Using the Fuelband SE
Using the fuelband is simple – just put it on and go about your daily business, whether that is going for a run or a walk, or just normal everyday tasks, you don’t have to do anything.
The fuelband app runs on both Windows and Mac and enables to you make changes and set goals.
The changes include what you want to display on the fuelband, time, name, orientation, etc.
It is very easy to change your goal for the next day. If you are constantly hitting and exceeding your daily goal, you should really increase it. There are also goal celebrations to give you that sense of achievement – you can turn them off if you don’t like them – personally anything telling me I am doing a good job is fine with me!
You can also view your profile – although you can only edit your profile on the Nike Plus website.
Final Thoughts
Unlike the original Nike+ Fuelband, the SE comes in a variety of colours, including Yellow, Red, Pink and Black The main part of the fuelband is black for all four colours, with elements being the colour of your choosing. There are also small (5.79 inches / 147mm), medium/large (6.77 inches / 172mm) and extra-large (7.76 inches / 197mm) fuelbands.
If the fuelband is not comfortable when you first put it on, you can use the included additional link to make it bigger – it’s very simple to do, and only takes a few seconds.
There was a Rose Gold special edition available, but that has long since been sold out!
The fuelband is very light and for the most part unobtrusive, so once you put it on, you often forget its actually there (although sometimes when sitting at a desk it can sometimes get in the way). Nike also say that it is water resistant, but don’t wear it in the bath, although they say it can be worn in the shower, but I am not going to risk it (I like long showers)!
I liked that there was only a single button on the fuelband that does everything you need, from telling you the time, to monitoring your progress, seeing how many steps you have made, enabling or disabling Bluetooth and even seeing how much battery remains.
There is an ambient light sensor detects environmental light levels and adjusts accordingly, thus making it easier to read the display.
The iOS app is a great addition and makes it very easy for you to track your progress and even make changes without the need to connect the fuelband back to your computer. You can also compare you progress again that of your friends, which adds some healthy competition. Unfortunately at this time there is no Android version of the app.
The battery lasts several days (although do check as a couple of times I didn’t check and when I wanted to see how I was doing I found there was no power). The battery life is much better on the SE than on the original fuelband, primarily due to the use of Bluetooth 4.0.
It is surprising how addictive using the fuelband can be. I often found myself checking how well I was doing against my goal, and even sometimes doing that little bit extra just so I could reach it! I can honestly say I wouldn’t normally do that!
I also liked that you could just double tap the button to see what the time was!
If you want to get fit, or even just monitor how many steps you take each day, then the Nike+ Fuelband SE is worth every penny.
The Nike+ Fuelband SE is available now for £129.
You can learn more about the Nike+ Fuelband SE from the Nike website.
