I am 57 years old and run on average three to four times per week. My love of food and slowed metabolism mean that my waistline is at serious risk if I remain sedentary and since I don't intend to give up on food my feet must pay the price!First Impressions:
The device is attractively packaged and its yellow color is a good match for the soles of my Nike Air Max running shoes. Upon opening the box I found the following items: Wrist strap, clasp for attaching the strap to clothing, miniature screwdriver for battery changing, main unit, holder with integral spring-clip, and instruction booklet.
Initial Startup:
The unit comes from the factory with a battery in it, but mine appeared to be DOA since the display remained dark after I pressed all the buttons on the front. After reading through the manual (could have done that first!) I was made aware of a small button on the rear of the unit labeled 'set' which must be pressed by way of a small pointed object. Once pressed the unit awoke and awaited initial configuration. At this point there is a five minute window, extended by five minutes with each key-press, in which to input the time, your weight, your height, etc. before the unit powers back down. If the settings have not been entered the unit will go back off and require another 'set' button press. Once the settings have been entered the unit goes into its normal operational mode after which any of the three buttons on the front will bring it to life.
Features:
The unit remembers the last seven workout sessions, discarding the oldest session with each new session. This calls for both a 'thumbs-up' and a 'thumbs-down' since it allows you to review your most recent workouts but doesn't give you a way to transfer that data to a computer where it can be saved permanently and reviewed in a spreadsheet. Of course computers do have keyboards and most of us are capable of typing, so we could extend our workout and burn two or three extra calories by manually transferring our workout data. Calories burned is somewhat of an imaginary figure since there is no way this or any other similar instrument can measure it accurately; still, it gives one a piece of information that can be used in planning meals in conjunction with exercise to correlate an overall fitness regimen. Stride length is calculated for you at initial setup and can be used as is if you are happy with the choice; however, for those wanting greater accuracy this unit provides for walking or running over a set distance and then calculating your stride length by the number of steps actually taken. I particularly like the feature that allows me to keep track of my steps all day long even when the unit is not in workout mode and plan to use it for that purpose. The displays for calories burned, average pace, step count, time of workout, fat burned, distance can be scrolled through and viewed at any time whether workout mode is active or not. This is a well-built piece of equipment and I'm looking forward to using it on my next run; in fact, I just might wear it to work tomorrow and see if I actually do anything!
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Product Description:
Go Smart Pace + Distance is ideal for runners. It tracks calories burned with new active engine technology and separately tracks running segments.
