Nike+ iPod Sports Kit - do I really need the special shoes?

[Girl_From_Mars]

I’m just about to buy myself an iPod nano to run with, as I am beginning to damage my full size one with all the bouncing, and happened to see this new Nike+ iPod Sports Kit on Apple’s website. The whole thing looks really cool and I think it would be useful in making my outdoor runs more productive. The issue is that I am in Australia, and they aren’t selling it here yet. I still have a UK bank account and can buy the kit from the UK store and have it sent to me here, but from my reading of the site, I need the special Nike shoes in order to fit the pedometer. I’m keen to know whether anyone can tell how this works, and whether I would be able to find a way to use it with my regular running shoes, or whether the special ones are really necessary. Also keen to know whether anyone has tried this or heard anything about it in general?

[N9IWP]

Review: Apple Computer Nike + iPod Sport Kit and Sensor

If you don’t like or can’t afford new Nikes, you have options: the sensor can conceivably be put into any pair of shoes, achieving a near-identical effect to the Nike+ designs, but you’ll have to modify one shoe to make the sensor work. <snip>
Just for kicks, we tried to come up with the cheapest and least shoe-damaging improvised working alternative we could, and developed this: the Timberland+ sandal, which features a two-inch piece of packing tape inside to hold the sensor in place above one foot.

(click on the “Which Nike (and other) Shoes Does it Work With?” link for more)

Brian

[Illinois_Boy]

@Girl From Mars

I’m just about to buy myself an iPod nano to run with, as I am beginning to damage my full size one with all the bouncing, and happened to see this new Nike+ iPod Sports Kit on Apple’s website. The whole thing looks really cool and I think it would be useful in making my outdoor runs more productive. The issue is that I am in Australia, and they aren’t selling it here yet. I still have a UK bank account and can buy the kit from the UK store and have it sent to me here, but from my reading of the site, I need the special Nike shoes in order to fit the pedometer. I’m keen to know whether anyone can tell how this works, and whether I would be able to find a way to use it with my regular running shoes, or whether the special ones are really necessary. Also keen to know whether anyone has tried this or heard anything about it in general?

No. the Chicago Tribune just reviewed the kit in their At Play section, and the reviewer stated a Nike shoe wasn’t necessary. I think with a small piece of duct tape, and maybe an exacto knife, any shoe will work.

[Podkayne]

Shoe hack!

According to this guy, a little velcro on the tongue of your sneaker, and you’re good to go.