I bought Striiv wanting to “encourage” (ahem, force) myself to be less lazy. I planned on testing it for about a month, then purchasing one for my husband based on my experience. Does my husband get one of these? Read on …

Striiv is a small pedometer that uses various forms of motivation to get you up and moving. It counts steps, and rewards you with being able to donate to charity and being able to build up “MyLand,” a little in-pedometer sim game. You can get the Striiv with or without the activity bundle; I chose to get it with.

The Good:
Striiv is small and easy to wear. I generally wear it on my right hip, where it seems to take the most accurate count.

I find the charity aspect very motivating. I want to get up and walk and give water to someone for a day, save the rain forest, and help cure polio. Okay, maybe I’m not doing all those things directly, but when I upload my steps, a corporate sponsor makes a donation for me.

It measures stairs, and inclines as well. That means if you are walking up a hill it factors it in as stairs. This is a very neat feature.

It calculates how many calories you are burning based off of height and weight. To me, the calculations seem on the high side, but I don’t have anything to compare it to. As a bonus, it gives you tangible equivalents. 150 calories means you burned a soda, 420 means you burned a cupcake, etcetera. It’s nice to have that real comparison.

Likewise, Striiv also puts your walking into comparisons. When I log into my Striiv account online, I can see how close I am to finishing a marathon.

The Bad:
The touch screen. It’s so bad that I almost knocked off two stars for it. I have to press so hard to get anything to happen on the touch screen, and it’s highly inaccurate. It takes a fun little device and really diminishes the usability by making it so frustrating to use. I have tried calibrating my screen many times with no difference. I get very annoyed when I’m trying to unlock my Striiv and I have to press the power button at the top 3 times because it just won’t detect me pressing down on the touch-screen lock icon.

If not for the touch screen, I would recommend this in a heart beat. With the touch screen issue, I’m on the fence. I really do like mine quite a lot, but I feel like I’m being abusive towards my device. I’m worried about the longevity of the product since I have to press so hard for it to register.

The Neutral:
Stairs do not always register properly. If I wear my Striiv on my left side, it only measures half of the stairs I’m doing. If I wear it on my right side, we’re close to 90%. Maybe I have a weird stair walk?

I was hoping this would work on my elliptical, even though it doesn’t claim to. I jumped on, and was ecstatic when it started counting my steps – however, after about 10 counts, it stopped registering any activity from the elliptical and would not count anymore.

Overall, I do recommend this with some reservations. My favorite part by far is the charity rewards, which I love doing. Hopefully Striiv will fix their touch screen issues, and maybe at that point I would purchase another. That being said, my husband and I agreed on passing on getting him one with the state of the touch screen as-is.

**Edit 7/24/2012** I have not tried the accessories that come int he accessory bundle. When I try those out I will update the review further.

I’ve had my Striiv for about 4 months now. It has made me love the stairs in my home. And with the new software updates, now I can race against others. The folks behind this gadget are pretty savvy. I had a BodyMedia Fit armband but it broke in the first three weeks. And the other benefit over other fitness gadgets is the charity aspect. I love that it isn’t all about me fitting into my skinny jeans. Makes the whole process of getting fit less self-absorbed. Great motivation!

I have had my Striiv for nearly 3 months and it has been the best thing that ever happened to my activity levels. I am a naturally sedentary person and found myself in a point in my life that encouraged sitting. My chiropractor said my back pain was caused by sitting too much. My sisters gave me a Striiv and it encouraged me to walk around the house. The game is very fun and they also allow you to feel like you are helping others by donating water, rain forest plots or vaccinations. I didn’t get the bundle but it will only add to how great this item is. More than worth the money.