Final word on the Nike+ Sports Band

Managed to dry up the Sports Band by keeping it together with a pack of silica gel. So things back to normal? Not yet. Unfortunately now the display is going kaput! Half of the first character on the LCD display has disappeared! So it looks like this is going to be my last say on this product (did I hear applause?) unless the good people at Nike are willing to replace it.

From the forum and my own experience, I think the Nike+ Sports Band was a hastily conceived idea without much thought going into development and even less so into quality control. I believe Nike's objective was to just launch the product, get the people interested, grabbed market share and runners used to it before a competitor come up with a similar product.

So the $99.99 question - to buy or not to buy for those who are still contemplating?

Pro:
Sleek looking time piece suitable for most occasions
Simple and easy to use
Fairly accurate (probably off by about 500metres +/-)
Easy to upload to website
Can be used for all shoes
Very reasonably priced for a product of this nature

Cons:
Poor display - poor contrast, no light
Poor workmanship - not water tight enough; LCD display prone to failure
Incompatibility uploading with certain ISP
Insufficient information gathered for run
Fairly accurate (probably off by about 500metres +/-)

At the end of the day, this is a fairly straight forward simple-to-use gadget for keeping track of distance. At its current selling price, cheaper than some ordinary watches, it is worth buying. It cannot be compared to the other sport watches like the Polar, Garmin, Timex or even Casio which cost much much more. Those are in a different class and serve a 'higher' purpose.

So buy if looking for a basic timepiece just to keep track of the distance ran.

Don't buy if the requirement is to track and analyzes the run information in depth.