Whether they're hard-core or casual, people who exercise are always on the prowl for the latest and greatest gadgets to help them get the most from their workouts.

It's a major market, one that's only going to get bigger. Every time you turn around, there's some new health- or fitness-related gizmo on the shelves or online.

Neway Lifetech Corporation

The Sports Pulse Ring his the market about a month ago.

One of the latest is the Sports Pulse Ring by Neway Lifetech Corporation.

Based in Taiwan, the company is no newcomer to the medical market. The Pulse Ring is the newest addition to its product roster of blood pressure and pulse rate monitors.

In case you're curious, Neway Lifetech is also the maker of the SmartMate, a 10-in-one office tool that seems to be the Swiss army knife of staplers. The tool contains scissors, a stapler, a punch, a carton opener, a nail file (very handy), a mini flathead screwdriver, a mini Phillips screwdriver, a tape measure, a pencil sharpener and an LED light.

Also in the company's product lineup is the SmartGauge, which is a digital tire gauge.

It might seem like an odd combination of offerings, but perhaps one needs to monitor one's pulse or blood pressure when one's stapler, which contains all of one's office tools, has been stolen.

Back to the Pulse Ring. It hit the market about a month ago, and it's exactly what it sounds like -- a ring that monitors your pulse while you work out.

It's similar to the armband monitors you often see at the gym, but not as clunky.

Neway Lifetech Corporation

The Sports Pulse Ring can be worn on any finger.

While not exactly stylish, the ring is relatively small, at least comparatively speaking.

With a price tag of about $40, the Pulse Ring features a continuous heart-rate display, a minimum and maximum heart-rate target zone, a stopwatch and timer that counts up to 10 hours.

It sounds pretty handy for the pulse-rate conscious exerciser, but is it accurate?

I took it to Dr. Karen Scavetta of Pinnacle Cardiology to find out.

On first blush, the Pulse Ring did OK. It came within just a couple of beats of what Scavetta and her nurse, Dawn Collison R.N., measured for each other. Of course, we were at rest -- just sitting in the office.

Collison kindly agreed to play guinea pig and took a couple of laps around the office to get her heart rate up. At first, the ring was measuring a pulse of 45. Wrong. Way wrong. After Collison stopped jogging and turned the ring off and on to reset it, it came up with a measurement in the 110 range. Better.

One possible cause for the discrepancy is that the ring is not one-size-fits-all. Collison has very small hands, which means the sensors on the inside of the ring were probably not in continuous contact with her finger.

The ring comes with a small sticky pad, kind of like moleskin, to adjust its size, but that pad might not make it small enough for the petite.

Even on fingers that aren't tiny, the ring doesn't stay in place terribly well.

Catherine Holland

Dr. Karen Scavetta (standing) checks the resting heart rate of Dawn Collison R.N. The Pulse Ring was close on this check.

Scavetta said the arm-band monitors are a better choice. Often used in cardiac rehab facilities, including Scottsdale Healthcare facility where Scavetta works, the arm-band monitors are both adjustable and consistently accurate.

One of the features the Pulse Ring boasts is an alarm that goes off when you hit your minimum or maximum heart rate. The problem was I couldn't set it. Neither could Scavetta.

The directions were clear enough (in all 10 languages), but even after several tries, we just couldn't get the minimum and maximum values to take.

Strike two.

Strike three came when I was sitting and chatting with Scavetta about the importance of monitoring your heart rate during exercise. (Too low and you're not getting the most cardiovascular benefit from your workout. Too high and you could be putting yourself in danger, especially if you're a cardiac patient or have some other medical condition.)

During the conversation, the Pulse Ring kept errorring out on me. I apparently had no pulse.

Was it possible I was dead and just didn't realize it? No, dead people don't talk, and Scavetta, a cardiologist, didn't seem to notice anything amiss.

The ring finally came up with a pulse of 83. It was nice to know I was alive, after all.

While perhaps a good idea on the surface, the Pulse Ring comes up short.

"If it's a person taking their pulse at home, just wanting to check it for whatever reason or to see their resting heart rate, it might be all right," Scavetta said. "If you're really serious about checking your heart rate while you're exercising … to make sure you're not going too high or too low [and are staying within limits prescribed by a doctor] … [the Pulse Ring] would not be appropriate."

So, is monitoring one's heart rate during exercise even necessary?

In some cases, absolutely.

"Patients over the age of 55, patients who have a serious medical condition, especially cardiac patients, do need to monitor their heart rates very closely, and, I dare say, on a continuous basis while they're exercising," Scavetta said.

For those who are keeping track for weight-loss purposes or who simply want to make sure they're hitting their target zones, checking intermittently before, during and after a workout should be enough.

And it doesn't necessarily require fancy gadgets. You can use the monitors that are built into many pieces of electronic gym equipment. Scavetta says that in her personal experience, those readings tend to be accurate as long the machine is clean and it has good contact with your skin.

Then there's the really low-tech, tried-and-true method -- no monitor needed.

"The quick and dirty way of taking your pulse is the way we did, the way your doctor takes it in the office," Savetta explained. "Feel for your pulse [on your wrist] or on your carotid, count the beats for six seconds and multiply that by 10."

All you need for that is a watch with a second hand or a digital counter.

Scavetta then took my pulse and came up with 75 or so. The Pulse Ring still said 83. Close. Sort of. (By the way, 60 to 100 beats per minute is considered normal.)

Scavetta said a reading within five beats or less would be an acceptable margin of error. While we did get that a couple of times, our results were inconsistent at best.

Bottom line? If you need to keep an eye on your pulse, save your $40 and put it toward an arm-band monitor. Otherwise, just buy a watch with a second hand.