MS Band (L) compared to Nike Fuel Band (XL) and Nike Plus Sports Watch

[yaggs]

I picked up a large MS Band this morning! Soooo excited for this product. I have been using Nike + products since they came out to track runs... I was previously using a Nike Fuel Band SE (XL with NO insert) and when I went for a run I used a Nike Plus Sports Watch. I love the watch but it is HUGE... great battery life even after doing a couple of runs on GPS... but it didn't track daily stuff so I needed a fuel band for that.

I have to say the prospect of a since device with built in GPS, all day step and workout tracking, and notifications just sounds too good to be true but so far the MS Band is GREAT!

Also... I have been using it since around 3:00pm EST (it's now 9:30pm ish) and I have done a 1.5 mile run WITH GPS and I have the all day heart monitor off and watch mode turned ON and I am at about 90% battery life. So the 48 hours sounds like it will probably be a pretty good estimate based on my use so far... we will see in a day or two!

I am posting some pics comparing the sizes of the devices I have... the MS band isn't really any bigger than the Nike Fuel band I have and I'll tell everyone now, the adjustable clasp it great. The fuelband only changes sizes by adding or removing a spacer from the device using a tool and the XL without a spacer was just a little too big and it always moved around on my arm. It's great to have a device fitting perfectly!

 

[Kathleen Chabin]

Hi
I'm thinking about buying the Band because I love all the features, but I have been using the Nike + running app for years. I'd love to know if the MS Band will run the Nike + app. I've emailed customer support, but no response just yet. Are you able to use your Nike + account or do you use whatever running app comes with the band? \

thanks,
Kathleen

 

[gadgetrants]

Hey Kathleen, welcome to the club (or almost, I guess)! What a cool thread -- thanks for digging it up!

Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer, but here are my 2 cents: I have an Android phone and the only app the Band will talk to is the Microsoft Health App. I presume it looks and feels pretty much the same on a Windows Phone or an iPhone. As you probably know, the Band and the app communicate through Bluetooth -- another fun fact is that you can run or bike or whatever with your phone at home, and the Band will dump your activity data as soon as they reconnect.

Once the data hit the Health app on the phone, you have some more flexibility. In my case, for example, because of the way accounts are linked, my run data automatically sync to mapmyrun.com -- without doing anything extra, I can see my GPS data, heartrate, etc. all at mapmyrun after each workout. Pretty seamless. FWIW once the data arrive at mapmyrun, I can view it either from a webpage or within the mapmyrun app on my phone.

I suspect all this functionality is what you're looking for, with Nike+. Unfortunately I can't say if that's the case (yet) -- perhaps there is another owner here who can confirm. Otherwise, I just took a peek at the Health Dashboard (web page for viewing Band data) and it only lists these 4 partners: RunKeeper, myfitnesspal, HealthVault, and mapmyfitness (including the splinter sites mapmyrun/walk, etc.). My guess is Nike+ hasn't joined the party yet.

​-Matt

PS A very clumsy option would be to export your run data after each workout and import it into the Nike app (I just did a bit of this today with mapmyrun). Not a good long-term solution though!