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- First reviewFebruary 11, 2016
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TomTom Spark Cardio + Music Fitness Watch + Heart Rate: With GPS tracking, a built-in 24/7 heart rate monitor and 3GB of music storage, this watch is the only device you need to bring to your workout. Multiple sports modes let you switch up your training.
Posted by: Kurto2021
Ever since the MotoActv came out in 2011 it has been the holy grail of all in one running watches. Did it have issues ... yes ... but how has nothing come close in 5 years.
In comes the Tomtom Spark Cardio + Music promising to deliver on almost everything the MotoActv did and more. Does it beat the MotoActv, in my opinion yes, but there are still plenty of shortcomings with this device. Are the deal breakers? Not really.
As an outdoor running watch this thing is fantastic, capture GPS signal in a hurry and does a really good job and mapping out my runs. As an indoor running watch it seem there needs to be some work done. The distances are off by at least 33% every time. It's easy enough to adjust but they definitely fall behind the quality of both the MotoActv and the current Garmin line ups. This is something that can be easily fixed with an update but looking at the Tomtom forums I would suspect a fix is not going to happen (same issue with the runner 1).
How does the Tomtom compare to the MotoActv for music. Pretty good but a slight edge to the Moto here but only by the thinnest of margins. The biggest difference for me is that the Moto would work fine with headphones on either hand. The Tomtom needs to be on a specific hand or you will get drop outs when outdoors. Not a deal breaker but a little annoying. Control through the headphones and not the watch is one common complaint but I get it...there are not enough buttons to control running and music so I just use the headphones to control the music, it's easy enough.
One big win for the Tomtom is the heart rate monitor. Wrist based heart rate is pretty accurate and seems to match closely to what I was getting with the strap or my jabra pulse headphones. Carrying one less item is a big win so the Tomtom rules here.
Software......ugh.....Tomtom for lack of a better word sucks here. I switch over to the Tomtom have 300 runs I would like to add over the last couple years so that I can race against them and compare them on the tomtom website. No such luck. How can you not have an import feature makes me feel like I am starting over. The only thing that saves Tomtom here is the fact I can upload to many different sites (strava, nike, runkeeper, endomondo, etc). Also the website and app are pretty basic compared to my wife's Garmin 230 it just looks so much cooler. Is it better...I am not sure but it sure does look a look nicer. Another thing that I liked about the MotoActv was that at the end of the run you could see how you performed with each song. I don't get that break out with the Tomtom. It doesn't care what song I play or how fast I run when playing it.
Acitivity tracking is pretty good here too....better than the motoactv but not as good as the Garmin again.
For me I was trying to decide between the Garmin 235 and the Tomtom and ruled out the Garmin since it doesn't have music. My wife has the 230 so I know what I would be getting if I got the 235.
In the end I decided to keep the Tomtom as it does everything I want and with any device you seem to have to make some sacrifices. With this watch vs a Garmin it comes down to 1 deciding factor. Do you want the music on the watch. The Garmin supplies more functionality and a much better web and app experience. It also provides more metrics and more features for working out. In the end the most important thing for me was tracking my runs and listening to music and that is what I got from the Tomtom
My Best Buy number: 0085388123
I would recommend this to a friend!
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