Multi sport GPS fitness watches for athletes

TomTom is a name that sometimes gets lost in the GPS market amidst the Garmins & Magellans. The company is expecting that it will stand out against those names in a new segment of the market: fitness watches. Its new range of GPS based fitness monitors is designed to provide a sleeker look & fit while giving athletes all the information they need to perfect their training.

TomTom has worked with Nike in powering the GPS based Nike+ Sport watch in the past, but this new series comprises its first home brewed sports watches. They look like the Nike watch in size & shape but there are several distinctive differences.

 TomTom's tall, rectangular chassis does appear less cumbersome than some of the other wrist mounted CRT fitness watches out there. It's 11.5 mm thick compared to 15 mm on the Nike Sportwatch + GPS. The face measures 22 x 25 mm.

Another key point of the new fitness watches is what TomTom defines as "the industry's first one button control," which cuts some of the disorder & complication off the face. The button is larger than some of the small buttons on competitor watches & TomTom says it can even be operated with a glove.

TomTom launched two primary fitness watch models. Designed for athletes, obviously enough, the watch uses QuickGPSFix technology to start your training as soon as possible & tracking the standards like speed, distance & time. It also has a sensor set that can track your steps, pace & distance indoors & on treadmills. It uses Bluetooth Smart technology for connecting to accessories like TomTom's heart rate monitor.

The Multi-Sport fitness watches include all of the features of the Runner but adds a dedicated bike mount & swimming monitor, which tracks laps, strokes, time & speed. It will be offered in three packages: watch only, watch plus heart rate monitor & watch plus heart rate monitor along with cadence sensor.

Each fitness watch offers three training modes. First one is "Race" that lets you compete against their best time or a recent run. "Goal" allows you to set a time, distance or calorie-burning goal & get progress alerts & the third "zone" provides full screen graph tracking for a pace or heart rate target. This watch also includes both vibrating & audible alerts. The fitness watches are designed to work with multiple platforms so that you can analyze & share your data on fitness websites.