Recently picked up two of the new Nike Sport bands direct from Apple. My immediate thought when opening was the reduction in quality and quality control. No longer a 'two piece' design where the inset color on the old design appeared seperate and was then moulded together, the new design has the inset color overlayed. This meant the holes on the originals were perfect shape, uniform without issue, the new ones being overlayed on the base color are not aligned 100% and I suspect may be prone to wear longer term. The stainless pin is now gone and replaced with alloy variant. But the biggest thing I noticed is the lack of flexibility compared to the previous generations, significant difference, new ones are more rigid and less pliable.
I also found the distribution of the chopped recycled band pieces is not great, collected around the rear of the band, less showing on the front, not even close to the Apple website images. Very dissapointing, plan to return both of mine now.
I'm sorry, but for the price, these new bands are a joke honestly, even at half the listed price they look poor. The previous Nike Sports bands which I've owned for years are vastly superior and far more comfortable due to their improved pliability. Since discovering this I have ordered several BNIB versions of the 2019-2021 variants which are of the expected quality that I have been used to. 👍
I also found the distribution of the chopped recycled band pieces is not great, collected around the rear of the band, less showing on the front, not even close to the Apple website images. Very dissapointing, plan to return both of mine now.
I'm sorry, but for the price, these new bands are a joke honestly, even at half the listed price they look poor. The previous Nike Sports bands which I've owned for years are vastly superior and far more comfortable due to their improved pliability. Since discovering this I have ordered several BNIB versions of the 2019-2021 variants which are of the expected quality that I have been used to. 👍