A couple of months ago, I mentioned a press release about how Nike and Apple have teamed up to create a system to integrate your running shoes with your iPod. One of the websites that I follow, My Southern California Trail Running, is written by an ultramarathoner that works for Nike. She has these points about the system to share:
– There are about 4 or 5 pairs of shoes that are currently Nike+ capable. More are on the way, including stability shoes and probably (let’s hope) trail shoes.
– The Nike+ sensor only weights 6.5 grams
– This only works with the iPod Nano because the iPod Nano has no moving parts and makes for a more stable device to run with (regular ipods have a hard drive which can get messed up from running)
– If you cut a hole in your non-Nike shoe and insert the sensor it’s only about 50% accurate. Nike wear tested it this way. however, I know some of you all may try this. If you do I’d be curious to hear your results
– The sensor is 92% accurate out of the box and 98% after it’s calibrated for each person
I still do not plan on purchasing either the shoes or the iPod, although I will be trying to train in some Nike shoes in a few months. Thanks to Jessica for a few more details on the system; I look forward to reading reviews about it. Hopefully her foot will heal quickly so that she can personally test the system out in her own training.
My wife was checking this out yesterday. She said it looks pretty cool. We might pick her up a pair sometime. I just wish that they would work for both of us, but unfortunately they won’t. I’ll let you know if we do.
50% accurate? That’s odd..when I tried to calibrate it, it was nearly perfect! On the other message boards I haven’t heard of anyone being this off with their statistics….
50% if you cut a hole in a shoe not designed for it. Are you using Nike shoes with a slot? Then its 92% accurate off the shelf, and 98% accurate if it is calibrated.
It is too bad Nike does not make quality running shoes. At least in my humble opinion since I started using Brooks and Asics. They seem to put money into the oddest things but neglect the most fundamental.
I’ve always liked Nike’s racing shoes, but never had much luck with their trainers. Now that I am on a team sponsored by them, however, I can get their shoes rediculously cheap so I ordered a few pair in the hopes that I can use them. If not, I will still have a few pairs of Asics that I’ll be using at the same time that I can always fall back on.
I don’t use the system either but I sure ♥ my Nike Triax 11, which are Nike+ compatible! 🙂