t 'n t luoma

I am one of those weird folks who will pay a little (not a lot, but a little) extra to order something directly from the place that makes it. For example, if this armband was on sale at Belkin.com for $15 (it is) and at Amazon.com for $12 (it is), I’ll buy it from Belkin. Why? Because I believe that if I have problems, Belkin is going to be more interested in solving it than Amazon.com

One problem though... I couldn’t buy it from Belkin.com. Whenever I tried to “Add to Cart” it told me that my shopping cart was empty. Another time I tried and was told (by Safari, Camino, and Opera) that the site was using weaker encryption. Opera made my change a preference setting to try and buy it. At least one of the other browsers simply refused to let me proceed.

So finally I tried Amazon.com. Now you will see it listed for $12 (1). Unfortunately it doesn’t see from Amazon itself, but through one of its “Marketplace” resellers. What this means is that most of the prices you see are a complete lie, and they will hit you with “Shipping and Handling” charges.

For example, TechNGnet claims to sell it (via Amazon) for $12 but charges $6.33 for shipping, which you can’t tell until you add it to your cart. This despite the fact that their published shipping rates indicate only $1.50/lb. (My UPS tracking page eventually indicated that the package weighed .70 lb.)

Likewise, Crutchfield sells it for $15 but charges $7 for shipping ($22 total).

The lowest listed price was infiniteelectronix2 at $9 and $5 for shipping ($14 total). BlueProton sold it for roughly the same amount.

I emailed Amazon.com and complained about this, and told them that it made me less likely to trust any of their Marketplace Businesses when people could get away with what I consider to be a scam. Listing one price for shipping when I click on the link for your shipping info, but giving me another when I “Add to Cart” is a bait-and-switch, pure and simple.

So finally I went to Buy.com, for no other reason than I had used them before. Right there on the Buy.com page for Belkin iPod nano Sports Sleeve it showed me their price plus their shipping cost (as well as several other merchants and their shipping costs as well).

I bought it, they shipped it, I got it.

YES! I believe this will work just fine. It has a nice human-compatible sized band which (unlike the Nike+ version) does not rely on the blood-pressure cuff method of holding the Nano to your arm.

You can indeed see the screen and access the dock connector. In fact it even comes with a clear, custom sized screen protector for the Nano (something they ought to tell you!).

I haven’t even taken the plastic protecter off that Apple ships the Nano with because I haven’t had a case for it and hadn’t wanted to risk the screen. Now I will take that off and put this new one on.

Also, the armband can slip off and you can use the silicone case to keep the Nano in your pocket. It adds very little weight or thickness, and would provide (I think) just enough protection for the average “Oops I dropped the Nano onto the kitchen floor” type of accident most of us are most likely to have.

There is a cut-out for the hold switch on top and the scroll wheel and buttons are directly accessible (and of course not protected, but to me I’d rather have them within reach).

My only complaint? Well, look at the image again. They are selling a white case with a black/grey armband. If I had a black nano, that would be fine, but I would have much rather had a white armband for my white Nano. You’d think a company like Belkin would be savvy enough to attend to a detail like that.

Still, it was clearly visible in the image on Belkin’s web page, so I can’t say that I was too surprised. It just strikes me as odd. Not as odd as not being able to see the screen in the first place, but odd.

Now I just have to get the Nike+iPod sensor calibrated properly. I tried it out over the weekend and it was only recording 0.70 or 0.80 mile for each 1.0 mile that I walked. I tried to calibrate it but when I pressed the “Stop Calibrating” button (after having walked a known-mile stretch) the Nano replied (I’m paraphrasing) “You said you were going to walk a mile, but you’ve only walked 0.8 mile. Do you want to continue or cancel calibrating?” to which I said “Whu-huh? Why isn’t there an option for “Ok so you’re trying to calibrate this and you’re telling me that for every 0.8 mile we detect you are really walking 1.0 mile. Do you want me to adjust the sensor accordingly?”

If/when I get that figured out, I’ll let you know.

Meanwhile, if anyone does want a Nike+iPod Sports Armband, please let me know (email me at luomat AT gmail DOT com)

Sigh. Being fat and out of shape is so much less of a hassle. Not to mention cheaper. Doritos don’t need an armband. (2)

Footnotes:

1. A note on pricing: I’ve rounded off the numbers in this article, because I find the whole $x.95 or $x.99 pricing thing insulting to my intelligence. If I see “$11.94” I think “$12” and I consider iTunes songs to be $1 each. ↩
2. Associated medical costs of being fat and out of shape not taken into consideration in this estimate. And if there is an armband out there for Doritos, please don’t tell me about it. As far as I’m concerned the only appropriate Dorito accessory would look something like this:
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