I missed last Sunday morning run. Then, I did the next day (16/04), Monday morning run in Mega Kuningan district of Jakarta. Met Asep Hadian that was train for his first marathon, but I just did easy jog for 3.2 km. Everything is fine, as usual. I tracked my run with Nike+ Sportband paired with shoe sensor and Polar Wearlink+ heartrate monitor.

Finished the run, and bought breakfast in the neighbourhood. As usual, over the breakfast, I plugged the SportBand (technically, the unit is called SportBand Link) to my MacBook's USB port to sync the data and read the statistics.

The Link's display showed "CHRG" (which means it is currently charging the battery), but the Nike+ Connect did not shown up nor launched. I unplugged the Link and plugged it to another USB port. Still "CHRG", and still no Nike+ Connect. I launched Nike+ Connect app manually. It said there's no device plugged. Then, I restarted my Mac, to make sure my Mac is okay.

While the Mac was restarting, I cleaned the "USB electrode" on the Link. Maybe the electrode was dirty and caused the USB data not connected to the computer. After the reboot, the problem still happened: not detected. Then I launched the Nike+ Connect app manually, and still said there's no device plugged.

After waiting for few minutes, the Nike+ Connect finally "detect" my SportBand link. But, it said that my link was in "unusable state" and its firmware had to be "updated". Then, I followed the instruction to update it. While updating the firmware, the Link's screen show scramble (randomized pixel), but the firmware update process still running. I waited until the process finished.

When the update finished, the Link's screen goes blank. No response when I push any button on the Link. Nike+ Connect app also did not detect the link when plugged to the Mac's USB. Link's display still blank.

I tweeted this case, and @nikeplus recommended to do the "reset" with holding both toggle and record button for 10 seconds. I did it, and nothing happened. Display is still blank.

I bought my SportBand in December 2009 from Nike Store Sun Plaza, Medan. It has tracked my run for more than 800 km, and also thousands heartbeats. If people mostly got the sensor dead first, not on my case. The bundled sensor still works well. In recent weeks, the SportBand not shows any symptoms. Even battery issues. So, I don't think the battery is dead.

Okay, my SportBand is considered dead. I still have my iPhone 3GS that I can use to track my run, paired with the shoe sensor. But, I can't paired the iPhone with heartrate monitor. So, the Polar heartrate would be useless. Should I buy the new Nike+ SportBand? Probably yes since I prefer to use SportBand that bringing iPhone while running. Even with the armband.

SportBand is relatively outdated. Moreover when SportWatch with GPS tracking is available. Both SportBand and SportWatch are compatible with my Polar heartrate. So, SportWatch is also a nice alternative, especially after the price was cut from 199 USD to 169 USD, it becomes more interesting upgrade of SportBand.

Would I buy Nike+ SportWatch? As an upgrade, yes. But, since it is currently not available in Nike Store Indonesia and @nikeplus have not yet announced a release date for the Nike+ SportWatch GPS in Indonesia, I have to buy it from Amazon. It will cost more for shipping, and I have to wait for couple week. Even with price-cut, it costs more than twice of Sportband. This could be another investment consideration.

Another consideration is related to my vision to be a triathlete. SportWatch currently just can track running. It can't used to track cycling and swimming. But, since it uses GPS, technologically it is possible to track cycling. It just the matter of software. According the Nike's move to training and basket ball for Nike+ product line, it is possible that Nike will exploring the triathlete domain. With firmware update, SportWatch is possible to track cycling. But since SportWatch can not be used for swimming, perhaps Nike will launch the "upgrade" in the future that could used for triathlon. Nike TriWatch, perhaps?

So, for a while I'll just stick with the iPhone and armband.

— AdhamPlus.