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] 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. I was hoping to keep it simple by just dragging the files across to the watch when it appeared as a drive in Windows. Do this and the watch was able to play the files, but they’ll be all jumbled, with no way to manually create playlists. It's a similar story for cyclists if you want to capture more ride data by connecting an external cadence or speed sensor. TomTom has tested its own sensor and the Wahoo Blue SC setup as well, but it should technically work with all Bluetooth Smart compatible sensors as well. You need to head into the Sensors menu again and this time go to Bike to get things paired up. Give Spark 3 a reboot 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.

That feature is cool, but if you’re after more structured training programmes, Garmin or Polar watches offer more than the TomTom Spark 3.Once you’ve got your music on your watch though, the included headphones work great. In fact, they’re some of the best running headphones I’ve used.

Nobody is ever going to accuse the TomTom Spark 3 of showmanship. The simple, uncluttered design is difficult to hate, but equally hard to lust after. The trails support is also fantastic. I moved house and so didn’t really know the running routes around here, which always makes you a little apprehensive about going out for a longer run. Thanks to the .GPX route support, I just jumped online and used PlotARoute to generate a predetermined distance based on my starting point, which can also be a circuit. You can also use MapsToGPS in conjunction with Google Maps to easily generate a .GPX route to load onto the watch.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. If you’re upgrading from the original TomTom Spark the menu system is exactly the same, but anyone used to a traditional smartwatch-style menu system should probably get practicing before pulling on the trainers. And you don’t even need your MP3 player or phone for music, either: assuming you buy the model labeled “Music”, the TomTom Spark 3 will stream music straight to Bluetooth headphones.

That’s not to say there aren’t any flaws, though. The screen is low-res and could be brighter, removing the watch from the strap to charge is annoying, and we’d have liked some customisation for the watch faces. We put it up against a Polar H7 heart rate monitor chest strap for several runs and the sample below of the data compared to the H7 paired with Runkeeper shows it's still a reliable monitor. Mixing things up with some high intensity training yields similarly good results. The Spark 3, like the original Spark, houses one of the best optical heart rate monitors we've tested. 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.

TomTom used to be a company synonymous with add-on satellite-navigation systems for cars. Gradually, as GPS technology became more affordable and included in even the most budget of smartphones, satnav systems became less popular and TomTom needed a new plan. Its answer: scale down from cars to people, and enter the fitness market. TomTom also announced a number of software improvements recently, which should be rolling out this month. These include a new Fitness Age score, which is based on your VO2 Max. It’s great to see VO2 Max estimations finally come to TomTom devices, as it’s historically been a rather strange absence considering all the component pieces required were present. This will compare you against other people in your demographic and is designed as an extra measurement metric and layer of motivation. It’s a running watch that I’ve found has largely stood the test of time. Its feature set for the money still makes it great value, with reliable GPS, heart rate monitor and extensive battery life. While its design is probably beginning to look more dated than ever, the four-way controls do work a treat when you’re out running and simultaneously trying to interact with the watch whilst dodging pedestrians. I can see why TomTom has been so averse to giving it a proper design overhaul. 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.