TomTom Touch Fitness Tracker

Excitement overload. Waiting for the postman to deliver this new TomTom Touch is just too much.

Until recently I was not the most active person, however I just wanted this TomTom Touch Body Composition Fitness Tracker to arrive so I could hit the gym and watch as the heart rate monitor told me how out of shape I was and how long I had been going before inevitably, I would need to stop and take on fluid.

So it arrived and looked so pretty in the box. Shining back at me from the plastic display at the front, I just ripped open the top (when I say ripped, I mean careful pulled backed the sealant) and emptied the contents onto my desk. The box contains, 1 x TomTom Touch, 1 x Charging Cable, 1 x Quick Guide and 1 x Legal Appendum which I mistook for the instructions. In fact, there are no actual instructions. That in itself is ok, as I can figure most things out, but alas I gave in and had to download the instructions of the TomTom website.

I have since found out the Touch can do the following:

Body composition - See what your body is made of with body composition
Heart rate on your wrist
24/7 activity tracking - Capture steps, active time, calories burned, heart rate and sleep time
Sports Mode - Mix it up and log your workouts in Sports mode
TomTom MySports app - Dive into your stats, view your progress and share your achievements in the TomTom MySports app

You will need to download the TomTom MySports apps and register as a new user (it does not use or refer to any other TomTom logins you may have for Sat Nav’s)

In this app, you will be able to work through the settings and configure the Touch. When I say configure I literally mean enter your height, weight and name. You can also set the watch to 24 hours or 12 hours in the app, however this has no actual effect on what the watch shows and you are left with an hour display regardless. I have however been informed by TomTom that this is being worked on in a new software release. (I have already had 2 new software releases and it does not work as yet)

Nonetheless, it does still tell me the correct time.

This leads me on to the next part of this, as TomTom call it, TomTom Touch Body Composition Fitness Tracker. It is meant to be with you in the gym or on a walk or playing sports to keep you updated of how you are doing.

First test – The Treadmill.

I must point out from the off that I am used to wearing a Fitbit, specifically at Fitbit Flex, so I thought it would be great to see if the Touch can calculate steps as well as my current Fitbit does.

Oh yes, the treadmill. I stretch, I start walking and I activate the TomTom Touch sport mode. Will a simple press of the silver button, a simple swipe down and then a press of the button again, I was in sports mode. 30 seconds later, I was itching to see what it said, so I pressed the button and came out of sport mode. I didn’t know what to do. This was not my plan. I just wanted to see how I was doing (after 30 seconds). The treadmill is now stopped, I’m standing looking at my watch and must have looked like the fat kid who had to stop WALKING after 30 seconds. So…. I press the button, the I swipe down, I press the button again and enter sports mode. I then leave it. I don’t even look at it in case it stops again. (NB. This has since been changed in the latest update and you have to enter a different mode to end the sports mode now) I’m in the zone, I’m jogging, I’m now running…. I’m now knackered. That’s enough. 3.5 Kilometres run (I’m not saying how long that took me). Stop the Touch, come out of sport mode and can see that I have done a LOT of steps. Great! I’ve hit my daily goal already! Congratulations! Stars are flashing on the watch, I can hear a trumpet in the background congratulating me. I then look at the Fitbit to compare. The Fitbit just looks at me and says NO. Literally the computer says NO. It is 4000 steps less than the Touch. Who is right?? I am on the side of the Fitbit, however, has the Fitbit been wrong the whole time?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the next day, I swap wrists and put the Touch on my non dominant wrist. By the end of the day it is only 1500 steps over the Fitbit. This is leading me to think that the Fitbit was right yesterday and have every reason to shut me down.

The only way round this is to simply increase my goal with the Touch to 1500 steps more than Fitbit. So in theory when I hit 11500 steps on the Touch it is infact only 10000 steps.

Whilst this is a big jump for TomTom to enter the Fitness market, and they have already done so with some other good watches, I feel as though something is lacking with the Touch. It is trying too hard to be an all in 1 when it fails on the basics.

I’m am certainly not saying don’t get the Touch as it has positives that outweigh other more expensive trackers:

Fantastic Battery Life
Smart Appearance
Easy to use functionality since the last software upgrade
Visible screen in light and dark
Soft feel of the strap on your wrist
Body Composition monitor
Heart Rate Monitor
Sports Mode
Calorie Counter
Phone notifications – (not currently working, but apparently another update will fix this)