Pedometer

[Graham]

I’m looking for a reliable pedometer to use on a walk, can anyone suggest a good make and where I can buy one from. 

I have purchased a pedometer from Halfords and walked a 3 mile journey that I have measure in the car, but the pedometer only reads 1.7 miles, so that will be going back for a refund. 

[mike knipe]

You've got to calibrate the pedometer to your stride. Most of the instructions for these things suggest that walking a measured 100 metres would do the trick.  This is a load of dingo's kidneys in my opinion.   The problem  is that your stride will differ depending on the surface you're walking over. - grass, boulders, scree, heather, tussocks, peat bog....  a mighty bound across a beck....  I think they're pretty useless for hillwalking and they're no help for navigation.  Personally, I wouldn't bother.

[legs-o-lead]

I had one too, and it had a nifty FM radio built in........ both were F#$k&%g useless.

Still, the batteries came in handy.

[snowslider]

I’m looking for a reliable pedometer to use on a walk, can anyone suggest a good make and where I can buy one from. 

I have purchased a pedometer from Halfords and walked a 3 mile journey that I have measure in the car, but the pedometer only reads 1.7 miles, so that will be going back for a refund. 

Can I ask why you want one?

Knowing how many paces you've moved is useful for micro-navigation in very poor conditions in combination with a compass of course. Mostly people prefer just to count their steps though and it's not something you tend to do for more than a a couple of hundred metres or so.

[Skinny Walker]

I'm not asking you this to be mean or anything like that, just out of interest. Why do you want one?

[snowslider]

I'm not asking you this to be mean or anything like that, just out of interest. Why do you want one?

  good question  you're a man of insight 

[Skinny Walker]

Great minds think alike....Fools seldom differ 

[Graham]

I'm just intrested in working out how far I have walked. I realise the steps will be diffrent depending on the type of land you are walking on.

Being that I'm a beginner I didn't want to payout for a GPS at this moment in time.

[legs-o-lead]

Being that I'm a beginner I didn't want to payout for a GPS at this moment in time.
[/quote]

I wouldn't bother with one of these either !!!

A map is better than a GPS anyday...... see the other thread on this !!!

Sorry to be a spoilsport - but the more you know, the less you need.

[snowslider]

I'm just intrested in working out how far I have walked. I realise the steps will be diffrent depending on the type of land you are walking on.

Being that I'm a beginner I didn't want to payout for a GPS at this moment in time.

You might just be as well off measuring on a map really.

When we manually count paces we've some different way of allowing for variations in terrain, sometime as simple as coercing ourselves to follow regular strides or just making a correction. It's pretty reliable over a few hundred metres but I'd not want to do it over a few km and I'd not think a pedometer is that reliable. GPS for route tracking is good, I use it for that, looking at the track in Google Earth, and to geocode my photographs. 

But, I have to admit I've never used a pedometer 

[cragster]

Someone bought me a pedometer for Christams once, I set it up as per instructions and went a walk and it was out by miles.

[Steelystan]

I'm just intrested in working out how far I have walked. I realise the steps will be diffrent depending on the type of land you are walking on.

Being that I'm a beginner I didn't want to payout for a GPS at this moment in time.

I use google pedometer which can call maps and satellite hybrid images. Most paths show up very clearly and I reckon you can work a route out to a resolution of about 50m in 10k unless you are under constant tree cover. Two addition features are calorie calculator and route saver options.

SS

[howardfernlover]

Someone bought me a pedometer for Christams once

Yeah, I was given one a few Christmas's ago.  The buttons to set it were all on the outside.  Didn't take me long to discover you only had to put your hand down to make sure it hadn't fallen off your belt, or knock it or something, and everything got reset to zero.  Whoever designed and manufactured that had one his head in the clouds.

[susiej]

they always seem like  a good idea; but doesn't seem to matter how much you calibrate them to they just don't seem accurate enough! irritating aint it? gave up on mine after hiking distance I knew to be 20 miles+ recorded at about 14. I think it could be  case of you get what you pay for (ie ones from out of the cereal packet really aren't that great!)
 

[stevieboy378]

If you want an accurate way of measuring your walks then I'm afraid a GPS is the way to go - they're not cheap, but you get a hell of a useful piece of equipment for your cash.
I own a Garmin eTrex Summit, which I keep strapped to the top of my rucksack. At any point in my walk I can see how far I've walked, my top speed, average speed, trip time, altitude gained/lost etc. etc. :- plus I'm secure in the knowledge that I can get a read out ( in Lat/Long or OS co-ords ) of my position, which is accurate to less than 20 feet . . ..
When I get home I can then upload the data to MemoryMap on my PC -where I get to see a highly accurate track of my walk overlaid on both an OS map and an aerial photo . . . The built in elevation data will also allow me to plot a profile diagram of my walk, showing all the ascent and descents of the walk . . . .