Striiving to maintain my 2013 #fitness resolutions #MillionSteps #BestBuy

I've tested out a few pedometers in my day and I usually get sick of items once they become somewhat tedious...which is why I always have a hard time maintaining my New Year's resolutions. Every year, there's a couple that are at the top of the list. Every year, I fail. LOL, one of them is definitely fitness and weight loss. With the dogs, it helps a little since that guarantees several walks a day but I think I've found myself a little extra incentive.

The Striiv pedometer, available at Best Buy, is an electronic touch screen pedometer, charity, fitness tracker, and game all in one. Let me explain. It's your typical step counter that records in steps, equivalent stairs, miles, and calories. However, to encourage your fitness, there are challenges and games. When you take steps, you earn "energy" which can be used in My Land, a game where you use energy to grow plants and essentially make your own civilization. You collect coins every now and again, which is pretty similar to many gaming apps.

Everything gets tabulated according to your height, age, and weight that you input at the very beginning. Then you just walk. Energy bonuses and trophies are earned whenever you hit some sort of goal. For example, if you burn a cupcake's calories, 420 cal, you get a certain energy bonus.

There are also walking challenges. You can either challenge friends who must be really close by and own a Striiv monitor (not as likely) or one of three computerized characters. There are also different distances. I love challenging Walkatron for 2000 steps every time I walk the pups. Not only am I taking them for longer walks, but I'm also reaping health benefits and bonus rewards. Needless to say, I'm addicted.

The best part of Striiv though, is that with every step you take...you are also helping a charity! And...you don't do anything but walk. For every 18 000 steps (I know it sounds like a lot but there are energy bonuses too so it's not so bad), you can donate a day of clean water to a child in Africa or conserve a parking lot size area of rainforest for a year. For 60 000 steps, you can donate 1 polio vaccination. In the first 3 days I used the pedometer, I had already done enough to donate 3 vaccinations so it's definitely doable.

You plug your pedometer into the laptop to donate. However, I'd like to see more proof that it was actually donated besides the "x donated so far." You do have to pick a charity before it starts counting and so I missed out on some valuable steps in the beginning. You may also change charities midway through but the steps do not transfer and don't disappear should you decide to change back.

A little pet peeve of mine though is the battery life. It says on the cover, "ready to use out of box." However, when you unpackage it, it says to charge a minimum of 1 hour. Say one or the other because they obviously mean two opposite things. The battery life when charged 1 hour only lasted two days. I wondered if the 1 hour charge time was the reason so attempted to charge my Striiv overnight as well. With an overnight charge, I found it to last approximately 2.5-3 days. My second annoyance was the power button...opt wasn't very sensitive. I'd hit it 2-3 times before it shut off the screen.

In terms of durability, it gets 5 stars. LOL, I've dropped this out of the belt clip close to 10 times now from about waist level. I heard the nasty clack every time and thought it was definitely dead now but it hasn't failed me yet.

Overall, for a price of $99.99US, the Striiv really is a great motivator whether you're looking to get in shape, stay fit, or just improve your lifestyle. The challenges offered keep me coming back for more. My SO actually complains that I do too many challenges. You'll see me doing one challenge after another and sometimes, even overlap it with my races with Walkatron. It hasn't left my side since I got it! The Walkathon charities are another worthy addition to mention. Just by walking, you help towards great causes and nothing comes out of your pockets except for the initial cost of the pedometer! I think there just may be one resolution I'll be keeping this year.

**Update** I went jogging today (01/14) and the clip actually fell off my waistband and the Striiv is now frozen at the one screen and cracked. I'm a bit sad as I was looking forward to continue using the device. Customer service takes a while to reply to you but they did and they will be replacing my Striiv.

**Update** (02/02) Stoked with the customer service I've received from Striiv, they replaced my Striiv and sent me a few protective screens so I can be more careful with my Striiv.

Buy It: Shop online or in stores for your Striiv Pedometer ($99.99, on sale for $79.99 with free shipping) but don't forget to download these 2 coupons for 20% off Health and Fitness products until Feb 11, 2013 and 20% off Small Kitchen Appliances until Feb 13, 2013 first for in store purchases.

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. Please take the time to enter my other giveaways while you're here.

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