Saturday, January 21, 2012

Walking My Way Back To Blogging

I know it's been months.  Hardly a weekend goes by when I do not give thought to logging into blogger and writing a new blog.  It hasn't happened.  If I was a writer I could claim writer's block, but alas I only write powerpoints and reports.

So I thought I would write a report.  It should be easy and get me started.  Here it comes.

As many of you know, I like to walk. I usually wear 3 or more measuring devices at one time. I always have two devices.

Omron HJ-720ITC
First my Omron HJ-720ITC ($59.99 MSRP, $31.89 at Amazon.com ).  I may be biased, but I find it to be the easiest to use and the most accurate.  This model downloads to my PC via USB.  I have my steps for three years.  Not sure why I need the long history, but I do like looking at my most recent few weeks.  If you just want the steps try the HJ-112 ($34.99 MSRP, $20.99 at Amazon.com).  Algorithm (the instructions the sensors use to measure your steps) is virtually identical.  You can wear on your waist or in your pocket (my favorite). It does have a nice security leash to keep it from falling off your waist.

FitBit
 The second device I always carry is my FitBit ($99.99 everywhere).  Great design and a very fine web based dashboard. Like the Omron HJ-720ITC you can see your history (I have two years) or just look at the week or month.  There is a premium service, but I have yet to see a lot of value.  They now have an iPhone app that is nice, but you cannot load the data through your phone.  Accuracy is good, but I find it over counts my steps a bit. Make sure you secure it well or it will fall off your waist band.

MOTOACTV
The device I am adding this week is the MOTOACTV ($249.99 - $299.99 everywhere PLUS accessories).   It can measure all the normal things (steps, distance, pace, etc.) and adds Heart Rate (when used with a heart rate strap).  The data is available on device or on a web dashboard.  It has GPS and can download through USB or WiFi.   It is also an android MP3 player the can sync with music on your desktop/laptop.  You can use Bluetooth headphones to enjoy the audio.  It will sync with Motorola Android phones.  It comes with a belt clip and headphones.  The wrist or shoulder strap are separate.  Accuracy, so far so good.  The original battery life was awful.  The new software seems to be better.

I wore all three devices as I embarked on my weekend walk.  Here are the results.

Device                                 Steps
Omron HJ-720ITC               4,496
FitBit                                     4,565
MOTOACTV                        4,501


Not bad for the first test.  I will keep track over the next week and see if they stay as close together.  I also will look at the dashboards and give my view on ease of use.

Wow.  I actually got a full blog completed.  Perhaps being a reporter vs. an author will work.  Stay tuned for more.


Take care of your heart.

1 comment:

  1. Hello Ranndy,

    Pleasure to be introduced. It was a great insight to know the technologies and it's parity with healthcare industry you shared.

    Mobile healthcare market is growing at a phenomenal rate of 30.5% from 2013 to 2018, the reasons being high growth of digital wireless and mobile communications, increased patient mobility and rise in healthcare standards due to integration of wireless technology. The prominent trend in this market is the use of Bluetooth, NFC and ZigBee to leverage connectivity anywhere. Use of multiple sensors to make multi-parameter sensing medical monitors at low costs is another important trend in this market.
    And in accordance to this, I would like to have a discussion on Semiconductor Opportunities in Portable and Mobile Healthcare Market By Equipment (Cardiac, Respiratory, Hemodynamic, Fitness & Wellness, Independent Ageing), Components (Memory, PMIC, Processor, Display, Sensor, Connectivity) to know your key expressions on the aforementioned study.

    I will look forward to hearing from you. You can kindly reach me at - abhishek.shukla@marketsandmarkets.com

    I tried reaching you today at your Omron Healthcare office but landed on your voice mail to have an interaction on the study with you as you are the Chief Operating Officer with Omron, I was keen to share across the study with you to understand how this information can be of interest to you.

    ReplyDelete