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 Nike Lance 4 Black/Titanium Watch - Black/Titanium - WA0020-013 By: Nike Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 4 More Information Has a lot of functions but not very durable  by: slider2699 On: 2007-09-15 Ive had a Lance 4 since they first hit the market. I will admit that I dont use all the function(seriously, who needs all those alarms?). The altimeter is pretty useless, as its inaccurate AND you need to enter the exact elevation of your starting location for the watch to be useful. Who really knows the elevation of their home? The case, even though its titanium, is terribly fragile. I had mine for six weeks, worn as a normal watch(at my inside job), and the case was scratched and dinged as if it was 10 years old. Nike replaced the case for me after 6 months, at which time I needed a new battery. Battery life is horrible on this thing. Expect to spend 20 bucks a year sending it back for replacement. I forgot to mention som4ething. When I sent the watch back after having it for six months, the band had broken. The rubber tore where it attached to the case---and that was simply from taking the watch off. No bike crashes, no playing sports. Just removing it. At that time, the yellow in the engraved Lance Armstrong signature on the case back had also come off. As a matter of fact, it actually stuck to my wrist. Not a huge deal, but pretty poor build quality. I have a Lance Race watch which is my daily wear watch. I put the Lance 4 on ONLY when Im riding my bike. Its delicate. Awesome  On: 2007-02-03I have had my watch for two years now and it is by far my favorite outdoor watch. I make regular use of all the features. Compass: Once calibrated it is accurate, within 1 degree of my GPS. I used it exclusively to complete an all day orienteering event and numerous camping trips without complaint. Altimeter: The altimeter, despite the proprietary "zero drift" technology, will drift over time, as all barometer-based alitimeters will. On a four day hiking trip in Colorado, I set the altimeter at a known elevation and it worked flawlessly for the whole trip. Based on map readings and GPS, the watch was never more than 200 off on a trip that regularly ranged from 10,000 to 14,000. Another feature not mentioned in the manual is an alarm system that goes off whenever you attain an altitude of a famous mountain. For example, when I hit the altitude of Mt. Fuji, the alarm sounded and "Mt. Fuji" scrolled across the face. You will have to set the altimeter to a known point for it to be accurate. As a helicopter pilot I have flown numerous times with it and it is fairly accurate, but the sampling rate of 60 seconds is kind of slow - you can change it, but I dont seriously use it in the aircraft, and 60 seconds is plenty of time when youre hiking. Temperature: Like any wrist mounted temperature sensor, the watch will react to your body temp. This watch has a feature that allows you to compensate for this by lowering the temp by a known factor. I have mine set at -8 degrees so it is relatively accurate on my wrist. This is the only watch I have found to have this. Barometer: Accurately shows trend data - no complaints. Alarms: I like having numerous alarms, and the alarm is sufficiently loud to hear while hiking in 30mph winds with the watch under layers of clothing. The watch also has a feature to shut off the display after 1 hour of no button pushes. This saves battery power and my battery display shows a full charge after two years of consistent use. The manual is not very clear, but the interface is user friendly once you play with it. The titanium bezel does show some wear, but the mineral face is as clear as the day I bought it and I am extremely hard on watches. Overall, I am extremely pleased with this watch. I think I will buy a second one when the first one bites the dust. Awesome On: 2007-02-02I have had my watch for two years now and it is by far my favorite outdoor watch. I make regular use of all the features. Compass: Once calibrated it is accurate, within 1 degree of my GPS. I used it exclusively to complete an all day orienteering event and numerous camping trips without complaint. Altimeter: The altimeter, despite the proprietary "zero drift" technology, will drift over time, as all barometer-based alitimeters will. On a four day hiking trip in Colorado, I set the altimeter at a known elevation and it worked flawlessly for the whole trip. Based on map readings and GPS, the watch was never more than 200 off on a trip that regularly ranged from 10,000 to 14,000. Another feature not mentioned in the manual is an alarm system that goes off whenever you attain an altitude of a famous mountain. For example, when I hit the altitude of Mt. Fuji, the alarm sounded and "Mt. Fuji" scrolled across the face. You will have to set the altimeter to a known point for it to be accurate. As a helicopter pilot I have flown numerous times with it and it is fairly accurate, but the sampling rate of 60 seconds is kind of slow - you can change it, but I dont seriously use it in the aircraft, and 60 seconds is plenty of time when youre hiking. Temperature: Like any wrist mounted temperature sensor, the watch will react to your body temp. This watch has a feature that allows you to compensate for this by lowering the temp by a known factor. I have mine set at -8 degrees so it is relatively accurate on my wrist. This is the only watch I have found to have this. Barometer: Accurately shows trend data - no complaints. Alarms: I like having numerous alarms, and the alarm is sufficiently loud to hear while hiking in 30mph winds with the watch under layers of clothing. The watch also has a feature to shut off the display after 1 hour of no button pushes. This saves battery power and my battery display shows a full charge after two years of consistent use. The manual is not very clear, but the interface is user friendly once you play with it. The titanium bezel does show some wear, but the mineral face is as clear as the day I bought it and I am extremely hard on watches. Overall, I am extremely pleased with this watch. I think I will buy a second one when the first one bites the dust. A major disappointment from Nike  On: 2006-09-13Before I bought this watch, I did a lot of research on the offerings from Suunto, Polar and Nike, and finally ended up choosing the Lance 4 watch for my cycling-specific activities. And I have to say, my disappointment began within 2 minutes of opening the shipping box. Here are the three major ways this watch (and Nike itself) have failed me: 1) This is a complicated, multi-function instrument. But if youre expecting a detailed instruction manual, forget it. What you get is an elaborate pictograph that illustrates which buttons to push. It skims over the setup procedure and many of the most important functions, and omits many features entirely. 2) Relative to the above complaint, I contacted Nike customer service about the setup. Since Im a cyclist, I was particularly interested in the altimeter function, and dismayed by how thin the "manual" is. The instructions say you can select a 60-, 10- or 2-second sampling rate of the barometric pressure in order to determine altitude. What it fails to mention is what the ramifications are for choosing one over the other? Is one more accurate? Does one use more battery power? Well apparently never know, because Nikes customer service failed to answer the question. While they admitted that they had received several complaints about the manual -- and were considering writing a new one -- they simply sidestepped my question about the altimeter function in their email reply. 3) And then theres the performance of the watch itself. In most cases its impressive -- that is, in every case except the one for which I purchased it: the altimeter. On my group rides, there are always at least three other people with altimeters. A post-ride comparison of altimeter results always puts their readings within 3 percent of each other. The results from the Nike are at least 20 percent off. That means the altimeter results are not to be trusted. While the watch is attractive (thats why it earned 2 stars instead of just one) and has an excellent band, it simply doesnt give me the accurate altimeter results I need. And since the altimeter results are so far off, I can only assume that its built-in weather sensor (also based on barometric pressure) is hugely flawed, too. With the manual being as light on information as it is, with Nikes customer service either unwilling or unable to shed any light on the watchs usage and with the flawed performance of the altimeter function, I can only say that this watch represents a major disappointment. It may meet Nikes standards for fashion, but it fails my standards for performance. One HUGE Flaw On: 2006-09-05I love this watch. In fact, I would go as far to call it perfect...except for one huge thing...the titanium case is about as durable as wet toilet paper. Ive had this watch for about 4 weeks and the titatium face looks like Ive had it about 15 years...and no, this is not from any kind of extraordinary circumstances. I just wear it to work at a normal job every day and it sees the regular wear and tear that any watch would see. Yet the titatium face shows scratches, gouges, abrasions, etc. Unfortunately, it dropped off my bathroom sink the other day and fell to our tile floor...well now its sporting a nice gouge where it should be beveled. As for the watch itself, I love it. It does have rather short battery life, but with all thats running inside this thing, that can be expected. So if you dont care how beat-up your watch looks, then Id give this a 5/5 for you. But if scratches and abrasions on your new $250 watch will bug you, then I give it a 2/5. One HUGE Flaw On: 2006-09-04I love this watch. In fact, I would go as far to call it perfect...except for one huge thing...the titanium case is about as durable as wet toilet paper. Ive had this watch for about 4 weeks and the titatium face looks like Ive had it about 15 years...and no, this is not from any kind of extraordinary circumstances. I just wear it to work at a normal job every day and it sees the regular wear and tear that any watch would see. Yet the titatium face shows scratches, gouges, abrasions, etc. Unfortunately, it dropped off my bathroom sink the other day and fell to our tile floor...well now its sporting a nice gouge where it should be beveled. As for the watch itself, I love it. It does have rather short battery life, but with all thats running inside this thing, that can be expected. So if you dont care how beat-up your watch looks, then Id give this a 5/5 for you. But if scratches and abrasions on your new $250 watch will bug you, then I give it a 2/5. |