The  miCoach SMART RUN is Adidas’s first attempt at entering the fitness watch market. In the last few years offerings such as the Nike Fuelband, Jawbone UP and various pieces from Garmin, Polar and TomTom have helped fuel a huge increase in demand and interest in exercise enhancing devices and products.

Personally I have never used any exercise gadgets so trialing this watch was a new experience for me and I had little to compare it to. However, many of my clients use these types of watches and they clearly helps people get motivated to move more, run more or simply hit the target number that they’ve been given, whether that’s steps, calories or miles. Ultimately, if anything helps get you in the fitness groove then that’s a positive.

Appearance and functionality

The miCoach looks pretty slick with a 1.45 inch touchscreen and weighs in at a fairly bulky 80.5g. However, it’s doesn’t get in the way of anything and it feels like it could survive a knock or two. I’ve had problems in the past with watches slipping or being uncomfortable but it has a double buckle system that gives it a secure, stable feel on the wrist when running, moving or for daily use.

The interface is a simple touchscreen and a single button underneath. This gives it a fresh minimalist look and moving around the options and screens is quick and effortless with swipes and taps.

The battery life is not as long as some other watches and that can cause issues if you’re using a lot of features or doing a long run. Think of it like your phone – if you use it regularly expect to charge it daily.

Features and performance

The initial procedure to set up the watch is somewhat long-winded but once this hurdle is cleared there are numerous neat features that make the process worth it, and start to justify the price tag.

Uniquely, the watch can take your pulse from your wrist without the need for a chest strap using a laser in the back. Clever, huh? I wasn’t aware this was possible and the ability to monitor heart rate easily and without the need for a strap appealed to me. The colour coded metrics also made it easy to monitor at a glance.

The GPS sometimes took a minute or two to pick up which left me feeling a little impatient at first, but if you set it up once you start warming up this can be avoided. Once running, I took a route that I knew well and the distance was very accurate. Being a stickler for detail this was reassuring. I mostly run short distances up to 5k at max pace, so if it’s a few hundred metres out I don’t want to know.

The various watch swipe and tap interfaces

The Bluetooth connection, once set up, is pretty sweet with feedback given on your run stats, pace, distance and plays music held on the 3GB worth of memory space.

As well as your watch talking to you while you run, you can also set up workouts on the watch which prompt you to do exercises and circuits. As a trainer and someone who is self-motivated, this feature is not really useful or motivating for me but these may be great features for some.

Summary

For 14,990 THB I expect a lot. The numerous features may make that worth it – GPS, music player and heart rate monitor being the big 3 for me. If the other features get you excited, you can charge it regularly and you like the futuristic look and feel, this could be the one for you.

From what I’ve seen of the other fitness watches and wristbands available I think some of watches from the more experienced players like Garmin and Nike would suit me more, or maybe something more minimalist like the Jawbone UP or Vivofit – so being the fussy little thing that I am, I’ll trial a few more and find the one that suits me best.

The Adidas miCoach watch and ranges from Garmin, Nike and Jawbone are all available at Ari Running Concept Store at CentralWorld in Bangkok.

Specs
Price: 14,990
Weight: 80.5g
Screen: 184×184 pixels,
Battery life: ’14 days’ of no feature usage. 1 day of full usage
Charger: USB docking station

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