Beyond annoyed! looking for an accurate walking pedometer!

Jonestiarra2013
Jonestiarra2013 Posts: 143 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does Anyone know of a good Pedometer? I noticed the one I have even if I stop walking and just swing or move my arms it counts it as a "step" so at the end of my walk my calories burned, and miles walked are all wrong is there one made to go on your ankle or leg???

Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited June 2015
    All wrist worn pedometers will do that. Get one with a clip. Something like the Fitbit Zip ( can be clipped to your bra, shirt, belt...well anywhere on your torso).


    Another side note, while wrist worn pedometers pick up arm movements as steps, for most people it won't pick up enough to actually effect the mileage reading. If your noticing the distance for your walks are extremely off, then it is more likely that the stride length setting is wrong and throwing off the distance.

    I use a wrist worn pedometer and I never get that many steps from hand movements. Maybe 500 over the course of a day. That's not enough to have any major impact on calories burned or distance traveled. And 500 is a little bit of an over-exaggeration, I've worn a clip on Fitbit and wrist Fitbit at the same time; At the end of the day there was 200 steps difference.
  • Jonestiarra2013
    Jonestiarra2013 Posts: 143 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    All wrist worn pedometers will do that. Get one with a clip. Something like the Fitbit Zip ( can be clipped to your bra, shirt, belt...well anywhere on your torso).


    Another side note, while wrist worn pedometers pick up arm movements as steps, for most people it won't pick up enough to actually effect the mileage reading. If your noticing the distance for your walks are extremely off, then it is more likely that the stride length setting is wrong and throwing off the distance.

    I use a wrist worn pedometer and I never get that many steps from hand movements. Maybe 500 over the course of a day. That's not enough to have any major impact on calories burned or distance traveled. And 500 is a little bit of an over-exaggeration, I've worn a clip on Fitbit and wrist Fitbit at the same time; At the end of the day there was 200 steps difference.
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    All wrist worn pedometers will do that. Get one with a clip. Something like the Fitbit Zip ( can be clipped to your bra, shirt, belt...well anywhere on your torso).


    Another side note, while wrist worn pedometers pick up arm movements as steps, for most people it won't pick up enough to actually effect the mileage reading. If your noticing the distance for your walks are extremely off, then it is more likely that the stride length setting is wrong and throwing off the distance.

    I use a wrist worn pedometer and I never get that many steps from hand movements. Maybe 500 over the course of a day. That's not enough to have any major impact on calories burned or distance traveled. And 500 is a little bit of an over-exaggeration, I've worn a clip on Fitbit and wrist Fitbit at the same time; At the end of the day there was 200 steps difference.

    Thanks!!
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    Don't forget that a lot of pedometers have a little delay in showing your steps, as the chip inside does the calculations to decide if it's a step or not. Plus, they usually don't show each individual step but will update every 10 or so. My Vivofit 2 and my old Fitbit Flex pick up a few steps on a short stretch of street that is especially bumpy when I'm on the way to work. But it's not much more than 5-7 steps. Just like the arm movements, there are probably very few being picked up that aren't real. Like one poster already said, it's probably not enough to worry about in relation to your total mileage and steps.
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    Also, from wearing both wrist worn pedometers, I rarely see steps added from simple wrist movements.
  • MadDogManor
    MadDogManor Posts: 1,524 Member
    I used to wear a wrist pedometer. One day at work (I work in a lab) I was standing still at a counter, pouring off pee to be analyzed. The pedometer showed I walked 17,000 steps that day
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »
    Does Anyone know of a good Pedometer? I noticed the one I have even if I stop walking and just swing or move my arms it counts it as a "step" so at the end of my walk my calories burned, and miles walked are all wrong is there one made to go on your ankle or leg???

    My Fitbit gives me "steps" when I dry my hair. But I lost the weight & have maintained for almost a year—meaning my burn is 100% accurate. That's all I care about.

    They make wristbands plus others that clip to your clothes. You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users
  • DesertGunR
    DesertGunR Posts: 187 Member
    I have the misfortune of owning a FitBit Surge. Step tracking sucks a huge freaking ****!!! When I carry a drink or have to hold on to something that needs pushing I will 70% of steps taken, on average so far. When I ride my trike, in a car or my work has a repetitive motion like needing to move parts from one bench to another as I count or sort them I get 1,000's of extra steps added. Step tracking is not the only thing that the Surge SUCKS at. I have returned 3 of them and am seriously considering returning the 4th. I will keep returning them until I get one that works. Rumor has they exist, I'd actually like to own one of them.

    I would suggest any other company than FitBit, they also have poor technical support. Preferably a pedometer that is like the Garmin foot pod or Polar S1 foot pod if you are looking for an accurate pedometer only. There may be others out there that I am not aware of so do a search and do your research on your choices.

    Good Luck!
  • Leslierussell4134
    Leslierussell4134 Posts: 376 Member
    Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »
    Does Anyone know of a good Pedometer? I noticed the one I have even if I stop walking and just swing or move my arms it counts it as a "step" so at the end of my walk my calories burned, and miles walked are all wrong is there one made to go on your ankle or leg???

    I hear you, and I've tried more than a few. I had the fitbit and Garmin, which both gave false highs. So far my best find has been the M400 by polar. This little gem has everything I need. Not only GPS for my outdoor workouts, but it came with the Polar H7 heart rate monitor that give me a great idea of the intensities I achieve and pretty good estimate of calories I'm burning.
    As far as the pedometer, it seems to be the best so far, especially in combination with that GPS feature. Maybe you could look into this option. Found it on Amazon for much cheaper than Best Buys price, but Best Buy matched it for me in the store. Happy hunting.

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