Best Pedometer Devices You Can Buy in 2019
A pedometer is the simplest of devices when it comes to devices in a family of fitness trackers that are out there in the market today. They are designed to keep track of the number of steps you take. Using that information, they will also keep a track of the distance you cover and the calories you burn. If your fitness regimen mostly consists of walking, jogging or running, a pedometer is a great device to have to keep a log of the number of steps you take on a daily basis.
If you go looking for best pedometer devices on a site like Amazon, you are going to be instantly inundated by tens or even hundreds of pedometers that all claim to be the device that you are exactly looking for.
We have taken some of that confusion out of your shopping experience, by putting together this list of what we think are the best pedometers that your money can buy.
Our recommendations for the best pedometer devices
OZO Fitness SC2 Digital Pedometer
With more than 700 near perfect reviews, this nifty little blue device is a fantastic step counter for a price under $20. It is especially designed for the elderly or senior citizens. Besides tracking your walking steps, it can also track running and jogging as well. Using a 3D tri-axis sensor, it will measure your steps, calories, speed, active minutes or exercise time and also the total distance you cover.
All tracking metrics reset at the end of the day. But, the device can store logs for up to 7 days, so you always have a week’s data just a few button presses away.
Elderly people with less than optimal eyesight have no problems reading the numbers displayed by this device as the screen is large and clear. The buttons are also very large, allowing for easy use even if one doesn’t have very nimble fingers.
With a width of less than 2 inches and a height of less than 2 inches, this is a device that can easily be tucked away into a pocket to let its do its work as you walk or exercise. It also comes with a sturdy clip that you can use to wear it on your person, by clipping it onto clothing pieces or accessories like a belt, pocket or bra strap.
Battery life is very generous at more than a year, with normal usage. The device does not rely on the internet and does not need any connectivity with a computer or phone either.
If all you need is a clip-on fitness tracker that will keep a very accurate track of your steps, calories, distance and speed, this fits the bill very nicely.
3D TriSport Walking 3D Pedometer with Clip and Strap
This is another pedometer that is insanely popular at sites like Amazon, garnering over 1,000 almost perfect reviews in a very short time. Like the Ozo pedometer, this too retails for just less than $20. What is different about this device is that it can store your exercise data for 30 days, unlike just 7 days on the Ozo pedometer.
Another difference with the Ozo device is that this basic step counter ships with a free e-book that gives you insights on walking, its importance, along with tips on how to walk for the best possible results. It also comes in 4 different color variants, should you want a device with a splash of color of your choice.
Like most basic step counter devices, this can keep track of your steps, distance, speed and calories. Additionally, it also calculates the amount of fat you have burned, by giving you an estimate. It comes with a clip and also a strap if you want to wear this device like a chain or necklace around your neck. The device works in both vertical and horizontal orientation and you don’t have to fret about how you position it to make it track your walking properly.
This device also uses a standard coin battery that will last upwards of a year, with normal usage.
Omron Alvita Optimized Pedometer
Omron has made a tremendous name for itself in the self-diagnostic medical device field and it is only natural that their pedometers are a favorite with fitness enthusiasts. Costing well under $20, Omron allow you to very accurately track your steps and calories by giving you 4 specific activity modes. The device has over 2,000 4+ star reviews at Amazon.
This device provides a rather unique reading in the form of steps per minute, otherwise known as pitch. This is a useful figure to have to see if you are maintaining a consistent walking speed at various phases of a walk. Since most people tire at the end of the walk and slow down, they can take a look at the decreasing pitch reading and try to step it up a little, to make the most of their workouts.
The device is able to store data for about 7 days, with the day’s counter being reset every midnight.
What is really unique about this device is that it is intelligent enough to know when you are taking normal steps and when you are taking aerobic steps that take a lot more effort. Using that distinction, it will award you with more calorie burn units when you perform aerobic exercises.
If you don’t just walk and often take part in aerobic classes, you might want this pedometer over others as it will give you a more accurate reading of your calories burned.
This device too comes with a clip you can use to securely fasten to your clothing.
Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer
Though this device costs over $70, it is a pedometer that you must consider if you want a very accurate measure of your steps and calories. Unlike simple pedometers that use a pendulum motion sensor technology, this pedometer from Omron uses a smart sensor technology that provides very accurate step tracking.
What makes it even more accurate is the fact that it will allow you to enter your personal stride length manually, to then allow the device to exactly know what distance you have covered in what time, giving you near perfect speed and even calorie burn estimates.
Like other Omron pedometers, this pedometer too resets every night and will store data for up to 7 days. However, where it differs is how it allows you to enter goals for your workouts. Using a few button presses, you can assign yourself a daily step or calorie goal and this Pedometer will quickly show you what progress you have made to achieve that goal.
Because it uses smart sensor technology, it can differentiate between normal steps and brisk steps, thereby calculating burned calories with more efficiency.
This device uses a Lithium battery that will last for months on end. It ships with a clip, a holder and also an instruction manual that gives you tips on how to improve your walking exercises, also providing you with a graph to keep track of your daily walking routine.
Fitbit Zip
Fitbit Zip is Fitbit’s best priced fitness tracker that is so much more than a pedometer. The primary difference between this Fitbit device and all the other step counter devices mentioned in this post is that the Fitbit Zip connects to your phone, sending all tracked data to your Fitbit app, so you have a permanent record of all your data, even if it is gathered over years or even decades!
Connecting to your phone doesn’t need any cables either. Set it up just once and your Zip will automatically connect to your phone when it is in range with your phone, uploading all data without requiring you to manually sync the device. Unlike the other basic pedometers, there are no buttons to press on the Fitbit Zip. The touch screen is incredibly easy to navigate and you can view various data screens with just a few taps on the display.
The Zip is resistant to water and you don’t have to worry about getting out of the rain on walks, not something you can really do with the other pedometers mentioned here. The replaceable coin battery on the Fitbit Zip will easily last a whole year.
The Zip can also keep track of active minutes and it awards you with badges for various accomplishments through the day. If someone in your family is also using the Fitbit Zip, you and that person can compete against each other, to see who is the more active of the two. If you want to really compete, you can compete with hundreds of thousand or even millions of Fitbit users who all log their daily steps and active minutes through the Fitbit app.
The Fitbit app even allows you to log your daily food intake, to calculate calories consumed and the calories you expend, as tracked by Zip, to see if you have a calorie surplus or calorie deficit.
If you don’t want just a basic step counter and instead want a pedometer that connects to your watch, with automatic syncing, the Zip from Fitbit is an excellent choice.
Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band
Like the Fitbit Zip, the Garmin Vivofit fitness band is not just a basic step counter. Instead, like the Zip, it connects to your phone through the Garmin Connect app, storing all your tracked fitness data, in perpetuity.
The device has very long battery life of over one year. Costing just over $50, the Vivofit is a very good pedometer watch like device that can also track your sleep. This is something that the Fitbit Zip cannot do.
What is also uniquely different about the Garmin Vivofit or any Garmin fitness tracker for that matter is that it displays a Move bar. The Move bar appears when you have been too sedentary, for too long. After about an hour of inactivity, you get a red move bar that means that you have to get moving. If you continue to laze around, more bars get added every 15 minutes, giving you motivation to knock off those move bars with some activity like walking or running.
It is a water resistant band that also looks quite stylish and sporty on your wrist. It can track steps, calories and also award you with various badges related to various activity levels. You also have the option to use the Garmin Connect app to compare yourself with other people in your age group or of the same sex, people who are also using Garmin devices to track their fitness routines.
This step counter goes above and beyond just step counting by even calculating an estimate of your base metabolic rate. Another unique feature is that the device can understand your daily fitness activities. Once it sees a trend, it will come up with customized goals and targets that will make you push yourself more than in the past.
You can also pair this device with a compatible heart rate monitor if you wish, to see how well your heart works when subject to exercise. Knowing your heart rate will mean that you will have a better understanding of fat burning zones as opposed to carbohydrate burning zones.
This is a device that you can use in the pool as well, as it can withstand water with depths up to 50 meters.
Sleep tracking is a very interesting feature. You will have to put it into sleep mode before you go to bed. In the morning, it will be able to tell you how many minutes of deep, light and no sleep you had.
The Vivofit comes in a very wide range of colors and there are also a lot of aftermarket straps that you can buy for the device, to switch up your look very easily.
Fitbit Charge 2 Heart Rate + Fitness Tracker
To call the Fitbit Charge 2 a step counter would be a grave injustice. But, if counting your step is not the only feature you are looking for in a device, the Fitbit Charge 2 can fulfill many demands you have from your fitness tracker. To start with, it is a high quality continuous heart rate monitor. So, besides being a pedometer watch that constantly shows your steps for the day, it will also show your current heart rate, while logging your day’s heart rate changes in a graph that you can view on the Fitbit app.
Why is heart rate monitoring useful? Because the device will use the data to customize workouts with different purposes. For example, Fitbit will understand what sort of walking pushes your heart rate to a fat burning zone and will give you a customized target using those calculations. It can do the same for cardio and peak performance training as well, allowing you to train for endurance or stamina instead of to burn fat. Heart rate monitoring is also useful because it is constantly used alongside other tracked metrics like calories, speed, distance and also your age, height, weight and gender status that you input during set up, to give you extremely accurate calorie burn information.
Using your heart rate information, the Charge 2 can also give you suggested breathing exercises, so you are in better control of your breathing, breathing that can lower your heart rate and help you find calm in moments of stress.
What makes this device special is also the fact that it can show off all notifications that are shown on your phone, right on the device’s display. For example, if you are running and your phone is stashed away in your pocket or fanny pack, you will get a vibrating alert and you can quickly look at your Charge 2 to see who is calling or texting, to decide whether you need to stop and take the call or ignore it to get to it later.
Sleep tracking is also excellent with the Fitbit Charge 2. Besides automatically tracking your sleep, it can also allow you to set silent alarms, where you are woken up with vibrating alerts as opposed to sound alerts. This is particularly useful if you need to wake up very early, and you don’t want to disturb a partner of family member who sleeps close to you.
The Charge 2 can also be put into GPS mode so you can track your run or walk routes. Though the device itself doesn’t have GPS, it can use your phone’s GPS data to log your hike, walk or running routes.
So, there you have it. A list of the best pedometer devices you can buy in 2018. Remember, if all you need is just step counting, a basic pedometer or step counter will suffice. But, if you need a device that will sync to your phone and also give you extra details like fat burned, heart rate readings, heart rate zones and very advanced features like suggestive workouts, you will have to spend more on a fitness tracker that will of course cover the pedometer function.
We highly recommend that you choose a pedometer with a heart rate counter, like the Fitbit Charge 2, as fitness data makes so much more sense when read in tandem with heart rate readings.
