Customer Reviews

Oregon Scientific PE316PM Pedometer with Pulse Meter

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I bought this about a week ago, and I'm glad I got it. It does pulse measurement, and calorie calculation (based on weight, so it's at least trying to be accurate). So far, so good -- it's been fairly accurate, and I'm glad I got it.

But, my one gripe about it is that the hinge design's a little weak. It can be difficult to open when it's hanging on your waist, and because it's difficult to open, the little pins holding the cover on it have a tendency to pull out. They're easily reseated with an unbent paperclip, but it's not necessarily something I want to worry about while I'm walking along.

One week later, and one of the hinge pins has snapped. The other one is seated firmly, and while the case is stiff to open now, it's at least holding securely. I've moved this from a 4 to a 3.

I read lots of reviews before I bought this pedometer. The pedometer I had was awful, and I wanted to find one that worked really well. The PE316PM got some great reviews from customers on several web sites, so I bought it. I have now used this model daily for over a year, and I love it! I would recommend it to anyone. If you set the motion sensitivity adjustment properly it is almost always dead-on accurate. Walk 100 steps, and it reads 100 steps. It has never been wrong by more than 1 step, plus or minus. Any inaccuracies experienced by other users are probably due to not setting the motion sensitivity (VERY IMPORTANT), not entering their personal weight (their HONEST weight) and stride measurement settings, or not wearing it properly. The instructions tell you how to do this, but you do have to READ the instructions carefully! The instructions indicate that there is a metric model as well as the one with miles and pounds, so the person complaining about the wrong type of measurements simply bought the wrong model. (That's not the pedometer's fault.) The instructions also tell you how to open the cover, which is easy enough to do if you use two hands as you are told to do. I'm glad it has a tight cover because my previous pedometer's cover constantly fell open while I was walking and then didn't count the steps I took when it was open. (A very easy-to-open cover is not necessarily a good feature!) The pulse meter works as well as any other pulse meter I've ever used, but it sometimes takes a couple of tries to get it to read the pulse. I find varying the position and pressure of my finger usually solves that problem.

My pedometer has accidentally fallen on the floor several times, and it fell in water once. There was no damage to the plastic casing, even when if fell on a hard surface. (This can, however, turn off the display, and require resetting it. But this rarely happens.) It still works perfectly even after these accidents, and I put sticky-back Velcro inside the clip to make it hold better on my thin exercise clothing. It hasn't fallen off my waist since then.

I really like this pedometer. It has made a big difference in my exercise program. It is very compelling to see the number of steps go up and up as you walk farther and farther. It makes you want to keep walking to go on to the next round number, so you walk farther than you would otherwise. (You won't stop at 9,345 steps... you'll go on to 10,000. It's like wanting to see your car's odometer change to the next thousand miles.)

If you read the instructions carefully and set everything properly (including the motion sensitivity), then you should find this pedometer to be an excellent buy for the money. At under $20, if it has a problem after a couple of years, it's easy to just buy a new one. $10 a year to maintain your health is certainly worth it! I'm a very satisfied customer.

I was extremely disappointed in this pedometer. It was never accurate in distance or steps; sometimes it wouldn't register any distance at all even though the timer was working. I tried several stride settings and sensitivity settings, but it never worked right. Also, the blue backlight died after just 2 days. I am planning to return it because it is absolutely worthless as a pedometer. The only function that worked right was the clock and the timer, and I can use my wristwatch for that!

It was great at tracking my steps, it was great at taking my pulse very easily, and it stayed securely to my waist. However, after about a month, the battery cover came off unbeknownst to me. So the unit is useless now. The only other problem I had with it was that the cover was extremely stiff to open. If I wanted to check my steps, I would usually think twice because it was a major event to try and open it.

Now I need a new one, and I'm not sure I'll buy another one of these....

While I found the device fairly accurate - the hinged back broke over after about 3 months (just when the warranty runs out) it is plastic and on the flimsy side. I will check first, when I replace this.
Without the proper mounts on the back, the device is essentially worthless.

When I began to get serious about getting back in shape, I read the usual assortment of exercise books. They all emphasized the need to exercise in the aerobic zone (typically defined as being between 60% and 85% of your age adjusted maximum safe heartrate) if you want to burn fat. I was never very good at taking my pulse and figured that this little gadget would be the perfect tool to check my heartrate, especially since I was planning to do a lot of walking, where the pedometer would come in handy. One problem: I can get a pulse reading about 1 in 5 tries with this. Maybe it's me; my hands are probably a little more callused than average, but it's not like I earn my living with my hands. I've tried different fingers (my ring finger seems the most reliable) and holding it in different positions (flat against a table or my leg helps), but getting a pulse reading before my heartrate drops is still an iffy proposition. I've since learned to take my pulse with my wristwatch and have managed to lose 25 pounds without the help of this gadget. I did try the pedometer function and it seemed reasonably accurate if I set the sensitivity switch to the least sensitive position. However, even in this position it over counted my steps by a few percent. Maybe it will work for you, but be aware that it won't necessarily work for everyone.

I spent a lot of time looking for a pedometer and finally decided on this one. It has worked well for me. I found that the sensitivity settings worked, and that it recorded my steps accurately. I haven't had the problem with the cover, either. I've taken to using this as my watch now since it is on my side all the time! One thing I would recommend, thought, is to get a strap to attach the pedometer to your clothing. (I'm sure this would be needed with any pedometer).

Cover broke after 3 months; the battery falls out too way to easy.

It's a bad engineering design. Customer service has a backlog of cover replacements. It is plastic and its on the flimsy side, the device is essentially worthless and now my unit is sitting on my desk gathering dust now.

I had called, wrote and emailed customer service numerous times for months with no response. I'm sure I'll buy never buy another one of these or any products made by/from Oregon Scientific the way they treat their customer base.

Recommendations: Stay away from it, Buyer beware. Don't waste your money!

It's tiny... it's fragile... it's not terribly accurate.

Buyer beware.

I received one of these as a gift, and immediately came across the problems highlighted in the product reviews above. I never knew about these reviews until I came across them while trying to find out how to return this gift (so at least some good came out of it) When you close the lid, it is almost impossible to open the lid without damaging the unit. The plastic shell is a very poor design, and I hold little hope of a replacemet unit solving the problem