Sunday, December 21, 2008

Pedometer Watches - What To Look For

By Ron Packardy

Pedometer watches are great, especially if you're keen on keeping track of your activity and exercise levels. If you're thinking of getting one, here are a few things to check before you buy.

1. First of all, is it accurate enough for your needs? If you just need a rough guide, then your choice will be that much wider, but if you need an accurate reading, there are only a few pedometer watches you should shortlist.

2. Does it use one of the more modern sensor mechanism? This will affect accuracy too, so make sure you're not getting a pedometer that uses the old type technology. Keep an eye out for mention of accelerometer and you'll be safe.

3. Can it tell the difference between running and walking? It might sound an obvious question, but make sure the pedometer watch you go for can actually distinguish between different types of exercise. The better models usually employ some sort of delay mechanism which detects a specific type of activity for a short period of time before it counts it.

4. Make sure you can customize the pedometer with your own body type, weight and exercise style. The more variations you can configure, the better. All this is important if you want to accurately track distance and calorie burning.

5. Does it have the capacity to store all the info you need? If you like to keep track of your progress over the weeks, make sure the pedometer can store that much information. There's no good getting a pedometer that can only save a weeks worth of data if you want to measure your progress over several months.

That probably covers the main technical issues, but of course you'll also want to check you're getting the best price. Don't forget to find out if there's any special deals on offer, especially around the holiday season.

I'm a real fan of pedometer watches, so much so that I've pretty much stopped using normal pedometers. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a normal pedometer, it's just that convenience of a pedometer watch, especially one that tells the time, makes using them much easier for me. - 16004

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