Nike Sport ACT400 Audio MP3-CD Player PSA

by Nike

Product Details

Data Sheet [132kb PDF]

• Item Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006YZ41
• Item model number: ACT400
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Product Description

This MP3 player from Nike is specifically designed for runners and riders. It wraps around your hand and is super-durable. The remote features a display, and the player will play your favorite CDs and CD-Rs burned with MP3 files. There is also up to 8 minutes of shock protection.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Read before you buy, February 10, 2004

By 

Thor Lewis (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nike Sport ACT400 Audio MP3-CD Player PSA (Electronics)

My draw to this product was the price. I mean compared to the iPod or the Zen, this thing is cheap... ...but it's got some serious drawbacks...

The drawbacks...
The engineering that went into this is really bad. First off, it's really heavy and bigger than normal CD players. It doesn't even fit into my jacket that has a pocket designed for cd players.

The display doesn't light up, and it's hard to read. It does become an orange color at certain angles, but none of the angles are practical for viewing. No album names, just numbers.

The display on the remote and the main unit is made of cheap, soft plastic... This stuff scratches very very easy. Nike should have packed it with a silk bag. Definitely doesn't fit the description of "sport equipment", more suitably for a Gucci toting softy that wants to be seen, rather than get fit. Why they didn't make it out of glass, I'll never know. I do know that after it gets scratched from simply leaving it your gym bag, you're going to get really choked.

When and if you decide to run with it, you're going to notice how totally annoying it is to change songs/volume, it's strapped to your hand, yet you have to use your other hand to change the input. Now you're going to say, "why don't you use the remote?" Well... the remote is awful... I'm not sure how many people with engineering degrees it's going to take at Philips to figure out that having the headphone jack at one end and the line going to the unit on the other end, IS A BAD IDEA!!! It's totally horrible to set up for a run. You end up totally wrapped up in wires. Wasn't the whole idea of this unit to allow you to run? So picture yourself running down the street with wires all over your body and a big bulky CD player in one hand and a remote magnetized to your chest. To change a song you can either reach up to your chest or reach over to your other hand... where is the logic in this remote???

Speaking of the remote... when you do decide to use it, you'll notice that the volume isn't true. What I mean by this, is that it's just secondary to the main unit. This is really annoying. So if your CD unit is in your backpack and you want to crank the volume on the remote, you have to open your bag and turn up the volume on the main unit and then adjust your remote. These Philips guys have never heard of the KISS princple.

It has a couple of ESP settings, I don't bother using them. You can run and listen to MP3's without any on.

The head unit is noisy. Really noisy. I was in the library listening to tunes with it, and was getting angry looks by people. I couldn't figure out why, when someone finally asked me to please put the main unit in my bag. Everytime this thing loads an MP3 into it's buffer, it makes a loud awful sounds.

The magnets... AWFUL... I'm in the process of getting a couple degrees, one of which is computer science. I was working on an assignment in the lab, and I saved it onto a disk and tossed it into my backpack... ...can you guess what got erased??? The magnets on the remote (in the other part of my backpack) latched onto the disk and toasted it. Just a few hours of wasted work. Philips does put a nice little warning note about magnets and credit cards in the box. How nice of them. A simple clip would work about a MILLION times better!!!

The soft orange rubber coating they put on the front is a really bad idea. The other degree I'm getting is in Visual Arts, and while drawing for a few hours while listening to it, the buttons got covered with graphite. This wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that it's a real pain in the butt to clean, and in fact it doesn't get clean.

So basically after a week of use my unit has a scratched display (err) and a graphite-grey stained orange front.

But in some fairness, it does it's job. It plays MP3's from CDR's and has a nice long battery life - and thats why I bought it. I am just so suprised at how badly engineered this product is.

Would I buy another product from Nike/Philips? - Not a chance

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stylish but with only short term reliability, July 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Nike Sport ACT400 Audio MP3-CD Player PSA (Electronics)

I bought this walkman early this year, probably JAN/FEB to take running with me. I usually run on a treadmill, but anti-shock is still important, and I was impressed with the eight-minute anti-shock memory. This is the best thing about it - it literally wont skip, even if the CD is slightly scratched and skips on other players. The unit looks nice, and the no-look buttons work well while on the move. The mp3 option also works great, and the sound quality is indistinguishable from CD.
The rubber hand strap is a pain to put on the player, and needs frequent washing otherwise it starts to smell like rancid socks. As usual with these things, the headphones are rubbish; Nike is supplying this type of headphones with all it's sports audio and THEY DO NOT STAY ON, even when you turn your head, they need to start supplying more rugged, expensive headphones with these players. I had to use my old headphones, which worked fine. However, if you've spent $... on this thing, you shouldn't need to go out and spend another $... on headphones.
The remote control unit stopped working months ago, and the magnets on it rust up fairly easily. Yesterday (now early July), the display on the front of the unit started to disappear, and some of it appears backwards.
But, there's been no deterioration in sound quality, or interruption in play due to these faults.
I am probably going to try and return it under guarantee very soon, because when it works, this is a nice walkman. However, they need to bring out a new model with all of these technical and practical issues solved. Soon.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nike PSA MP3 Player Rocks !!, October 15, 2002

By 

"niftyhawk" (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nike Sport ACT400 Audio MP3-CD Player PSA (Electronics)

Alright,lets get started with the new NIKE-PHILIPS combination the PSA(Portable Sport Audio) MP3CDPLAYER. This is my first purchase in the case of MP3/CD players and I am glad to say it ROCKS !! First and foremost, the design of the player is really really attractive. Each and every button is in the reach of the fingers and is easily operable(unlike Sony's sports model of MP3/CD Player). The digital remote is yet another attraction to the already good looking player. The player is made for athletes and its 480 second shock proof helps to listen to music without any pauses. The headphones are light weight too and with them comes the magnets which one can place comfortably anywhere to stick ur digital remote to them for easy access. The headphones are flexible and there is no fear of them getting broken or something like that. The sound quality is excellent, even the worst MP3s get their groove on with this player !! The handstrap is yet another advantage for the joggers and athletes. The price is a bit high but hey, remember it beats the quality of SONY in it(nothing against the SONY guys though ;) ) !! Summing together, this is my conclusion:
DESIGN -> A+ , SOUND QUALITY -> A+ , Price -> A. So, just take a test drive with this funky player and I am sure you guys will like it !!