Review: Oregon Scientific Digital Pedometer PE826 fails to actually count steps

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One of the healthiest exercises you can engage in is walking. Walking may not sound like much exercise, but do it for 10,000 or 20,000 steps, and it is really a great way to boost your metabolism, enhance your bone density and lose weight. Because walking is so beneficial to health, I like to review equipment that assists with walking as exercise, so when I came across a pedometer recently from Oregon Scientific, I decided to pick it up and review it.

The Oregon Scientific Digital Pedometer with Pulse Meter, model number PE826, costs about $30. The package claims that the pedometer has an infrared sensor that measures pulse, distance walked, time elapsed and calories burned, and it has a 12- to 24-hour clock. It supposedly counts up to 99,999 steps and stores up to seven days' walking and calorie data.

If all that had turned out to be true, this would have been a great product. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I am quite technically inclined, I was completely unable to get this Oregon Scientific pulse pedometer to measure a single footstep. The device read flat zero no matter what I did to it. The only thing I could get to work was the pulse meter, which did appear to operate correctly, showing me that at the time of measurement my pulse was 62, which is higher than usual for me but probably because I was angry at the device.

I followed the instructions from start to finish, including the calibration and set-up. The battery was working fine, the buttons were working fine -- it's just that the unit wouldn't measure my walking steps. I tried walking on a flat surface, I tried jumping around, I tried shaking it in my hands; nothing would make this unit register a single footstep.

When this kind of thing happens with a product, the next step is usually to go to the manufacturer's web site to find some answers, so I went to the support web site listed in the documentation for this device -- www2.organscientific.com/service/support -- and expected to find a section of frequently asked questions or support resources, but instead my browser was redirected to the product catalog page, which was of no use whatsoever. The only support resource I could find was a downloadable version of the very same manual I had been reading that encouraged me to go to the web site to find support in the first place: a stupid, endless loop.

But don't fret. The Oregon Scientific digital pedometer may not be entirely useless. It does have a clip on the side that clips into your belt or clothing. This can be used as a $30 paperclip to keep office papers together or an elaborate desktop paperweight to make your office workers think you actually engage in exercise.

As a pedometer, this Oregon Scientific product is completely and utterly useless, and while it seems that it cannot measure my footsteps with any aptitude whatsoever, it does seem successful at helping me measuring one thing, and that's the number of times I will review Oregon Scientific products in the future: zero.

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About the author: Mike Adams is a holistic nutritionist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of super bright LED light bulbs that are 1000% more energy efficient than incandescent lights. He also founded an environmentally-friendly online retailer called BetterLifeGoods.com that uses retail profits to help support consumer advocacy programs. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at www.HealthRanger.org

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