TomTom took the stage at IFA Berlin 2016 and revealed three new fitness tracking wearables that suit the needs of amateur athletes everywhere.
TomTom Touch is the first one, and although it meets the basic form factor of a standard wrist fitness tracker, it has a unique capability: it can gauge the user's body fat and muscle mass. This complements the standardized measurements such as step counting, heart rate monitoring and sleep tracking.
The second and third trackers are updated variants of Spark, the fitness watch line from the company, and they pack high-end, GPS-based, activity tracking.
Those of you saving for a new fitness tracker should know that TomTom Touch hits the stores in October and carries a price tag of $129. It features everything you would expect from such a gadget, such as a nifty touchscreen that displays your heart rate, sleep cycles and step count. What is more, it can also approximate the number of calories you've burned during your training.
It can also be synced with your smartphone to receive some notifications from it. The manufacturer touts that its battery stays on for five days at a time, and it also packs water resistance to boot. However, the real premiere for the device is the body composition analysis.
To accomplish this, TomTom tapped into bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).
The Touch computes how long it takes for a signal to make it through the upper portion of your body and return to the device. Based on the travelling speed of the signal, the tracker calculates your body fat and muscle mass percentages.
To cater to the needs of more dedicated fitness fans, look toward the other recent releases from TomTom.
Meet Spark 3, a solid update to the 2015 edition of Spark. The manufacturer embedded GPS tracking and some robust "route exploration" modes in the Spark 3.
First off, users get a "back to start" feature that can be tremendously helpful when taking on new routes or going for runs in an unfamiliar urban setting. The feature allows runners to set a start point they can easily revert back to.
Another helpful tool is trail uploading: users may upload any .gpx files to the watch so that every GPS features is at their fingertips, making the route exploration fun and safe.
The most expensive variant of the Spark 3 asks customers to shell out $249, and it also lands in stores in October. The watch packs a battery that can provide power for two weeks of light use or five hours of intensive use. The storage space of the wearable is 3 GB. Customers of the Spark 3 get a free pair of TomTom's around-the-neck Bluetooth sport earbuds.
There are more affordable versions of Spark 3, and for a price of $129 users will get the fitness tracker sans heart rate monitoring or music storage.
The last product TomTom showcased at IFA is the Adventurer. It is the most expensive of the three devices, but it comes with special perks in the form of a built-in barometer that should aid those into trail running, skiing, snowboarding and hiking.
The TomTom Advernturer goes on sale in October, costs $349 and offers the identical free pair of sports headphones as the Spark 3.
