Since the beginning of March I have been tracking all my runs by using the Nike + System and my Ipod. I have been having great results with only few problems like calibration (it isn't 100% accurate) and the Ipod dying during the run (I blame the cold more than I blame the crappy batteries in the Ipod).
Well, on April 20Th Nike released its brand new Nike + Band. It is a wrist band receiver with a USB interface that gives you the bare essentials compared to what the Ipod interface does. It will keep track of your distance, time, calories (ha!) and pace. It recharges by plugging into your computer and takes about 2 hours to charge from fully dead. Well, I bought one of these when I was down in Boston for the marathon and then ran with it in the race. Out of the package, without calibration, I ran the 26.2 miles and it logged it as 26.6. So really it wasn't that bad.
The next challenge was to get it to upload the workouts to my existing account with Nike +. After a little bit of work and some emails to the tech support at Nike, I found out that my problems weren't only my problems but ones that they were working on. Sure enough, these issues were fixed (software) a week later once I started using the site from home.
So how it works is this: you put a pod on or in your shoe, you put on the wristband with the sensor in it. Hold the button down to turn the thing on, walk around until it picks up your sensor. Voila, you are ready to run. Press the button once more to start your run then press it again to stop recording, just like a stopwatch. Press and hold to end your workout and read all the totals. Then take the sensor off the wristband, plug it into the USB on the computer you are using and it will automatically upload it to your profile. It clears the current workout off the sensor when you do the next workout.
Simple and effective. This setup is perfect for people who log 2 to 5 miles a day and want to know their cumulative effort as well as challenge their friends to distance over time races. The website is full of both Nike produced challenges and even more user made challenges like "first one to 100km" or "Area Code 905 vs 416." Loads of fun and great help in keeping motivated.
As someone training for an ultra marathon, I felt that this item was the perfect thing to keep track of my weekly mileage. Even though I was putting this gadget to it's limit in terms of battery life and endurance potential, it did very well for what I asked it to do. It did fall short in two areas when I went to use it in my first ultra 100km race. First off, Nike has set a limit of 49 miles as its upper limit of counting (not sure if they have changed this yet). So it won't record to its site any runs over that number. When I went to upload my 100km race, it wouldn't accept all or any part of that effort. I had been waiting to drop that bomb on my profile watchers all week. Bummer. Second, the sensor got wet in the rain that occurred in my race. This fogged up the sensor and eventually pooched it to non working state. It has just starting working again (2 months later) but now doesn't have the battery life to go for a whole day. I have yet to try it on a long run since. I still want to get in touch with Nike to see if they have any solutions to my water troubles...especially with all the rain that we have been getting this summer.
All in all this is a great little gadget, and if it fits your style it would make a great training tool. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Polar, Garmin, Suunto etc. it does the job in a very stylish and small package.
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