I just started playing around with the ‘Nike + iPod’ pedometer that I bought a couple of months ago. After a few fits and starts, it finally seems to be agreeing with my iPhone and recording data.  Now that I have it up and running and appearing to work properly, I figured I’d give it a bit of a review with regular updates as I get familiar with it.

Pros:

1. Based on a long walk I took today, my first major test of the gadget, the distance recorded seems to be quite accurate.  I have driven the route I take from the office to home, and I measured it at just about 3.8 miles. The pedometer measured the distance I walked at 3.8 miles exactly.  So there doesn’t seem to be much calibrating needed in this case, although a few calibrations might prove helpful.
2. The ‘Nike + iPod’ user interface on the iPhone is very elegant and simple to use. Shouldn’t be very difficult for anyone to figure out. Apple is so good at creating simple and elegant user interfaces that even 1 year old kids can figure it out.
3. The ‘Calorie’ feature is pretty cool, described as ‘A workout with a calorie burning goal’. I need to do a little research to find out how accurate the calorie burn information is when considering both the time of the workout and the rigorousness of it. I usually take the most conservative estimate of calorie burning in a period of time. Exercise machines are always to liberal in their calorie burn estimates, sometimes doubling what it probably is in reality.
4. The history feature is useful, especially for when I need to transfer exercise information into my ‘Lose It!‘ iPhone app. I suppose it’s too much to ask for an export feature to ‘Lose It!’…

Cons:

1. If you are in the middle of a walk while using the pedometer and someone calls you, the workout stops while the phone call is in progress.  Not sure why they can’t keep the workout going since one would probably want to walk and talk at the same time.  One can look up contact information or browse web pages when talking with the iPhone.  Why not workout too?  Looks like something overlooked that feature.
2. I suppose one has to buy special shoes from Nike in order to have a convenient place to put the pedometer. I am placing mine under the shoe laces and ‘tongue’ of my shoe, which can be a little uncomfortable.  But I may stick with this for a while or else fasten the device somehow into my shoe.

More updates as I become more familiar with the device.

Update (9/17/09):

Thanks to a friend of mine, I found out about the ‘Gmaps Pedometer‘, a tool that will help give you the exact distance of your walk/run for when you are calibrating your pedometer. You can even draw your route, which is good for those that have preferences for moving in not-so-straight lines and prefer to cross fields, wade across rivers or jump over high buildings. Check it out at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com.