Nike+ Sport Band

Comment: I really love this system! I bought my Nike Free workout shoes on sale and noticed how the left sneaker could take a sensor. Did a little research and learned more about the Nikeplus system. It's great! I now have a way to track my workout, have created a variety of routes depending on weather (it's extremely hot this summer!), and whether I'm walking one or two dogs.

I felt motivated to double my distance while walking and have signed up for some of the goals and challenges. It gives you a visual readout which is a powerful reinforcement to keep going and exceed your previous goals. You do need to calibrate it because it will tell you that you are walking about 1/4-1/3 mile more than you actually walk (you can determine true distance by mapping your route).It's great to see that, in a month's time, I've walked over 65 miles-knew there was a reason why I felt more energetic!

Comment: I have long wanted a quality GPS driven running watch but could never quite afford the $200 minimum pricetag. For Father's Day this year, my wife and kids came up with a pretty good alternative in the Nike Fit+ Sportband. At around $60.00, it is much more affordable than a GPS watch and is pretty darn good for the price. There are just a couple of points that anyone considering buying one should consider:

- You DO NOT HAVE TO PURCHASE NIKE SNEAKERS TO USE THE SPORTBAND. Nike would tell you otherwise but the sportband system works just as well with your favorite brand of running shoe. You must simply find a way to attach the sensor to the laces of your shoe. I initially used a folded over piece of duct tape holding it in place under my laces. I looked online and found numerous devices designed for this purpose specifically, ranging from $2 to about $10. I picked a latex case that attaches to my laces and holds the sensor in place. It works as well as the Sportband is expected to work. Thank goodness because I personally find Nike running shoes overly expensive and of poor quality.

-The Sportband is generally pretty accurate. It is surely accurate enough for everyday use. Even without doing calibration on the system, it is generally within 1/10 of a mile on my workday morning 5 milers. The only place I have found that it falters is when I try to include speed work into my routine. When I do my usual 8:10-8:20 miles the accuracy is as I mentioned, however, if I speed up my run to under 8 minute miles, it changes my gait and, clearly, this effects the accuracy of the unit. On such runs I have "lost" up to 1/4 mile on the same 5 mile route I run 4-5 days a week. This is not an enormous deal except that when training for a race, my pace is very important to me and I don't trust the pace that the watch is telling me since the mileage is clearly inaccurate. I can do the adjustment in my head but isn't that why I wanted a running watch in the first place?

Within these parameters, the Sportband is a good purchase. It won't stop me from getting a GPS watch when I find the money to do so but it has provided a good substitute in the meantime.

Comment: I have tried and tried and tried to get my computer to "see" the band. At first, I could see it on my desktop but just not able to upload my runs to the Nike website. Now, it needs re-charging and I can't get my Mac G5 to read the band at all. Best if you do this with a PC.

Comment: Here are the pluses of this watch:
1. The Nike+ system is a great way to get into running, it's cheap to start with and easier than GPS.
2. The nike+ sport band is waterproof - DO NOT RISK YOUR IPOD. I found out the hard way, and got a shuffle to go with the sporband.
3. The sportband is so simple it doesn't get in your way.
4. Nike's website is the best.

Minuses of sportband/nike+
1. inaccurate (covered by others here).
2. can't add workouts to the software. If you weren't wearing the watch or it died, you can't record it.
3. Sensors must be replaced every few months, don't walk around in them unless you want to record your walking.

I want to be clear to beginners the number one reason why you want this OR a gps watch: shoes die. And when the cushioning is dead, your joints will get hurt.

You need to replace your shoes every few hundred miles (go somewhere else for concrete advice) and unless you're very good at journaling, a product like this is the best way to have an 'odometer'. This is cheap enough compared to all the other running gear that I consider it essential for beginners to avoid injury and make it more enjoyable.

And in fact, I would probably say that every child in gym class should have a decent pair of sneakers and one of these. It's the most accessible athletic activity, it's essential to all other sports, and it's the most affordable. And a system like this for tracking activity is the best possible motivator there is for physical fitness.

I lost 50 lbs. running, and the nike+ kept me going. I have since upgraded to GPS, but I hope nike makes a gps product someday.

Comment: For the most part, I'm thrilled with my Nike+. It's done wonders to motivate me to run and walk more--and longer distances, and better times. It encourages a little friendly competition, and it provides a great way to track your mileage and see how your running (or walking) improves over time.

The only thing that disappoints me with it is that it's a little inconsistent. Despite having calibrated it, it's not very consistent for me (sometimes the same run on two different days will differ by as much as a quarter mile). Also, when I plug it into my computer, it's SUPER fussy. If I even kind of bump into it while it's trying to upload, *poof* there goes my run. And it doesn't reflect on my profile online. There's no way to correct this either. The few times it's happened to me, it's been a bummer!

Still worth it. It's a great gadget.