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Since 2003, I've tried several fitness accessories that use the Global Positioning System system to tell you how far and how fast you're running. I have generally liked them, exclude for the fact that they don't work well in big cities.
Many runners I know accept one of this devices — usually a watch that gets signals from GPS satellites in the sky to calculate distance and accelerate. These don't offer street maps, the way GPS devices in cars do, but some models have rudimentary navigation features to help acquire you back to your starting point. Some also try to coach you — they'll beep when you are going faster or slower than your specified target.
Nike's $200 SportWatch GPS doesn't offer that. What you get alternatively is a simplified device that works exceptionally well in big cities, including my hometown New York.
The trouble with big cities is that tall buildings block some of the GPS signals. It might take 10 or 15 minutes for a device to find the signals, rather than just a minute or so elsewhere. As the weather gets colder, I'd prefer starting my run sooner and spending lower time standing around outside waiting for the watch to activate.
The SportWatch addresses these shortcomings in two important ways.
As long as you plug the watch in to a computer regularly, applying a standard USB port, it retrieves data that can help locate signals faster.
It also has a backup system when no signal is uncommitted at all. The SportWatch comes with a small sensor that attaches to your shoe and measures the amount of time between footsteps and the time your foot is on the ground. The SportWatch picks up that information wirelessly and uses it to calculate pace and distance.
With this backup, you can start your run before the SportWatch finds the GPS signals. The device acts even when you're running through a tunnel or on the lower level of a bridge — places GPS can't always reach. The SportWatch automatically goes back to using the more accurate GPS system once it gets signals again.
Unfortunately, the backup sensor system is designed specifically for Nike shoes, which have slots assembled into them to hold the sensors. Runners can be quite particular about their shoes, and wrong ones can lead to injuries, as I've learned the hard way.
The good news is that many running stores sell Velcro attachments for other shoes, though you won't find out about them in Nike's manuals. I've found in years of testing that these third-party attachments don't work as well as Nike shoes, but a new auto-calibration feature should abbreviate the errors in calculating distance and pace.
The SportWatch, which incorporates a GPS receiver arrived at by TomTom, has clear improvements over earlier models from Nike and others, though I stop short of giving it a ringing endorsement.
I find that it tries to simplify too much and allows for little customization.
Many of the settings can't be changed directly from the watch. You have to create an online account and download free software package from Nike to make such adjustments from a computer. abcnews.go.com
Many runners I know accept one of this devices — usually a watch that gets signals from GPS satellites in the sky to calculate distance and accelerate. These don't offer street maps, the way GPS devices in cars do, but some models have rudimentary navigation features to help acquire you back to your starting point. Some also try to coach you — they'll beep when you are going faster or slower than your specified target.
Nike's $200 SportWatch GPS doesn't offer that. What you get alternatively is a simplified device that works exceptionally well in big cities, including my hometown New York.
The trouble with big cities is that tall buildings block some of the GPS signals. It might take 10 or 15 minutes for a device to find the signals, rather than just a minute or so elsewhere. As the weather gets colder, I'd prefer starting my run sooner and spending lower time standing around outside waiting for the watch to activate.
The SportWatch addresses these shortcomings in two important ways.
As long as you plug the watch in to a computer regularly, applying a standard USB port, it retrieves data that can help locate signals faster.
It also has a backup system when no signal is uncommitted at all. The SportWatch comes with a small sensor that attaches to your shoe and measures the amount of time between footsteps and the time your foot is on the ground. The SportWatch picks up that information wirelessly and uses it to calculate pace and distance.
With this backup, you can start your run before the SportWatch finds the GPS signals. The device acts even when you're running through a tunnel or on the lower level of a bridge — places GPS can't always reach. The SportWatch automatically goes back to using the more accurate GPS system once it gets signals again.
Unfortunately, the backup sensor system is designed specifically for Nike shoes, which have slots assembled into them to hold the sensors. Runners can be quite particular about their shoes, and wrong ones can lead to injuries, as I've learned the hard way.
The good news is that many running stores sell Velcro attachments for other shoes, though you won't find out about them in Nike's manuals. I've found in years of testing that these third-party attachments don't work as well as Nike shoes, but a new auto-calibration feature should abbreviate the errors in calculating distance and pace.
The SportWatch, which incorporates a GPS receiver arrived at by TomTom, has clear improvements over earlier models from Nike and others, though I stop short of giving it a ringing endorsement.
I find that it tries to simplify too much and allows for little customization.
Many of the settings can't be changed directly from the watch. You have to create an online account and download free software package from Nike to make such adjustments from a computer. abcnews.go.com
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