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TomTom Spark 3 Multi Sport GPS Fitness Watch - Small Strap, Aqua

£9.9£99Clearance
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Despite TomTom’s in-car sat-nav pedigree, don’t expect on-screen turn-by-turn navigation. Instead, the watch simply traces your journey and by using the built-in compass you can follow it safely home again. The Spark 3 is tall and rectangular, so not for those who like watches with round faces. The plastic strap is easy to put on and adjust, although having to remove the watch to charge it is annoying. The Spark 3 is particularly suited to runners. You can set specific objectives for each part of your run (such as fat burning), or how many calories you want to burn, or what distance you want to cover.

The strap design tweak along with a few more colours to choose from still makes this every bit a sports watch, but it certainly feels a lot more svelte than what you can get from Garmin or Polar. It doesn't try to masquerade as something more stylish, and that's fine with us. For now. It's light, comfortable, still has a really intuitive user interface and is very easy to use. So what this means in practice is that as soon as you start your run, a little icon appears on a blank screen saying “home” on it. A line is then drawn covering the directions you run in, with each twist and turn being shown on the screen like an etch-a-sketch drawing taking shape.[gallery:3] Then there are the many different modes you can use to guide your run. You can plan interval sessions, or set the Spark 3 to buzz every time you stop running at a certain pace or exit a given heart rate zone.

Need help updating your device?

But it's not just a meaningless update. TomTom has added route exploration for the first time, building in a compass sensor to make it easier to find your way home or discover a new running trail. The Spark 3 has enough storage for about 500 songs, but getting them onto your wrist isn’t as simple as we’d like. When compared with a chest strap on a competitor device, the Spark 3 held its own. Heart rate was accurate, but I did notice a little lag when out. Doing hill runs, for example, meant spikes in heart rate that the watch struggled to display immediately. The TomTom Spark 3 is a comprehensive offering that works well and is offered at an affordable price, which makes for a very compelling GPS sports watch indeed. However, with the Spark 3, TomTom isn’t going after the smartwatch market, but rather staying focused on being a GPS watch. As such, the inclusion of a built-in music player and Bluetooth headphone connectivity means that there’s no need to take out a phone with you when you’re training. TomTom Spark 3 – Battery Life and Charging

The good news is that you can still pull your data into third party apps including Strava, Runkeeper and MapMyRun so that's TomTom's saving grace. But we were hoping for more on the app front in the future. The square watch face is slightly rounded at the edges, and the whole unit is controlled by a rectangular four-way button that protrudes through the strap from underneath the screen. The whole watch face pops out of the strap for charging, but don’t imagine that means you can get a more fashionable strap for it. There are a number of third-party straps available, but I wouldn’t call any of them stylish. They still need to house its heft, after all. The screen is quite dark, but it uses power-saving reflective LCD tech, so it’s always on.

TomTom raises the bar for multi-sport GPS trackers

Like the previous generation, there’s also the identically featured TomTom Runner 3 range, which has a slightly different strap design but is available in the same variations and provides the same level of functionality.

According to TomTom, you're not required to calibrate the compass before activity but the Spark 3 will offer to calibrate if it considers it's needed. You can still calibrate whenever you wish as well.Will it be enough to convince Spark owners to upgrade? That really depends on how much you value the option to mix up your running routes. We certainly enjoyed having it and it'd definitely come in handy taking the watch abroad or into unknown territory. We think it's a great addition, and it works well. So if it looks and feels the same, why should you upgrade? Well, TomTom is hoping that you’re the kind of runner who likes exploring. It’s also simple to set goals, and you’ll be rewarded with a buzz and a badge when you hit your activity targets. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – right? That appears to be TomTom’s thinking with the Spark 3, which hasn’t changed significantly in the looks department since the first version.

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