Garmin vs. Coros vs. Suunto: Which Sports Smartwatch Is Right for You?

Thanks to major technology upgrades, fitness watches have never been more advanced — or fun to use. There’s now a wide variety of options, with some brands focusing on specific sports or features, while others take a do-it-all approach.

It’s tempting to simply ask, “Which one’s the best?” But the truth is more complicated. After testing the latest fall watch releases from three of the most popular brands, I can honestly say that they all offer something worthwhile — it just depends on what you’re looking for. I’ve tested them across many outdoor sports, including road and trail running, river paddling, climbing, and cycling. And each brand offers something a little different.

Many die-hard outdoorsy types will tell you to just buy a Garmin, which certainly remains the industry standard. But Coros, based in China, and Suunto, based in Finland, have made big strides with its newest watches. its latest releases are worth a look, offering affordability and focused performance areas that will appeal to specific kinds of athletes. All the new releases have rugged materials, strong battery life, GPS, and vivid AMOLED displays. So the differences are often subtle and reflect the distinct needs of various outdoor athletes.

Here’s what to know if you’re looking for a new watch this fall.

Check out our Best Fitness Watches of 2026 guide for more GearJunkie recommendations.

Garmin

Pros:

• Offers the most features
• Huge library of tools
• Best GPS

Cons:

• Expensive
• Button-based interface

It’s Great For: Those who want the features of both fitness watches and smartwatches, or those looking for the best GPS.

Brand summary: Originally founded in Oklahoma in 1989, Garmin has been on the bleeding edge of this market since the beginning. With a huge variety of watch models, decades of experience, and a rich assortment of third-party apps and watch faces, Garmin remains hard to beat.

The brand’s watches also tend to have the most features, like detailed mapping and navigation, robust training metrics, and lots of daily-life conveniences like contactless pay and Spotify streaming. And for those data lovers who love collecting as much data about their performance and health as possible, there’s nothing quite like Garmin.

However, the brand has only become pricier over the years. Garmin hasn’t hesitated to continually raise prices — even in belt-tightening economic conditions like the last year and a half. That’s not entirely surprising, since Garmin’s top models still offer more functionality than most competitors. However, fitness watches have become like smartphones, adding more features than most people will ever need. That has allowed competitors to create less expensive watches that focus on specific features, rather than offering the proverbial kitchen sink.

Latest release: If you’re embarking on a truly epic adventure, a top-of-the-line watch like the Garmin Fenix 9 is nigh-unbeatable. Compared to the Fenix 8, the upgrades aren’t revolutionary, though. The Fenix 9 does offer a brighter AMOLED display, 50% more storage, faster mapping, and a green-light option on the flashlight. All Fenix 9 models also have titanium hardware and sapphire lenses, which were left out of certain Fenix 8 options. Satellite inReach connectivity is also available across all Fenix 9 case sizes/models.

There are also several additional software features, like Garmin Epic, which can combine multiple days of activities into a single experience through the Garmin Connect app. But if you already have a Fenix 8, there aren’t significant changes to warrant an upgrade. I also think that Garmin should consider making watches with dials like Coros and Suunto. It’s just way easier to use these complicated interfaces when you can quickly scroll through the options.

Coros

Pros:

• Intuitive interface
• More climbing modes
• Affordable

Cons:

• Few smartwatch features
• No routable mapping

It’s Great For: Climbers, trail runners, and endurance athletes who want a lightweight watch with long-lasting GPS and fewer smartwatch features.

Brand summary: A Chinese brand that has quickly grown in popularity on this side of the Pacific, Coros deserves credit for charting its own course in the fitness watch marketplace. Instead of threading the needle between health-based smartwatch and activity-based fitness features, Coros chose to focus on the latter. Its watches don’t offer many of the health features found on Apple Watch or high-end Garmin models. Instead, Coros makes affordable, minimalist watches for those interested solely in tracking its outdoor activities.

Coros watches are easy to use from day one, whether it’s scrolling through screen options by turning a dial or checking stats on its user-friendly software interface. The brand has also focused on specific areas Garmin has overlooked, such as climbing. Coros watches, especially the Apex line, offer more climbing modes for tracking vertical exploration than Garmin does, winning over legendary athletes like Kilian Jornet and Jimmy Chin.

Adventure athletes looking for a hardy watch can snag a Coros Apex or Vertix for half the price of many similar Garmin models.

Latest Release: With the Pace 4 Pro, Coros took everything people loved about its popular Pace series and gave them all upgrades. It sports a gorgeous AMOLED display that’s over twice as bright as the normal Pace 4, and .27 inches wider. This display is also bigger and brighter than even the Fenix 9, so it’s a clear winner for anyone who prioritizes visibility over all else. The Pace 4 Pro also comes with upgraded materials, like a sapphire glass lens and titanium bezel (the same materials found in a top-shelf Garmin).

GPS battery life is 50% longer, with 60 continuous hours, and the internal memory leaps from just 4 GB on the Pace 4 to 32 GB. In short, the Pace 4 Pro transforms its Pace series (normally geared toward daily runners) into a seriously capable adventure watch for $450.

Suunto

Pros:

• Comfy wristband
• Beautiful software design
• Affordable price

Cons:

• Slower processing
• Fewer features

It’s Great For: Daily runners, light fitness, or those who want a beautiful interface while working toward larger outdoor goals.

Brand summary: A longtime watch brand based in Finland, Suunto has lost some market share as Coros and Garmin have become more popular. But the brand still has its loyalists for watches with more visual polish. The company has also revamped its lineup, changing from a numbered approach to the newer Run, Race, and Vertical models.

The brand now sits somewhere between the minimalist Coros and maximalist Garmin. Suunto’s watches have a beautiful design aesthetic that Coros lacks, but not the feature-rich software of Garmin. All Suunto models now sport vivid AMOLED displays, and many offer enough battery life, mapping, and rugged materials to be a good companion even for ultrarunners.

However, I’ve seen slower processing speeds while using Suunto watches. Everything seems to take just a hair longer, though that might only be noticeable after using alternatives. And the smartwatch features aren’t always presented in a way that’s as easy to understand as Coros or Garmin. But Suunto’s silicone bands are also the comfiest I’ve tried, and its interface is always a pleasure to look at.

Latest Release: I liked the Suunto Run 3S a lot more than I expected. In terms of basic functionality, all three of these brands offer enough reliable GPS and activity tracking for most kinds of outdoor adventures. But Suunto has clearly developed its own personality. The Run 3S offers a beautiful and easy-to-use interface. I like how activity tracking begins with a single button press, and you select the specific activity afterward, rather than beforehand, as with Coros and Garmin.

You can also change the map settings between white or black backgrounds, which is a nice feature. I’m especially a fan of the topographic background on the watch interface, and the colorful accents of each widget or function. Perhaps most importantly, the Run 3S’s watch band is somehow the comfiest one I’ve ever tried. It feels silky rather than rubbery and stands out from the other silicone bands from Coros and Garmin.