Nike+ Sportband

So here's actually a gadget that I was looking at a little while back, but never ended up getting it and I'll tell you why at the end.  The entire nike+ system is actually a really great idea of getting people into running, they way that they've built the platform it makes running a little bit more than that.  I won't go into it too too much because I'll hopefully be covering this in a review sometime next week.  The basic idea is you can do things like tracking distance, average pace, calories, stuff like that.  Then you can go back and look at it online and progress through different "levels"  But more on the sportband

The sportband comes in two fantastic colors right now pink and yellow.  So pretty much a male or female version.

Bright Colors

I'm personally a fan of how the yellow one looks and yes it is quite that bright.  The price of these things varies depending on whether you are in Canada or if you are in the states.  If you're south of the 49th then it will run you somewhere around 59 bucks (Amazon) and if you're north of the 49th, then it's going to run you anywhere from 79 to 89 dollars.  

Before the sportband, the only problem was that if you wanted to use the Nike+ system, you had to have an iPod, and now you don't have to providing you buy this system.  So what do you get for plunking down your hard earned cash?

Package Contents

Well you get a very nice plastic case (that can be recycled), your sport band, the usb stick that tracks the info and then your running chip.  

This system does your typical things like tracking pace, distance, time, calories burned.  It all operates off a pretty simple single button.  It shows you all that info on the screen, it's non-obtrusive.  After you're done your run, plug it into your computer, upload the info to nike+ and you're off to go look at your run.  This one is said to be waterproof, which is better than the past iteration which had the tendency to not agree so well with water. 

Final Thoughts
Well I think it's actually a really nice idea for your casual runner, or even somebody who doesn't feel like dropping a bill or two on a dedicated fitness watch or gps watch such as the FR60 or anything else from the FR family of Garmin.  These things aren't a bad idea.  Now the best thing is that these chips don't need to be used on Nike shoes, you can buy clips, pouches, or you can be cheap and Asian like me and throw it in a tiny ziploc bag and feed it in between your tongue and laces on your shoes.  For those that like a slightly more aesthetically pleasing solution you can find something like this probably at your local running store.

Nice little pouch

But at the end of the day the reason why I didn't get this was because unfortunately I live north of the 49th, and we get charged 89 bucks for these things up here.  At that price, I may as well throw a bit more in and get myself a fitness watch that has a HRM as well as the footpod.  That and I already have the chip with my iPod so I didn't really see a point in it.  So bottom line is, if you own a second gen or later iPod, or an iPhone 3gs or 4, just buy the chip and you're good to go

~Cheers