Count on This

I need a pedometer.  A pedometer will help me focus on staying active and healthy.  The search is on!

But first a confession. I actually already have a step counter, and I use it all the time.  My iPhone has a step counter, a good one too.  The screen is large, bright, and easy to read. Using it, however, means keeping the phone with me at all times.  I even bought a holster that clips onto my jeans pocket to host my iPhone, keeping it with me every step of the day.

There’s a problem. The iPhone is heavy.  Add the weight of the holster and it really is a drag to carry around all day every day.  After months of doing so, decided I need a tiny gizmo to count my steps.  My phone can stay in my purse or at my desk, or wherever and just be my phone.

I studied the market.  I need a simple step counter that is small, lightweight, and can live unobtrusively in my pocket.  I finally selected a tiny MP3 player that includes a pedometer, made by a company that calls itself Wiwoo.  The screen is clear, and backlit, and the whole thing is less than two inches square.  I soon learned, however, that the screen is too tiny to read and getting into the pedometer part of the gizmo is a major hassle.   So I returned it.

Next I tried a talking pedometer by VoiceZone. With that, I don’t have to worry about screen size.  After all, the gizmo will read the step count aloud to me.  Since that is all this gizmo does, it appeared to be easy to operate.  It disappointed me big time!  First, it was difficult to hear and understand, especially outdoors with street noise, or even indoors with the TV on or a pot boiling on the stove in the next room!  The screen  (no backlighting) is impossible for me to see.  Finally, it did some crazy step-counting!  I could easily reach 5,000 steps in about an hour with this thing.  So I returned it.  This company, by the way,  doesn’t accept returns, they were quick to tell me.  When I responded that I understood and would simply write an honest review on amazon, they immediately granted me “an exception” of a full refund.

Finally, I ordered a small pedometer from Omron, a healthcare company.  They offered free shipping and promised accuracy.  Remarkably it turned out to be the least expensive of the three gizmos I tried.  And I love it.  So I have to hold this pedometer close, up to my nose, and then squint to read it.  I can do that!