For a long time, my daily pedometer has been the Omron HJ-112, but it’s been replaced by the new Omron HJ-720itc pedometer. I never thought that I would replace my trusty HJ-112, because I liked it so much. It was quiet, accurate and had a seven day memory. Best of all, I didn’t have to clip it to my belt. Since it uses an accelerometer to count my steps, it can slip in my pocket where no one but me knows it’s there.
In a way though, I haven’t got rid of my HJ-112. That’s because the HJ-720itc is really an HJ-112 with some added features. I was always puzzled by the top of my 112. There was a cover you could pry off (I never could resist tinkering) that was shaped like the end of a USB cable. There was nothing I could see beneath it, but at first I assumed that Omron’s engineers had planned for future upgrades.
Then, I learned that in Japan, Omron sold a pedometer that synced with your computer via a USB port. They had a website that was in Japanese, but with page translation software, I got the gist of it. Needless to say, I was jealous. I briefly contemplated learning Japanese and flying to Japan to get one of these pedometers, but I decided that this was unrealistic. So, I settled in for a wait, figuring that eventually, Omron would release the pedometer here.
Now, the wait is over! You can pick up the HJ720 at Amazon.com.
It’s very easy to use. You simply install the Omron Health Management Software on your computer. It says it works with XP/200, but I have installed it on Vista Home Premium without any problems. You then connect your pedometer with the included USB cable and click the download data button.
The pedometer automatically downloads the data to the Health Management software. There, you can look at your data by day, week, month, year, or all time. It lets you see what times of the day or week you are more or less active. It also shows you your aerobic steps in orange, so you can see the periods when you were most active.
I haven’t seen it in any of my local sporting goods stores, but as I mentioned, Amazon has the HJ720 in stock at a good price. I highly recommend it.
{ 5 comments }
← Previous Comments
This item sounds awesome- I’ve been reading about it for half an hour and I’m certain my husband would love it (I’ve been using the 112 for a few months now and he’s getting interested) but yours is the only claim I’ve seen that it works on Vista software- at least three sites I’ve read say it doesn’t. Did you buy yours recently (I can’t tell when this post was made) and maybe they’ve updated the software since the six month old post I was reading before?
okay now I see when you wrote – about three months ago… hmmm still conflicted….
Hi Summer,
I went to Omron’s website and downloaded the software from them. The web address is:
http://www.software.omronhealthcare.com/
The download page is:
http://www.software.omronhealthcare.com/enTouchCMS/app/viewDocument?docID=3650
You could try to see if it works for you, before you buy the pedometer. You may have to install the software as an administrator though to get it to work. I forget if I had to do that or not.
Great post!
Another awesome thing about this model of pedometer is that it connects up to HealthVault. This lets you use your “step data” in lots of different apps. One app we’ve built (still pretty early) is an app to help you reach your step goals. It’s up at http://apps.healthvault.com/walkme and it lets you graph out how your doing against your goals on a weekly, monthly and yeary basis. We’re also adding functionality fast, so come check it out.
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 297 trackbacks }