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Being an avid runner, I was curious about the new Nike+ Sportwatch GPS.  What does this watch offer that other GPS tracking watches do not (besides the nifty run reminder feature)?  Yes, you can set the watch to remind you to run.  Rejoice, unmotivated souls!

This watch monitors heart rate, pace, distance, calories burned, and total time of each workout while running.  It also stores each run in memory, allowing the watch to alert a runner when a personal record has been beaten.

The display is huge making it easy to read while in the middle of a run, and testers claim that, despite its size, the watch remains comfortable.  In fact, some claim that the Nike watch is more comfortable than the ever-popular Garmin watches.

These are definite advantages, but how well does the GPS tracking feature, powered by TomTom, work?

Reviews of various running watches by the team at Runner’s World Magazine agree that most GPS running watches can’t obtain a signal while a runner is submerged in a wooded area. Some of these watches take as long as 30 seconds to show a runner’s location at the beginning of a run.

As for the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS, reviewers agree that it is just as good as every other running watch. Many argue that the Nike+ watch is even better.  Sadly, it isn’t any better in the woods.

The plus of the Nike+ watch (pun unintended): it comes with a shoe sensor (worn inside your Nike+ shoes or a special pouch, which is attached to  the shoelaces of other brand shoes) that continues to monitor your stats even with loss of satellite signal.

Another advantage of the Nike+ Sportwatch GPS: upon returning home, you can upload run data to the Nike+  website.  Not only can you view the route and stats from the run,  but you’ll also see where you ran your fastest or slowest, along with elevation maps of the course.

The online maps also allow you to see where other Nike+ users prefer to race, at home and around the world.  This feature would certainly come in handy for the runner who travels often and wants an easy way to find the perfect course.

This Nike+ watch has useful applications for runners of any level, and with the addition of the shoe sensor, Nike understands that serious runners need a new way to overcome the problems that exist with current GPS tracking watches.

Article Written by Khristen Foss