Omron HJ-151 Hip Pedometer for Aerobic Activity

Suggested Retail Price: $19.99

Rating: 9/10

Product Features

• Measures steps, aerobic steps & minutes, calories, and distance
• Used by clipping to belt
• 7 day memory storage
• Time of day display

Product Specs 

• Comes with belt clip and instruction manual
• Accurate within 5%
• Runs on a lithium battery with 1 year average life
• 1 year warranty

Disadvantages

• Belt clip is unreliable

Review

This pedometer is quite simple, though accurate and easy to use.  It's similar to the Omron HJ-150, except that the HJ-151 has the addition of tracking aerobic steps and some other information that is helpful in contributing to your overall level of fitness.

The biggest appeal the Omron HJ-151 is, no doubt, is that it is designed for aerobic activity, as the name suggests.  Since not all walking has the same level of intensity, this pedometer is able to divide between two levels of intensity.  Most basic walking will be considered to be moderate walking by the HJ-151, though after 10 minutes of continuous movement your body will be working harder, so it then becomes aerobic walking.  Anyone who wants a pedometer to assist in exercise or a diet will find this to be a very useful function.  If you're unable to get much aerobic walking done, it's still recommended that you get in at least 30 minutes of moderate pace.  To add to the usefulness of this feature, the time and number of steps spent in each zone will be recorded in the pedometer for a full seven days.  Additionally, it will also estimate how many calories have been burned, which is essential information for any type of weight loss regiment.

Besides the aerobic activity features, the Omron HJ-151 doesn't really have many extras, though it is still easy to use and accurate.  Like all Omron pedometers, it's guaranteed to be accurate to five percentage points in its step count.  For greatest accuracy, make sure the unit remains as horizontal al possible.  In addition to being accurate, the Omron HJ-151 is also quite simple to use.  The LCD screen is clear and easy to read, and you don't have to worry about being overwhelmed by buttons or features that you don't even want to use.  Another advantage is the full year battery life based on a 10,000 step per day average, which means you won't have to be spending many extra dollars on lithium batteries for the pedometer.

Because this is a fairly basic pedometer, some people will be disappointed in the lack of features.  Yet for its price, it's a good value and does what it is supposed to do, plus gives the aerobic statistics, which makes it one of our highest rated models.  The most problematic element would have to be the belt clip, which doesn't always keep the pedometer as secure as it should, leading to some fallen off units.  If you decide to buy this model, just make sure you don't lose it.