Hello old friend. Dusting off the Nike Fuelband.

Wearable fitness tech is a hot topic right now, and with an eye on getting more active throughout the whole day (and not just when running) I've dusted off my old Nike Fuelband for another go.

My rather worn out Nike Fuelband Mk1

Back in 2013 I was contacted by Nike through Twitter and asked if I would be interested in testing something for them. I jumped at the chance and they sent me one of their new Fuelband fitness wristbands. It monitors how much you move around, the steps that you take during the day and translates this activity into NikeFuel - a calculated metric that you use to compare one hour/day/week against another. As with other systems there are incentives to improve, such as virtual medals and awards, and you can compare your data with those of other friends using the Nike+ system. I wore the band relentlessly for the next year or so, but eventually the button gave up the ghost and stopped working. Normally, this is used to view data on the wristband and sync with a smartphone, so without it I had to wait until I'd plugged it into my PC's USB drive each evening. With no idea of how I was progressing through the day I turned to Google to see whether there was a way to fix it, and somebody had posted a YouTube video showing just that. With little to lose I took a scalpel to the button and did my best to repair the micro switch inside, but to no avail it seems. The experiment over I stuck my Fuelband in a drawer and forgot about it. 

Until now.

Realising that my new stay-at-home dad life is lacking the regular exercise pattern that I had whilst working in an office I've started to think that wearing a fitness band may be one way to tackle this, and get a little healthier. So, digging my mangled Fuelband out again I charged it fully, and have been wearing it for about a week. Already I'm seeing how my daily activity varies, and when the figures are low I'm immediately motivated to improve. As I can't wear my current wristband (with it's exposed electronics) in damp environments I'm currently scouring eBay for a relatively cheap second-hand replacement. After the button issue was recognised as a build issue in Mk1 Fuelbands Nike upgraded it and added additional Bluetooth functions and waterproofing for the 2nd version known as the SE. This is what I'll be shopping for, and I'll post more on this when I've found one.