Step Counters

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience of step counters
(Pedometers)? Do they work well when jogging (e.g. are
they accurate)? I was thinking of buying a cheap one (less
than £10).

Thanks for any info,

On 2004-07-10, Ed <Ed@nospam.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Does anyone have any experience of step counters
> (Pedometers)? Do they work well when jogging (e.g. are
> they accurate)? I was thinking of buying a cheap one (less
> than £10).

Why would you want one ? Number of steps doesn't vary
substantially with pace, so once you've identified your
stride rate, you can estimate number of steps fairly
accurately by the duration of your run.

If you're trying to estimate *distance*, a pedometer is
useless. To measure a course, there are a number of
options that make varying tradeoffs between accuracy,
convenience and cost:

(1) estimate by time and effort
(2) measure with a car odometer
(3) measure with a bicycle computer
(4) use mapping software (e.g. MS streets and trips)
(5) use a GPS unit.
(6) use some other odometer like the fitsense or nike.

Convenience accuracy inexpensive
(7) Y ? Y The accuracy of this simple method is
underrated.
(8) N N Y (if you have a car)
(9) N Y Y (if you have a bike and computer, and the
computer is calibrated)
(10) Y ? Y (streets and trips: $30-). Accuracy may vary.
(11) Y Y N
(12) Y Y N

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

"Donovan Rebbechi" <abuse@aol.com> wrote in message
news:slrncetk2u.d0.abuse@panix2.panix.com...
> On 2004-07-10, Ed <Ed@nospam.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Does anyone have any experience of step counters
> > (Pedometers)? Do they
work
> > well when jogging (e.g. are they accurate)? I was
> > thinking of buying a cheap one (less than £10).
>
> Why would you want one ? Number of steps doesn't vary
> substantially with
pace,
> so once you've identified your stride rate, you can
> estimate number of
steps
> fairly accurately by the duration of your run.
>
> If you're trying to estimate *distance*, a pedometer is
> useless. To
measure a
> course, there are a number of options that make varying
> tradeoffs between accuracy, convenience and cost:
>
> (1) estimate by time and effort
> (2) measure with a car odometer
> (3) measure with a bicycle computer
> (4) use mapping software (e.g. MS streets and trips)
> (5) use a GPS unit.
> (6) use some other odometer like the fitsense or nike.
>
> Convenience accuracy inexpensive
> (1) Y ? Y The accuracy of this simple method is
underrated.
> (2) N N Y (if you have a car)
> (3) N Y Y (if you have a bike and computer, and the
> computer is calibrated)
> (4) Y ? Y (streets and trips: $30-). Accuracy may
vary.
> (5) Y Y N
> (6) Y Y N
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Thanks for your detailed reply.

I sometimes make changes to my jogging route based on
factors such as the amount of traffic on the road (I have to
cross a lot of roads) and weather. I was thinking that a
step counter would give me a good indication of the routes
length. But I guess that using a map and time taken would
give better feedback.

I use the Nike Tailwind. It is relatively accurate, IMHO as accurate a
using a car to mark-off distance. It is not cheap: about $99.00US.

Good Luck

"Ed" <Ed@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:ccmhdh$3o8$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Hello,
>
> Does anyone have any experience of step counters
> (Pedometers)? Do they
work
> well when jogging (e.g. are they accurate)? I was thinking
> of buying a cheap one (less than £10).
>
> Thanks for any info,

In article <slrncetk2u.d0.abuse@panix2.panix.com>,
Donovan Rebbechi <abuse@aol.com> wrote:
>If you're trying to estimate *distance*, a pedometer is
>useless. To measure a course, there are a number of options
>that make varying tradeoffs between accuracy, convenience
>and cost:
>
>(1) estimate by time and effort
>(2) measure with a car odometer
>(3) measure with a bicycle computer
>(4) use mapping software (e.g. MS streets and trips)
>(5) use a GPS unit.
>(6) use some other odometer like the fitsense or nike.

(7) count heartbeats and multiply by an appropriate constant

I use a little script to estimate distances from the data
downloaded from my Polar HRM. When I run a known distance,
the error is usually less than 10%. Hills, heat and other
factors affect the result of course.

Andrew Taylor