TomTom Spark Cardio + Music GPS Fitness Watch Review

Do you need to track your workout while listening to music, but hate the thought of dragging your bulky smartphone along? Well, TomTom has come up with the perfect solution, let me introduce you to the TomTom Spark Cardio+ Music GPS Fitness watch. The Spark Cardio is designed to wirelessly stream music to Bluetooth enabled earbuds, while tracking your stats on your run, bike, hike, swim, and even hitting up the gym. The GPS watch is a multi-sport/activity tracker with a built-in wrist heart rate monitor and 3GB (approximately 500 songs) of built-in storage for loading all your favorite workout music.

The fitness watch streams music to a wide range of Bluetooth® headphones, and comes preloaded with Running Trax, a bespoke thirty-minute mix of motivating, high energy, upbeat dance anthems from some of the world’s best DJs, curated by Ministry of Sound. Playlists can also be easily downloaded to TomTom Spark from iTunes or Windows Media® Player.

“We know that music plays an important role when it comes to motivating and improving sports performance, but relying on a smartphone is all too often an uncomfortable experience,” says Corinne Vigreux, Managing Director, TomTom.  “The unique combination of an integrated music player, built-in heart rate monitor, 24/7 activity tracking, multi-sport functionality and GPS in TomTom Spark makes it easier than ever for people to get more from their workout, and improve their overall fitness level.”

Design

TomTom has improved the design on the Spark Cardio, with a screen that is easier to read, a slimmer profile and made the watch 37% lighter over the previous model. The Spark offers up a low profile that is designed to be worn comfortably all day, and even through the night. There are two different strap sizes available to ensure that you get a perfect fit for your wrist. The smaller band, 121-175 mm, has one single row of adjustment holes, while the larger band, 143 -206 mm, has a double row and a wider strap. The strap has three locking points that snap into the wrist band ensuring a secure fit.

The Spark Cardio can separate into two pieces for easier dock charging and bike mounting, the main watch and the strap. Charging is done through a USB propriety charger. When the battery is fully charged, the watch can be used for up to around 11 hours with activities that need continuous GPS reception. With 5-7 average GPS tracked activities a week, I was generally recharging the Spark Cardio about every five days.

This watch is compatible with both MP3 and AAC (what iTunes uses) files, meaning it’ll load music from both Windows Media Player and iTunes, as well as many other popular music libraries on both Mac and PC. Its Bluetooth Smart sensor wirelessly streams music to Bluetooth-equipped earbuds with A2DP and AVRC profiles. Check your earbuds’ specifications to ensure compatibility.

The black and white LED screen offers an easy-to-read display in both bright outdoor environments and indoor gyms with dim lighting. An intuitive left/right button interface effortlessly toggles through the watch’s different displays and workout screen menus. Its built-in heart rate monitor, GPS tracking, and motion sensor records heart rate, speed, pace, distance, calories burned, and workout duration when you’re cycling on twisty roads, running along your favorite trails, cardio training indoors on a treadmill or stationary bike, as well as swimming laps in the pool (it’s rated at 5-ATM water-resistance).

Features

Music is easily loaded onto the watch through the TomTom software, via iTunes or Windows Media Player. You’ll be able to put playlists from either onto the Spark

Moving beyond the music feature, the TomTom Spark Cardio + Music is a solid fitness watch. It has incredibly accurate GPS tracking that provides real-time information including time, distance, speed and pace and it accurately tracks your steps taken, calories burned, minutes of activity, and sleep. The watch picks up the intensity of your sessions, too, thanks to the built-in heart rate monitor that accurately tracks heart rate, without the need for a chest strap.

Around that square are the four way controls, which makes for a pretty easy and quick navigation system, even with sweaty fingers. Scroll right to set your activity for a session, scroll left to see your daily progress, and left again to see the weekly readout. You get the numbers for steps, calories, and so on, with a circle around the outside that fills in as you meet your preset targets.

Besides monitoring important exercise statistics while you work out, this watch acts as a 24/7 activity tracker that monitors your steps taken every day, active minutes, calories burned, heart rate and sleep schedule. It also functions as a training watch for pushing your limits, offering Race, Goals, Zone, Laps, and Interval modes for competitive use.

Stats can be uploaded via the MySports app and reviewed wirelessly on multiple platforms including TomTom MySports, RunKeeper, Nike+ and more.

TomTom MySports App

TomTom MySports Website