There is no doubt Yamax Digi-walkers SW and CW series are accurate and reliable pendulum pedometers, however...pendulum pedometers like Yamax do have limitations...
- Firstly, the placement of a pendulum pedometer is vital for accuracy and they must remain in a vertical position on the hip / waist band. This can be an issue for larger bodies, as tummies can sometimes cause the waist band to roll over or the tummy overhangs pushing the pedometer on a tilt. This unfortunately causes even the best pendulum pedometer to mis-count and therefore be inaccurate!
Piezoelectric accelerometers technology over comes this issue, for example the G-Sensor pedometer tolerates up to a 30 degree tilt and can be placed anywhere on the front of the body (on a waistband). Pedometer technology is so advanced now that some pedometers such as the the Omron pocket pedometer (Omron HJ113) can be worn in your pocket or on a neck lanyard providing an extremely accurate step count!
- Secondly, and just as important - the counting of incidental steps can be a frustration with pendulum style pedometers and is in fact one of the biggest complaints we have. Simply opening the pedometer to view your steps, crossing and uncrossing your legs, sneezing or bending down will often cause the pendulum arm to record this movement as steps.
Once again we find accelerometer pedometers come to the rescue!
The accelerometers will eliminate incidental steps by not registering the step straight away. Depending on the brand and model of the pedometer, we will use a G-Sensor pedometer as an example: the G-Sensor pedometer does not start registering steps until the 6th continuous step has been taken, then it starts counting from 6 onwards, therefore filtering out any incidental steps.
Another favourable feature of any accelerometer pedometer - there is 'No clicking noise'....they remain silent as they busily record every step you take.
While Yamax Pedometers are the best pendulum pedometers, there’s whole lot more to love about accelerometer pedometers.
Here are a few leading Accelerometers Pedometer models that are available...
- Omron HJ113 Pocket Pedometer
- G-Sensor 2026 pedometer
- Tech4O Pedometer Watches
- Kenz Lifecorder Activity Monitor
- Omron Walking Style X pedometer
A piezoelectric... what? Please explain!
Instead of moving parts inside the pedometer, Piezoelectric Accelerator Pedometer have a strain gauge which bends instead of clicks. Japan have been using accelerometer pedometers for years, slowly the rest of the world is gradually catching on!
Author
Kate Crosby Co -founder WalkingwithAttitude.com inspiring everyone to walk towards a healthier lifestyle with online walking programs, workplace 10,000 step challenges.
Happy Reading!
