Walking And Weight Loss: ActiTrainer Personal Activity Monitor, Black Review

I've been using my Actitrainer for over a week and have gone back and forth on whether I'm satisfied or not.First, I'll list the pro's:Pedometer seems to be accurate; heart rate monitor appears accurate and works well; product is small and can be conveniently worn without being noticeable; fairly easy to operate.Cons:The previous reviewer is right about the calculations not being based on heart rate.This was a real disappointment to me.While I was warned about activities such as weight lifting and cycling being grossly underestimated, I thought this would be useful to calculate calories burned during aerobics/dance type workouts.Calories are calculated, but seem very under-estimated.And if I stop periodically for weightlifting or calisthenics, even though my heart rate is maintained, the calorie burn shows as 0.That leads to the next drawback which is the online service that you can subscribe to for $9.95/month.Software for Actitrainer Client comes with the product for free, but doesn't allow you to display your data.The only way to actually display and track your data is use the Virtual Trainer product.In my opinion, for $200, this could have been provided as free software, not an online service.As for the website, I see improvements that could be made, but it seems that updates are constantly being made, so I'll probably suggest additional features for what it's worth.

The meal tracker section of web page was awkward.On my first day, I got a runtime error and was unable to enter my calories in.It would be very helpful if there were a way to make some manual adjustments to the calories burned totals also.For instance, knowing that you can't wear the trainer while swimming or that you don't get the full calories burned for aerobics, we could still estimate the numbers and manually adjust them on the web.That way, our calorie deficits and other graphs would be more accurate.

The sleep tracker is an interesting feature, but again you have to subscribe to use it.This isn't a feature I would use regularly however.I really like the way you can display detailed minute-by-minute info on your workouts to show heart rates, calories burned per minute, etc.There's also a lot of detail when you're in lifestyle mode.Again, all of this looks accurate.

All in all, I think this product should have cost less and should not require the online subscription.Compared to what I had researched on similar products, I think this works comparably if not better, but the price is higher.Ideally, I still think the Body Bugg would have been what I wanted, but it comes with a heftier price tag and requires the user to wear a big armband all the time, as well as subscribe to an even more expense website.

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Product Description:
The ActiTrainer uses a triaxial accelerometer to measure and record personal activity levels, calories burned, steps taken, distance traveled and pace. Heart rate information is available when the included Polar strap is worn. This data can be viewed in real time on the device and then uploaded into the subscription-based Virtual Trainer Console for detailed analysis and progress tracking. The Virtual Trainer also allows you to track and monitor calories consumed, set weight loss, performance and nutritional goals, measure sleep quality and more! To find out more visit the ActiTrainer website. NOTE: THE ACTITRAINER AND ITS SOFTWARE ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MAC COMPUTERS AT THIS TIME.