outdoor living products

I'm recovering from back surgery and wanted a way to know--rather than guess--how close I come to meeting my daily walking goals. This comparatively inexpensive pedometer doesn't achieve perfection, but it does get the job done.

On the up side, it's small, easy to read and includes a user-controlled back light. The belt clip is extremely secure, and the screen displays everything from actual steps walked to total distance and calories burned. It was easy to adjust the stride length and body weight. My steps are tracked accurately with the "sensitivity" slider control set in the middle, rather than all the way to the left as many other reviewers suggest. I have learned that there is a bit of wiggle room on mine--if I count off 20 steps, it might say 19 on one set and 21 on the next. In the long run--I bothered to count all the way to 100 several times--it was spot on.

On the down side, the cover is extraordinarily difficult to open. Difficult as in I have wrestled with it for nearly five minutes just to pop it open. (I now don't close it quite securely. It doesn't fall open.) And I can see some folks might be bothered by the imprecision over short term counting. And for some reason, if I clip it to a pants pocket, rather than on a belt loop or my waist band, it doesn't seem to read anything at all. I have no clue why this is so, but it is a little disapointing.

Considering that every other pedometer I looked at was more than twice the price of this model, I'm astonished at how well it works. Perfectionists will likely prefer a more expensive version, but for short term use, casual interest, easy-going folks or even something to help get the kids more active, you can't go wrong.

The price of this product is what sold me comparing to other pedometers. I bought it being aware of the problems other reviewers have stated. The "happiness" ratio seems about 40% at best. The thumb clip has been problematic but you can work around it. But is that what you want in a product? The biggest flaw I have found is in its accuracy. After several tests of 50 steps the unit averaged being "off" by being over 40 steps...on the lowest sensitivity. Disappointing. I wouldn't mind it being off by being under because I would exercising more and thats good. But this way I feel like its cheating me at the cost of my health. I will continue to use this unit but I will be on the lookout for a new unit. I can not make a recomendation for this product.

I've had mine for two days and agree with the others about the painful thumb button on the locking mechanism. I just shaved the little plastic catch down a little with an Xacto knife: problem solved.

The step counts seem accurate to me and I haven't noticed any spurious ones while the unit was sitting on a table or anything. I believe there are defective ones out there, but mine seems fine.

I'd recommend it, and I'd recommend shaving or sanding that little plastic ridge down to save the tip of your thumb!