Nike+ SportBand Review

For a couple days, we'd been planning on going for a run last night. Unfortunately, when I got home, I was greeted with the sight of a sleeping wife on the couch. Yeah, she slacked out, but she did look awfully cute, too. So, I berated her a little bit, put new Yankz shoelaces in my running shoes, and got ready to head out the door. I figured that after my performance last Thursday, I should go ahead and try to do another 5k or thereabouts, and see how well I can do, and how long I can go without a walk break. So, I put on my Garmin and my Nike+ and headed out the door.

For starters, I should mention the "install" process. Everything works remarkably similarly to the Nike+iPod setup -- the system comes with a small sensor that supposedly gets installed into the sole of a Nike shoe. Of course, I just recently got a pair of Brooks shoes, and I'm really not a fan of Nike, but luckily, Lana had previously gotten a little pocket for the sensor that attaches to the laces using Velcro, so I was still able to go ahead with my run.

I wanted to make sure that I had the running part of the whole thing properly timed out, so I left the Garmin waiting to start until my warmup was complete, but I did start the Nike+ for the warmup. To sync, you simply hold the big button down for three seconds, after which, it will attempt to find your shoe sensor. It will ask you to walk around until it can find it. Also, if there are multiple sensors around (such as at the start of a race), you may have to walk away from the group to sync up the sensor and the SportBand. Once you sync the system, you just press the button to start, and press the button again to stop. Finally, you can end the run completely by holding the button down for another three seconds. It's pretty simple, even if it took me a couple days to completely realize what to do. But that's because I'm an engineer, and I don't read instructions.

So, I completed my warmup. According to the Nike+, I did roughly .2 miles in 5 minutes of walking. When I completed the warmup, I started the Garmin, and proceeded to watch both for the next 3.1 miles.

For starters, let me mention that I have not calibrated the Nike+, and it showed. It was generally off by a bit -- at some points, the Garmin was showing my pace at 9:45, and the Nike+ was showing at 13:00! But most of the time, they were both pretty close to each other. From what I could tell, it seemed to be somewhat based on the length of my stride, and as I was running, I actually used that to note that I did need to shorten my stride. So in that, it actually helped. And I'm sure this will be corrected when I decide to calibrate the thing.

As for the rest, I like this product. The connectors seem to be solid, with snap-like connectors both to hold the band on your wrist, and to hold the module into the band. However, the connectors are deep enough to ensure that they will not accidentally become undone, but not so deep as to cut into your wrist at any time. When not running, you can use the connector as a simple watch (showing time only). When you are running, you can set it to show you current distance, current pace, time, or calories burned (if you entered your weight into your Nike+ profile).

As far as the online environment goes, I'm pretty sure that has been talked about more times, and significantly better than I ever could. But if you haven't seen it, I recommend just checking it out at http://www.nikeplus.com. It's well worth the time, and the online community was one of the major reasons that I made this purchase. Well, that and the upcoming rainy season in Florida, which will make me run inside several times.

So, let's move on to things that I am not particularly fond of. The display has no backlight, so it is nigh upon impossible to see in dim light. I *love* that the 'face' of the watch is removable and plugs directly into your USB port for updating, but the fact that the face is curved does make it difficult to plug into a slim laptop when it's sitting on a table. The only time that this is a problem is when you need to leave it plugged in to charge. Of course, I understand that this is so that it fits around your wrist better -- and I certainly don't fault them that. It's just something to be aware of. Finally, as a geek, I have to point out that the Nike+ Utility (no iTunes requirement) is only supported on Windows and OSX, so if you're a Linux user, I guess you're out of luck for now.

Other than that, I absolutely love the thing. It's light, it's comfortable, and it's small. For the time being, I'm still going to wear my Garmin anytime I'm running outside, but when the Nike+ is calibrated, I could see a time where I cease wearing the Garmin for my more standard runs around the neighborhood. Until that time, I'll be happily wearing both, and looking like the absolute gadget geek that I am.

Oh, and BTW, I was able to complete the 5K in under half an hour (~29:45), and without taking any walk breaks. And I felt pretty good about that.

On to tomorrow's Go Red For Women 5K!