Fitness and activity trackers have become a highly adopted accessory for many individuals. It has come to a point where consumer are not only using them for working out, but even just during everyday activities like walking around town or riding a bike to work. Fitbit and Garmin are two of the numerous companies finding success in this industry and now TomTom, a Dutch company vastly known for their navigation technology, has decided to compete with these brands with the release of the TomTom Touch at IFA 2016.
We’re so #proud of our #TomTomTouch being awarded as “Best digital health innovation” by @expertreviews at #IFA2016. pic.twitter.com/nwDUGOkjGm
— TomTom (@TomTom) September 7, 2016
The TomTom Touch has many similar features as other fitness trackers such as recording number of steps, active time, how many calories burned, sleep time, and heart rate. The heart rate monitor is active 24/7 through regular intervals (meaning it doesn’t measure every second). There is one new feature on the TomTom Touch that has never been seen on another tracker before: a body composition monitor.
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Body composition has become the new (and overall better) way for individuals to track their health and fitness. Rather than stepping on a scale to realize a lack of change even though you have been hitting the gym constantly and staying on track with your routine, body composition can show you the changes without actually seeing them with the naked eye. It will show you the amount of both muscle and fat in your body, which is difficult to differentiate between when just looking in a mirror or reading a scale.
This measurement is done by sending a tiny electrical pulse through your body and calculates the numbers by sensing how long it takes for the pulse to make it back to the wristband. Lean tissue (muscle) conducts electrical impulses quicker than fat, thus the faster the response time, the leaner the individual’s physique.
In addition, the TomTom Touch can display phone notifications like incoming calls and texts, has a touchscreen, customizable straps, a battery life of up to 5 days and is water-resistant for those inconvenient, random rain showers.
The TomTom Touch will officially launch in October and can be purchased for $129.99.