You gotta love Christmas, such a fun and festive time of year.  It’s after Christmas that isn’t so fun.  Those Christmas cookies, cakes, and fudge that were so fun to eat decided to hang around, causing extra unwanted pounds.  I know, I speak from experience!  Many of vow things will go better in the New Year.

While at BlogHer, I learned about the Striiv LCD Pedometer. Striiv just launched in October.  Striiv promised to make exercise fun, and I can tell you, they have delivered on that promise.

Knowing I would be hitting Disney World after my Car of the Tomorrow event with Ford in Orlando, I eagerly took my Striiv along with me.  I couldn’t wait to see how many steps I’d take while at the parks.  At last a pedometer that is smart!  In the past, I loved the idea of using a pedometer, but after a few days, it seemed lackluster.  Yawn.  But now, put a computer in it and now I’m excited!

More About Striiv

Striiv is a 2.75 inches by 1.7  inch device with a 1.25 inch by 1 3/4 inch LCD color screen.  It counts your steps, how many stairs you’ve climbed (equated from the number of steps you’ve taken), how many miles, and how many calories burned.  But it does way more than that…

 

Challenges – Striiv has many challenges you can take to increase your walking stats.  You can select challenges such as:

Reach 208 stairs in 5 min

250 steps in 10 minutes

Climb 80 stairs in 30 minutes

reach 280 stairs in 1 minute

Reach 7062 steps in 10 minutes

Get 15 trophies in 45 minutes

the list goes on and on…

 

Trophies – Trophies reward you for taking great strides.  Trophies memorialize things for you like how far you traveled or calories you burned.  Examples of trophies include:

Burn a Soda – 150 calories

Rise and Shine – first 150 steps

Walk the Golden Gate Bridge – 1.7 mi.

Beat the National Average – 4,900 steps

Burn a Sundae – 750 calories

Climb the Statue of Liberty – 354 stairs

Walk the Las Vegas Strip – 8.4 miles

and many more…

Trophies accumulate by the day, All Time (shows all the trophies you’ve ever collected), and Future available trophies.

 

Walkathon – now this concept is a true winner and one of the reasons why many of the bloggers at BlogHer were so

excited about the Striiv.  Striiv’s goal is to motivate and encourage people to exercise more.  In addition to the challenges and trophies, Striiv includes a charity element.  Striiv has partnered with large corporations who have pledged to donate  money to specified charities for steps taken by Striiv users.

Currently, there are three charities available for you to choose from:

Clean Water – A Day’s worth of clean water for a school child in South America (1 donation = 18,000 steps)

Fight Polio – immunize one child in the world-wide fight against polio (one donation = 60,000 steps)

Rainforest – Conserve a parking spot size area of Tanzania’s rainforest for 1 year.  (1 donation = 18,000 steps).

 

Games – Another element I love about the Striiv is it’s included game called Myland.  Myland is a colorful land with waterfalls, green grass, and mountains.  As you make your steps you earn coins and energy bolts which help you to build structures, trees, and flowers in Myland.  As you progress, you open more available land, structures, and challenges.  This game is addictive.  It’s similar to one of the Facebook games like Farmville, Smurfs, or many others where you need to keep going back to collect coins.

 

 

 

Stats & Charts – Gives you great stats like how many steps, stairs, running, miles, calories, and energy you achieved today, since you started using Striiv, your daily average, and personal bests.  Using the Charts feature, you can see your steps, miles, and calories graphically for the past 5 days or month.  Very cool.

 

 

A Mom’s Perspective

I had an absolute blast using my Striiv on my Orlando trip.  I took a total of 35,715 steps or the equivalent of 1,079 stairs in total.  My average number of steps per day was 5,100.  My personal best day was the day we went to Epcot, I amassed 10,817 steps.

But the best part of all, I earned nearly four glasses of clean water to help children in South America.  My daughter and I couldn’t wait to upload our earned glasses of water to the Striiv website.  Throughout the week we enjoyed sharing the Striiv and working on challenges while waiting for our shuttle bus to various places.

My Striiv and I are literally attached at the hip.  Since I received the Striiv back in August, there have only been two days that I forgot to wear it.  Every step I take is a step forward in improving my health and I’m walking for thousands of people in South America who yearn for another glass of fresh water, which I take for granted.  And so, I walk on.

The Striiv retails for $99, comes in white, and with a clip to clip on your belt as well as a key ring you can use to attach to your belt loop, purse, keys, etc.  Striiv is available directly though their website, Amazon, or through HSN.com (for $129.95 +$7.95 S&H).

 

What do you think about Striiv?  Would you wear it everyday?

* I was provided a Striiv unit in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions are my own.

 

Win It!

Are you ready to begin the New Year with a better watch on your fitness?  Now you can win one for yourself!  So far, I have contributed 18 glasses of clean water to people in South America and my Striiv has counted over 330,000 steps since I received it.  Walking is fun again.  Now it’s your turn…

TO ENTER

• Fill out the form below.  One entry per person.
• Only USA addresses please.
• The contest ends January 17th, 12am PST.
• The winner will be chosen by random.org.
• Prize will be fulfilled through the mail.

GET EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN

• Get 1 extra entry for following Well Connected Mom on Facebook.
• Get 1 extra entry for following Striiv on Facebook.
• Get 1 extra entry for following @wellconnectdmom on Twitter.
• Get 1 extra entry for tweeting on twitter, “I hope to win a  LCD Striiv Pedometer from @striiv and @wellconnectdmom http://bit.ly/uS38Xg”