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{{DISPLAYTITLE:TomTom Cardio Runner Review}}
[[File:TomTomCardioRunner.jpg|noneright|thumb|200px|The TomTom cardio runner, showing the green LEDs that provide optical heart rate monitoring.]]
The key feature of the {{TomTom Cardio Runner}} is its optical measurement of heart rate, rather than requiring a separate chest strap. Other than that, the TomTom is a fairly mediocre device, and you're paying a premium over some of the better watches, especially as the optical HRM does not work well. I think that the TomTom is only worth considering if you really want the built in optical heart rate monitoring, otherwise look elsewhere.
=TomTom Cardio Runner Pros=
* '''Alerts'''. Some watches will alert you when a metric is out of range. The alert for [[Cadence]] is really useful and one of my favorite features.
* '''Web Configuration'''. Some watches allow you to setup the configuration via a web site, and then download your changes. This is vastly easier than fiddling with the watch.
=GPS Accuracy=
With the 1.8.42 or later firmware, the TomTom Runner has reasonable [[GPS Accuracy]], but I'd expect it to do better given its use of the SIRF GPS chipset and from the tracks is creates.
* The TomTom has remarkably good repeatability, which is a measure of how likely it is to give the same indicated distance on a particular part of the course. This can create an illusion of greater accuracy than is actually there, and it also suggests that the TomTom is smoothing out curves too much.
* On the out-and-back turnaround the TomTom does a little worse than I'd expect for its overall rating, again suggesting too much smoothing.
* Running in a straight line on the other hand, is a fairly easy task for most GPS watches, and the TomTom really excels, giving the most accurate reading of any device.
* The TomTom does about how you'd expect going under the bridge.
* I not had any issues with the TomTom acquiring or maintaining the GPS signal, unlike some other devices.
{| class="wikitable"
|- valign="top"
|[[File:BridgeTomTom Cardio Runner (1.8.42).jpg|none|thumb|x300px| You can see the TomTom does remarkably well under the bridge and has no issues reacquiring the GPS signal. It does quite badly on the whole around the twisty section, cutting the corners too much due to smoothing. Interestingly, it does a better with the sharp turn seen on the right side of the diagram. Notice that the tracks are generally close together, and the lap markers in blue are very closely clustered, indicating good positional accuracy. (This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to read indicating poor accuracy, and the lap markers as blue dots.)]]
|[[File:BridgeTomTom Cardio Runner (1.8.5).jpg|none|thumb|x300px| The earlier version of the firmware does much worse going under the bridge and around the sharp corner, but does a little better on the twisty section. This suggests to me that while they've improved the overall accuracy, they may have added in a little too much smoothing.(This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to read indicating poor accuracy, and the lap markers as blue dots.)]]
|- valign="top"
|[[File:AccuracyTomTom Cardio Runner (1.8.42).jpg|none|thumb|x300px| This close up section of a zigzag shows the tom-tom tracking nicely, with no red lines that would indicate worse accuracy.(This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to read indicating poor accuracy, and the lap markers as blue dots.)]]
|[[File:AccuracyTomTom Cardio Runner (1.8.5).jpg|none|thumb|x300px| The earlier firmware has tracks that are not significantly different from the newer firmware in shape, but you see rather more red lines and while the lap markers are tightly clustered, you see two groups, one from each direction.(This diagram has tracks color coded with green indicating good accuracy through to read indicating poor accuracy, and the lap markers as blue dots.)]]
|- valign="top"
|[[File:ZigZagTomTom Cardio Runner (1.8.42).jpg|none|thumb|x300px| here you can see the tom-tom displaying the typical GPS behavior with the tracks that have the green lines shifted slightly down and to the left, blue up and to the right. You can see the lap markers similarly shifted. (This image has the tracks color-coded for direction, with green coming from the right, blue from the left.)]]
|[[File:ZigZagTomTom Cardio Runner (1.8.5).jpg|none|thumb|x300px| The earlier version of the firmware exhibits similar behavior, though the lap markers are a little more tightly clustered, but the two clusters are further apart. (This image has the tracks color-coded for direction, with green coming from the right, blue from the left.)]]
|}
{{BuyAmazon|AZID=B00JD4TFD2|AZN=TomTom Cardio Runner}}
=Comparison Table=
{{:Best Running Watch-table}}
