About a month ago, the good folks over at TomTom (http://www.tomtom.com/en_ca/) sent me their Runner Cardio watch to test and review.
The first impression is that is a slick little unit- it looks pretty nice, and it's quite slim and light. For the past few years I've been using a Garmin 2015, which is a pretty big chunk of a thing to have strapped to your wrist, so to have this in such a small package was pretty nice.
I found it very easy and intuituive to use. I decided for the sake of this review to start poking around with it before reading the instructions (okay, I probably wouldn't have read the instructions either way) to see how easy it is to figure out. There are no buttons on the side of the watch like you normally have- everything is done through the controller which sits directly below the face of the watch (in the picture above you can see it- the black square). It basically functions like the old iPod controller- you press Left/ Right/ Up/ Down to move through the menus- easy.
To start the run, you press to the right to choose your activity (run, treadmill etc) and once that's selected, press right again until you hear the beep and feel the buzz (which means it's got the satellite connection) and you're ready to go.
You can configure the watch however you like- it has all the configurations you'd expect from a running GPS watch- average pace, instantaneous pace, speed, distance, elapsed time, heart rate, clock time- all easily accessible. I usually leave it on either average pace or instaneous pace, but if you want to see any of the other fields, you just scroll either up or down to get to where you want.
The display is very easy to read- at least for the primary field that you are showing. I have it set up to show 3 fields- so if I have the primary display showing my average pace, then the smaller fields above show distance and elapsed time. The size of those fields is my only complaint with this watch- I find them a bit too small to see easily.
The lap function is nice with this watch. I know that lap function is a standard thing, but what I like about this one is that with each lap (I have it set to 1km) not only does it beep and flash up on the screen, it also buzzes, so if you're doing a workout and have headphones in that would keep you from hearing the beep, you'll feel the buzz.
Having a heart rate monitor is something new for me- I've never trained with one. This watch has the heart rate monitor built right in instead of having to use a chest strap as most other heart rate monitors do. Here's what the TomTom site says about it:
I found it very easy and intuituive to use. I decided for the sake of this review to start poking around with it before reading the instructions (okay, I probably wouldn't have read the instructions either way) to see how easy it is to figure out. There are no buttons on the side of the watch like you normally have- everything is done through the controller which sits directly below the face of the watch (in the picture above you can see it- the black square). It basically functions like the old iPod controller- you press Left/ Right/ Up/ Down to move through the menus- easy.
To start the run, you press to the right to choose your activity (run, treadmill etc) and once that's selected, press right again until you hear the beep and feel the buzz (which means it's got the satellite connection) and you're ready to go.
You can configure the watch however you like- it has all the configurations you'd expect from a running GPS watch- average pace, instantaneous pace, speed, distance, elapsed time, heart rate, clock time- all easily accessible. I usually leave it on either average pace or instaneous pace, but if you want to see any of the other fields, you just scroll either up or down to get to where you want.
The display is very easy to read- at least for the primary field that you are showing. I have it set up to show 3 fields- so if I have the primary display showing my average pace, then the smaller fields above show distance and elapsed time. The size of those fields is my only complaint with this watch- I find them a bit too small to see easily.
The lap function is nice with this watch. I know that lap function is a standard thing, but what I like about this one is that with each lap (I have it set to 1km) not only does it beep and flash up on the screen, it also buzzes, so if you're doing a workout and have headphones in that would keep you from hearing the beep, you'll feel the buzz.
Having a heart rate monitor is something new for me- I've never trained with one. This watch has the heart rate monitor built right in instead of having to use a chest strap as most other heart rate monitors do. Here's what the TomTom site says about it:
One thing I'd still like to do is get my hands on another HRM and wear them both at the same time to see how they compare. The readings I was getting from this one were quite high (often over 200 BPM when not running super hard) so I'd be interested to see how this compares.
For battery life, I've only managed to kill the battery once. I was about 5 1/2 hours into a 50K race and the battery died, which I thought seemed a bit short. I contacted the company to find out if that was standard, and they responded back that if it died that quickly there was probably a reason, such as the watch constantly having to search for signal (I was in a very thick forest in the mountains of PA, and I did lose signal once). Their estimated battery life is:
- With GPS only- 10 hours
- With GPS & HRM- 8 hours
- With HRM only- 20-30 hours
- Clock only- 2-3 months
I have another long race coming up in a few weeks- I'll try turning the HRM off so that isn't draining the battery as much and see how long I get.
The website interface with the watch is great. This watch charges off USB, so when you plug it in to charge it automatically updates your profile on the TomTom site with your run. Here's what it looks like:
For battery life, I've only managed to kill the battery once. I was about 5 1/2 hours into a 50K race and the battery died, which I thought seemed a bit short. I contacted the company to find out if that was standard, and they responded back that if it died that quickly there was probably a reason, such as the watch constantly having to search for signal (I was in a very thick forest in the mountains of PA, and I did lose signal once). Their estimated battery life is:
- With GPS only- 10 hours
- With GPS & HRM- 8 hours
- With HRM only- 20-30 hours
- Clock only- 2-3 months
I have another long race coming up in a few weeks- I'll try turning the HRM off so that isn't draining the battery as much and see how long I get.
The website interface with the watch is great. This watch charges off USB, so when you plug it in to charge it automatically updates your profile on the TomTom site with your run. Here's what it looks like:
A really neat thing with this is that as you scroll your mouse over any point on either the pace, distance, or heart rate charts, it shows you the corresponding data on the other charts and highlights on the map where you were at that point. For example, if I see in the heart rate chart that there's a spike, it will also show me on the pace, elevation charts, and map where I was and what was happening.
The website also if very good for FAQs and video tutorials. I did use the videos to figure out some of the functions after my initial playing around with it.
The website also if very good for FAQs and video tutorials. I did use the videos to figure out some of the functions after my initial playing around with it.
All in all, I think this watch is a great option for runners. It's light, comfortable, easy to use, and accurate (as far as I can tell from my measurements vs my Garmin). For price it's right in there (or maybe a bit below) the comparable Garmin. I'm looking forward to continuing to use this watch with my training and racing, and will be recommending it to other runners who are in the market for a running watch.