Pedometers with personality
Seven thousand, four hundred and eighty-two. Seven thousand, four hundred and .... One night, while walking my way to 10,000 steps, which health experts now urge as a daily benchmark, I realized it’s harder to walk and count 10,000 steps than to let a pedometer do the work. No wonder the age-old pedometer, a pager-sized device that counts steps by electronically measuring knee-to-hip vibrations, is suddenly hot.
Here are the best of the new breed:
You walk, it talks
Sportline Talking Pedometer: Music! Talk! Blares six classical pieces from tiny speaker and gabs at the press of a button (i.e., “You have walked 3,310 steps; the distance is 1.9 miles. It is 12:12 a.m.”). Music tempo increases as you do.
Likes: Beautiful. Highly motivating. No eyestrain. Easy setup. Works perfectly.
Dislikes: No night light or volume control, so you wake the neighborhood dogs. Forward-facing screen, so you have to hold it to your face to read. Finally, classical’s nice, but I like rap.
Price: $29. (800) 338-6337.
Tune in to tune out
Oregon Scientific Pedometer with FM radio: Kidney-shaped, flip-open ped/radio with auto scan, volume control and headphones.
Likes: Clear, vivid sound. Readable display.
Dislikes: Headphone wire flops around. Irritating five-second screech interrupts music when backlight button pushed. And how about a more creative name -- like “Walk ‘n’ Roll”?
Price: $29.95. (888) 274-7980.
Don’t miss a beat
Freestyle Ergo-Touch Pulse: Large, loaded, seashell-shaped unit that can read your heart rate.
Likes: Loaded with features, including thermometer, timer, stopwatch, weekly memory, pacer mode and more.
Dislikes: Inconvenient and uncomfortable. Must take out of holster to read. Too tall; sticks up into belly.
Price: $40. (800) 949-1563. www.freestyleusa.com.
Be alarmed, be very alarmed
Brunton Digital Alarm Pedometer: Muggers beware. Includes built-in 120-decibel panic alarm with pull-cord activation.
Likes: Deafening, ear-splitting alarm lasts 15 minutes. Sleek faux-aluminum design. Quality feel, function.
Dislikes: Though convenient -- readout of well-defined numerals looks straight up -- there’s eyestrain because of tiny numerals and chance for shirt or belly to obscure view.
Price: $30. (800) 443-4871; www.brunton.com.