Keen to actually try this out and see how well it worked I went out for a gentle ‘recovery’ 4 mile loop during my lunch break. After the weekend race my legs were in no fit state to try the coaching sessions so I put it to free mode and started my Garmin. How would the two compare…

First run result shows a pretty massive discrepancy in my opinion, the Garmin which tends to be pretty damn accurate showed the route to be 4.14 miles whilst the Micoach fell short at 3.74 miles. Almost half a mile is quite a difference over such a short distance.

It also seemed way off with it’s pace calculations. I’m not sure how often that updates but it’s possible it’s doing some maths wrong somewhere!

However, it’s not all negative feedback. It seems the device stores the tracks you listen to (although I appear to have broken that by breaking out into iPod mode). It was set to give feedback every 10mins which was nice even if it seemed incorrect – I definitely wasn’t running at a 5min/mi pace like it suggested at one point!

Just some insight I am testing this on an old 3G so it maybe an unfair test ad perhaps it just not powerful enough to do all it needs to. The music did jerk occasionally suggesting the phone was being tested. I also used up a third of the phones battery life for a sub 40min run. I don’t think I’ll be running a marathon with this on my phone!

It would be interesting to know whether battery drain and distance calculations were ok for others using newer iPhones/Blackberrys. I’m aware that most people who use this don’t have access to a Garmin or gps so can’t easily compare however you could compare to a plot on gmap pedometer or similar!

I will give the device another go possibly with one of the audio coaching tracks selected. That said my phone is to heavy for my short pockets meaning I have to hold it which rules out the sweaty sprint stages

Please comment below if you have any experience or issues with the iPhone Micoach device.

First of all before even using the tool I have to say well done Adidas – you got there first before Nike and Garmin and from the screenshots and initial load it looks good. Let’s hope it works well, if not you’ve still got a bit more time but I’m sure the competition will soon be on your heels!

Finally a well known brand releasing a GPS running application, offering voice coaching (which must relate to pace and unfortunately not Heart Rate like the pacer). The device is completely free and the user interface looks simple and neat.

At lunch I’m out for a run so will try the app out. I am also going to do some digging to see whether the two devices can be used together because at the moment it looks like I can either get pace based training with the iPhone or heart rate monitoring with the pacer and I want both!

Testing review to follow shortly, to get the iphone app click here or for the blackberry app here. If you have used the app already and have feedback please comment below!

I have always been interested in running technology, I believe I only really got motivated to keep running because of the Nike+ kit I got a few years ago. Since then I have moved onto the Garmin Forerunner a device I don’t think I could live without now. When I was given the opportunity to try out the MiCoach I jumped at it, having seen promotional merchandise in every running shop and magazine I opened.

I knew very little about the MiCoach pacer, I was aware about some technology Adidas launched with Samsung phones a little bit back but that was it. After a bit of research I was to discover the MiCoach is a Heart Rate Coaching device which logs distance traveled using a pedometer. The heart rate monitor is what brings it to a different audience to the cheaper Nike+. » Continue reading “MiCoach – The review…”

Having managed to get my hands on a miCoach pacer system one of the first things I tried to do was see if I could use the Heart Rate Monitor with both the pacer and my Garmin Forerunner 405. The micoach docs suggested that the devices communicates using ant+ so I suspected that it would work and it did! following this I also tried to sync the footpod which was also a success.

I have recently reviewed the MiCoach and am currently writing a post to review my Garmin 405 which should be up shortly.

The micoach heartrate monitor is compatible with the Garmin 405 (untested on any other Garmins – feedback would be useful)

The micoach footpod is compatible with the Garmin 405 (untested on any other Garmins – feedback would be useful)

I suspect there is very limited crossover as to why you would use both devices -from early inspection the micoach offers audio coaching and a nicer heartrate web display but obviously lacks the gps functionality of the Garmins. That said it would be interesting to compare prices of the Garmin HRM/footpod vs the Adidas equivalent to see which is cheaper…

Personally I find the Adidas HRM slightly nicer to use, it’s easier to store and cleans/dries a lot quicker than the Garmin counterpart.

Looking forward to getting to fully play with the rest of the micoach device when I can get it fully working.

Compatibility List

Footpod

• Garmin 305
• Garmin 405
• Garmin 50

Heart Rate Monitor

• Garmin 305
• Garmin 405
• Garmin 50

NB I have had (personally unconfirmed) reports that the Garmin 110 is not compatible with the MiCoach.