RunKeeper Elite Review

If you have been following along I am training for a marathon in March, so during that time I have been testing lots of new products to see what I like and don’t like as I adjust to this new found running addiction. The most recent app that I have been using for about three weeks now is RunKeeper Pro, so I figured I would share my findings with you.

Cost

• $4.99 a month or $19 for a year, so obviously the year is a much better deal

Features

• Better reporting
• Compare workouts
• Live tracking for other to watch you running

In my two months of running the regular RunKeeper app has become my favorite running app. I love most of all the fact that it interfaces with so many apps, like Run Zombie Run or ISmoothRun (works with my watch) so that you can use those apps but then transfer the data to RunKeeper. This is great because I am an analytics nerd and I love being able to store all of my runs in one place. This was the main reason why I upgraded to RunKeeper Pro.

I love being able to compare one run with another and to see the areas where I normally slow down, or analyze my overall growth through the lifetime statistics, there is a lot you can get out of it with the analytics they provide.

That being said I don’t really find myself using what they consider one of the apps main draws, live tracking, and I struggle to figure out what I would even use it for other then the actual marathon so my family can follow along. For training runs though I have no need to broadcast my location and so I don’t see the draw for this.

As far as the cost goes, I would probably not pay 4.99 a month for the service as it is just analytics that I use but 19.99 for a year really is a great price. I have no problem paying this for the ability to organize, store and evaluate all of my runs and will be excited to turn on the live tracking when I am actually running the marathon (hopefully I can get a signal), so for me Elite is worth the price.

Pros

• Lots of great data to help you get better and show you where you are succeeding
• Easy comparisons help you to run better on routes you do over and over again
• Live tracking for runs where others want to see your progress

Cons

• If you don’t care about the data then you will not find a lot of uses for it
• Monthly cost is steep for what is provided

I would love to hear what you think in the comments. Up next, my review of the Magellan Echo.