Isn’t amazing how many fitness trackers are available now? There’s the Basis, Polar, Fitbit, BodyMedia, Garmin, Pulse, Lifeband, Gear Fit, the list goes on.
Believe it or not, even Nintendo has a fitness tracker now! Nintendo Wii U wanted to be a part of the action but make it relevant to what they are best at…video games! So Nintendo created a fitness tracker they call the Wii U Fit Meter and it works with Wii U’s Fit game.
The Fit Meter is a circular pedometer you wear on your waistband. It has a large rectangular grey screen which depicts…
- your Wii avatar
- calories burned (takes into account intensity of activity)
- steps taken
- feet climbed (detects attitude changes)
- how much time you’ve been active
- temperature in the room/or outside if your outside
- a chart showing your altitude throughout the day
- a graph depicting your exercise activity throughout the day
- weekly calories
Wow, that’s a lot of info! But it gets even better.
I love the fact that there’s a digital screen on the Wii U Fit Meter. It’s refreshing to see at a glimpse what you have done without having to reach for your phone. Though, as helpful as the LCD screen is, it can be a bit small…especially to read the charts.
Integration with Wii U Fit
This is where the true beauty of the Wii U Fit Meter comes into play. Buy the Wii U Fit game to turbo charge your workout statistics. Turn on the Wii U Fit game and sync up your Fit Meter pedometer to your Wii U screen controller.
Within 30 seconds, all your info. is transferred to your Wii U character within the Fit game, giving you a bigger overview of the calories you burned outside of the game as well as exercises using the Fit game. Now you can see your calories burned on a fuller screen and evaluate the Fit generated charts on your activity.
Before the Fit Meter, Fit could only measure your fitness activity within the game, now it can gather a full picture. And when used with the Fit U Balance Board, you can weigh yourself and get your BMI generated daily if you’d like.
In this chart on the Wii U, you can see my daily BMI changes against the distance I walked each day.
This is a chart from my morning walk. See how the attitude changes? In my morning walk I encounter hills, as depicted by the orange in the graph above.
If you haven’t tried Wii U Fit, it’s a lot of fun. There are games and exercises you can do to increase your center of balance as well as strengthen your muscles. And believe me, you can get quite a workout using Wii U Fit!
Some of our favorite exercises include “jumping” on a trampoline, racquetball, and a snowball fight! See our previous review of the Wii U Fit to learn more about increasing your physical activity at home.
Pros:
- At $19.99, the Fit Meter is one of the lower priced pedometer on the market
- Utilizing the Fit Meter with the U Fit game and Balance Board, there is a wealth of information including your weight, BMI, Fit U gaming exercises, and now exercise/walking outside of the game
- You don’t even have to use the Wii U to check your daily steps
- If you don’t check in with Wii U Fit, the Fit Meter stores data for at least a week so it can be transferred later
Cons:
- The Fit Meter does not have a rechargeable battery. You will need to replace it in about 3-6 months
- The Fit Meter only shows you daily info., you cannot see the previous day…or even week’s info.
The Fit Meter is available from Walmart.com for $19.99. I ordered it online and it was sent to my door within the week with standard shipping. It arrived sooner than the promise date I was given online.
A Mom’s Perspective
In February, we reviewed the Wii U Fit game and showed how much fun it was to work out and improve our balance. My husband took right to it and began wearing the Wii Fit Meter that came with the Wii Balance Board. Now I have one too.
As the weather is warmer here in Southern California, we want to start walking more. I walk 3-5 times a week in the morning, but my husband needs some more coaxing. I’m hoping our Wii U Fit Meters will encourage us both to walk more and get some fresh air.
WellConnectedMom tests many of the fitness trackers to evaluate the pros and cons of each. I enjoy looking at the tracker’s app to see my results. But nothing compares to seeing your results on the big screen in big full color! The Fit Meter has encouraged me to check in each day with the Wii Fit U game, to plot my progress. When my daughter gets a little older, I think I’ll get her a Fit Meter too to encourage her to take those extra steps.
Are you an over scheduled mom with little time to figure out technology? Or are you a technology guru who loves sharing tips with others?
We cover different ways to make technology work for you without spending hours researching & learning how to do it on your own.
Speak Your Mind