Nike FuelBand Product Review

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Things have been extremely busy for me lately, so I thought I would take some time to sit down and write down some of the things that have been on my mind. I am waiting for spring to come so I can finally workout outside again, but how can you not love those workouts in the cold! I am going to try for my first product review of the Nike Fuelband, and will try not to keep it too long, enjoy!

The recently bought the Nike Fuelband which allows you to track your Nike “fuel,” which is basically Nike’s version of Calories burned. It does track your calories burned, as well as steps taken, and displays the time.

How Does it work?

NikeFuel is based on oxygen kinetics, says Stefan Olander, Nike’s VP of digital sport. “The intensity of the activity can be measured by quantifying the change in oxygen uptake between rest and being active,” he says. Nike uses an accelerometer in the fuelband to track activity.

Glen Gaesser, an exercise and wellness professor at Arizona State University who worked with Nike to develop FuelBand, conducted a study to develop the relationship between the data from the Fuelband and Oxygen uptake from a metabolic cart. He says 30 college-aged men and women performed various everyday movements in his lab. Each activity took eight minutes, followed by a brief rest, during a 90-minute workout. Participants wore a FuelBand along with a portable metabolic measurement system that tracked their oxygen uptake breath-by-breath. Nike engineers used the data to develop the proprietary algorithms that track accelerometer data accompanying each uptake of oxygen. That forged a relationship between physical movements and oxygen data in which each activity has a recognized accelerometry pattern.

The Good

I think Nike did a very good job with their marketing, product design, and style. There are not many other devices you can wear on your wrist, and look somewhat stylish, and not be embarrassed to wear it all day. Other pedometer devices clip on your waistband, and would not wear well in certain settings. I also like the fact that Nike took the time to get real time data from real people using sophisticated equipment. When Nike does something they usually do it right, so I appreciate that although the device may over/under-compensate, I think at the end of the day it will balance out, and I can hang my hat on it should be fairly accurate. One of my favorite features in the real time spectrum readout of your fuel level. If you did not get a lot of activity that day it will be in the “red.” If you hit your goal and were very active that day your fuel band will read in the “green.” I think this feature in particular is very motivating and helps people hit their daily goal, and get moving more often.  It is very discouraging to see yourself in the “red.” With motivation being a major factor in weight loss, I think this feature is a necessity in upcoming models. Battery life seems to be great, I wear it all day for 3 days and it was not even half way gone. There is also bluetooth and iphone connectivity are for the Apple geeks out there. I do not use either, I just use the online web feature, which is fun to look at your results which are saved to the device each day.

The Bad

The good does not come without the bad, and although I like the product overall I see many areas for improvement. For one the charging cord should be universal and compatible with other nike devices. I have a Nike Sport watch and I now have a tangle of cords on my desk because both products use different charging ports. Also, the LED display should have the option to stay on so I don’t have to constantly press the button when I am midway through my run, which can be very annoying. Also I want dual functionality of a watch, pedometer, gps, heart rate, etc. I don’t want to have a line of Nike products on my arm, even though that is what their exec’s want. Another major drawback is that it is not water proof. If your designing a fitness gadget, I think the one of the key aspects is waterproof functionality for all the swimmers out there. Nike dropped the ball on that one. Finally, if your doing a spin class and your arms don’t move, the band does not read that as activity which is a major drawback. One work around I have done is to put the fuel band on my ankle, and even though it does not clip in, I know it is counting the activity. It may be grossly inaccurate in the case if your spinning or on a bike, because the algorithms were not derived from ankle, and the speed and acceleration is completely different.

Bottom Line

I love the Fuelband, because I think it gives people a concrete answer to their physical activity levels, instead of the old school breakdown of Sedentary, Active, Highly Active. People overestimate their own activity so I think this device brings it back down to reality. I also love the fuel display from a spectrum from red to green, and the LED’s are a nice addition. Battery life seems to be great as well. The price point in quite high at $149, but I don’t think it is too unreasonable, especially if your a health geek like me. Try it out!