If you’ve accumulated some ‘winter padding’ or have a debilitating Jaffa Cake habit, now is a good time to start running. Not only is it Spring, which – theoretically – reduces the chances of having icy rain lashed into your face, Samsung and Adidas have just launched a rival to the massively successful Nike+ system called miCoach. I’ve now run many a mile with both. So, which one’s the best?

Both are, broadly speaking, the same idea: a motivating running aide that collects stats from your runs and spurs you on with voice feedback and the ability to sync to a website. But while there’s an obvious difference between the two – Nike+ works only via an iPod Nano and Samsung miCoach via the new F110 mobile – there are also many subtle differences. There’s only one way to decide – a monstrous head-to-head:

Features
The miCoach system is, by some distance, the more advanced of the two. It uses a heart-rate monitor and a stride sensor, whereas Nike+ only uses the latter. This means it can give real-time voice feedback on whether you’re running at the right pace, and also create customised running plans.

There are over 200 of these, and which one you’re prescribed depends on your initial ‘assessment run’ and what type of fitness you want to achieve. These are your options:

Having made your choice, you’re then asked which days of the week you want to run, and are then presented with a diary of when your sessions are:



It’s all a tad daunting – my plan doesn't finish till August – but much more motivating than Nike+. Nike’s system has none of the coaching and is all about self-motivation and setting your own targets. You just choose via the iPod menu the time, distance or calories you want to burn, and run it. It seems dated by comparison, so this one goes to miCoach.



Winner: Samsung/Adidas miCoach

Usability
Much of miCoach’s sophistication and features comes at a cost: usability. Compared to the simplicity of Nike+, it’s nagging and fiddly. You’re bombarded with demands from the female instructor to ‘speed up to endurance zone’ while running and the heart-rate monitor feels like giant elastic band round your chest.

And I’m not convinced that a mobile is the best platform for it. There’s nothing wrong with the F110 – it has a handy remote mic and being able to double-tap the screen for a progress update is great – but squeezing miCoach into a device that’s also a phone, camera and MP3 player makes it trickier to use.

By contrast, Nike+ nicely piggybacks the iPod Nano’s perfect control system, and gives you up to 8GB of music, compared to the F110’s measly 1GB. The screen on Samsung’s phone is also harder to read in sunlight than an iPod Nano.  

Winner: Nike+

Website
One of the biggest differences between Nike+ and miCoach is their websites. Nike+ is all about simplicity, community and slick web apps; miCoach is personal, info-heavy and big on training programs. Both are great, so it all boils down to taste.

If you’ve got some mates that use Nike+ and like playing with widgets, you’ll prefer Nike’s site. It lets you challenge other people (either a few friends or, in the case of the ‘US vs Europe’ challenge, a whole country) and has a great new widget called ‘Map It’, which lets you draw good routes in your area for others to try out using Google Maps. It’s just a lot cooler – Apple has even commissioned acts like LCD Soundsystem to make running mixes specifically for Nike+.



The miCoach site makes a point of having absolutely zero community features and, without desktop apps and bespoke mixes, so far lacks what the yanks would call an ‘ecosystem’. But it is extremely slick, provides a professional level of detail without making your eyes hurt and generally makes Nike+ look like a Fisher Price toy by comparison.



Winner: Depends whether you prefer professional (miCoach) or fun (Nike+)

Value
Although the cost of a complete Nike+ kit (4GB Nano, Sports Kit and Nike Air Max Moto Plus trainers) is £190, you can get it working with your old trainers for £124 if you use a Switcheasy Runaway (£6). And it’s a no-brainer if you already have a Nano.

Network subsidies haven’t been announced for the miCoach kit so it’s a bit tricky to compare, but the minimum price for the lot will be around £150 with contract. I like the fact that the miCoach sensor works with any trainers out of the box, but with at least four times the music storage the Nike system looks like it’ll be better value.

Winner: Nike+
 
Extras
Nike+ has been around for eighteen months and works with the accessory-magnet that is the iPod Nano, so miCoach should be at a disadvantage here. But much of Nike’s extras are, at best, novelties: the Amp+ watch is disappointing, and I don’t see the point of the rumoured 'Sportband', which apparently completely bypasses your iPod. Nike has, though, announced a clever partnership to get Nike+ working at gyms.

Samsung told me that gyms ‘are definitely one route it that we may choose to explore’ and miCoach has the one thing Nike+ could really do with – a heart-rate monitor. But I found the Adistar t-shirts – which have a hole for the F110 phone – a bit fiddly to use and choosing Nike or Adidas’ trainers again comes down to preference and fit, so it’s another draw.

Winner: A draw

Overall
Nike+ and miCoach are both great running buddies, and deciding which one’s best for you comes down to a few questions. Do you hate the idea of having a personal trainer, use iTunes and would rather use a Nano than a new phone? Then Nike+ is for you. If, on the other hand, you want the most advanced training system, like lots of voice feedback and prefer using Windows Media Player, miCoach is a better bet.

For me, the big stumbling block for miCoach is the F110 phone. If it was integrated into a Bluetooth MP3 player like the Samsung P2 – which looks unlikely as Samsung told me ‘we expect that mobile will remain the main market for miCoach’ – I’d buy it in a shot. As it is, I’ll be sticking to my simple but slick Nike+ kit.