how do pedometers work

Talking fitness aids - my daughter put me on to "My Fitness Pal" app and I am hooked. It's brilliant.

I use a £15 pedometer, set the my stride. I'd had very painful feet and was advised to walk less. The pedometer is helping me get back in my stride. 9500 today, aching feet but feeling the benefit of exercise

CariGN, that reminds me, there is a free phone app that measures the distance you walk based on your GPS position, so if it is distance that you are interested in, this is a cheap option (assuming you have a smart phone of course)

Regardless of stride length, I am knackered after 10,000 paces .

I found measuring stride length quite difficult, I found it difficult to measure my average walking stride in a static situation. I worked it out by walking a distance measured using google maps then dividing that by the number of strides recorded.

"The usual guide is 10,000 paces / day, for that you do not need to measure your stride."

The exercise benefit that you get from each step will depend on stride length though, longer strides require more effort.

As pompa says they use an accelerometer to count the number of steps, so it's worth bearing in mind that even if the step count is accurate, the distance measurement will only be as good as your ability to maintain the accuracy of your stride length. I had a mechanical pedometer donkeys years ago, and it was hopeless.

Which have just tested them last month, with mixed results. Accuracy depends on what it is you want to measure, as well as which one you buy. They were best at counting steps whilst walking and running, with an average accuracy of within 3%, but the accuracy measuring calories burnt was out by 65% walking, and 19% running, on average. Accuracy of the step counter was much poorer during daily routines, at 12%. Note that they are averages, some brands will be worse.

The Fitbit Zip was the best, and the cheapest at £35, but it's not a wristband. Runner up was the Sony Smartband SWR10 for twice the price. The Epson Pulsense PS-100 was the worst, and second most expensive.

I like to know the distance I've walked as well as amount of steps which is why I measured my pace.. thanks for that info pompa..

It has a motion sensor inside that senses the rise and fall of your body when walking/running. We bought some cheap ones at first, wildly inaccurate. Bought some much more expensive ones (£20ish each) they are quite accurate and we trust them. You only need to measure your stride if you are concerned about the distance you walk. The usual guide is 10,000 paces / day, for that you do not need to measure your stride.

I didn't realise you had to measure your stride, that makes sense.

I know I had to measure my stride and then put that info into the pedometer not sure how it counts the steps though