gps kit for ipod

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October 13th, 2008 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

What’s more accurate for runners, an Ipod + Nike Kit or Garman Forerunner 101?

I just ran what I figured to be 4 miles. I ran with the Ipod + Nike Kit and also a Garmin Forerunner 101 GPS watch. The 2 devices disagreed with my distances by quite a bit. The Ipod device said I had reached 4 miles, while the Garmin only said 3.6 Miles. I like tracking my distance so this is too big of a difference. I did not use the special Nike shoe, and put the sensor in one one of those “shoe wallets” that connect to your shoe laces (if that matters). Help!

Hard to tell from the details you have given but both have problems with accurate distance measurement. The Nike+ system claims to be 95% accurate when used in the shoe and looses some when used in a foot pod ‘sock’. The Garmins are meant to be more accurate but can be affected in built up areas where the signal is bounced between tall buildings.

3.6 miles is 10% less than 4 miles and if both were wrong by 5% that could be the difference – each was wrong in opposite ways. You can go to a map website like mapometer to measure the route and see which is nearer.

I would suspect though that the foot pod and Nike+ was wrong but I don’t like them much (Nike have a nice bit of kit tie you in to buying their Nike+ trainers and using an Apple MP3 player… neither of which might be what you, as a runner want to use).

When I have run in races that are accurately measured my Garmin is usually fairly good – and not with these accurate routes that although they are measured with a measuring wheel, no runner ever sticks to the shortest route and so the distance on the GPS or foot pod will be more and not the measured distance.

The important thing about tracking your distance is to be consistent with it so pick one or the other and the error will be the same for you and so you can still track the distance you run.