I’ve been using my Nike+ SportBand for about three years now and I love it! It’s light, it’s small, it has all the features I currently require and above all it looks great!

Coming in a range of colours, I was struggling to decide between the pink and the yellow band. Only joking! Yellow was the only colour in stock at the time but I didn’t mind. I think it retails at £39.99 and I managed to get a fiver off with a discount card.

It was really easy to set-up and configure on my computer. I needed to put my weight in so it could accurately track my calories burnt. The Nike+ SportBand comes with a shoe sensor and because my shoes are Nike+ enabled it fit straight into my shoe. Nike+ enabled just means my shoes have a little compartment built into the sole. The SportBand also has a hidden USB which fits snuggly back into the band. After a series of runs, I simply plug it into my computer and it automatically uploads my runs to the Nike+ website. Here, I can keep track of all my runs and it displays the distance and time for each run.

It’s starting to look a bit grubby now because I’ve used that much but I’m still very, very happy with it. It’s never let me down, only once have I forgotten to activate it on a run and it was an 8 miler!

Thanks for reading,

After I owned my Nike+ SportBand, again the time came to upgrade and I bypassed the Nike+ iPhone app as I wanted to have my heart rate readings at hand. After much debate I sold my Nike+ SportBand and bought the Nike+ SportWatch GPS for £139.99 as this product allows heart rate reading as well as everything else that the Nike+ SportBand did. However be warned, in order to use the heart rate option on this watch you MUST have a Polar WearLink+ that works with Nike+ as other polar sensor bands will not link up. This sensor will cost roughly about £40.00 so all in all you’re looking at £180.00.

My honest opinion of the Nike+ SportWatch GPS is poor or a better word would be disappointed. It does look great and comes with all the hype but is a let down due to the fact that it’s bulky on the wrist and you have to have the Polar WearLink+. Nike I feel have missed a trick here as Polar users new and old who already have the sensor band will now have to buy another one just so they can get the heart rate option and this will put them off, especially when paying out £180.00. A Polar FT80 delivered to my door next day cost me £150.00.

I do feel that the beauty of the Nike+ is the website and how it works and the ease of use. I actually wish the Polar website was more like the Nike+ one (more about this later). Once you have completed your run, your workout data can be automatically uploaded to the website during the USB sync (SportBand and SportWatch) on Windows or Apple. You also have the ability to name runs which is particular good as this can be shared to other users showing the actually route took and timings. I loved adding to my runs how I felt and what kind of terrain I was running on.

I’ve never used the forums to meet and challenge other runners but I have added close friends and set challenges against them and for myself, then later shared the run info on Facebook and Twitter.

Overall simply and effective for basic needs, love it.

Where as the Polar personal training website is a not as nice on the eye and not in my opinion not as user friendly but does offer a more in depth analysis and tracking than the Nike+ website. Hence why both products are marketed to different users.

So what will became of my Nike+ SportWatch GPS now I have a Polar FT80? Well it’s now sitting in its box until summer, when I’ll be doing a few runs to raise money for Team Fox and Parkinson’s UK and kept as a back up system.

Thanks,

From what I am led to understand Nike have been working on this product for two years and is not yet on sale in the UK, expect a rush of sales. It is a rubber wristband that monitors your every move and how active you’ve been throughout the day. Can Nike do what the Jawbone UP didn’t?

Early reviews and demo’s show that it fixes all of the Jawbone UP’s problems, I’d really like to get my hands on the item to have a go for myself and create a video podcast for everyone to see. The LED display on the band itself show your progress on a fitness index called Nike Fuel. The Wristband has a 3-axis accelerometer and the algorithms in the band work to classify every type of movement you make, from walking up stairs, running, or even any extreme sport. Every activity that can be done gets a multiplier, i.e playing an hour of  football will give you more Fuel points. Likewise, if you take the stairs versus the elevator, you get more Fuel.

The Jawbone UP didn’t have real-time feedback where as the Nike+ FuelBand does and does it with a  LED readout on the band showing just how much Fuel you’ve earned and how close you are to your daily goal. (It also shows the time and how many calories you’ve burned). Need a bit more in depth analysis no worries your iPhone app is always synched with your band, showing a chart of your activity levels throughout the day in Nike+ easy on the eye and simple format.

“It’s about tiny behaviour changes,” says Ricky Engelberg, Nike+’s director of user experience. “Over a week and a month and a year, it adds up.”

It does have it’s drawbacks, unless the arms are involved in the movement then it can’t really track the activity and is not water poof enough to swim with. Nike however highlight that the Fuel Band is actually only one part in their plan to change Nike+, with every Nike+ product being able to spit out fuel scores that can be tracked online.

I’d love to get my hands on this item to try it out because if it’s as good as the Nike+ SportBand was, then with the added features it should be great.

Would I buy the Nike+ FuelBand? Yes, it’s a shame it didn’t track sleep patterns but you can’t have everything can you? Maybe this will be added in the new overhaul of the Nike+ equipment?

I’m not going to review the Nike+ FuelBand star wise as till I get hold of it I can’t give a detailed review.

Cheers,

I’ve had a lovely day today reading a wonderful book and speaking with work mates followed by some family time. I even made it into the gym after meeting all my deadlines for the day.

Now as I ponder as what to write for my 1st blog I looked at my wrist and realised that I’d spent some time last night messing on with the polar personal training website and the Nike+ website and as we live in a digital world (some may say an Apple world) I have decided to quickly do a write up about the digital equipment I use and some that I am aware of. If they are in bold and red it means you can click it and it will show you my review.

1. Polar FT80
2. Jawbone UP
3. Nike+ FuelBand
4. Nike+ SportsWatch GPS
5. Nike+ SportBand
6. Garmin
7. Apple iPhone, iPod, iPads and Macs
8. Windows

The list could go on and on and on… (I’m not writing about all of these just yet). I will add that I use the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps for personal use and for work for teaching the students regardless of learning level as it can all be adapted.

Over all, digital fitness is a bigger money spinner and could be a great aid in engagement of sedentary people!

I do often wonder if people, myself included spend more time investing the money spend on the item and the effort to upload and input and share on Facebook or Twitter into actioning ideas and buying clean food would be better off? to quote Nike, “Just Do It”…

Have a great day and be loving to yourself and others.