Pedometers

I am thinking that I would like to buy a pedometer - a good one that will calculate calories burned.  Are they any good?  I have one that I got free from a box of cereal, but I'm not sure how to transfer the number of steps into my activity log. 

I love to walk, but I can never tell if I'm walking 3 mph or 3.5 mph so I don't know how to log it.  Plus, some of the route is hilly, some is flat.  Oh, it's so complicated!!

Any suggestions?  Would I be wasting my money?

Thanks

DJ

I use a pedometer; I don't bother with one that counts calories, mine just records the # of steps I have taken. An easy way to figure out pace is to "clock" the distance of a given route in your car (#km) and see how long it takes you to walk it. Divide the distance into the time and you have your pace. I know that whether walking or running I take almost exactly 1000 steps every km, so now I can get a good read on distance just from my pedometer. Good luck!

I always just went by how long I walked, and took a median speed to estimate. I wear my pedometer to see how much I walk during the day at work. (I work from home)

http://www.prevention.com/pdf/pedometers_2006 .pdf

Here is a link to preventions top 9 pedometers.  I just bought on on ebay for $15.00.  I cannot wait to get it :-)

I just got this one...

"This pedometer shows your heart's pulse in seconds" (though I dunno how accurate it can be when yer just putting yer finger on a sensor...)"plus distance walked, number of steps and calories burned?personalized with your body weight and step length. Has a beep sound that congratulates you after you've reached your goal (programmable steps). Features sensitivity adjustment, splash-proof design, stopwatch, alarm, clock and low battery indicator."

Anyhoo, I like it and it was only $15.00 :D

Yeah, you might want to figure the average step size going up hills and down hills and flat and figure that in to your steps.  For walking the difference might not be as dramatic but for running, pedometers are pretty horrid when you are running terrain just because of the step-size difference.

Anyone know if things are more steady with walking?

i found a pedometer in a charity shop for £1 and it moniters steps, distance traveled in km and calories burned which is an estimate based on your weight. i wear it all the time, i know its not accurate but its great to see that when you've been walking round the city for a day you've burnt around 400cals. i dont think its a waste of money, i would have paid more for mine in a regular shop. have you looked on ebay? im sure there will be some cheapies on there!

I personally like the pedometers from digiwalker.com.  Some of them get amazing ratings.

Don't use a  cheap pedometer.  They don't last very long, and are often not that accurate.