TomTom Spark 3 Cardio + Music, GPS Fitness Watch + Heart Rate Monitor + 3GB Music + Bluetooth Headphones (Black, Large)

This is an integration to my review below after having used the TomTom Spark 3 Cardio for several months.I leave the rating at 5 starts since I still think it is a great GPS watch. And especially for the current price it is a steal - no doubt the best deal under $200-250.The only shortcomings I came across regard the instant pace metric. As is discussed in several forum entries, the Spark 3 simply gets that one wrong most of the time. It consistently gives slower instant pace values. When looking at the data after a run, the numbers don't add up. The instant pace consistently shows slower pace values than Spark's own average pace calculated over the entire path. The more significant downside to this is that if you do use pace to moderate your running speed you risk overdoing it as the watch makes you believe you run too slower than you can/should. Only second thing is that the Spark 3 does not show you cadence while running.That's it. for anything else the Spark 3 is as great as written originally below.---Original Review:---This is a great watch and I would recommend it without hesitation.I use it for trail running and I run about 3 times a week 5K routes on forest paths.I like:- the interface navigation works very well and is very intuitive. no learning curve and can easily used while running to see different metrics.- the 'route exploration' feature is superb and for me has actually 3 great uses:1) I run along new paths and take new turns and can then just back track my route to get back to my car.2) I upload a gpx running path through the online web app (very easy and intuitive) to then follow my new route on the watch as I run. The multiple zoom levels on the watch route view are great. You can create your own gpx routes at sites such as bikemap. Create and account, then top right click to create a new route. choose "open street map" map views as these contain hiking trails also and the route you create actually follows the hiking paths - just like google maps routes you along the streets)3) This third use is an extension of the second one. You can actually load an entire path network as one single gpx file. In my case I use bikemap to create a route by tracing over all trails in one hiking area. In this way on the watch then I have the entire hiking trail network and can improvise while running, seeing my position in relation to all hiking trails around.- long battery life! (I only use the watch to track my 3-4 running session per week, each about 4-5km long, I make it through 2-3 weeks with one charge in this way)- all other features of the watch work just well and are easy to set up. It is a fun watch to use.

I have a Spark 3 Cardio + Music. The watch is about 9 months old. Recently, about two months ago, I started having problems with the GPS taking up to 10 minutes to lock in. I also have been having problems syncing with my phone. It takes way longer than it used to. (20-30 minutes, sometimes up to an hour). My earphones have also been stopping after 10-20 minutes of running (yes, they were fully charged on all occasions). Once they cut out, they cannot be re-synced. Also, I just ran a half-marathon, at the end of the run I ended the tracking by pushing the directional controller to the left twice. This should have stopped tracking. It did not. The screen wasn't showing that my time/distance was being tracked but I later discovered that it was. The watch continued to track me after getting in a car and driving off. Also, it stopped syncing with my phone anymore. I contacted customer service (reference # 171113-001117) and was told to do a factory reset. It took two factory resets before the watch would sync with my phone. For a few runs after the second reset the watch was able to acquire GPS and sync with my phone quickly but the earphones won't connect. One week later it started taking about one hour to sync with my phone. Still can't connect the earphones. The main reason I bought this product over the Garmin Forerunner 235 was for the music feature. Now that doesn't work. I went back and forth with customer service a few times but they stopped responding. Is this what happens when a Tomtom product is 7-8 months old? This is my first and will also be my last tomtom product

This was such a big disappointment. The only reason I chose the TomTom over a fit bit was the ability to play music from the same device. The screen is horrible to see. In order to have any type of backlight, you have to hold your finders over the screen and wait for it to come on. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't sync to my phone either. I have only had 1 successful link to my phone. It took over 30 minutes for the watch to find my phone. Every night I try to sync so I can see my progress on my phone and it has not worked. It also does not record my sleep or steps accurately. 1 night it said I only got 1 hour of sleep, another night 0 hours, and so on. Definitely not a smart purchase here on my part. Do not recommend...

I LOVE this watch. I have used this watch for two years as a collegiate runner, and I understand what the bad reviewers are saying, but here's my perspective:The price is GREAT for a reliable GPS watch. This thing is the most accurate watch I've ever used or owned. I love the interval set up, you are able to punch in your time/distance fast and time/distance slow or rest.I had some issues at first with accidentally stopping the activity when I had to stop at stop lights or to cross the street, because if you accidentally hit the left button twice instead of once to pause the activity, it will stop your run. However, there is a setting that I found later where it will automatically pause the activity when you stop, and I have found that to be working great since.The "immediate pace" that it shows you definitely jumps around, but ALL GPS watches (within a reasonable price range) do this. Our technology just has not come far enough to fix this issue yet. But I have mine set to tell me pace per mile each mile, and it always reports is very accurately. The distance reading is great.The settings are easy to use once you get a feel for it and mess around with it for a bit. Tomtom's app is really nicely laid out, and the watch has the ability to recall your last 10 runs without your smartphone upload with allt the deets like time/distance/pace/cal and bpm (if you have the HR monitor one).Overall, if I had the decision to buy this again, I would!