Moreover, we like the viewing options: even on the same run it is good to be able to view, at different times, speed, average speed, distance travelled, and heartrate. ![]() The GPS locks on quickly, and is very accurate. TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio sport watch review: in useĪfter our failure to update false start, we have been impressed by the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio. It isn’t a touchscreen, but we can forgive that. When on the move the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio is clear and easy to read even when bouncing around in front of a face full of sweat. TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio sport watch review: displayĪ 1.5in backlit greyscale display (22x25mm technically), the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio’s screen has a resolution of 144×168 pixels, which makes for a pixel density of around 148ppi. We have been using the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio for over a month, and I have still never managed to get it off- or on without a sweary struggle. The charging and connecting cradle is mildly awkward to connect and disconnect. It is perfectly intuitive, if a little clunky at times. Instead you navigate the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio using a four-button pad that sits below the display. Overall TomTom has done a good job of building a watch around a clunky, sensor-heavy device. Those wristband holes allow you to affix the strap at multiple levels of tightness, too. You don’t want your watch slipping around as you, well, slip around. The clasp itself works well, which is important. (Compare that to your watch, it’s wide.) This is a device that screams out to be noticed, which is fine when you are running or cycling, less so in civilian life. A bright plastic strap with wholes punched out of it, the wrist band element of the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio is more than 3cm wide at its thinnest point. It is also unlikely to sit on your wrist at the Lord Mayor’s banquet. It is, it is fair to say, an aquired taste. The TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio turns heads. ![]() We shoved it in water to know obvious negative outcome, and for more than a month it has been either in a rucksack or in use, without coming to any ill effect. This is important, because if – like me – you decide to find out what happens when you don’t update the watch, you will find yourself pounding the streets running 6.45s and being told by your stupid useless watch that you are crawling along at nine minutes a mile. You then visit the TomTom Get Started web page at and download the MySports Connect desktop software, and it in turn updates your watch. The desk dock is a slightly clunky plastic nugget to attach, which then connects to your PC via USB. You are warned on the box, and in the instructions, to always connect your TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio to a computer before you start exercising, using the desk dock provided. Setting up an using the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio is not a seemless and slick experience. TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio sport watch review: before you start So the TomTom is well priced, but only for fitness enthusiasts. You will pay the same of more for the Fitbit Surge, which is the equivalent FitBit fitness device. But it isn’t waterproof, and can’t be used for swimming as can the TomTom. The Microsoft Band retails for around £145, for instance, and offers some smartwatch features such as email notifications. Which is important, because this is a fitness gadget, and not a smartphone extension. Creeping toward smartwatch pricing, without being quite there. With a better GPS and slightly less bulk this would be an excellent running watch, but you could argue that Suunto, Polar and Garmin's top-end offerings offer similar or better results but with less compromise.This puts the TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio in the upper echelons of fitness wearables. However, the look is slightly dated, and I found the GPS pretty sketchy - a shame when so many running watches suffer from the opposite issue (terrible HR monitor, great GPS). The watch is comfortable in use and prices have dropped considerably from the TomTom's launch. The heart rate monitor is accurate enough, kept in the optimum position by the broad strap. You might get a week's worth of runs out of it, but only just, and I found occasional random battery drain (admittedly on an older test model) stymied my plans to run with it. ![]() Battery life is also no up to scratch, seven hours or less isn't really good enough. ![]() It's also quite bulky, by no means a subtle device, and although its comfy enough when worn it's a big beast to truck around. Surprisingly for the brand, GPS is pretty poor - without regular syncing with a desktop or mobile app to handover your coordinates this watch takes a long time to get a satellite lock. The UI is very logical and it's really super-simple to get up and running - in fact waiting for satellite lock is the longest part of the process. It's the best HR wrist sensor I've used - consistently within 1 BPM of a chest strap.
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