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BusinessWeek has just posted a review of the Nike+iPod Sport Kit, and while it’s a thorough and positive (if not somewhat delayed) look at our favorite fitness gadget, I have to take issue with Matt Vella’s description of people who choose to use it with non-Nike+ shoes as “penny pinchers.”

From the review:

From a standing start, the proposition is fairly expensive. Apple’s mid-range, 4GB iPod nano will set you back $199, and a pair of Nike Plus compatible shoes runs between $90 and $110. Throw in a $29 sports armband and the $29 kit itself and you’re looking at an investment of around $350. Steep.

Still, if you’ve already got an iPod nano (first or second generation) and are in the market for a new pair of shoes anyway, the financial bar is considerably lower. Some penny pinchers have even had luck using the transmitter with non-Nike shoes by attaching the device to laces.

I recognize that the focus of his review is on the complete system, which includes the Nike+ shoes, but if he’s going to include a paragraph about lowering the financial bar, there’s no reason to marginalize a perfectly legitimate way of doing so… by using the shoes you already have. Even if money is a person’s primary motivation, I’m not sure how saving $100 (almost one-third of the system’s cost by his calculations) could be characterized as penny pinching.

But the bigger problem with this characterization is that is reinforces the dangerous myth that all running shoes are created equal. Many of us who have “hacked” our own shoes to work with the Nike+iPod Kit do so because other brands of shoes just don’t give us the support or fit we need to run safely. (My Sauconys actually cost $20 more than Nike’s most expensive Nike+ shoe.) Getting a proper evaluation at a store that specializes in running shoes is one of the most important first steps for new runners, and implying that someone might as well choose the Nike+ shoes because they happen to have a small pocket in the sole for the sensor is just bad advice.

Most puzzling of all is that only a few paragraphs after Vella basically blows off the idea of using any shoes but Nikes, he casually drops this revelation:

In a matter of months, I wore out the Nikes and am now using the transmitter duct-taped to a pair of Saucony shoes.

Welcome to the ranks of the penny pinchers, Matt.

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