PRODUCT REVIEW: Nike iPod Sensor by Apple – An electronic pedometer, this distance and speed monitor has a receiver that plugs into your iPod and a receiver that you put in your Nike Senor sneaker, or house in the Runaway – a container that will attach to your shoe laces.
I have long thought that all the extra pieces of equipment that are offered to runners and walkers are just toys. Good marketing makes us think we need them, but the truth is we just want them! After all, the human species has been running for thousands of years without GPS watches and fuel belts. That said, I have learned over the years that there are some toys that just really work for you! The Nike iPod Sensor, made by Apple, is one of those toys!
I picked up my first iPod Sensor in 2008. And I fully acknowledge that while I said that it would replace my GPS watch that never worked properly, I really just wanted to test out this new toy! It was small, sleek, and supposedly easy to use. It plugged into my iPod so I didn’t have to wear a bulky watch. It provided stats on my training. AND I didn’t have to wear the Nike sensor shoe. Some genius, not Nike, created a holder that attaches to the laces of your sneaker. I was sold!
So I happily trotted down to the local running store and picked up my toy and excitedly set off on my first walk. I still remember my delight the first time that Lance Armstrong congratulated me on the distance that I had completed. And there was a woman runner – my apologies, I can’t remember her name – that congratulated me on another milestone. I thought “Wow, this is a fun toy!”
Then I started uploading my stats to the Nike Running site. SO COOL! It tracked everything. Accelerations during a walk, comparisons of all my walks, a graph showing my training schedule over selected periods, and a host of other little tidbits of information. Lots of useful information particularly if I was trying track my speed performance.
My new toy quickly became a fixture in my training program. Then six months in the battery died. Boy was this a disappointment. How could it have such a short life? There was nothing in the marketing material that said that it had a short battery life before it would tossed in the can. Yes, that’s right, there is no battery replacement. You actually have to throw the sensor out and go buy a new one. The only piece that you keep is the receiver that plugs into your iPod. Fortunately Nike came out with the refill pack for about half the price that replaced just the sensor.
So, not so happy, I returned to my local running store and picked up the refill sensor. I was up and running again and have since reconciled with the fact that my toy will die on me after about 1000 hours.
Several weeks ago, I accidentally bumped my sensor holder. The top piece holding the sensor into the holder fell off with the sensor. I wasn’t training at the time, I was just wearing my sneakers. Unfortunately I didn’t notice it had fallen off, so I lost my second sensor. Not such a loss I thought. I will buy a new holder – Runaway $10 – and load in the replacement sensor Husband had put in my stocking at Christmas.
So with a long training day approaching, I tried to activate the new sensor. Nothing happened – nada! My iPod couldn’t find it. The battery was dead and I had just opened the package. Husband called Apple for assistance. While it did take a bit of time to get the assistance needed, within two days we received a whole new system, including the receiver. Way to go Apple!
Unfortunately though a whole new system means that I will have to recalibrate.
Now that I am on my third sensor can I still say that I am sold on the iPod Sensor? Sure thing!!! The best thing about it is that any time during my walk I can find out how far I’ve gone, how long it took, and my average pace. This is perfect for keeping me on track with my pace. It is small and since the receiver fits on my iPod and the sensor on my shoe, I’m not having to deal with extra pieces of equipment. And for those days when I have too much to do and no interest in doing it, I can go online and review my stats to analyze where I need to put more effort.
The cons of the system are two fold. The battery can’t be replaced, so you have to buy a new sensor at the cost of $25. From talking with fellow users, the average life of the sensor for someone who is out there training week after week is 6 months.
The second problem is calibration. Like a pedometer, you have to calibrate the sensor to register how many steps you take in a defined distance. Problem with this is that if you walk and run, as I do, or shorten your stride to pick up speed during interval training, it doesn’t record the distance accurately. I find that in a half-marathon I am losing up to 2K depending on what is happening to my stride during the event. Result is that I still need my online GPS to give me more accurate distance, but that said, the stats are at least in the ball park so you can still get a pretty accurate picture of how you’re doing.
For me the Nike iPod Sensor by Apple is a keeper!