any semi pro runners?

[SunsetRunner]

my nephew runs for West Yorkshire, a county in the UK, and has a chance to run for England/UK maybe even the olympics

which fitbit would you suggest?

he is sceptical, a waste of money, his response was they do not work, but have assured him that unlike other pedometers, picking it up, putting it down, flicking it across the table etc does not register as steps unlike mobiles phones etc and that you put in your stride length etc

am thinking zip as you can clip it in the middle of the collar/belt reducing swing and extra bounce

he doesn't need one as such, but am thinking the stats etc would be beneficial

[SunsetRunner]

he has already been offered places in numerous colleges/universities all paid for, including Eton College, as he is expected to pass his exams with straight A's or closs to, so providing he doesn't screw up and go lazy, he will be fine

[Heybales]

He wants accuracy of distance run?

Get GPS, much more accurate.

He wants accuracy of daily calorie burn to insure eating enough?

With that level workouts, the inaccuracy of the Fitbit will be bad.

Because actually, all the examples you listed - actually do log steps.

Yes, you can manually input stride length, and it may adjust properly for his different workouts where he does not maintain the stride length - again GPS for accuracy.

So what is the purpose for it?

Because as a guy, he can examine his weight gain or loss every 2 days, log food accurately, and figure out what his average daily burn is.

Not enough stats really to be useful compared to say a Garmin running watch. Steps isn't useful, distance is the only other stat, and that's the iffy one.

The best use of it would be for say maintaining weight or losing a little, and tracking his non-running part of the day, incase it's activity changes.

But every workout he'd need to update manually with better stats, both calorie burn and miles - but you can auto-sync in from Garmin.

[SunsetRunner]

he is a teen, yet to do his GCSE's

if he was commited to running then sure, but he isn't, the only thing he is really commited to is singing for the church choir on Sundays

I just wanted to know if anyone uses one for collecting data and which one they use

I went for a hour walk yesterday, to hit the 40k steps mark, asked if he wanted to come, all he said was you are taking this seriously, and then continued watching tv

like most teens nowadays, spends alot of time on facebook/snapchat etc

not to mention if he does start running properly, he will get sponsors etc

[Heybales]

There isn't enough data that is even collected to be useful for someone that is or wants to be semi-serious runner.

It estimates distance, and calories burned, from steps seen.

For training purposes, distance is the only one of those that is even useful.

Calories might be in the sense you need to eat enough to support good workouts.

Really, the money would be better spent on a GPS/HRM system.

Like the Garmin ForeRunner 15 GPS watch and HRM and daily activity/calorie burn tracker.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/06/garmin-forerunner-15-depth-review.html

While Fitbit's Surge is attempting to get to the same place - they just don't have the stats to really make your training first rate.

[Gershon]

A pedometer may indeed be a waste of money for your nephew. If your nephew has a coach, he should ask his coach what to use for training.

When I ran, I found a stopwatch was all I needed. I estimated the miles based on the time at my estimated pace. If were running for competition I'd use a GPS or only a stopwatch.

It's not all about more miles for runners. It's about the quality of miles. It's also about avoiding injuries. 

[SunsetRunner]

I just want to give him that push, as if he does pursue it further, I'm sure he will get sponsors etc currently he is using his mobile when practicing out of school time, but don't want to waste money just incase he changes his mind and decide he wants to play the piano or something else

[Gershon]

I live in the United States. I'm curious what it means to run for the county and what sort of training he gets.

We have open races in Colorado anyone can enter, but I'm not into running. Usually people are associated with running clubs.

[SunsetRunner]

I suppose it is simialr to your counties, an area in which resides a load of towns/cities/villages

not sure myself, I know he watches what he eats, looking at the ingredients etc, several times he has said he can not eat something because of what it contains or what it might contain, as in banned ingredients

when I say county, I don't mean it in a fully professional way, he's only 15, but he is preparing for it, it is all laid out for him so to speak, so provided he keeps it up etc and wants to, the opportunity is there

but like I said, one minute it is running/athletics, the next is singing etc his mind isn't made up, I suppose you could say typical teenager, but I do think he will go with running, as it seems to be what he enjoys the most

I'm not athletic myself, more into gadgets etc 😉 so not too sure myself without asking him, I've only seen him in school uniform or casual clothing