Can Epson Runsense SF-810 overhaul TomTom Multisport Cardio?

published 3 November 2014

If you're serious about getting fit, the Epsons Runsense SF-810 wearable GPS fitness watch could be right up your alley.

Designed for runners, cyclists and walkers but not swimmers, despite being waterproof, the Runsense SF-810 is an obvious alternative to the likes of TomTom's Cardio range of wearable personal trainers. That's because as well the usual step counting and GPS tracking, there's an optical pulse rate monitor built in. These generally work very well, and mean you can ditch that chest-strap cardio monitor, with its manly odour and slightly wobbly elastic, that you've been using the last few years.

The USP here is a stride sensor, which tracks your stride length and frequency. This not only means that it can track distance accurately if GPS is lost, but could also be used in the future for analysing your running style.

Epson also claims battery life of 20 hours - "two times longer than comparable devices". Fight!

Behind the headline features there's fairly impressive data tracking, with 35 parameters being saved from your runs. These includetime elapsed, distance, pace, laps, intervals, speed and calories burned.

Interval, time and distance targets can also be set, with vibro alerts to let you know you've dropped out of the right pulse-rate zone or fallen off the pace. Four customisable screens on the watch mean you can have the data you want, where you want, while a gym mode means the Runsense 810SF can be used indoors without a GPS fix.

Everything can then be viewed, analysed and boasted about on Epson's own Runsense View portal, via the Run Connect smartphone app. There doesn't appear to be support for popular third-party services such as Runtastic or Google Fit/Apple HealthKit. However, the app does allow for A-GPS for a faster satellite fix.

At £299.99 RRP, this is a fair bit more expensive than the TomTom Cardio Multisport or even a Polar M400 watch and chest-strap combo. Yeah yeah, once Amazon and the likes get their hands on it, presumably we'll be looking at a somewhat lower retail cost, but all we've got to go on so far is RRP.

We'll have a review as soon as we've hit the streets with one. In the mean time, more info can be found here.

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years.

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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