Nike Sports Watch

Note: Nike is not paying me or compensating me in any way for the following testimonial (Hey Nike, I am available to be paid or compensated in any way for a testimonial if you are interested....call me)

Last year I requested a GPS Sports watch as a present for Father's Day. I did some research and hinted that Nike was the way I wanted to go. I already had an iPod with Nike+ and I liked the features the website offered. The Nike+ website allows you to track your runs and set goals. You also get badges of achievement when you pass certain goals. Most of these are pretty straight forward. They give you badges for your fastest mile, 5K, 10K etc. You even get a badge for running on a holiday like the 4th of July.

There are a few reasons why I picked this watch over other GPS watches:

I like the simplicity of the display. You can set up the screen based on several options. I chose to have the large display to show the distance I have run. The smaller display shows the length of time I have run. 

I like the flexibility of the Nike chip and the GPS. When I run indoors the chip in my shoe allows me to still track the distance of my run. I don't have Nike shoes (Sorry Nike I used to wear your shoes but now I wear Asics. I could be swayed to return if you want me to test a pair.). I got a little Velcro compartment from Amazon that attaches to the laces on one of my shoes. The accuracy of the chip varies but its pretty close most of the time. I have been told that people who have Nike shoes get the same slight variance that I get. 

I like the little extras Nike built into the watch. When you finish a run you always get some sort of message on the screen. Lately mine has just said "Yay!". It will let me know if I have broken any of my personal records. It also has a fun feature where if you have not run with the watch for awhile the screen will change to various phrases to politely remind you it's time for a run.

I like the size of the Nike watch. It does not seem as bulky as other GPS watches. It fits well on my wrist. It has never really bothered me when I run. 

I think the GPS reception is just as good or better than most GPS watches. I have never had any major issues with the reception. Sometimes it gets confused when you are running downtown around the tall buildings. For some reason I have a problem with getting a GPS signal at Red Mountain Park. 

I love seeing the map of your run when you upload your watch to a computer. It gives you elevation changes in your run, time splits and it automatically logs your run into Nike+.

Most of all I love the freedom to run anywhere. I am a precise person and always log every mile that I run. I used to limit my runs to only places where I knew the distance. Now I can run anywhere I want. It has been very liberating.

I only have one concern with the watch. The upload port on the watch for you to connect to your computer is built into the tip of the wristband. This looks very fragile to me. Due to this I am very careful with the watch when hooking it up to my computer. I have had the watch for over a year and so far this has not been an issue.

I know there are a lot of GPS watches out there with more advance features but for me the Nike Sports Watch has been a good fit.