Verdict:
Nice all-round fitness tracker which it doesn’t quite match up to all other fitness trackers out there but a nice range of features included.Pros
Accurate sleep trackingLooks stylish
Phone-free exercise tracking
Quick and accurate sleep tracking
Cons
Patchy phone syncingExpensive for a fitness tracker
Limited functionality
Old-fashioned
Key features:
- Review price: 150£ (180$)
- 5-7 battery
- GPS, heart rate tracking and music
- Bluetooth syncing
Ratings
Style: 8/10
Battery: 8/10
Functionality: 7/10
Sport modes: 9/10
Strap: 5/10
Alarm: 9/10
Smart abilities: 3/10
Sleep tracking: 9/10
Tracking accuracy: 9/10
Display: 8/10
OVERALL: 8/10
I purchased this Watch because I wanted the cool features such as heart rate tracking and GPS. I was not fully disappointed with the watch overall but there are many other competitors in the fitness tracking market such as Samsung and Garmin. I will include a few suggestions at the bottom.TomTom have recently decided to close down their sports brand which means that this tracker is cheaper than it was. For that reason, I put the TomTom Spark 3 back in the ring.
Style
The Spark looks quite different to other watches with the fact that it is rectangular rather than circular. This is a very defining feature for it. The square thing below the screen contains the GPS. You use that to control the screen. There are four-directions for it to go. The watch looks and feels premium so you won’t be disappointed with the astethics but I would have preference to a circular watch for looks. I got the black strap but there are other colours you can get such as green, orange, pink and blue.
Battery
It’s hard to find battery estimates from the Spark 3’s info page but from my personal experience I have not been impressed. I presumed that considering the screen is not touch-screen and has no colour it would have great battery but I was proven wrong. I get on average 3-5 days with medium-to-low use. Yes, compared to the likes of the Apple Watch 3 with only 18 hours it is good but as the reasons I have mentioned, it is not good enough. Anyway, I don’t mind too much having to plug the watch in every few days.
Functionality
The are many functions on the Spark 3 but nothing that will surprise you. It doesn’t have many features besides the sport modes. It has a stopwatch but it is awkward to use and also very battery-consuming for some reason. In terms of sport, it has great functionality with all the info you should need included. There is a map when you use GPS showing your route. You can upload a trail to follow but I have found it quite useless as it is hard to put it on and you can never rely on the watch to get you home safe!
Sport modes
It contains 7 different sport profiles which are run, cycle, swim, treadmill, gym, indoor cycling and freestyle. You can choose freestyle to track any activity not covered in the previous modes. I have found these to suffice as, unlike Garmin watches, it has very few modes. They usually cover what I want to track and if not I just use freestyle. There’s no point tracking useless activities anyway.
Strap
The strap is very poor quality and as I’m sure you saw from other reviews, it breaks so easily. They are VERY expensive to buy but the only saving grace is that they just send you a replacement from TomTom if you tell them it’s broken. In fact, there’s actually a part of their website for submitting a claim for another strap for free. Obviously they break so often that they had to set up free replacements. My friend also has the watch and has found it to give her much irritation but I have actually found it fine but it’s definitely not the best material they could’ve used.
Alarm
This is by far one of my favorite features on this device. It is brilliant having a personal, silent alarm on your wrist following you around everywhere. It makes no sound and wakes you very efficiently. It never fails to wake me as it vibrates violently on your wrist! When it goes off you can press left to turn it off or you can press right to snooze for 10 minutes. One big complaint I have is the fact that you can’t schedule alarms to go off at different times on different days. In this sense, it is very outdated but I very much appreciate the feature of having an alarm included as it is brilliant. It has cut out any need for me to set my annoying alarm to go off.
Smart abilities
Remember, this is NOT a smart watch. Recently, through a software update, they added support for text messages to show up on your watch but this feature is completely useless for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it only supports text messages and I find that texts are becoming less and less common nowadays. It won’t show any WhatsApp or Facebook messages which is annoying as I mainly use them and rarely use old-style texting! You might think it’s no harm to have that added extra on the watch but it actually is. It significantly decreases the battery life of your watch as it has to constantly stay connected to your phone through Bluetooth. I found the watch’s battery to decrease by 25% with this feature on so I decided to turn it off. The third reason it isn’t very useful is the fact that it doesn’t show much of the message. There is no way for you to scroll down to see the full message. It disappears after 10 seconds and there is no way to get it back when it disappears. This smart feature is quite disappointing for me but on the other hand I didn’t purchase this watch for the smart features.
Sleep and step tracking (and more)
I have found the sleep tracking to be extremely accurate. It relies solely on movement but even so it has been super. Even if I watch something in bed without moving much, it knows I’m not sleeping. You can view your sleep from the previous night on the watch which is great as I noticed is missing from the Fenix 5 (most expensive Garmin watch). It also has step tracking but I have noticed that to vary considerable from other Watch models such as the Fitbit charge 2 and others. Although it is hard for them to track that accurately but it does a pretty good job. It also has extra stats such as calories burned, time active and distance travelled but I never take heed to them as they are useless gimmicks.
Tracking accuracy
When compared to a heart rate chest strap, I found the HR monitor to be highly accurate. It changed with different speeds very quickly. I was very impressed with it and after using it I wouldn’t bother using a chest strap. It is much more convenient to use. Also, the GPS is definitely within a few metres of exact. You won’t be disappointed with the tracking accuracy compared to other brands.
Branding
At first I was confused between the Spark 3 and the Runner 3. Then I found out that they’re the exact same but the TomTom Adventurer is a little different. I would definitely not recommend that to anyone as it is way more expensive than this one and has practically one extra feature. A barometric altimeter. All it does it tell your altitude, not even the weather. Because of this, it adds 4 more sport modes which are Skiing, snowboarding, hiking and trail run. I would find the extra feature to be useless as I already track those activities under freestyle and change it in the app later. It uses the altimeter from the GPS which is perfect for me. It might not be perfect but it beats forking out an extra 150£ for something that should have been included in the Spark 3.
Display
The screen on this device does not match up to what is expected of a Watch today. The black and white screen probably makes the device cheaper though. I don’t mind too much but a nicer display would be good.
Comparison to previous models
This is the Spark 3 but it is very similar to the Spark (multi sport). The only added extra with this device is the compass. Honestly, I think it is unworthwhile. They really shouldn’t have come out with a whole new model just for a compass. It added extra functionality like the breadcrumb trail and back to start but it wasn’t crucial. I would recommend the first watch just as much as this one especially if it’s considerably cheaper at the time.
What could be improved (these are just things missing which many competitor’s watches have)...
Smart (real) notifications
Nice display
Better quality strap
Better battery
Extra features such as auto-tracking
WiFi
Touch screen
Nicer design
More customization
Better app
Ability to see more stats on the watch
Ability to see map on Watch
Extras
The only extras it has over the majority of other trackers are the new fitness features that were included in a recent update. It only applies to the HR one but they are pretty cool. It tells you your fitness age (based on your vo2 max compared to others your age), your Vo2 max (a good measurement of your overall fitness) and you can earn fitness points. The fitness age and fitness points are unique to TomTom. They are good ways to motivate you. The points work based on your heart rate during your training which is a good way to make you work harder. The real bummer for me was that the fitness points couldn’t work while swimming as it doesn’t measure your heart rate then but it is a great feature none the less.
Overall verdict
I get good use out of this watch and wear it every day but if I was to go back and buy it again I would probably opt for a different brand. Ones I would recommend would be the Samsung Gear Sport, Huawei Watch 2, Suunto (any of them as they are similar to this) or even any Garmin Watch but the first three would be my preferences. I would only buy this if you get good value as it could be much cheaper than those other options. If you do a lot of sport, this watch will appeal to you but if you don’t, you will probably find all the negatives much greater than positives.
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