Post by thread:[OT] Cheap cheap cheap pedometers

A friend's sister is doing a "daily activity" survey of elementary school age kids, and needs pedometers for it. The kids tend to be rough on them, so cheapness is a virtue- I expect that barebones functionality is acceptable (i.e., counts number of steps, and that's it). Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that $4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but will probably go much higher if the price is right. Non-US sources are okay, if the cost is low enough to offset shipping and taxes. I'm thinking that supply houses that cater to "dollar stores" might be able to help, but getting a good match from Google is unlikely. Any personal recommendations? The idea is to have pedometers which are cheap enough to have epoxy applied over all the seams, making them quite "kid-proof", and then be discarded when too heavily damaged or the battery dies (although pedometer batteries probably last for years). Mike H.

She might get some where if she contacted the premiums purchasing agent at McDonalds --they had them for a short time in their adult "happy meals" a few months ago. Mike Hord wrote: {Quote hidden}>A friend's sister is doing a "daily activity" survey of elementary >school age kids, and needs pedometers for it. The kids tend >to be rough on them, so cheapness is a virtue- I expect that >barebones functionality is acceptable (i.e., counts number of >steps, and that's it). > >Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium >quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that >$4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd >like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but >will probably go much higher if the price is right. > >Non-US sources are okay, if the cost is low enough to offset >shipping and taxes. I'm thinking that supply houses that >cater to "dollar stores" might be able to help, but getting a >good match from Google is unlikely. Any personal >recommendations? > >The idea is to have pedometers which are cheap enough to >have epoxy applied over all the seams, making them quite >"kid-proof", and then be discarded when too heavily damaged >or the battery dies (although pedometer batteries probably >last for years). > >Mike H. > >

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Mike Hord wrote: > Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium > quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that > $4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd > like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but > will probably go much higher if the price is right. I think that you should talk to McDonalds. They had pedometers free (?) with a meal last summer <grin> Peter

> > On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Mike Hord wrote: > >> Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium >> quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that >> $4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd >> like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but >> will probably go much higher if the price is right. This eBay seller, located in Hong Kong, might be worth contacting: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7140685806 -Bob

On Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:12:18 -0800 (PST), Bob Blick <spam_OUTbblickTakeThisOuTsonic.net> wrote: > > > > On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Mike Hord wrote: > > > >> Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium > >> quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that > >> $4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd > >> like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but > >> will probably go much higher if the price is right. > > This eBay seller, located in Hong Kong, might be worth contacting: > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7140685806 Ahhhh....the old "artificial price" scam ;-) Notice how it's ~US$10 per unit in shipping for "the rest of the world"? -marc

At 09:05 PM 3/9/2005 -0500, you wrote: >On Wed, 9 Mar 2005 11:12:18 -0800 (PST), Bob Blick <.....bblickKILLspam@spam@sonic.net> wrote: > > > > > > On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Mike Hord wrote: > > > > > >> Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium > > >> quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that > > >> $4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd > > >> like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but > > >> will probably go much higher if the price is right. > > > > This eBay seller, located in Hong Kong, might be worth contacting: > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7140685806 > >Ahhhh....the old "artificial price" scam ;-) > >Notice how it's ~US$10 per unit in shipping for "the rest of the world"? > >-marc On the plus side, that's worth almost nothing these days. ;-) ;-) Best regards, Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speffKILLspaminterlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

> Does anyone know of a place that might deal in medium > quantity numbers of these? They are available for less that > $4US at local big-box retailers (particularly Wal-Mart), but I'd > like to find a source for $1US or less. Minimum of 500, but > will probably go much higher if the price is right. As a guide to target pricing - they were giving away basic pedometers with LCD displays in boxes of breakfast cereal here recently. The cereal price doesn't seem to change with or without pedometers included. RM

> > This eBay seller, located in Hong Kong, might be worth contacting: > > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7140685806 > >Ahhhh....the old "artificial price" scam ;-) > >Notice how it's ~US$10 per unit in shipping for "the rest of the world"? > >-marc >On the plus side, that's worth almost nothing these days. ;-) ;-) But if you are going to purchase 500 in one hit, I am sure you could come to some arrangement ...

> But if you are going to purchase 500 in one hit, I am sure you could come to > some arrangement ... Unfortunately, it appears that the sister of my friend has already purchased pedometers, and purchased ones which are not of disposable cost, which leaves me with "kid-proofing" to figure. I wonder if heat-shrink tubing would go over well... Thanks for the help everyone! Mike H.

On Mar 10, 2005, at 6:12 AM, Mike Hord wrote: > > I wonder if heat-shrink tubing would go over well... > There's that thin heatshrink (available in clear) used for assembling battery packs and such. Seems it's mainly a packaging thing, available in assorted sizes in huge spools for "tamper evident" sealing of bottles and such... BillW

Mike, You might want to look into replacing the screws with security screws and filling as much of the interior with hot glue as possible. Hot glue is a hair bit cheaper than epoxy and far more flexible and removable. It also molds well. The extra padding it would provide will re-enforce the plastic housing. Just take care, because not only is it Hot, it has a HIGH heat capacity, so unlike solder (ouch) it doesn't cool quickly when coming in contact with skin (really ouch). I've gotten some nice 2nd degree burns from this stuff, but never with any frequency. Any way you cut it, count on destroying one in the "kid proofing" process . . . It's best to sacrifice one to see just how they can die. Also, those nice clips on the back -- count them as lost. Likely 1/4 to 1/3 will come back broken off. It takes a monster of a clip design to survive kids, and these aren't likely to be big enough to have a well built clip. Dan Crews, E.I.T. (.....crews.danKILLspam.....gmail.com) <><