Nike Fuelband SE review

The original Nike FuelBand wasn’t the first activity tracker; it wasn’t even the first wrist-based activity tracker. But what Nike achieved with the FuelBand was desirability. Put simply, Nike made activity trackers cool, and really the likes of Fitbit, Jawbone, Withings and Garmin should be grateful for that. The Nike FuelBand SE that we’re looking at today is the second generation device, and Nike listened to its existing users, adding some key features that were missing from the original. At its heart, though, the FuelBand SE sits on your wrist and measures how active you are throughout the day – simple.

Nike Fuelband SE hardware and sizes

The Nike FuelBand SE comes in Small, Medium, Large and X-Large sizes, but in our experience, the Medium should be fine for most users. The reason being that it ships with two extension links in the box, so it should accommodate a wide variety of wrist sizes.

You’ll also find a USB cable in the box, but this is purely for convenience since, unlike the majority of activity trackers, the FuelBand SE doesn’t use a proprietary cable for charging. In fact it doesn’t need to use a cable at all.

Whoever designed the FuelBand should be congratulated, because integrating a USB plug into the band itself was pure genius. Simply unclip the band and the USB plug is revealed, then you can just plug it into a computer or USB charger. The FuelBand SE is good for around four days of use before it needs charging – that’s far from class leading, but good enough not to be frustrating.

Nike Fuelband SE Nike Fuel

Most activity trackers are, in essence, pedometers – they measure the number of steps you take each day. Modern devices like the FuelBand SE are a bit more clever than that, utilising state-of-the-art accelerometers and complex algorithms to measure your every movement.

The FuelBand SE will still tell you how many steps you’ve taken and estimate the number of calories you’ve burned, but its primary measurement is Nike Fuel. So what is Nike Fuel? On one hand it’s an arbitrary measurement that’s designed to keep users within the Nike+ ecosystem, but on the other, it’s a potentially more relevant measurement than steps.

You see the FuelBand SE is clever enough to measure activities other than walking, such as cycling or running, so assigning Nike Fuel points to your day, rather than just counting steps makes sense. And, you’ve still got a step count to fall back on if you want to compare to someone using a different activity tracker.

One measurement that the FuelBand SE doesn’t give you is an estimate of distance walked, which seems odd at first, since most other trackers provide this information. However, when you also consider that without an accurate measurement of your stride length, that estimate will be far from accurate.

Nike Fuelband SE display

The FuelBand SE has a single button on its surface, but unlike the original device, you don’t need to press this to sync with the app on your phone. Because the FuelBand SE uses the latest low-power Bluetooth 4.0 standard, it will automatically sync with your phone whenever you open the app.

That button will bring the LED display to life. This is one of the FuelBand SE’s killer features, since so many activity trackers have no display at all, or something pretty basic at best. The display is made up of 100 tiny LEDs, which tell you all about your activity without the need to get your phone out of your pocket.

Those LEDs will display Fuel points, hours won (more on that later), calories burned, steps and time of day. The latter is particularly useful, since you can use the FuelBand SE as a watch, and a quick double press of the button will display the time of day no matter where you are in the cycle of data.

Nike FuelBand SE Hours and sessions

The FuelBand SE will measure how many hours you win throughout the day. To win an hour you need to be active for at least five solid minutes during that hour. You can even set the device to remind you to get active when the clock is rolling around to the end of an hour – you’ll get a message on the band itself and your phone.

The great thing about winning hours is that it encourages you to get up and get moving when you otherwise might not. Obviously if you’re in a meeting or sitting in your office working, you probably won’t be in a position to get up and wander around for five minutes; but if you happen to be just lazing about on the sofa, that message may give you the impetus to stop being a couch potato.

With Sessions you can tell the FuelBand SE that you’re about to undertake a specific activity. So, if you’re about to go for a run or a bike ride, you simply hold the button on the FuelBand SE down until the word “START” appears, then release and press the button again. You’ll see a three second countdown, after which your Session will start.

When you’ve finished your Session, you just repeat the process above, this time holding the button until “END” is displayed. You can label your Sessions in the app or via the Nike+ website, so you can keep track of your runs, bike rides, gym sessions etc.

If you start a Session when you get into bed, the FuelBand SE will track your sleep. You just need to remember to label that Session as sleep the next morning.

App support

Up until recently you needed to have an iOS device to sync a FuelBand with your phone, and since you need Bluetooth 4.0, that meant an iPhone 4S or newer. However, Nike has now released an Android version of the app, which will no doubt open the FuelBand SE to a much wider market. It will work with any Android 4.3 device or higher that has Bluetooth 4.0.

The app isn’t the best in class, but it’s well designed and easy to navigate. You can look at your Fuel points for the day, look back at your history, examine your totals, check out your Sessions, and see what your friends have achieved. The latter should keep you on your toes if you’ve been a bit lazy.

There are also lots of rewards and trophies to collect to spur you on – hitting your daily target, beating it by 50, 100, 150, 200 per cent and so on. There are badges for winning a certain number of hours, hitting tiers of Fuel points, and achieving landmark totals – it really does feel good when you hit 1,000,000 fuel points!

Conclusion

When Nike first launched the FuelBand SE it cost £129, but that price has now dropped to a far more competitive £89. It’s still a bit more expensive than the Fitbit Flex, but it’s a lot cheaper than the Jawbone UP24.

There are a couple of features missing from the FuelBand SE, though. It would have been nice to have an altimeter built in so you could see how high you’ve climbed each day. Likewise, it’s a shame that the band isn’t waterproof (just water resistent against rain) – if you swim 100 lengths, that won’t count towards your Fuel points.

Despite those niggles, the FuelBand SE is a great activity tracker with a solid ecosystem and community behind it. And if you’re the type that wants to constantly check on your progress throughout the day, that built-in display will be a real bonus. If you can stretch a little further, though, the Jawbone UP24 has a much better app, and is a better fitness tracker.