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| Nike+ Sportwatch GPS |
From the many available GPS running watch options I decided on the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS powered by TomTom. I bought the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS on it's own, I didn't buy the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS with additional shoe sensor. The shoe sensor enables Nike+ to keep tracking your activity even if you are indoors / out of range of a GPS satellite. (Strangely the watch with shoe sensor was £20 more, whereas the shoe sensor on its own is £16 - you save money by buying them separately!)
So the watch. Short version is that I love it and it is transforming my running - pushing me harder and making me faster. I have also enjoyed using Nike+ too.
Here are some reasons why:
1) The Nike GPS Sport watch is easy to use. There are just 3 buttons and the operation is simple. Blue button takes you to menu, up and down buttons scroll through menu, blue button selects and starts. The 'history' option shows previous runs and it's then possible to see the different 'records' that you have achieved - if you use the PC software to set 'laps' the GPS watch will show you an in run summary of each lap including time, distance and speed. (While running I have it set to show me the total distance I have run and then on rotation at the top of the screen it has 'Time elapsed' and 'Average pace.')
'Clock' and 'Stopwatch' complete the available options. The screen can also be black letters on white screen or white letters on black screen (select 'inverted screen' as an option on the PC software for the GPS watch.) There is also a backlight which is triggered by tapping the screen of the GPS watch.
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| Nike+ Sportwatch GPS menu screen |
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| Nike+ Sportwatch GPS - one of the record screens |
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| Nike+ Sportwatch GPS - stopwatch screen |
2) The Nike+ Sportwatch GPS is water resistant and seems to be unaffected by sweat or even light rain. The Nike GPS watch is not listed as waterproof, but the solid casing seems to be able to withstand everything that has been thrown at it so far.
3) Battery life. The Nike GPS running watch seems to do OK on battery life too. I was getting frustrated with never having enough battery on my phone - all the different things my phone gets used for would invariably mean that it didn't have sufficient battery at the end of the day to be able to track my run. Having a separate device (the GPS watch) takes away that issue! It's designed to sit on your wrist and measure you run and that's it. I have found that the Nike running watch can do about 3 hours of running and a couple of days functioning as a normal watch before it needs charging.
4) The strap and built in USB connector. The Nike GPS watch has a chunky plastic / rubber feel strap. The non-buckle end of the strap also has a connector built into it. Just fold open the end, plug it into the computer and the Nike running watch uploads your latest runs and then syncs with Nike+.
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| Nike+ Sportwatch GPS |
5) Packaging! The Nike+ Sportwatch GPS looks great and is a funky watch, but the box and packaging are also cool too. The box just has an optional USB cable (though I haven't used this yet as I plug the watch straight into the computer), brief instructions and the watch. Nice way of presenting a nice bit of technology:
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| Nike+ Sportwatch GPS |
And the other thing you will want to know - it seems to pick up the GPS signal quickly at the start of a run, I've never normally had to wait longer than just a few seconds.
So, I love my watch, it's pushing me to run faster - and one of these days I may even buy myself a Nike+ shoe sensor too :-)
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