaints that the radio isn't very good, with static and annoying squeals, but it is otherwise durable.

SPORTSBRAIN iStep X Pedometer CL330
$30
No rating.
- This one uploads your data to your personal website, apparently, through USB and possibly other methods.

Yamax SW-701 Digiwalker Pedometer
$25
5 reviews
- Can be inaccurate at very high numbers, but seems accurate at lower numbers.
- Seems durable to the reviewers.

I didn't list any pedometers that I found under $10 or over $40. I also didn't list any that were only available at very special stores/sites, or that had no reviews. So this is really just a very small amount of pedometers and you should probably do some web searches for some of them. You can find many of these at amazon, but also at other sites. I think, based on all of these, I will go with the first one.. it is expensive, but it has a warranty, and it got some good reviews. I also only listed features if they were very different from regular features. The ability to count steps, convert to calories/miles etc is default. Anyway, I hope this helps anyone else interested.

[tamibeep]

Thank you niksa!! That's super helpful. I think I'm going to get myself one of those, too. My budget's about the same as yours, and that about fits right in.

[stef]

Erm, can I get a little personal?

I run a pedometer loan scheme here in the UK. I lend out peds to overweight or sedentary people and help them make lifestyle choices to improve their health, weight and appearance.

Many people have brought the peds back because of the problems you describe. The reason for this is quite simple, but a little embarrassing! The peds have to lie at the hip/waist at a certain angle to be accurate. The rounder you are in the middle the more the ped sits at a tilt and therefore becomes less accurate. I have one client who is very round whose ped actually measures his breathing!!!

What we have done is to combine wearing peds with a diary. This means that even if the ped mis-measures your steps you can keep a track of what you did and track your activity levels. So if your ped measure 15 steps for every 8 you take you simply ignore the actual numbers and just keep a record of them to see if you increase the number you take. If you try to recalibrate it every month you should see a difference once you start to change your body shape a little.

This means that although you cannot use the ped to measure the number of steps you take you can still use it for its main purpose - to measure the increase in steps you take!

I hope this helps, and reassures you that you don't have to spend a fortune on a ped. Of course if you ain't apple shaped then your ped is probably busted! But I have to admit that in our experience if they count steps at all then they work just fine on racing snakes!!!!

[tamibeep]

Aha! I wondered if that might have something to do with it! I'm not an apple-shaped person, but I did think it was odd that Skinny Butt didn't have the same problem that I did with the ped. I'm a pear shape... well, to be honest, lately I am more of an eggplant thanks to the holidays.

(Stupid holidays.)

Thanks for the tip! If the next one I get doesn't work, I'll know I have no one but my waist to blame.

[FrugalChick]

I think most pedometers tell you to allot for a 5-15% failure margine. In otherwords, if you walk 15,000 steps according to the pedometer, multiply it by say...15% (better safe than sorry) and subtract the answer and that's probably how many steps you actually took.

I have one and this is the formula I use because I noticed that when I did small things...like going to the bathroom, it'd register me pulling on and off clothing as actually steps.

[laura_on_a_bike]

i have an oregon scientific model pe316pm.

it takes pulse, measures calorie burn, has a timer, backlight. all kinds of frills. it also has a sensitivity adjuster. when i wear different pants and the ped. fits at diff. locations on my waist and hips i can adjust the sensitivity.

i like it. the one i had before it was a great no frills ped. that i had no problems or complaints with at all but it fell off one night when i was walking home. i can't even remember what kind it was.

have you tried wearing it on your bra?

[niksa]

It's hard if the pedometer will give you 15 steps per 10 in the first minute, then 2 steps per 10 in the next. That's been my problem.. if it consistently overestimated or underestimated, I could live with it. As it is, the one from wal-mart was as good as a magic 8 ball. "Did I walk 10000 steps today?" "Absolutely possibly"

Hmm, on the bra.. interesting idea. I'll try that! Might look a little funny, but hey, it's coat season.

[tamibeep]

I did try mine on my bra, and it didn't like it there, either. You couldn't really see it because it was hooked onto a sportsbra that makes it look like I have one big wide flat boob anyway.

I have no pride when I'm exercising. Walking around the neighborhood in pink pants with my monoboob. My neighbors must think I'm a loon.

[hmodrow]

I hook mine on my jeans pocket. I am quite hippy and on my wiast was slanted. on my hip bone in my pocket I get a pretty accurate reading. I also turn it inwards so the clip faces out and it hasn't fallen into the toilet yet!

[stef]

Actually Heather one of my Xmas clients just came back with that suggestion today!

On trousers the front hip pocket - you know the little one that has no eartly use - is in perfect place right over the hip bone. Turning the ped in so the clip faces out doesn't stop it working but does make it much less likely to fall out!

And best of all it means you don't have to buy odd, new clothes for your ped attempt, just slob out in your usual jeans and walk it all off!