I took my new Nike + running shirt for a spin tonight along with the Nike + iPod Sports Kit, which includes a sensor you place in the sole of your shoe and an adapter that plugs into the iPod Nano. In my case, I don’t have Nike + running shoes so I don’t have the hole in my sole, which means I need to get a little pouch for my Asics.

The problem I had was that only every second or third step was being recorded which was probably because I had the sensor upside down tied under my laces. I’ve since read that it’s very important to have it tight to the shoe and up the right way.

I’ll check the local Nextbyte stores tomorrow to see if they have any of these pouches that I require otherwise it’ll have to be an online purchase. The only problem with that is postage - I found one for $5 but the postage was over $50 to get it to Australia. Or I could get mum to make something for me…

The shirt on the other hand was fantastic. I didn’t realise how much sweat it could soak up, which sounds kinda gross but was really amazing. Having the iPod controls built into the shirt is kinda gimmicky but it works. The downside is you have no idea how your workout is progressing, although you might be able to configure the voice to tell you every few minutes or at certain distance intervals. I’ll investigate further.

Also, the Polar heart rate monitor that I have was reporting all kinds of weird things when I was using the kit, so I fear it’ll be a choice between the two. It would be interesting to see how accurate the Nano is at recording calorie usage, which is what I mostly care about.

Failing all of this, I can drop Nike and Apple and brands and instead switch over to Adidas and Polar, who are doing similar (but better) things with their products.