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Fitness Trackers Compatible with Nike+ Run Club

Fitness Trackers Compatible with Nike+ Run Club

Nike+ Run Club is free for Apple Watch and Wear OS devices, however Fitbit has not yet announced plans to support the popular running app. If you don’t own an Apple Watch or Wear OS device, but you have a Polar, Garmin, TomTom or other GPS watch, you can still connect to the app to sync and store your runs. Some will even automatically sync your data once configured.

The Nike+ Run Club app is more than just a running app. It’s a powerful community. Upon completion of its full overhaul back in 2016, Nike+ Run Club launched to the forefront in popularity among fitness applications. It features accurate GPS tracking, guided runs, community challenges, audio coaching, and the ability to create detailed training plans. It also provides detailed metrics such as elevation, heart rate details, pace, distance and location.

Unfortunately, Fitbit has not announced plans to allow the ability to sync their devices to NRC despite the clear outrage from many in their community. Therefore, we will not be covering their devices here. However, if you use Polar, Garmin, Wahoo, TomTom, or Netpulse devices, you will be able to sync your runs directly into Nike Run Club. Here we will discuss some of the best fitness trackers that are compatible with the popular running app.

Apple Watch

apple watch
apple watch

It has long been known that Nike and Apple have a well-established business relationship, so it’s no surprise that the Apple Watch is one of the most popular choices for Nike+ Run Club compatible devices. The iOS version of the app features custom Apple Music playlists, words of encouragement from athletes around the world, and in-run cheers from your friends. It features a retina display, it’s swimproof, has optical and electrical heart sensors, 32GB of storage, and the fastest processor of any Nike+ Run Club compatible smartwatch by a landslide.

The Apple Watch has Ion-X strengthened glass, Bluetooth 5.0, and battery life of up to 18 hours. You can compare your runs with your friends, and even compete with other runners via goal and challenge-specific hashtags. The Apple Watch is far and away the go-to choice for Nike+ Run Club enthusiasts. Apple has made huge strides in improving the Apple Watch’s capabilities as a running device and it is, by far, the obvious front-runner for use with Nike+ Run Club.

Fossil Sport

fossil sport watch
fossil sport

The Fossil Sport smartwatch is a great, affordable option, and one of the least expensive Wear OS devices out there. It has untethered GPS, so you can leave your smartphone at home and still track your runs, and it comes in a great variety of really cool colors like Smoke/Blue, Spruce Green, and Dark Red. It features a heart rate monitor, NFC (so you can use your Google Pay straight from your watch), and it is water resistant up to 30 meters. In addition to the built-in GPS, the Fossil Sport also has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. It has a 1.2 inch AMOLED display and has a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor.

Two cons we found were that it doesn’t have a speaker, so you can’t take your calls directly from it, and it is also a bit slower than its more pricey Fossil Gen 5 counterpart. However, at this price point we still think it’s a big win. It works with iOS and Android devices, it has Google Assistant built-in, an estimated 24-hour battery life, and tons of other great features. It also has a really classy aluminum case and silicone band, and it is very lightweight and comfortable. It only has 512MB of RAM, which we found to be a bit slow, but the 4GB of storage was fairly sufficient for the price.

Mobvoi Ticwatch E3

mobvoi ticwatch e3
mobvoi ticwatch s2

The Ticwatch E3 is an affordable Wear OS device that features a waterproof design, built-in GPS, approximately 72 hours of battery life, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 processor. Although not as well-known of a brand as Apple or Fossil, Mobvoi has made some really great smartwatches over the last few years that provides a solid, affordable alternative to the Apple and Galaxy Watch goliaths.

In fact, if you are shopping on a budget, there is a very similar, slightly less expensive model available called the Ticwatch E2. It does not feature the same military-level durability as the Ticwatch S2, but it is otherwise very similar.

The Ticwatch E3, has 8GB of onboard storage, a nice 1.3 inch 360 x 360 pixel HD display, and is water resistance in 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. It also features NFC and has Bluetooth 5.0. Overall, the Ticwatch E3 is a very good option for the price, as it is one of the most affordable Wear OS devices on the market with built-in GPS.

Fossil Gen 6

fossil gen 5 carlyle
fossil gen 5 carlyle

The Fossil Gen 6 is a great option for those that want to use Nike+ Run Club and like a clean, classic look. The Gen 6 is the most expensive of the Wear OS fitness trackers we’ve reviewed, yet it is still significantly more affordable than the Apple Watch. The Gen 6 uses the Snapdragon 4100 processor which gives it faster processing, app loading and less power consumption than the Gen 5. It also has 1GB of RAM to the Sport’s 512MB, as well as 8GB of onboard storage compared to the Sport’s 4GB. Another big plus for the Gen 5 is that it has a built-in speaker, so you can take your calls directly on the watch.

The Fossil Gen 6 has NFC, built-in GPS, a touchscreen, heart rate monitoring, and notifications from your smartphone. It also has a very appealing aesthetic, vibrant touchscreen that you can see indoors and outdoors, nice exterior casing, and a rotating crown. It also works with Alexa and many of the Wear OS bugs reported on other devices have been addressed. The battery is good for about 1 day of heavy use, and possibly a day and half of regular use. It even features additional battery modes that are useful for squeezing out a little extra life until you can get to your charger. Overall, we think the Fossil Gen 6 is the best overall option if you have decided on going the Wear OS route.

Click here to view our 5 favorite heart rate monitors!