Review by Anna L.:

I have an Omron pedometer while my spouse has another brand. The Omron is a bit bigger than a lot of other pedometers, but their performance is better than most if you search the net and look at independent reviews- Omrons rank at the top! A few features you’ll probably find useful:

-it works even if you put it in your pocket

-it can track your steps, total distance, as well as the calories your burned

-has a 7 day memory

-buttoms are easy to press

-it has a safety clip to avoid dropping it

I have to say that these pedometers are probably one of the best (and most fun) ways to stay in shape and lose weight. Set up is easy, and once you’re done with that, there’s nothing left to do but to do it!

So how much should you walk? The most common recommendation is 10,000 steps a day- which is equivalent to about 5 miles. They get the 10,000 number from studies showing that adults who get this much exercise a day are healthy.

However know too that some research is beginning to show that some populations might need more, or can get by with less. For instance children may need more steps than this and some older adults may not be able to sustain 10,000 steps/day (one study found that a sample of HEALTHY older adults involved in weekly exercise programs reached an average of about 6,500 steps- suggesting that older adults may be able to get by with just 6,000 steps a day or so).

So what if you just want to lose weight? Well, I suggest starting out by first seeing how many steps you get on an average day at your current weight. Then, try to add steps each day, working up to 10,000 over time.

See where your weight is at when you reach the 10,000 step level, and if you still need to lose more, try to add another 2,000 steps a day. Keep in mind that each 2,000-2,500 steps is about a mile, or 100 calories for a 150-pound person.

So if you’re looking to drop a few pounds, or to simply get fitter, try a pedometer! Also recommend The Sixty-Second Motivator for anyone who needs more motivation to stick with an exercise program.

Review by Dorofy:

My Daughter and I have had pedometers for 5 years and have tried several models. My daughter says this is the best and most accurate yet – and you don’t even have to wear it clipped to you, it is still accurate in a backpack. Great to have the week long memory, too. So now, I am about to buy one for myself.

Review by Matt H:

I’ve tried a number of pedometers from Amazon and this one is the best. It’s step counting is accurate, which shouldn’t be a rarity but in practise it is. Other pedometers I have tried have been up to 15% out, which is very disheartening, or are unable to count steps when you’re running or jogging. This one is easy to use and I instinctively find myself trying to exceed my step count from the previous week, which is a good thing. The only problem with it is that it’s a little larger than I would like, so you can’t really wear it when you’re dressed to impress.

Review by chillinb:

This is my 1st pedometer. It is extremely easy to set and use and the instructions are very clear. It provides the number of steps made in large clear numerals, together with the current time in smaller numerals underneath. You can scroll back through the number of steps made during the previous 7 days too.

At the push of a button, the pedometer can also show how many aerobic steps you have taken, how many calories you used and your distance walked in kms. Again, this data can be accessed for the previous 7 days.

Now for the biggy – accuracy. I like to wear my pedometer on my bra strap between my breasts. There is no chance of it falling into the loo. But, for the benefit of male readers, I have tried it attached to my waistband as well. (NB I tried it attached to my dressing gown belt and it over read the number of steps dreadfully)

Bra Strap – this seems to over read by about 2% (on average) over shorter distances (I always give up counting when I get to 200 steps!) However, yesterday I walked 2.5kms and the number of steps I took was pretty much spot on. I also did a mix of normal steps and aerobic steps and I think it seemed to differentiate quite well, although I havent formally tested this. I have not tested the pedometer on my bra strap when walking up a steep incline.

Waistband – on shorter distances on the flat, this has proved to be bang on (occasionally 1 step over or under per 150/200 steps). I did walk 200 odd steps up a very steep incline though and the pedometer over read by 17 steps.

I have my doubts that any pedometer is 100% accurate, but I feel that I can pretty much rely on this one to give me a fairly accurate guide as to the number of steps I have taken throughout the day – provided I am not hill walking/mountain climbing!

Review by Neil Southward:

This pedometer does everything its supposed to do. Its easy to attach, has clear display and easily useable buttons to change from steps to distance and to re-set. Good product.

Review by keith c.:

I selected this model as the ‘further information’ indicated (by the use of brackets after metric stride/distance limit) that it also switched to miles (i.e.999.99 miles).

The manual didn’t cover this facility and curiously the French language version indicated miles were standard with kilometers in brackets!

I contacted Oregon direct only to find out (second phone call, they didn’t ring back) that it is not switchable and this model ‘has not been marketed in the UK’.

Amazon refunded my money as ‘it was not as described’. Don’t know if this has been amended.

How I wish I hadn’t lost my previous ultra-cheap yet accurate model, dual unit, sensitivity control that only cost about £7!!! No longer available!!!!

Review by Scot in London:

I’ve lost or broken previous pedometers because I had to clip them to my belt. This one works in my pocket, which is a marvellous step forward (no pun intended). It is so much less hassle than a belt-clip pedometer.

Once you have set it up by telling it the time and your stride/step length it will record your activities for a week. Each new day starts at 3am, where it will delete the oldest day’s figure and start a new day at zero – very convenient. If you are like me and you record each day’s figure, you don’t have to be near your diary or a computer when you wake up.

The interface is reasonably intuitive, but rather terse. For example, when entering stride/step length, you just get a figure such as 180cm on the screen, with no explanation as to what this is. Step or stride? Height? Keep the little instruction booklet safe and you should be happy.

Review by Brasso:

The Tanita 3-Axes Pedometer is a very capable device and gains full marks for being machine washable. However it looses a star for a gotcha on distance measurement. Let me explain.

Shortly after getting one of these pedometers, my wife unexpectedly washed my training shorts – with the pedometer still in the pocket – so it went through a full 60C wash and tumble dry cycle. Afterwards, all it needed was to be dried out for a day and a new battery fitted – it then continued to work perfectly. So it was proven to be machine washable – at least once.

Concerning the gotcha. Centimetres are small fiddly things to me and kilometres are completely alien. I’m much more at home with inches and miles. However, the Tanita comes in two versions – a cm/km one and an in/mile one. If you get a cm/km one, you cannot switch it to in/mile. If you get an in/mile one, you cannot switch it to cm/km. So you have to be very careful to get the right version. You guessed it – I ended up with the cm/km version. This fact didn’t seem to be mentioned anywhere – and I only found out in the small print of the instruction manual. So I’m having to get good at converting km to miles.

Review by Peter:

We had been using much cheaper pedometers for years, but they either fell off, step counting was erratic, or batteries died too quickly. This Silva pedometer has a really useful security chain, the counting seems sound and so far (several months) the battery looks OK. We have not made use of any of the more advanced functions provided, so it might be that the more basic models would have suited just as well. Additionally, as always seems to be the case with these small items, the instructions were limited (for example, no information on how to operate the security chain clip). The plastic clip which secures the security chain on to one’s belt did not work after a few months, and although the dealer replaced it without charge, the quality of the clip remains a concern.

Review by A. Brown:

I have tried other slightly cheaper makes of pedometer.But this one beats them all.Easy to set up + clear instructions .I have checked its accuracy against my car odometer.On a walk which goes paralel to a Bypass near where i live.And all i can say is .Its very accurate.+ Very good value.

Review by J. Harbour:

Really pleased with this little gadget. It was very easy to set up my personal data, weight and stride length. The buttons are very stiff but this is a good thing as it makes it impossible to reset anything by accident. The device only records steps after it feels more than 6 consecutive steps taken. I.e from 0 steps on the screen, you walk 7 steps it will wait to register the 7 steps until it feels that you have done at least 6. This is a great feature and avoids it counting everyday movements. To ensure you do not loose the device there are 3 features, the belt clip is firm and there is a crocodile clip with a cord for extra safety and another clip for the panic cord. I tried a different maker of ped’s first and returned it as its reset button was too easily pressed, the Silva is just what I was looking for in a pedometer….Have not tried the alarm yet…will test this on the dog walk later in the middle of a field!

Review by Kathy:

I’m really pleased with this little pedometer. It does exactly what it says on the box. I have owned two pedometers previously, both of which often either ‘skipped’ ahead, adding extra steps in when I happened to move a bit jerkily, or they would drag behind and not add steps which had actually been taken. I had to move about in an absolutely smooth, robotic way to get any kind of accuracy from them which was, of course, impossible to maintain. So I felt I was taking a bit of a chance buying yet another pedometer. But this one is no trouble to me at all. It seems to be balanced in such a way as to be able to identify a step correctly, whether I’m walking smoothly or otherwise, and it totals the steps up very accurately. As I said – it does just what it says on the box and you can’t ask more than that. Recommended !