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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,278
30,339



Apple has started selling the Nike+ FuelBand (in two new colors) in Apple Retail Stores and the Online Store in the US, Canada and the UK. In some ways it's surprising that it took this long for Apple to begin carrying the wristband which launched early this year; we noted Monday that Apple likes to carry app-enabled accessories.

NewImage46.png
Apple CEO Tim Cook is a Nike board member and noted fitness enthusiast and has disclosed in the past that he wears a FuelBand.
The Nike+ FuelBand is an innovative wrist-based device that tracks and measures the user's activity during any given day and designates a score for the activity in the form of NikeFuel. NikeFuel is a normalized score that awards all users of the Nike+ FuelBand equal scoring for the same activity regardless of their physical make up. The Nike+ FuelBand also captures and displays time, calories and steps. An intuitive mobile application allows the user to review all the activity captured by the product.
The Nike+ FuelBand is available for $149 in a number of sizes, both in Apple Retail Stores and online.

Article Link: Apple Begins Selling the Nike+ FuelBand in Stores and Online
 

finnns2000

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2006
192
48
Pineapple under the sea
It looks awesome, but what a piece of garbage the FuelBand is. I was one of the first adopters, and since then went through 4 replacements before selling the last one on eBay. It can motivate you when it works, but that's rare.
 

Nozuka

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2012
3,527
5,996
This band is probably part of the history books in the movie "in time"
 

OldSchoolMacGuy

Suspended
Jul 10, 2008
4,197
9,050
I prefer my Jawbone UP. Too bad they fail so often. I bought mine in December because they announced they'd be refunding all purchases yet continuing to support them. So basically I paid $99 then got a $106 check and got to keep the band. Works great.... when it works. They fail, a lot. I've gone through 10 since December and would have gone through more but they ran out of them about a month ago so I'm now waiting for more to come in so they can send me another one just to have it fail again after a month or so they seem to last.

At first when they issued the recall press release, they claimed they had tracked the problem to 2 capacitors. Sorry but that's not the issue. If it was, they would have simply replaced them and been back in business right away. It's almost a year later now and they haven't released them back to the market. Obviously more than that is going on.

Still, when they work, they're great. Plug it into your iPhone to download all the data. Nice to be able to map out my running and biking routes. Wakeup feature works great at getting you up and feeling refreshed.

Hope they release them again soon. Then they'll start putting more attention back into them and hopefully we'll see some updated to them and the iOS app.
 

iPhD

macrumors member
Jun 22, 2007
66
64
FitBit does this too for less $$

fitbit.com
The fitbit tracker is also more discrete than the Nike version, fitting on a waistband. Another piece of data the fitbit tracks is number of flights of stairs ascended. Because commercial flights differ from residential flights, the fitbit awards 1 flight of ascension for every 10 feet change in altitude.

Before you ask, yes, I have become a bit of a data hound and find myself walking around my house or up and down stairs to earn higher values for the day. Walking without the fitbit now feels useless if I can't track this exercise against that of other days.
 

Menopause

macrumors 6502a
Feb 26, 2011
663
1,807
If Apple puts iCrap on it site then the iSheeple will follow.

And you? Are you that lonely that you are wandering the iCrap/Sheeple forums, spreading pointless garbage?

----------

It looks awesome, but what a piece of garbage the FuelBand is. I was one of the first adopters, and since then went through 4 replacements before selling the last one on eBay. It can motivate you when it works, but that's rare.

May be you just had awfully bad luck, but 4 of my neighbors and I have it, we never ran into any problem whatsoever. Please refrain yourself from misleading people by calling it names. It's a great product.
 

gmanist1000

macrumors 68030
Sep 22, 2009
2,832
824
It looks awesome, but what a piece of garbage the FuelBand is. I was one of the first adopters, and since then went through 4 replacements before selling the last one on eBay. It can motivate you when it works, but that's rare.

I've had one since June and mine still works fine.
 

IGregory

macrumors 6502a
Aug 5, 2012
669
6
So, Tim is on the Nike's Board of Directors. He must be pulling in a lot of dough.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
8,802
11,240
I think I'm missing the point of all this... It used to be that people ran a few miles to get exercise. If you wanted to know how far you ran, you looked at a map, or drove the route in your car. If you wanted to know if you were burning enough calories to stay fit, you looked in the mirror or stepped on a scale.

Is the point of this thing to give you exercise "credit" for walking to the mailbox and then provide an indirect estimate of how many jelly donuts you've earned?

Counting steps? I know I've walked enough steps when I've gotten where I'm going. Does it have an audio output or something so the blind can use it to dead reckon?

And isn't "normalized scoring" to factor out body build just a way of saying that having no idea how big you are is a feature not a bug?
 

finnns2000

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2006
192
48
Pineapple under the sea
And you? Are you that lonely that you are wandering the iCrap/Sheeple forums, spreading pointless garbage?

----------



May be you just had awfully bad luck, but 4 of my neighbors and I have it, we never ran into any problem whatsoever. Please refrain yourself from misleading people by calling it names. It's a great product.

So? A look around the internetz and you can see many are having problems with this thing. This is not just a "me" issue, and refrain from misleading people with your lucky string of luck. Shouldn't be a crapshoot for $150.

I've had one since June and mine still works fine.

4 months, not bad but knock on wood. Longest one worked for me was 2 months.
 

iPhD

macrumors member
Jun 22, 2007
66
64
If you wanted to know how far you ran, you looked at a map, or drove the route in your car.

True, but that doesn't work inside buildings. And steps is also a measure of exercise. I aim for 10,000 steps a day–and this includes my 2 mile roundtrip walk to work–but there is no way I can walk and, well, count steps at the same time.

I don't use the data to justify a doughnut. I use the data as motivation to walk instead of jumping in the car for those two miles every day. It is an extrinsic motivator for me that works.
 

bstpierre

macrumors 6502a
Mar 28, 2008
542
155
I think I'm missing the point of all this... It used to be that people ran a few miles to get exercise. If you wanted to know how far you ran, you looked at a map, or drove the route in your car. If you wanted to know if you were burning enough calories to stay fit, you looked in the mirror or stepped on a scale.

Is the point of this thing to give you exercise "credit" for walking to the mailbox and then provide an indirect estimate of how many jelly donuts you've earned?

Counting steps? I know I've walked enough steps when I've gotten where I'm going. Does it have an audio output or something so the blind can use it to dead reckon?

And isn't "normalized scoring" to factor out body build just a way of saying that having no idea how big you are is a feature not a bug?

It's a motivational tool and it gives the user a more concrete and immediate answer to the question "Are they working out enough?" than looking in the mirror.

Also, counting steps encourages some people to take the longer route instead of the quicker one.

If you ever become Digital Kid you may understand it better. ;-)
 

Chupa Chupa

macrumors G5
Jul 16, 2002
14,835
7,396
Fitbit has more features and is cheaper

fitbit.com
The fitbit tracker is also more discrete than the Nike version, fitting on a waistband. Another piece of data the fitbit tracks is number of flights of stairs ascended. Because commercial flights differ from residential flights, the fitbit awards 1 flight of ascension for every 10 feet change in altitude.

Before you ask, yes, I have become a bit of a data hound and find myself walking around my house or up and down stairs to earn higher values for the day. Walking without the fitbit now feels useless if I can't track this exercise against that of other days.

I like the fitbit better myself except that its not a bracelet. I lost two FBs because of that so went FuelBand. I wish they'd make a bracelet style.

Only thing I hate about Fuel Band is that it's constantly under reporting my activity. But it keeps me motivated just the same. I lost 30lbs & 3in off waist thanks to it & better eating habits. Also improved my passive heartbeat per min & heart rate recovery. Maybe I'm a sheep for buying one but I'm a healthy one.
 
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