Any pedometers/activity trackers out there that you can pause?

donolo

I drive a forklift for a living and have found that the Pacer pedometer on my iPhone that I am currently using counts the driving as steps. I am on and off my forklift all day, logging about 8000 legitimate steps, which I would like to keep accurate track of. I am aware that with some trackers you can set certain blocks of time as driving time, but that won't work as, like I said, I am on and off the thing constantly. What I really need is to be able to pause the steps counted by simply pressing a button. I can't take anymore time than that without risking my work productivity. What I currently do is put my phone down every time I hop on my lift, and it seems to be working, but it's not ideal, and I'm interested in the other aspects of a dedicated tracker. So, are there any trackers out there that can easily be paused?

HollyB1223

I get most of my exercise from working with ponies in the summertime, which is a lot of start, stop, start. A person can use a heart rate monitor to get daily calorie counts. I like to track steps/miles for a day, so I use a wrist GPS. It stops recording automatically when I stop moving. And I do turn it off whenever I get in a vehicle. So I feel it is accurate on actual walking miles. I have the Garmin Foretrex 401, kind of tricky to get used to functions but I really like it for my purposes! You can look it up on Amazon.

rachelecosse

My husbands Fitbit HR lets you tell it you're driving so it doesn't count that period, but you have to do it online at the end of the day. Hope that helps!

editorgrrl

donolo wrote: »

I drive a forklift for a living and have found that the Pacer pedometer on my iPhone that I am currently using counts the driving as steps. I am on and off my forklift all day, logging about 8000 legitimate steps, which I would like to keep accurate track of.

What I currently do is put my phone down every time I hop on my lift, and it seems to be working, but it's not ideal, and I'm interested in the other aspects of a dedicated tracker. So, are there any trackers out there that can easily be paused?

Fitbit says it only counts driving as steps if you have a stiff transmission or drive on bumpy roads. But I assume operating a forklift involves both: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/How-does-my-tracker-work-while-I-m-driving-in-a-car (That link also has instructions for negating steps after the fact.)

If no one knows of an activity tracker you can pause at the push of a button, you could buy a Fitbit at a store near you, keep the receipt, and return it if you don't like it.

You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

MeanderingMammal

So some wrist mounted devices have enough sensitivity that the false positive count is low. So rather than switching off and on, they'll be responsive to when you're not moving yourself.

I know mine didn't count any steps at all in a 45 minute drive this afternoon.

Take a look at DCrainmaker.com for some solid reviews of the available tools.

PinkyPan1

I carry an Omron pedometer in my pocket or clip it to my waistband when necessary. I wear it on my walks and golfing so I have an accurate account of my steps.

jacobloren

I have almost exactly the same problem you do. I am a UPS driver and my Fitbit Alta HR records all of my driving as steps. One day it said I had 37,000 steps for 17.5 miles. I do walk a lot in a day, but that's too far out there to believe. I want exactly what you described- a button to pause and start step-counting. Haven't had any luck finding a device with that feature. I don't think anybody makes them that way. I did find an Android App that is kind of helpful. It's called Drivebit. It's just a start/stop button on your phone's home screen. press it when you start driving, then press it again when you stop, and the app will enter the drive-time into your fitbit account and negate the steps recorded during that time period. It's not as good as having the button on the device itself, but it's something.

fbchick51

donolo wrote: »

I drive a forklift for a living and have found that the Pacer pedometer on my iPhone that I am currently using counts the driving as steps. I am on and off my forklift all day, logging about 8000 legitimate steps, which I would like to keep accurate track of. I am aware that with some trackers you can set certain blocks of time as driving time, but that won't work as, like I said, I am on and off the thing constantly. What I really need is to be able to pause the steps counted by simply pressing a button. I can't take anymore time than that without risking my work productivity. What I currently do is put my phone down every time I hop on my lift, and it seems to be working, but it's not ideal, and I'm interested in the other aspects of a dedicated tracker. So, are there any trackers out there that can easily be paused?

The issue isn't needing a pause button.. the issue is needing an actual pedometer that tracks steps through body movements versus a phone app that translates GPS information into steps. Most cheap pedometers use essentially a pendulum type device to monitor body movements that correlate to walking. Phone apps use an algorithm to using distance moved based on the GPS and then divides by step length to calculate the steps taken to move that distance. While an actual pedometer may still give erroneous steps from some of the bouncing around in a fork lift, it will be far, far lower then a GPS based app that is mistaking your fork lift movements for distance walked.

You can pick up a decent, but cheap pedometer for $10-15. If you want one that can upload to a tracking program (to maintain history), they may run a bit more... but there are LOTS of options available for under $50.

natruallycurious

I have the fitbit charge 2, and I've noticed you can pause it in workout mode. I'm not sure if it stops counting steps during that time or not, but I will see if I can figure that out and let you know.