In the realm of handwaving-generalization-health-advice, the ‘walk at least 10,000 steps per day’ nostrum has been about for a while. Digital pedometers provide a rough measure of steps via a tilt switch, and thus a metric of one’s personal distance covered towards said goal. Mind you, pedometers are pretty inaccurate if you try to use them for distance measurement, since your stride varies quite a bit, but are more accurate when measuring steps.

It’s nice and light, arrives precharged with batteries, and has but one button: Reset. Physically compact, clips onto your waistband. (Or is that wasteband?)

And hey! It’s free! Mine arrived a couple of days ago. Nicely unobtrusive, though there’s a quiet clicking sound every time the switch trips. According to mine, a semi-quiet day yesterday of house cleaning, puttering and errands equals… 2626 steps.

Recommended: useful and free.