Getting Started with Smart Sports

Running, biking, kicking, or swinging – there are smart gadgets to boost performance in all your favourite sports.

Fitness trackers have been one of the great technology success stories of recent years, with dozens of attractively designed fitness bands and sports watches now offering a variety of high-tech features for monitoring your performance during exercise. However, most fitness bands and watches are simply designed as general-purpose devices for use in the gym or when you’re out running. They’re fine for checking how far you run or walk each day but, of course, there are many people who focus their efforts on other sports that may require more specialised features and equipment.

Apple is clearly aiming at a more serious sporting audience with the new Series 2 version of the Apple Watch. The original Watch was limited by the need to pair it with an iPhone, which immediately ruled out it out for many sports as you could only use it if you also had an iPhone strapped to your arm the whole time. However, the Series 2 has built-in GPS, which means that you can leave your iPhone safely at home and use Watch Series 2 to monitor speed and distance travelled for running, cycling, hiking and many other sports. Admittedly, Apple’s got plenty of competition here, with products such as the new TomTom Spark 3 range, which includes a number of models between £120 and £220 that are designed for a variety of different sports. Garmin is another big name here, with its high-tech Fenix watches that look like something out of a James Bond film and are even more expensive than the Apple Watch.