Clearly not content with just providing the world with accurate weather forecasts, Oregon Scientific has branched out into other electronic endeavors, including possibly overpriced fitness aides. Their Marathon Pedometer uses an accelerometer to track your footsteps, distance, calories burned and time, so it can be worn around your neck or strapped to a part of your body, and it also allows you to set challenges to see how long it would actually take you to complete something like a marathon. It looks nice and all with its inverted LCD display, but at $59.99 it’s not the cheapest solution out there.
Not only does the Withings Connected Scale look ridiculously stylish with its tempered glass surface, brushed metal accents and inverted LCD display, but its functions actually manage to outweigh its form. It’s able to measure both your weight and body mass index, giving you a better idea of your fitness and health levels, and thanks to a built-in WiFi connection it can upload that data to a website allowing you to monitor your weight and BMI over time in convenient graph form. And the icing on the cake, or maybe the cottage cheese on the celery is a better analogy, is the free WiScale iPhone app which gives you access to those graphs and weight data from your phone. $183 from the Withings website.
Yep, the awkwardly-named Pedomostick is a walking stick with a built-in pedometer that counts every step you take, calculates the calories you’ve burned and measures the distance and time you’ve walked. The same technology has been built into considerably smaller devices that can be easily attached to your belt or even embedded directly in your shoe, but those versions are lacking a tiny built-in headlight which I guess justifies carrying a 4+ foot aluminum pole. $99.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer.
I’d like to confidently say there will never be a mountain climbing game or accessory for the Nintendo Wii, but given how much other crap has come out for the system, I’m just not sure. But until that day comes, mountain climbing enthusiasts can now enjoy their favorite pastime from the comfort of their own backyard with the ClimbStation. (Assuming there isn’t already a mountain in their backyard.)
It’s technically portable, though it requires a car with a trailer hitch to move it around, but once it’s set up it provides a 150cm wide climbing surface with 90 holds that can be configured however you prefer. For more advanced climbers the ClimbStation features a hydraulic tilting mechanism that can adjust the angle of the climbing face between +15 to -30 degrees, and it has a top scrolling speed of 17 meters per minute. But for novices the ClimbStation also incorporates sensors that keep track of how fast or how slow you’re climbing and will automatically adjust the scrolling speed to match your pace. If you climb fast the wall scrolls faster, and if you stop the wall will slow down giving you time to find your next hold. It’s an impressive piece of exercise equipment and should be with a price tag of just over $42,000.
Designed by Clifford Couvillon, the Playnetix Tumbler 1.0 is a modern take on playground equipment, with some pretty lofty goals. You see, getting the younger set (like kids 6 and under) to go outside and play usually doesn’t take much more than a swingset and a slide. But those pesky tweens are a different story. Tearing them away from their video games and cellular phones for a little physical activity isn’t so easy. But Clifford is hoping the Tumbler 1.0 will do just that.
It’s a 3D triangular structure that constantly moves and pivots thanks to a special ball joint that’s anchored to the ground with a strong coil spring. As someone climbs on the Tumbler their added weight causes it to tip and sway which in theory encourages them to keep moving around and exploring the structure. At the least, it does look like a lot more fun than a set of monkey bars.
Well this seems like a pretty obvious bit of synergy. The Woodway EcoMill is billed as an “all green” treadmill because it uses no external sources of electricity. Instead, the display and the elevation system are actually powered by a battery that’s recharged while the EcoMill is being used.
And even though it isn’t a motorized treadmill (that would involve breaking some of those annoying laws of the universe) it still features a 900 watt eddy-current braking system to regulate the walking or running speed, as well as a near frictionless drive system.
Surprisingly it can support a user up to 800 lbs in weight as long as they limit their activities to just walking (probably not a problem) or 500 lbs if they intend to run. It’s also available in either green or black since it’s important to provide options when you’re charging $8,500.
If your jogging or running pedometer was a cereal premium, or came as part of a happy meal, there’s a good chance it may not be as accurate as the Radar Tacho RDS II. In fact, there’s a good chance that even the high-end models available at your local sporting goods store aren’t as accurate as the RDS II which uses radar just like your local meteorologists, cops and major league baseball scouts.
Made by Siemens and originally developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, the Radar Tacho emits microwaves and measures the echos bouncing back from every surface around you to gauge your current, maximum and average speeds as well as your daily mileage. And because it does rely on radar, the Pro-Idee website recommends against using it on mirrored or reflecting surfaces, like jogging across a lake. And I have to assume that running on top of an SR-71 or F-117 would also produce inaccurate results, which is unfortunate because with a price tag of about $205 you’d expect to be getting a pedometer that couldn’t be foiled by 30-40 year old stealth technologies.
While Wii Fit is probably a more affordable way to simulate some skiing or snowboarding action in the off-season, I’m pretty sure it’s not the most effective way to train for a real competition. But the Olymp most definitely is. You’re not going to be squeezing one of these in your living room, since the platform is almost 23 feet wide, but it’s capable of simulating different slope characteristics and really gives you the feeling of carving your way down a mountain, whether on skis or a snowboard. In fact the pictures don’t really do the Olymp justice, so you’ll want to check out the video included below to see this thing in action. It definitely looks like a real workout.
There are already plenty of watches that will monitor your heart rate and can keep track of the calories you’ve burned while exercising, but the T4C from Suunto is the first I’ve seen that uses that data to create a custom workout regime. You simply select a date that you’d like to train for, like an upcoming marathon, and the watch’s Coach software let’s you know how long and how intense you should train each day to reach your goal. And if you decide to slack off or even over do it one day, the T4C will automatically adjust your ten-day workout cycle accordingly to compensate. You can order one from Amazon for $219, since the Suunto website seems to have mysteriously vanished.
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By Andrew Liszewski
