ORN: Nothing yesterday. Nothing yet today. Sue me.
I've been using the Nike+ for nearly a month, and I felt compelled to jot down some of my feelings about the little gizmo on my shoe. As with nearly anything, there's the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'll discuss both the iPod interface as well as the Nike+ website.
The good. First, As with most things related to the iPod, the interface is slick, intuitive, and does precisely what you expect it to do with minimal learning curve. It takes just a few menu clicks to get my workout started, but if I wanted to save a step or two, I could just start a blank, generic workout and start running. I tried that once and found that I lost out on some of the feedback aspects, which brings me to the next good part. I think it is great that this thing talks to me. At significant milestones [kilometers, half-kilometers for workouts 4 km and below, and midpoints], a cute, female voice tells me how far I have gone or how much of my workout remains. Also, for logging purposes, I love that everything is automated. I end my workout, and I know all the data I care about is stored.
Regarding the website, I like that it has big friendly graphics, and it breaks out the data in meaningful ways. The ability to set and monitor goals is huge, and there's even a feature whereby you can participate in global [or local] challenges and events. Very slick.
The bad. My complaints mainly have to do with the website. Seriously, the iPod interface is great and I don't have anything negative to say about it. I don't know what I would add to make it better, either. But the Nike+ website is something else. It's very Web 2.0 with lots of flashy, slick AJAX features that are aesthetically pleasing, but they sometimes freeze up my browser. Also, sometimes, it's navigation can be counter intuitive. Like many AJAX applications, a Back button would be useful.
The Ugly. The data is great, but I have a hard time figuring out how to get it out of the Nike+ database. There do not seem to be any widgets available through Nike or out in the Wilderness that support posting your data on your blog, for instance. The graphics are great, but I think in order to publish them, I would have to scrape a screen shot, manipulate it in Gimp or something, upload it somewhere, and then post it to my blog. Huge pain in the gluteus maximus.
But these complaints aren't dissuading me from using the darn thing. I look forward to my runs if only because I will be able to view my performance in their beautiful charts and graphs. Yes, I am a geek. I'm happy with it.
I've been using the Nike+ for nearly a month, and I felt compelled to jot down some of my feelings about the little gizmo on my shoe. As with nearly anything, there's the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'll discuss both the iPod interface as well as the Nike+ website.
The good. First, As with most things related to the iPod, the interface is slick, intuitive, and does precisely what you expect it to do with minimal learning curve. It takes just a few menu clicks to get my workout started, but if I wanted to save a step or two, I could just start a blank, generic workout and start running. I tried that once and found that I lost out on some of the feedback aspects, which brings me to the next good part. I think it is great that this thing talks to me. At significant milestones [kilometers, half-kilometers for workouts 4 km and below, and midpoints], a cute, female voice tells me how far I have gone or how much of my workout remains. Also, for logging purposes, I love that everything is automated. I end my workout, and I know all the data I care about is stored.
Regarding the website, I like that it has big friendly graphics, and it breaks out the data in meaningful ways. The ability to set and monitor goals is huge, and there's even a feature whereby you can participate in global [or local] challenges and events. Very slick.
The bad. My complaints mainly have to do with the website. Seriously, the iPod interface is great and I don't have anything negative to say about it. I don't know what I would add to make it better, either. But the Nike+ website is something else. It's very Web 2.0 with lots of flashy, slick AJAX features that are aesthetically pleasing, but they sometimes freeze up my browser. Also, sometimes, it's navigation can be counter intuitive. Like many AJAX applications, a Back button would be useful.
The Ugly. The data is great, but I have a hard time figuring out how to get it out of the Nike+ database. There do not seem to be any widgets available through Nike or out in the Wilderness that support posting your data on your blog, for instance. The graphics are great, but I think in order to publish them, I would have to scrape a screen shot, manipulate it in Gimp or something, upload it somewhere, and then post it to my blog. Huge pain in the gluteus maximus.
But these complaints aren't dissuading me from using the darn thing. I look forward to my runs if only because I will be able to view my performance in their beautiful charts and graphs. Yes, I am a geek. I'm happy with it.
I happened upon your blog from the complete running network. I was glad I read your review. I'm gadget guy, too and had been wondering the Nike+. Too bad about not being able to pull statistics. I use Bones in Motion - data is uploaded automatically from my GPS enabled phone. I'll have something on my blog soon about it. You can see what the output looks like on my blog at www.adventuresofrussellandgreg.com
ReplyDeleteYou might want to check out www.runometer.com if you are interested in posting your results on a blog or so. You can also draw your own runs and couple them with the Nike+ data.
ReplyDeleteThe layout is the complete opposite of the Nike+ site, minimal but super fast. You'll also notice they use the raw data stored on your iPod, providing a much less sleek speed versus time plot than the Nike+ site makes you believe.
In case you're real do-it yourself data grinder, this site explains how you can acces the xml files on your iPod with the run logs.
Thanks, Greg and Leov, for your comments. I tried out runometer.com, and I may have found a new obsession. I spent more time than I probably should have diving into the site and uploading my data. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteThe Nike+ system is awesome for helping you to get motivated and tracking your progress. We are trying to take the Nike+ site to the next level by adding a community features and specialized challenge controls.
ReplyDeleteIf you are interested in trying out the runnerplus site, sign up for our beta program using the invite code "VRBLOG"
http://www.runnerplus.com
I was having the same problem with the lack of widgets. I will try the suggestions in the other comments.
ReplyDelete