gdgt

It seems that the miCoach has improved my running experience and that in turn prompted me to actually get off the couch—or out of the office chair—more often. Two sneakers up.

Adidas miCoach is a fitness activity tracking system similar to Nike+, except it gives you more data—including heart rate information—and has a sexy voice to guide you through workouts. Yes, it costs more, but it also does more.

Runners at any level will jump for heart rate and goal-oriented training. But mediocre in-run feedback trips up the miCoach before it fully reaches its potential.

I felt that the spoken instructions encouraged me to work harder on runs than I might otherwise have done. It seems odd to think that I was happy to follow the instructions of a voice in my ear, but I was, and I suspect that many other people would be too. It is this, the motivation given by the...