Ipod nike + or garmin

That's a tough call as I own both and a few others. The nano is awesome for listening to music while body building, running and for motivation. I train harder listening to music. The nike ped unit works but is nowhere near what you get with a GPS unit. 

The Forerunner GPS's are way more accurate and allow high detail data analysis on your computer but they have no music to keep you going. Mapping out routes, altitude gains, Calories and analyzing your daily progress give the forerunner the edge for training.

Thanks for the information. I guess the biggest thing right now is the price. Maybe I can get one of the older Ipod nanos and a Garmin Forerunner 50 to start off with.

Thanks,

Chris

If you're going to buy an iPod anyways, the Nike+ is hard to beat.  Especially if you're comparing the Forerunner 50 (it isn't a GPS based system).  Nike+ works on all the Nanos.  It's reasonably accurate, easy enough to use, but does not work well on treadmills.  You can upload Nike+ data to sites other than Nike, but you must be or know a geek to work it out.

 Oh ya, iPods are not allowed in most road races and I've never seen one in a triathlon...

 Garmins require time to lock onto the sattelites which may irritate you as you can't just get up and go.  They make horrible mp3 players for the fitness watches.  My navigation unit can do mp3s but I've never understood why.  I have a decent stereo in my car and they want me to listen to this tiny crappy speaker?!?  The forerunner 50, 301, 305 and 405 all monitor HR and upload data to many more applications without calling your 8yo to come help.

I have a garmin and love it but I hardly ever run with a mp3 player anymore.  I like the fact that I need 1 thing and 1 thing only and that is the watch.  I don't need to worry about a footpod and mp3 player.  Plus I don't like ipod because you can' t use the unlimited music services.

Thanks for all of the responces to this question. I after doing some research I think that I will let the Ipod do what it was made to do, play music. I am looking hard at getting the Garmin Forerunner 305, since everyone here gives it such high marks.

Thanks,

Chris

I have a Gramin 205 (same as 305 without the HRM) and I LOVE IT!

I bought a shuffle for $79 (and this was a while ago, I'm sure they are down now).

both are great!

I started off with the Nike+ as I already had a Ipod nano, I used that for quite a while, then got a Garmin 305 and couldn't be happier. I did my first 3 runs with the Garmin and Nike+ the difference was astounding.

I did some 3 mile and some 4 mile runs with both and by the end the Nike+ had as much as 2/10ths of a mile difference which really exaggerated my pace the Nike+ said it was 7:10 and the Garmin said closer to 8:00 or a little more. So all this time on my easy runs I thought I was near 7 min/miles when I was far from it.

If you already had the Ipod  and money was an issue I would say go for the Nike+ and spend the $29, if not go to REI and get the 305 multisport bundle for $199 and you won't be disappointed.