Around this time last year, my dad went to a health conference with the company he works for, General Electric. At the conference were a number of other companies, all which were presenting some sort of new health and fitness product. One of these companies included Nike, who was presenting their new device called Nike FuelBand. Nike FuelBands are “bracelets” that you wear throughout the day from when you wake up to when you go to sleep, which track your energy output that day. You figure out a daily goal, and the FuelBand tracks your active movement and displays them as “fuel points” in which you can achieve in order to meet your goal. Everyone at the conference got these bracelets for free, and my dad has been addicted ever since.
Although my dad was instantly sold by the Nike FuelBand, I was not so easily convinced of the accurateness of these devices. My question was, “why would someone pay $150 for a speedometer in fancy packaging?” After some research, however, I learned a lot more about how these bands actually go about tracking your activity, and it is not just the amount of steps you take. On the nike website, the page for FuelBands states that “NikeFuel is a single, universal way to measure all kinds of activities- from your morning workout to your big night out. Uniquely designed to measure whole-body movement no matter your age, weight or gender, NikeFuel tracks your active life”. If you’re wondering about how exactly these fit in to your daily routine and measure your activity, the video called A Day With Nike+ FuelBand tracks three different people throughout a day wearing the FuelBand.
Not only are Nike FuelBands great for tracking your daily activity, but they are great for motivating you to reach your daily activity goal. There is a Nike FuelBand app in which FuelBand users can upload their daily activity, set new goals, unlock rewards and surprises for beating your goals, share your success and even see other users around them and connect with each other in order to possibly workout together! You can also plug your FuelBand into your computer and the software will take all of your data from your FuelBand and generate charts and graphs that show your activity history and activity trends! To me, this is a huge appeal of the FuelBand, as seeing this information in front of you on a computer screen can help you understand your progress and motivate you more!
Obviously, Nike FuelBands are not yet perfect, as they have only been out for about a year or so, but they keep on improving, as a new updated version of the FuelBand will be coming out in 2014! This new technology, as small as it seems, is really a key contributor to a new era of personal health and fitness devices. Will you join in the new fad and consider getting a Nike FuelBand? I think I just might.
I think these fuel bands are actually a great invention because America is so focused around technology and new inventions, and this band incorporates both fitness and technology in one. I personally am not technologically savvy, so I wonder how these bracelets really work. Is it similar to that of a pedometer where it marks your steps and energy exerted? Similarly to the comments above, I too feel like because Americas focus is finding the newest thing to appeal to everyone, it will only be a matter of time before they come out with one for women. The site below is a review of someone who has the fuel band, and I found it really interesting to see how peoples opinions varied. Check it out!
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/12/nike-fuelband-se-review-fitness-tracker
The idea of a bracelet that tracks all your energy output throughout the day is so neat! Because it is so much more comprehensive, I agree with you that it is the start of something new in the area of health and fitness technology. As a reply to Sarah’s comment, I feel as though it will only be a matter of time until the come out with another design for women. I am curious about the technology behind this bracelet – how does it measure the energy output? I sure would want to try one though, especially with all the long hikes to the library with finals week coming up!
Here is a review of the fuel band from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gpmzZmpKzA
I think this could be crucial to helping us move towards a “healthier America,” as cheesy as that sounds. America loves a good competition and they also love a good video game. This seems like a little bit of both with the way you can connect and share with friends. However, this video game actually drives you to become healthier! As America becomes more and more obese as a nation, I think inventions like this are extremely important. Here is a well-written list of pros and cons about the Nike fuel band from another consumer.
I had never heard of the Nike FuelBand until I went home for Thanksgiving break a few weeks ago. My uncle had just received one as a gift, and he couldn’t stop bragging about how great it was! My only concern with the bracelets is the fact that they are intended to be worn all day. Although this may not be a problem for males, I feel that Nike will not make as much of a profit from females, due to what the bracelet looks like. This article shows a list of what women should and shouldn’t wear to work, and they stated that wearing the newest trends to work probably isn’t the best idea. http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/09/workplace-office-clothing-women-style_0209_suit.html Other than that, I feel that this is a great change in technology that has the potential to really succeed in helping people stay healthy.
This is an interesting concept. When you brought up the fact that it can measure your activity during a night out, all I could think of was this video (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/onn-exercise-drunk-_n_752229.html). The link is to a video from the Onion, a satirical news organization, which sarcastically suggests that most Americans actually do the most exercise while intoxicated. While the video is not meant to be taken seriously, I’m actually curious to see what kind of output a FuelBand would give your average Penn State student for a night of partying.