Nike+ FuelBand. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired.com 
I earned 628 Fuel points on my morning run today.
What’s a Fuel point? It’s an arbitrary metric of how much one runs, walks, skips, jumps, or does pretty much any other activity while wearing Nike+’s FuelBand exercise monitor, which went on sale Wednesday. Wired first covered the FuelBand in January, but I’ve spent the last 24 hours using it, and while it looks flashy on the wrist, I’m underwhelmed by its functionality relative to other products in the wearable exercise monitor space.
If you spend your day fidgeting at your desk and walking around the office to jaw with co-workers, you’ll see your Fuel score rise on this skinny band’s LED display. But if you spend your day shooting hoops, doing interval workouts, and running stairs, the accelerometer in the band will cause your Fuel score to skyrocket.
If so inclined, you can share your Fuel numbers on Facebook and Twitter to thoroughly confuse your friends. Now, it’s possible that people who use Nike+ will have some idea of what you’ve been up to, and the public reports you send to social media do expose your daily totals for steps, calories, and distance.
But the main timeline graph that shows your Fuel points could leave observers perplexed. Nike defines its point system as “a measure of activity … calculated the same for everyone,” and that’s fine and dandy, just as long as everyone knows what that means. The Fuel point scale is Nike’s own proprietary system, and while it’s linked to calories burned, it’s not an industry standard.
How was I active today? Let me count the ways.
Nike is marketing the FuelBand to athletes, but the shoe company already has several more powerful workout monitors in its lineup. The Nike+ SportWatch GPS, which Wired reviewed last July, lets you join the Nike+ community, but adds a GPS and a foot pod to help track distance and map routes, and will even link with Polar heart-rate monitors. Meanwhile, Nike’s SportBand pairs with that same foot pod and records pace, distance, time, and calories. With those tools coming in at $199 and $59 respectively, the $149 retail price of the FuelBand starts to look a little steep for a basic accelerometer-based wrist band, albeit a fancy one.
So don’t expect the FuelBand to replace your workout GPS. That said, while the band doesn’t include a lot of features, it’s still a boldly stylish wrist accessory. Its color LED display is a conversation starter, and in shape and size it resembles a Livestrong bracelet more than a dive watch.
Bling factor aside, any serious FuelBand owner will be more interested in daily activity totals, and it’s satisfying to see calories burned, steps and Fuel points pile up. When you reach your daily goals, you’ll acquire “achievements,” but don’t expect any detailed information about your workout.
The FuelBand pairs with a free iPhone app, which will sync to your Nike+ account in real time via Bluetooth. There’s also an Android app in the works, but I haven’t had a chance to try out either piece of software. Stay tuned for a full review, and if you’ve had the chance to try out the FuelBand yourself, let us know what you thought in the comments.
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