There is currently a battle in the running watch scene between two high-tech devices that achieve the same thing, but in different ways. On one side is the pedometer watch, which is cheap and basic, it gets the job done and provides a number of functions that are not present in a standard running watch. On the other hand is the fancier, feature-rich GPS watch, it is bulkier, heavier and a lot more expensive, but is the ultimate running tool for runners who want to push their training to new heights.

If you’re a keen runner, or an enthusiast in another sport for that matter, then choosing between these two watches is a tough job. This is especially true if you’re not the sort who is easily coaxed into buying into the latest “fad” gadget. To state the fact bluntly, a pedometer watch will nearly always provide you with the functionality you need for basic running at only a mere fraction of the price of a GPS watch like the Garmin Forerunner. A pedometer watch provides you with relatively accurate readings for distance, pace and other useful running metrics and some even feature advanced pace reminders and can provide you with advanced features above this, but on the other hand, the majority of pedometer watches are targeted mostly at those who are aiming to lose weight and get fit rather than active runners who seek to improve on their running times.

While in the past pedometers were far less accurate than the high-precision readings provided in a GPS watch, with the introduction of advanced accelerometer technology it is now possible for a pedometer watch to provide speed and distance readings that are exceptionally accurate, thus the pedometer watch is no longer the slouch that it used to be and holds up much better under tunnels or around large buildings or tree that would otherwise obstruct the GPS signal.

To be fair to the GPS watch, however, a really good GPS watch for runners provides you with some high-level features that are not offered in cheap pedometer watches. The Garmin Forerunner for example offers you advanced, structured workouts, the courses feature that allows you to run against previously recorded times for a pre-set course and the popular Virtual Partner feature, that allows you to “compete” against a computerised competitor at a pre-defined pace. The Garmin will display how far behind or ahead you are placed in comparison to your virtual partner during a training session or even a race.

GPS watches also provide you with pace alerts (some pedometers offer this too), which allows you to train within a lower and upper pace limit. The watch will sound an alarm when you breach this zone, alerting you to the fact that you need to adjust your pace. Most of the high-end GPS watches, feature the ability to transfer your training data to a computer and imported into software that comes standard when you purchase the watch. Most software allows you to keep an electronic training diary and to perform advanced analysis on your workouts. You can also import the courses you have run and view a 3D representation of them in the software.

At the end of the day, the choice between a pedometer and GPS watches will come down to your personal preference as well as the type of training you do on a regular basis. The most important thing is to ensure that if you are paying a lot of money for a watch that it has all the features that you need and that you will use them in your day-to-day training program. If there are a lot of features that you won’t ever use then you are wasting your money which may be better spent on a cheaper product. Even a cheaper product like a pedometer watch may be overkill, although it won’t cost you nearly as much money this does not mean it is money well spent if you only use the basic chronograph stopwatch timer and not the step counter, speed and distance measure and other unique features that these devices offer. As with all major purchases, do your research, buy what you need within your price range and have fun!

A pedometer measure the number of steps you have taken during a pre-defined period. This makes them the ideal device to buy if you are starting out on a new fitness routine and would like to build up gently by walking before building up to a more substantial type of exercise. Most modern pedometers can also approximate the calories you have burned making them a great tool for assisting with weight-loss activities. By entering your stride length and running gait, most can also provide you with an approximation for speed and distance making them a far cheaper alternative to a GPS watch.

The traditional pedometer is designed to clip onto your belt-buckle and must remain at the right angle in order to register accurate readings. However accelerometer pedometers have taken off recently and provide far more accurate readings without the need for such precise placement. Accelerometer technology is more advanced than that used in more traditional pendulum pedometers and hence these types of devices will cost more, however they are also far more reliable and less likely to register “incident steps”, another recent trend that we are seeing more and more of is the emergence of pedometer watch that you wear on your wrist as opposed to pedometers devices that you wear on your belt or in your pocket.

The obvious difference between pedometer watches and traditional pedometer is the way in which they are worn. If you are a runner, then a popular wrist pedometer such as the Tech 4 O is a smart choice, as with a worn pedometer you risk it falling off during rigorous exercise sessions. When buying a pedometer watch you are best to look for one that features an accelerometer as these are highly accurate and more reliable in general. They will cost slightly more but are not over-priced and will far well in the long-term. For some ideas on the best pedometer watches to buy, check out our top 5 pedometer watch guide.

A regular pedometer is a better choice for those who are doing low-level activities such as walking to get fit or lose weight. One of the best choices for walkers is a pocket pedometer such as the Omron HJ-113, which is small and lightweight, extremely cheap at around $26.95 on Amazon as well as highly sophisticated and accurate. The Omron pedometer watches fit comfortably into your pocket, but also offer you the option of clipping on like a traditional style of device. The Omron models feature a clear digital display with three easy to use interface buttons and multiple functional modes. In short if you are a runner and would like cheap and accurate speed and distance, then refer to our pedometer watch recommendations, but on the other hand if you are walking to get fit, the Omron pedometers are a cheap and reliable choice in pedometer technology.

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Whether you’re walking, running, or jogging, a pedometer watch can help you track your steps so you’ll know how far you’ve gone. Most good pedometers can accurately estimate the distance of your steps and figure out how many calories you burn during each workout. Pedometer watches have the additional advantage of displaying the time, and many of them also have built-in stopwatches, which allow you to time yourself and try to improve upon your speed each time you go out for a walk.

Types of Pedometers and Pedometer Watches

Many watch manufacturers offer one or more pedometer watch styles in their product lines. The Silva Pedometer Watch EX Ped Go II is a good example. Silva offers a variety of wrist pedometer models, including pink pedometer watches for women. Watch manufacturers are also getting into the business of selling pedometers. The model T5E021M8 Timex pedometer has a clip to allow it to be attached to your belt and features the Timex INDIGLO night-light so you can see how far you’ve gone if you’re out jogging at night.

The Oregon Scientific pedometer is an inexpensive option if you are on a budget. The company offers several discount pedometers that sell for less than $20. If you want something a little more high tech, try the Garmin pedometer that attaches to your shoelaces. This foot pod pedometer transmits a signal to your Garmin Forerunner or FR60 sports watch to help you monitor your speed and distance.

Although the watch pedometer and the belt pedometer are the most popular, the shoe pedometer is gaining in popularity as well. If you are trying to make sure your cardio workout is strenuous enough, you might want to get a heart rate monitor pedometer. That way, you’ll be able to tell when you reach your target heart rate. If you don’t want to have to slow down to check your heart rate, you can even get a talking pedometer that will tell you what your heart rate is. Of course, you can expect talking pedometers and other pedometers with advanced features to cost more.

Where to Get a Cheap Pedometer

You can find cheap pedometers for sale at discount stores such as Walmart and Target. You can also buy a jogging pedometer cheap online through retailers such as Amazon.com, Buy.com, and Best Buy. If you have your own business, you might be able to purchase wholesale pedometers to sell in your own store as well. You can buy pedometers wholesale through the same distributors that sell wholesale watches. To buy a pedometer wholesale, you have to own a retail business, but sometimes you can find prices close to wholesale if you watch for great sales.

Sometimes you can even find free pedometers that are being given away by corporations, but these are not as common now as they once were. The best place to find free promotional pedometers is at educational health events put on by your local hospital or clinic. These events often take place during local fairs and festivals. Don’t expect a promotional pedometer to offer a lot of extra features. Most companies try to keep their promotional costs as low as possible by giving away a very basic model.

Whether you decide to buy a belt pedometer or a fancy watch with pedometer, calorie counter, stopwatch, and other features, you should check pedometer ratings by reading reviews on consumer websites to find out which pedometer wrist, belt, or shoe model has the highest level of customer satisfaction.

There are two ways to do that. First you can start eating fewer calories through your food and drinks. In other words if your daily calorie consumption is 2500 you need to adjust your daily diet so as to eat less calories. If for example you manage to reduce the daily calorie intake by 500, then in real terms this means that in 7 days you will be able to lose one pound (one pound is 3500 calories). This technique covers only one aspect of weight loss – consuming fewer calories.

The other aspect of weight loss is burning more calories. The only way to burn more calories is through exercise and physical activity. The problem with this is that it is difficult to calculate how much calories you burn through the various activities and this is where the sport watch comes into play. Read on to see how a sport watch can help you lose weight.

You might wonder how to lose weight fast, with a sports watch? Here’s how. Modern sports watches, besides the good looks have some very nice features which can help you keep track of a number of the factors that play an important role in weight loss. A pedometer sports watch can count the number of steps you perform. We said above that to burn more calories you need to increase the levels of physical activity. The simpler form of physical activity is walking. If you have a way to know how far you walk per day, you can adjust your schedule to walk more and thus burn more calories. By using the step count feature, you can estimate your normal activity and then decide by how many steps you need to take in order to burn more calories. Some more sophisticated sports watch can also provide you with the calories you burn while walking or running.

Another important factor you need to take into account when trying to lose weight by exercise is the overall condition of your health and especially your heart. There are many cases of people who try to exercise too intensively too quickly while attempting rapid weight-loss, who wind up with serious heart problems. The smartest approach is to get the approval of your doctor before undertaking any intensive exercise. You can also get into the habit of monitoring your level of exertion by use of the heart rate zone features found in watches that support a heart rate monitor. This very nice feature allows you to set the upper and lower limits of your heart rate and the watch will notify you when your heart rate goes above or beyond this level. This excellent feature can make you more aware of your heart, allowing you to exercise at a safe level while avoiding unexpected health problems.

To sum up, weight loss can take time and requires a lot of patience and hard work. Keeping track of your progress, not to mention your health is critically important. Fail to track your calories and you can easily slide back into old habits without even realizing it. Fail to build into a fitness regime at a sensible pace is a health risk. A sport watch armed with these features described above can assist you in losing weight in a faster, more controlled and healthy way.

Features:

• pedometer watch
• Comfortable clip-on pod
• Accurately tracks steps, distance, miles and calories burned
• 50-Lap Memory Storage
• Chrono with lap, split, speed, pace, distance and total stoppage time
• 5x Interval Timers and Countdown Timer Modes

The Timex Fitness Tracker is a Ladies Sports Watch that comes with a hip pedometer device that tracks your step count and from this approximates your speed, distance and calories burned against exercise time. The optional pedometer unit must be switched on to receive this information and communicates wirelessly to the wrist watch. Unlike the Timex Bodylink Watches this watch does not have the facility to connect to the Timex Data Recorder, so it is not possible to upload data to computer.

This watch has calibration modes that suit both walks and run activities. You can manually calibrate your individual stride length and steps per minute, or let it automatically calibrate itself to your individual stride over a measured distance.

The watch includes:

Pedometer Display: The basic pedometer display lets you toggle between data fields measured from your step rate. Some of these include:

• Speed in Miles Per Hour
• Steps Remaining Towards a Step Goal
• Steps Per Minute
• Distance
• Calories
• Activity Time
• Pace in Minutes Per Mile and of course
• Step Count

You can set your own customized goals or use the factory default 10,000 step goal that comes standard with the watch.

INDIGLO backlight system: Timex’s patented night light illuminates the watch’s face in a striking, bright display which is great for running at night or in low light conditions. The Timex Night Mode feature allows you to activate INDIGLO at a press of any button.

Chronograph: The Timex chronograph has large, clear digits and lets you count up to 99 laps in your session and store up to 50 laps in the watch’s memory. The Timex standard elapsed time offers 2-line display lines allowing you to view total elapsed time and total activity time.

The memory feature saves lap times in memory and will display not only lap times, but the total lap distance, average and lap speed, average and lap pace and total calories.

Interval Timer: This Interval Timer feature is useful for interval training. You can set a single timer and program it to repeat a chosen number of times. You can also set an interval timer with up to five different interval times.

Water Resistance: The watch is water-resistant, so will survive in the water but it is not designed to be a swimming or diving watch.

Battery: The battery in both the watch and pedometer pod is user-replaceable.

Style: The watch is large, but not huge. It is comfortable to wear during a workout. You’ll also get some interesting tan lines from the cut-outs on the strap.

Other features of this watch, which are typical of Timex sports watches include:

• Timer with Countdown Stop or Repeat
• 3 alarms with Daily, Weekday, Weekend and Day-of-Week options
• Dual Time Zones
• One Year Warranty

This sports watch is currently selling on Amazon for $89.95, making it ideal for female athletes who want to keep track of their their activity throughout the day in addition to their specific training. This watch also looks fantastic with three distinct color schemes. It can be worn as easily in the office or casual environment as it can on a running trail.

Follow the links below to purchase the IRONMAN Triathlon Sleek Fitness Tracker Watch:

• Timex Ironman Women’s Sleek Fitness Tracker Watch TK091 (Pink)
• Timex Ironman Women’s Sleek Fitness Tracker Watch TK092 (Blue)
• Timex Ironman Women’s Sleek Fitness Tracker Watch TK093 (Black)