TECH: Nike GPS Watch | Level Base Gaming

Nike GPS Watch | TomTom

NIKE GPS WATCH

Does Nike and TomTom have a watch that stays on track?

by Oscar Parada

For those of you who are years little late in the game, Nike had announced back in April of 2014 that it was doing away with all of its hardware development and going strictly software. At the time the FuelBand was their go to wearable tracker before laying off their hardware division. Even though Nike no longer develops hardware they still do support their legacy devices...which is crucial because I still own and actively use their Nike+ Sportwatch GPS. You can still find this watch for sale, new or used, if you search for in on sites like Amazon (duh!).

As I’ve mentioned before in one of my previous reviews...fitness is a very huge part of my life. If I miss a day that is not planned then I tend to lose my $h!t. It’s who I am and as you can tell by the screenshot below from my Nike+ profile page I have been a user of Nike’s service as well as of their GPS for well over 10 years even though I’ve been running well before that:

I’ve been running well before GPS watches were becoming a regular tool in a runners arsenal and this watch has pretty much been the only GPS style watch that I’ve ever owned and used. Now even though this has been the only watch for me I am on watch #2 of this brand. The original watch I had came in the black and neon green color:

Nike GPS Watch | TomTom

I’ve been running well before GPS watches were becoming a regular tool in a runners arsenal and this watch has pretty much been the only GPS style watch that I’ve ever owned and used. Now even though this has been the only watch for me I am on watch #2 of this brand. The original watch I had came in the black and neon green color:

After having a few issues with my laptop/desktop recognizing the watch I had reached out to Nike support and they were happy enough to have me go to a Nike store and have them replace the watch with another model of the same time. I recall going there and the store associates making a big deal because all they could give me was a black and red one, which I didn’t see it as a problem at all.

Ever since then it’s been this watch that has been tracking all of my miles. It wasn’t until recently that I wondered how many miles did I log on so...as per the Nike+ website I have ran just a little over the distance from my town in NJ to Salt Lake City, UT:

Keep in mind that these statistics are an accumulation of 10+ years of running. Sometimes I would run religiously, other times life would get in the way in where I forgot that I was lover of the sport, and there have been times in where I even forgot that I had this watch. But I love this watch and it’s been good to me. Even though it acquired some bumps and scratches over the years. Even the cover that goes over the USB connector broke off but I still have that piece. It keeps the strap nice and secure during my run so I’m not looking forward to the day in where I lose it. Here’s to hoping!!

Any way...why do I love this watch so much? SIMPLICITY! It’s because of how simple it is to navigate through it. There are no tricky menu options to go through. Just press and hold Select button for 3 seconds and the watch begins the process of linking itself to the GPS satellites.

It is good practice to connect your watch to your laptop/desktop with the Nike+ Connect app launched. Doing so will log any recent runs/workouts and, most importantly, update its satellite data:

If you don’t do this step and you try linking your watch then you might be waiting for a bit as the watch will try to find a satellite using the old GPS coordinates. So make sure you update your watch before getting lost on your run.

Configuring this watch is best done while having your watch connected to your laptop/desktop:

If you don’t do this step and you try linking your watch then you might be waiting for a bit as the watch will try to find a satellite using the old GPS coordinates. So make sure you update your watch before getting lost on your run.

Configuring this watch is best done while having your watch connected to your laptop/desktop:

Here I can set the watch to display what I want during my runs. I have it set to display my pace rather than my speed. You can even set the top portion of the display to loop between pace, average pace, distance, calories, clock, lap time, and distance. I have this option disabled as, to me, the 2 most important factors are pace and distance. Obviously the shorter my pace the faster I’m going. Once you close out of the Settings option then your configurations will be transferred to your watch and ready to go.

During your runs you’ll barely notice that you have the watch on considering it’s bulkiness. I’ve gone on run with this thing in the rain, snow, blazing heat, and blistering cold. This thing holds up pretty damn well. It seems to capture your distance pretty accurately and I find myself a lot of times confirming the distance it recorded and the distance I mark on Google Maps. It also came with a sensor pod that you can either insert in your shoe if you had a pair of Nikes that came with the groove in the sole that allowed you to fit the pod into or you can tie it around your laces. This was mostly used with you were running on an indoor track and where GPS was inaccessible.

There is one thing that I did find a bit odd. It’s when I go on runs with my girlfriend, who has the exact same watch. We’ll start our watches at the same time but we end up running different distances to record the same distances on our watches. So when we ran a 5K with our watches on she ended up reaching that distance before I did. This meant I had to run a bit father in order for my watch to register that I ran a 5K. I jumped on Google Maps after we syched our data and it seems that her watch recorded a little less distance than what it originally should have. We reached out to Nike support about this but haven’t heard back from them yet.

So...you went out for a run and it’s recorded in your watch. Now what!?!?

When you’re done with your adventure outside you simple come back to your laptop/desktop and plug it into any USB port. The Nike+ Connect app will begin transferring the data from the watch to the Nike+ website automatically. Once complete you will be taken to the Nike+ website in where, once logged in, your data is displayed to you in an awesome map, with mile points, and a graph that lays out the elevation and intensity during your bout with the pavement or trail:

It also provides you numerical data on your split times, the actual distance, your average pace, the duration of your run, and how much NikeFuel you earned. As per Nike, NikeFuel is a way to measure all-day movement when using their devices. A more detailed explanation of what that is can be found by clicking here.

I really don’t know if I want to invest in another GPS watch should this one go under. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love this watch and the data it captures but with the money I forked over for my WHOOP I’m not sure if I want to invest in another data capturing device to track my mileage. Then again, knowing me and the techie that I am...I’ll probably end up getting another GPS watch just so that it can track my runs cause yeah. TECH!

I just wonder which one. Hmmmm…..