Our modern life doesn’t really encourage a healthy active lifestyle. With many of us spending our working life sitting at a desk using a computer. Most of out activity is done with out fingers tapping on the keyboard and every now and then taking a break to get a drink or a snack. This isn’t good for our overall health. To help overcome this lack of activity many people are now using pedometers and other similar tracking devices.
The Striiv Smart Pedometer is one such device that helps people to increase their levels of activity and is similar to the FitBit devices. But it does have some features that are exclusive to it. But are they worth it and does it really help you become more active? Or is it more trouble than its worth?
Specifications
- Type of Device: Pedometer (with extra activity tracking)
- RRP: $99.95
- Release Year: 2012
- Size: 1 x 1 x 1 inches
- Weight: 1.4 ounces
- Wireless Internet Data Upload? No
- Battery Life: 5-6 days
The Pros
Range Of Data Tracked: This pedometer tracks more than just the number of steps taken. As well as tracking these it tracks the number of stairs climbed how long you’ve been active and estimates the number of calories burned.
When you are walking up stairs, this is a more intense activity than walking along, so it is useful to know how much activity you did during the day of this more intense activity, In this way you get a better picture of how your activity has helped you with your health and fitness. If you are watching your weight, an estimate of the calories burnt can help in maintaining progress towards any goals you might have set yourself.
Color Touch Screen: Having a color touch screen makes this pedometer stand out from other models like the FitBit. It really makes it much more fun and interesting to interact with.
It makes it much more engaging and allows for a much more visual experience when using it to monitor activity and read results and see achievements. The touch-screen technology appears to work well and people find it easier than pressing or twisting buttons.
Walking Powered Games: This helps to make walking a more enjoyable experience. The games are fun to play and can be done with other members of the family and friends, where you can compete against them. Adults as well as kids enjoy them and can find them quite addictive which all helps in getting the levels of physical activity up with the addition of competition against others or against the device.
Activity Funds Donations: This is an interesting and effective concept. The device sets you challenges and as you achieve them a donation is made to a charity. There are 3 types of charity that is donated as a result of the achievement, which you choose. The choices are glasses of water to a South American family, saving the rainforests or a polio vaccine.
This does not cost you any money as the donations are made by Striiv and its’ business partners. So all this required of you is to work hard to achieve the tasks resulting in a win for you and the recipients of the donation.
No Computer Needed To View Info: The Striiv’s color screen means it is possible to easy look at graphs to see your progress on the go. Many people find this a great feature as they don’t have to go to their computer to check their progress. This gives a real-time update and can give some more motivation to achieve your target for the day or week. In fact many people say this feature along with the games and donations encourages to do more activity than they other would do.
Continuous Feedback: As mentioned above the ability to get feedback on the go is very motivating. You can see if you are on or off track and you can put in the extra effort needed to get back on track if you need to.
Motivating: As has been talked about before this is a motivating device. In addition to the above you have the ability to set goals and get rewarded for meeting these goals.
This device can learn your exercise routines and develop challenges for you to do. As you complete the challenges you earn points and trophies. As you achieve more you can go further in the games and earn credits for charity. What it does is turn walking into a game and many customers find this is really helpful in motivating them to be more active to achieve the goals.
The Cons
Screen Freezes: Some customers have reported that their machine freezes. It will either take a long time to get going again or require a re-set. This can mean that you lose all of the data it has stored which is very annoying, and you are starting from scratch.
Poor Manual: The manual included with this device is poor and only provides very basic information. Fortunately it is a relatively straightforward machine to set up but, if you have anything other than the very basics you want to know you need to search online to get it. Many of the answers are on the Striiv website.
Durable Issues: As with the freezing issues there have been problems reported by a few customers concerning the durability of the device. Although we haven’t ascertained the size of the issue, it appears that there are some reports of faults occurring about two months after purchase. It is worth noting the chance of this occurring.
Should You Buy The Striiv Smart Pedometer?
The Striiv smart Pedometer is a great device as it turns the activity of walking into a game that many enjoy. It is great for motivation and helps in getting better results than you might otherwise get. Unfortunately it is let down by some of the reported issues regarding its durability. Some of the other products available do track more data.
This is a product that is well worth investing in, if you are willing to disregard some of the reported issues, due to its ability to help with motivation and get you moving more which is the aim of these types of devices.
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