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tech Off-Road, On-Road, Any Terrain: The TomTom Adventurer GPS Watch is the Perfect Companion Everyone seems to be wearing a sports watch nowadays. I’ve seen cashiers at department stores wearing Fit Bits. I’ve seen senior managers at offices wearing Polar HRM watches. I’ve been to street running races, triathlons, Nordic ski races, and trail running races and virtually every competitor has a sports watch on. If you don’t believe me just watch the action several seconds before a race and you’ll see racers setting their watches to time their progress and help them meet their race goals. There are so many brands and so many types of sports watches. Some are simple with bare bones features while others are packed with absolutely amazing features. They all fit into two groups: some must work with cell phones while others are standalone units. My current sports watch of choice is a TomTom Adventurer GPS watch. It’s of the standalone variety, which I prefer. I’ve owned other brands like Polar and Garmin and enjoyed them, but lately the TomTom line best suits my needs. I am not recommending you buy one and I am not suggesting that your GPS watch is not as good. I just feel comfortable owning TomTom watches and have owned at least six different models. In fact, everyone in my family uses one to monitor their races and practices. I recently upgraded to this TomTom model, which became available to the public just a few months ago. For me, it has all the features I need plus extras, and it can easily compete with much higher priced watches from competitors. Even so, it’s not cheap. Expect to pay over $300 for one with headphones. Compare that to Garmins and Suuntos at this level and $300 plus is a bargain. 8 | DACKS & TOGA activelife n With great looks and multi-sport functions, the TomTom Adventurer has a lot to offer. Before putting an Adventurer through its paces (which I’ll touch on later), I can say it’s an impressive looking watch. I chose the visually impacting orange and black model (the only other choice from TomTom is an all black Adventurer with an orange strap loop). It’s an attention magnet and can be an icebreaker during those awkward conversations that are slowly going downhill due to the lack of things to say. I can’t tell you how many times I will be in a conversation with someone and I see his or her eyes gravitating towards my Adventurer, like a moth to a flame. I want to say to them “eyes up here” but don’t since it is a bit flattering to have people stare at or ask about your watch. So, I can say that for me, TomTom hit it out of the park with the looks of the Adventurer. The watch face is easy to read with large numbers for the time of day, on two lines. To distinguish the hour from the minutes, the hour numbers are always a little darker. The Adventurer continues TomTom’s use of an innovative fourposition navigation button, which makes navigating through windows simple. Just press the North, South, East or West side of the button to get to the window you want. It’s far easier to use than tiny buttons on many other watches or having to rotate your finger around a dial (try that with gloves on or on a rainy day), that is necessary with some other watches. The band has a bazillion small perforation-like holes (no they don’t go through the band) on both sides that make the band look very unique and very stylish. TomTom claims the underside holes make the watch more comfortable when you are active and perspiring. I’m not sure that’s the case but the band does look cool. In addition to the holes, the band is TomTom’s only one with a pivot—albeit on one side—which makes it fit better. It also has a hard plastic frame that surrounds the watch body and not only makes the watch bigger than other Spark series watches (the Adventurer is a Spark with all the options), it also is designed to protect it while hiking and to visually support its rugged genealogy. When removed from the band, the watch body itself looks no different than a Spark or Spark 3, but looks can be deceiving. The Adventurer is the most feature-rich TomTom GPS Sports watch they have made. Built-in heart rate monitor…check. Built-in music….check. Multi-sports…. check. Plus, it supports activities like hiking, trail running, snowboarding and downhill skiing, which make it a true “allseason” watch. For the Alpine skiing and
snowboarding communities it will sync (via GPS) your location while you are on a ski resort chair lift. It will show you your last downhill run at that course, and show you 3-D Distance and 3-D Speed. I’m not a downhill skier, nor am I a snowboarder so I will most likely never use those features. I will use the newly added hiking and trail running modes in addition to the running, treadmill running, bicycling, indoor bicycling, gym and stopwatch modes. I may even use the swimming mode if I ever get reacquainted with that sport. This probably won’t happen. Also new in the Adventurer (and Spark 3) is the built-in compass, which I’ve found to be very easy to calibrate, and the barometric altimeter, which gives far more accurate information than standard GPS. In addition, TomTom has added in the ability to route you back to your start point (called breadcrumbs navigation) to minimize your chance of getting lost. This to me is very important since it’s well known in my family that I have no navigation skills and am plagued with the world’s worst sense of direction. TomTom also listens to owner suggestions (so I’ve heard). They’ve redesigned their user application (called mysportsconnect) and made it more intuitive. However, despite being easy to use, and very “cheerful” looking, I find it to be a little on the juvenile side and the figures look like they are having too much fun. I can’t recall the last time I looked that happy working out or training so maybe that’s why I am having this disconnect with the interface. TomTom also thoughtfully resolved a complaint of owners of many battery-powered devices—expected battery life before needing a charge. All previous versions of TomTom GPS watches sampled GPS satellite readings every second and this was the main reason their batteries would be drained after 6 hours or so. The Adventurer samples satellites every two seconds and TomTom claims a 20-hour battery life between charges when using GPS in hiking mode. This is far more helpful for those on long hikes and those participating in ultra races. Then there’s the feature I have grown to like the most: the built-in music. TomTom Adventurers have a built-in hard drive that can handle up to 500 songs and they sync easily and quickly with my computer’s iTunes library. Then it’s just a matter of selecting the playlists I want added (or removed) and I have music on my watch (without the need of a cell phone or other device). Add in the terrific TomTom wireless Bluetooth headphones that work great, sound really good and stay in place well, and you have a very nice music package to help you drown out extraneous noise you don’t want to hear while working or training. TomTom designers managed to fix two common wireless headphone issues that were problems with their original headphones. They removed the on-cable panel with control buttons that makes headphones unbalanced when you move or turn your head and put the three buttons on the right ear bud. They also revised the adjustment fit by removing the clip that was on the first version and putting a rubber strap on the new version. This adjustable rubber strap does a great job keeping the ear buds in place while you are on the move. Kudos to the TomTom design team for making a nice sounding and welldesigned set of headphones even better. Finally, how does it work? In short, great. The ability to race against previous races, against time, race with a selected pace, sync with external sensors (bike sensors, external HRMs) have always been TomTom features. Add to the list its built-in optical Heart Rate Monitor, fast GPS satellite lock, the ability to save trails in your TomTom account to sync with at a later date and you have a nice package. On a more personal note, the breadcrumb trail navigation feature was a game changer since I’m so directionally challenged. It was put to a test in Coles’ Woods (Glens Falls, NY) and it worked as promised—saving me from wandering the trails endlessly and forever, like The Flying Dutchman. Thank you, TomTom. -Jody Katz BE FIT – STAY HEALTHY! with Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Andrea Henkel Burke! Andrea will measure your individual fat and carbohydrate burning ability using Aeroscan® Metabolic Testing. Personal 1-on-1 testing and evaluation will improve the effectiveness of any training program and help you reach your goals! • PERFECT FOR ATHLETES OF ANY LEVEL • IDEAL FOR BETTER ENDURANCE AND A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE Located in Lake Placid. Will travel for team testing. SPRING DISCOUNT Aeroscan® Metabolic Test $ 120 REG. $150 EXP. 6/30/17 trainer@andrea-burke.com • andrea-burke.com Job # 000 - Andrea Burke - Sales Rep/Artist Celebrate Life by Living It! THE HUB CAFÉ ~ BICYCLE REPAIR 7 LOCAL CRAFT BEERS ON TAP 2 LOCAL HARD CIDERS ON TAP 15 WINES BY THE GLASS • ICE CREAM CANOE/KAYAK/SUP PUT-IN OPENING FOR THE SEASON MAY 5TH, CINCO DE MAYO! 27 MARKET STREET, BRANT LAKE 518-494-4822 • TheHubAdk.com BARTONVILLE MOUNTAIN HIKING TRAIL OPENING IN JUNE! DACKS & TOGA activelife | 9 Job # 000 - The Hub - Sales Rep/Artist
Page 1: activelife TM FREE SPORTS • FITNE
Page 4 and 5: contents FEATURES 10 Cover Story: 5
Page 6 and 7: Our Contributors Drew Cappabianca o
Page 10 and 11: FIVE WAYS TO It’s Spring and the
Page 12 and 13: 2 Join a Group Ride: The First Ride
Page 14 and 15: 4 Take the Scenic Route: By Eric J.
Page 16 and 17: Finding the Right Bike is just the
Page 18 and 19: health & wellness Surviving a Minor
Page 20 and 21: active life Profile Bill Parks Bill
Page 22 and 23: Bill working hard on a climb at a m
Page 24 and 25: oad trip 15 HOURS ON THE DEVIL’S
Page 26 and 27: set before starting again toward Hu
Page 28 and 29: Our writer finishing up a late wint
Page 30: calendar “If you really want to d

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