Omron HJ-104 pedometer: the next best thing to my beloved SportBrain
Jul 26 '01
The Bottom Line True 7-day memory, sensitivity setting, light and thin!
Here's the situation: SportBrain is a little egg-shaped device that you strap on to your waistband. It measures the number of steps you walk. At the end of the day, you place the SportBrain into its cradle to upload your data to the SportBrain website, where you can track your progress, join clubs for some friendly competition, and post notes of encouragement to fellow steppers.
It has been, without a doubt, the best exercise motivator I've ever used.
So what does this have to do with the Omron pedometer?
Well, as with so many dotcoms in the past year, SportBrain is struggling financially. With rumors of its demise swirling daily, some SportBrainiacs are searching for an alternative in case SportBrain has to shut its doors. And so, after my usual extensive research into other pedometers, I decided the Omron HJ-104 would best suit my need for a 'backup' pedometer.
Out of the box
The package comes with:
HJ-104 pedometer (with battery already installed)
Instruction manual
1-year limited warranty
Specs
Size: 2-" wide x 1-" tall x 13/16" thick. A little wider and a little thinner than the SportBrain.
Weight: .8 oz (including the battery). Lighter than the SportBrain.
Color: dark blue.
Battery type: LR43, good for one year's use at 10,000 steps per day.
Setting it up
Setting up the HJ-104 was easy:
1) Pull out the protective plastic strip to activate the battery.
2) Set the time.
3) Set your stride length - the distance of one step. (The manual gives excellent instructions on how to calculate this.)
4) Clip the pedometer onto your waistband or belt. You're now ready to walk!
How you use the HJ-104
Once you wear the pedometer, just go about your day; the unit automatically registers your steps through its internal pendulum. You can check your progress (without taking the pedometer off) by flipping its cover open and looking at the display. (The pedometer doesn't register any steps while the lid is open.) There are three buttons inside: MODE, SET, and RESET.
By continuously hitting the MODE and/or SET buttons, you can display:
number of steps (up to 99,999) or distance in miles (up to 999.99) walked in the current day
number of steps walked in each of the last seven days
accumulated number of steps walked in the last seven days
total number of steps walked since first use of pedometer
total number of days (up to 999) walked since first use of pedometer
average number of steps walked since first use of pedometer
current time of day
What I like
7-day memory. I love having my last seven day's worth of data at my fingertips, and not having to jot down my numbers at the end of every day into my tracking spreadsheet.
It has a sensitivity setting. Walk exactly 100 steps; if the pedometer reads less than 100 steps, move the switch towards the '+'; if the pedometer reads more than 100 steps, move the switch closer to '-'. (After a few tests, I determined the factory setting was perfect for walking.) Since some pedometers have difficulty registering activity from bikes and elliptical trainers, you could probably set the HJ-104s sensitivity one way for walking and another way for other activities, and have it track pretty accurately for all; just do the 100-step test for each activity.
A resettable step counter that doesnt reset the day or total counters. This is useful for measuring steps of a particular activity (or Sportivity in SportBrain lingo). For example, lets say you start using the HJ-104 today, and you proceed to walk 5,000 steps. The today counter will show 5,000 steps, and so will the step counter. You reset the step counter to zero; the today counter will still show 5,000 steps. You get on a treadmill for 30 minutes; the step counter now shows 3,000 steps, and the today counter shows 8,000 steps.
It's pretty quiet. Some pedometers' pendulums are so noisy that it sounds like pebbles jangling in your pocket as you walk! You can hardly hear a peep out of the HJ-104.
There is a hole in the clip that lets you thread a safety strap through (but the hole isn't big enough to use SportBrain's strap).
It's thinner than the SportBrain (which means a less unsightly bulge under clothes!)
It has a fairly snug grip -- the teeth on the underside of the clip helps the pedometer stay put.
What I don't like
Other than the fact that the last seven days are labeled '-1' (yesterday) to '-7' (seven days ago) in the display, instead of a more intuitive 'Sun' through 'Sat', I think the HJ-104 is an excellent pedometer!
A caution about '7-day memory' pedometers
Take note that some "7-day memory" pedometers do not store the number of steps for individual days, but rather, an accumulation of total steps for the past seven days. While this is useful information, it is not the same as tracking individual days. I made this incorrect assumption when I purchased the Freestyle 'Personal Coach' pedometer; it tracks accumulated steps from the past week, but you can't break the numbers down into individual days.
Additional information
www.sportbrain.com is still the best 'digital fitness assistant' there is!
But see www.omronhealthcare.com for an online fact sheet and manual on the HJ-104.
I purchased the HJ-104 from www.oshmans.com for $19.99, plus an additional $4.99 for regular shipping. (No tax.)
All in all
I hope more than anything in the world that SportBrain is able to rise above its current situation. But if the dreaded day comes when SportBrain must close its doors, I will dust off my HJ-104 and keep on steppin'....
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
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