Keep moving with #Zamzee 09/17 US

While at BlogHer, I was exposed to a lot of great products. One of them being the Zamzee. It already sounds fun, doesn't it? It is an activity meter that not only measures your steps but also the intensity of activity via a three-axis accelerometer, when you have it on properly as I soon found out. They recommend clipping these colorful and water-resistant Zamzees onto your clothes at waist level or putting it in your pocket. Ever wanted to inspire your kids to get healthy? This is it. The item that encourages activity and fitness, while offering rewards.

Designed for kids and teens...or adults who'd like to see how much they really move around...this is pretty innovative. They have a variety of prizes online for which you can redeem your activity points for. You also have an avatar that you can modify to your tastes for fun. You can dress your avatar up with the free items or if you'd like the fancy items, you trade your points in for them.

The Zamzee was quick and easy to set up. Then I plugged it in and realized, opps, it's not charged. It doesn't tell you about how long it needs to be charged, just that you plug it into the USB port of your computer to charge. From my experience, it took 3 hours to charge fully. I recommend getting it all charged up for the kids before setting it up with them. I actually moved around for a crazy bit then plugged it into my USB drive to see how many points I had earned. 4 points. Right...guess I wasn't really moving as intensely as I thought I was. However, they do say that a 5 minute walk typically earns 20 points. I tested that theory out. With the Zamzee clipped onto my shorts, I took the dogs for a walk. 50 minutes of a brisk walk later, I had only earned 83 points and the ZamZone recorded my total exercise time for the day as 27min. I wasn't jogging but I wasn't strolling either. We sped walk. I would have to be crazy if I wasn't disappointed in the little points earned. I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't recording properly. So I tested it again on a quick 2 min walk but with the Zamzee on my shoe this time. Viola, 9 points! Ha, so if you're going on a walk, put it on your shoe so that it records your momentum more accurately.

Features I like:
-Data uploads automatically
-Special challenges to earn more points
-Progress tracking
-Encourages increased activity
-1 time Fee of $29.95
-long battery life once charged (up to 2 weeks)

Parental permission to access all of the site is required for kids under 13. There's also the family view for parents to see all your kids progress in one place. Another available option is paid goalz. This is the only thing that you can pay for in addition to the initial price, if you so choose. Goalz come in $5, $10 and $20 amounts. You set up a goal, the kids have motivation to work harder, earning more points to reach that goal. Once they reach the goal, they can trade the points from that goal for Zamz.

Zamz are actually the currency you need to redeem for prizes. Besides the paid goalz option, you can also earn 2-15 Zamz for free via challenges. That being said, if you didn't want to spend extra on Goalz, it's going to be very difficult to trade in for worthy prizes. I actually found it confusing to have Zamz and points and I think it may be confusing for the little ones too. This could be something to improve on for the future.

Overall, the Zamzee is a great a way to keep track one's activities and you can have fun with the points and challenges. So there is incentive to keep moving to earn points and potential rewards. However, if you are looking to redeem for rewards, I can definitely see the need to put in more money for Goalz. Bye now, I'm off to earn more points!

Buy It: Shop online for the Zamzee ($29.95).

Win It: 2 lucky WOS readers will win a Zamzee of their own. Enter on the Giveaway Tools form below between Sep 02 10PM EST to Sep 17 11:59PM EST. Open to US, 18+. Good luck! Please take the time to enter my other giveaways while you're here.

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...Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above have been provided for the purposes of this review. No other form of compensation was received. Opinions expressed belong to Whirlwind of Surprises and are NOT influenced in any way. Please view my full disclosure, TOS, and privacy policy.

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