My
knockoff Nike watchband just arrived from China. It's one Lipe mentioned a few pages back from an eBay seller with the unlikely name "
7-61964" (it's been misquoted in this thread with an 8 in place of the 9 a few times). Ordered on November 14th, expected arrival was listed as January 9th, but the seller posted it in China on the 15th, it arrived in customs in LA ("ISC Los Angeles") on the 18th, and was delivered on the 25th (so, yeah, China to Los Angeles in 3 days, then a week to unpack and make it 120 miles from Los Angeles to San Diego). First impressions are, for $13 and change (it goes on sale, periodically, for $10.41 but I missed that), I like it...
The length is just a hair under Apple's Small/Medium Sports Bands (the picture below makes the difference look decidedly noticeable - it's not - chalk it up to poor arrangement for the picture - I also managed to make the vibrant original green Sports Band look rather washed out). It _feels_ thinner and more flexible than a real Sports Band, but my micrometer puts the difference somewhere between 0.1 and 0.2 millimeters - not something you could actually feel. I think it feels subjectively thinner because of the material (silicone vs. fluoroelastomer), the different surface feel the material brings, and the increased flexibility. Now, a plain Sports Band knockoff with these same characteristics wouldn't score as well because, "this clearly isn't a real one". But since it's the Nike version (which is supposed to be more flexible/stretchy, from what I've read), it works out for the better. I've noticed in some of the other pictures in this thread, that some of these bands are flexible enough that it sort of dimples in, in the center (that is, away from the sides/edges of the band), especially noticeable as it drops away over the side of the wrist in pictures, with it looking slightly concave there. I'm not seeing that at all in this one. The fittings to hold it onto the watch also seem quite solid. The yellow on the originals has perhaps a touch more green in it, which to my mind is a bit prettier than the straight-up yellow, but I'm not trying to have this pass as a real one, I just wanted to try out one with all the holes. So, the pin is silver, the holes all show a bit of a seam in them (which is noticeable in photographs but
not when you just glance at your wrist), and I don't know how the material feels in comparison to the actual Nike one, but for $13.88, it feels nice enough, it looks pleasing - I like it. If Apple ever releases the official version separately from the watch, I'll consider upgrading, but for now I'm happy with this one.
