Battery Life-Leader: Coros Aims for New Title With Latest Pace Pro

2024 has been a banner year for GPS sports watch technology. The four major brands in the space — first Suunto, then Garmin, and now Polar and Coros — have added an AMOLED display option to their high-horsepower units. These, and COROS PACE Pro discussed here, aren’t a “first” in wearables or consumer devices. If you use an iPhone or have a less pricey Garmin like the Epix, you’ll be familiar with AMOLED.

What has changed is these brands’ ability to integrate AMOLED displays into their most feature-packed and battery-draining units. These crystal-clear displays are energy hogs. So, for endurance sports watches where battery performance is prized, it’s a revelation to now offer AMOLED displays with other battery-intensive features like navigation and 24/7 optical health sensors.

In short: If you’ve never used a watch with AMOLED, it’s like the difference between reading a newspaper (in print!) and watching a movie in high-def. Coros loyalists might decry the battery life for not being yet another giant leap forward. But the Pace Pro watch packs more than adequate battery performance with ripping-fast navigational speed. It also has a display that is simply stunning on the wrist.

I’ve used the watch for 10 days straight since its arrival last week. I’ve taken it trail running, on track intervals, indoor rock climbing, hiking, and cycling. This article will share my first impressions while a longer and more comprehensive review will follow.

Shopping around? Check out our guide to the best fitness watches here.

Disclaimer: I make many comparisons to the Suunto Race S and Garmin Fenix 8 AMOLED in this review. Each is relatively new, and crucially, both, like the Pace Pro, have AMOLED displays. I will note up front that the Fenix 8 AMOLED ($1,199) costs almost three times as much as the Pace Pro ($349) and packs incredible features that the Pace Pro does not. This is not meant to detract from the Pace Pro. It is simply to compare AMOLED display watches with other major outdoor GPS watch companies.

Coros Pace Pro Review

For those of us fortunate enough to review watches regularly, we’re accustomed to getting first access to new ones. Typically, they come from the brand’s domestic warehouse. But in order to speed up review access, Coros has shipped its two latest watches to me — the Vertix 2S and now the Pace Pro. The Chinese characters-laden box foretells something unique and exciting.

Display

The Pace Pro came charged, and picking it up and “waking” it up, I got my first peek at the all-new AMOLED display. For months I’ve been testing competitors’ watches like Garmin’s new Fenix 8 AMOLED and Suunto’s Race S (also AMOLED). So it was a refreshing “first” that now I could compare a Coros device to these other endurance watch stalwarts.

Also consistent with the Pace Pro compared to these two other watches is its touchscreen. What’s much better about the Pace Pro compared to these two other watches in terms of touch is the haptic reaction. A lovely “click” greets each swipe through navigation. The navigation is as fast as Garmin’s and faster than the Suunto Race S.

Weight

Coros claims this is the lightest-weight, highest-performance sports watch on the market right now. According to my home scale, my Pace Pro’s actual weight is 49 g, which is very light.

Though the AMOLED Suunto (59 g) and Garmin (101 g) watches are positioned a bit more toward all-around outdoor sports and meant to be more rugged, the fact that the Pace Pro is as high-performance as it is in such a small package is seriously impressive.

Lightweight means more accuracy when it comes to wrist-based heart rate tracking. On several trail runs, I wore the incredible, albeit beefy, Fenix 8 AMOLED on one wrist and the Pace Pro on the other.

The Pace Pro took about 10 minutes to lock into the same heart rate reading as the Garmin. The Garmin was much more in line with my effort.

But once there, the two devices were in virtual lockstep with one another and seemed perfectly tuned to my effort. The only difference, again, was the weight of both, with the Garmin feeling obese on my left wrist and the Coros like a feather on my right.

GPS Usage & Battery

All three of these watches exceed 30 hours of continuous, all-systems GPS usage. But in strictly Coros terms, this means 38 hours for the Pace Pro. That’s compared to 25 hours in the Pace 3 and 89 hours in the now 2-year-old Vertix 2. This is an important distinction to make. The Pace Pro, with roughly half of the Vertix 2’s battery life, is not meant to be the ultra-athlete’s companion.

The Pace series is much more directed to everyday athletes, especially runners, who aren’t “doing Kilian Jornet-esque activities like scrambling or rock climbing or somebody who is running the full loop of UTMB or Hardrock,” according to Coros Head of User Engagement, Darian Allberry. Those folks would need to step up to the Vertix 2 for both durability and battery, respectfully.

Display Brightness & Visibility

Another benefit of the AMOLED screen — albeit controversially — is the advantage it has in dark conditions. If you’re training before or after work, you’ll be heartened by how easy it is to see your data. What’s controversial for some users is AMOLED’s display qualities in the bright sun.

Some argue it’s a net negative experience compared to traditional MIP or LED screens (or even OLED, which you’ll find on the Apple Watch, for example). It’s autumn, so the light has been less severe than during, say, midday summer. However, I’ve had no issues reading or interpreting data on the Pace Pro while training in full sunlight.

Buttons & Dials

Coros has responded to AMOLED critics by revealing the Pace Pro’s “nit” score. Nit (Latin for “shine”) reveals a screen’s brightness, and Coros claims that any device with a nit of 1,000 or more doesn’t compromise readability in full sunlight. The Pace Pro was measured at 1,500 nits.

The Pace Pro uses the Pace series’ traditional design of a lap/back button and a scrolling dial, though both are markedly improved. First, the lap button is 26% larger than the Pace 3. That is especially helpful for activities like track running when you’re full of lactic acid on the final straight and need to find that button while expending minimal cognitive resources.

The dial is stainless steel, which I discovered is not just an aesthetic or durability upgrade. Stainless steel is a better conduit for heart rate variability tracking, specifically through an electrocardiogram sensor. The Pace Pro adds an ECG sensor as an upgrade from the Pace 3.

Heart Rate Monitor

Coros measures HRV during sleep automatically through the optical heart rate sensor. Or, you can take a “wellness check” at any time of day to measure your HRV through the ECG sensor.

As a serious runner with a perpetual eye on my performance improvements or declinations, I have been using HRV a lot to indicate my recovery and readiness. There was little overnight deviation in my HRV between the Fenix 8 AMOLED and the Pace Pro, though.

As has become predictable with its other watches I’ve tested, Coros generally gives a two to three beats lower overnight resting heart rate than Garmin. (Hey, I’ll take the flattery of 37 BPM over 39 or 40!)

Mapping & Navigation

The digital dial and new faster processor than the Pace 3 (2x better) means that the zoom speed on the Pace Pro’s mapping and navigation is its speediest ever.

Some of us have beef with the fact that Coros has never released a watch with built-in maps (not to mention built-in labeled maps). However, like other recent Coros releases, it is easy to download maps and send them to the watch via the Coros app. Allbery also mentioned that for the first time ever, street names will come to Coros mapping in 2025.

App Pairing & Software

This is a nice segue to discuss the Coros app and how it relates to the Pace Pro. Coros, probably better than any of the aforementioned watch brands, does the best job communicating and delivering software updates at regular intervals. It also basically provides you with continuous watch upgrades without spending money on a new device.

Besides labeled maps coming soon, the company just released its September features. They include everything from tracking gear (like miles on your shoes) to a new sleep quality algorithm, new activities like gravel and mountain biking, and updated running fitness threshold data relays.

First Impressions: The Coros Pace Pro

I have a few reasons why watches in the Garmin Fenix and Enduro series have simply stayed atop my favorite list despite testing nearly all new ones from Suunto, Coros, Polar, and Wahoo over the past 3 years.

I never run with my phone if I can help it. Garmin has Spotify compatibility, preloaded labeled maps, excellent optical heart rate sensors, and a generally more appealing UI for partner features like live Strava segments and “Pace Pro” strategies. So, I haven’t found a watch from these other brands yet that would warrant consistent use.

But the Pace Pro’s exceptionally fast processing speed, AMOLED display with all its richness, an improved activities interface, and its weight make this the first watch I’ve used in years that could become a full-fledged replacement for those Garmin models.

I’m provided testing units from all of these companies for free but not in exchange for positive reviews. That said, cost is a major factor when considering which watch to buy. So again, the comparison I’m making to the very expensive Fenix 8 should be factored in.

I realize this is a bit of a short review. But with just 10 days of use, I’m still learning a lot about the watch. I’ll be using it and expanding the review as I learn more over the coming months.