Pedometer advice wanted

May 13, 2005 7:46 AM

a) Anyone have a particular make/model of pedometer they like? b) Are they very reliable? I don't mean survey-grade reliable, but even for rough distance estimation? c) Calibration tips?
posted by everichon to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

I can't wait for the response to this! I'm in the market for a pedometer myself, and the amazon reviews seems way too manic for me to choose...
posted by mrs.pants at 8:24 AM on May 13, 2005

I picked up a SportLine model 340 from Longs Drugs for under ten bucks and it works just fine counting steps. I'm a satisfied customer, and the price was right.

I haven't bothered to calibrate it for measuring actual distance, but several times counted hundreds of my steps and its stepcount was right on. If it was calibrated and if I was consistent in my stride then it's probably pretty accurate.
posted by anadem at 8:26 AM on May 13, 2005

I bought three different pedometers earlier this year. From my experience, they're all a little flaky, but generally get in the the ballpark as far as stepcount.

All of them have little switches for adjusting stepcount sensitivity. Unfortunately, one (sorry, I'm not at home to look at brand) is wildly inaccurate at all settings.

The one I use most often is fairly accurate, though it does miss one step in a hundred. It misses even more depending on what I'm wearing. (I have a bit of a belly, and if I don't have the thing clipped to a belt, it gets tipped forward by my gut and the stepcount is less accurate.)
posted by jdroth at 8:38 AM on May 13, 2005

I have the New Lifestyles Digi-Walker SW-701 and I've liked it just fine. I did calibrate it, following the directions included, and it seems accurate enough to me. At this point, I rarely check on my distance and I never bother to look at the calorie calculation. I just try to do 10K steps a day, which isn't that hard, living in New York.

I've had it for about a year now and have never had a problem with it. I wear it to work every day.
posted by ursus_comiter at 8:43 AM on May 13, 2005

I picked one up a little over a year ago at Eddie Bauer. Wore it daily for a bit more than half a year before it met an unfortunate demise while moving some furniture. Worked great, very accurate (and could be calibrated based on included instructions). Really fascinating to track the distance I walked in the office day-by-day.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 9:23 AM on May 13, 2005

I have a Nike Tailwind that I use for running. It is actually accurate without being GPS (it uses acceleromaters and tilt sensors), and I love it. They don't seem to make them anymore, but you can still pick them up on eBay. They have a version that transmits to a watch display too, but it's quite a bit more expensive.
posted by smackfu at 10:23 AM on May 13, 2005

If I ever feel the need for a pedometer, I dust off my old Pokemon "Color" Pikachu tamagotchi-thing. All it does is count steps though.
posted by krisjohn at 7:40 PM on May 13, 2005

I have a Bios Fitness FP100 that I paid $20 for at London Drugs in Vancouver Canada. I only use it for step counting and it's accurate enough for me (plus or minus 1 step in 100). What really impresses me is its toughness. I was trapped in Alberta for the winter and wore it while shoveling snow and doing a lot of really heavy housecleaning. I was always knocking it off my belt with the handle of the snow shovel. It would bounce off the frozen pavement and languish in a salt-saturated snowbank until I realized it was missing. I'd find it, brush it off, clip it back on and keep going. Once, I dropped it into a bucket of hot soapy water. When I pulled it out, it looked like a little aquarium, totally filled with water. I figured this was the end, but just for kicks I pulled out the battery, shook the Bios like crazy and left it on a windowsill to dry. Next day I shook it some more, put the battery back in and it worked just fine.
posted by GoatCactus at 11:18 PM on May 13, 2005