The Coros Pace Pro Running Watch Makes Me Feel Like I’ve Got a Coach (and Navigator) Right on My Wrist

Total, working is a reasonably low-tech sport—all you actually want is an efficient pair of sneakers. However there’s one piece of substances that many runners fully geek out over: the watch.

Immediately’s prime GPS working watches may give athletes every kind of information about their coaching, from coronary heart charge and stride size to VO2 max estimates and race predictions. “It may be one option to monitor your health enchancment for those who’re somebody who likes information,” says Chicago-based working coach Amanda Wagner.

One of the vital widespread manufacturers at present is Coros. It’s solely been round for 10 years, which makes it pretty new in comparison with long-standing manufacturers like Garmin and Suunto. But it surely’s shortly gained traction amongst runners.

“It is recognized to be a powerhouse working watch model at a extremely nice worth level,” Wagner says. “It is recognized to be correct and join quick to GPS.” It’s additionally acquired a fame for providing distinctive battery life, making it significantly engaging amongst extremely endurance athletes who need a tracker that lasts so long as they do.

The model’s newest launch is the Coros Tempo Professional. It updates the older Tempo 3 with a shiny AMOLED display, longer-lasting battery life, downloadable offline maps, and a sooner processor (in order that it’s extra responsive as you’re tapping round). Plus, it’s acquired eight occasions the storage capability. At $349, it’s priced within the midrange of working watches—not probably the most budget-friendly, but additionally not the very best top-of-the-line luxurious possibility.

Trying intently on the specs, I used to be intrigued by the lineup of premium options: The Tempo Professional presents simply what most severe runners need, with no bunch of extraneous bells and whistles that may drive up the value on higher-end watches. So I acquired a pattern to check out, utilizing it to trace runs, walks, energy coaching, and sleep. And I discovered it to be an distinctive coaching device that really helped me log higher exercises.

Battery life

Lengthy-lasting battery life is likely one of the greatest promoting factors for Coros watches typically, and that’s true right here even with the model’s first (energy-sucking) AMOLED show. Coros says a cost on the Tempo Professional lasts 31 hours with dual-frequency GPS on, or as much as 20 days with common day-to-day use. I discovered an hour-long run solely ate up 4 % of the battery energy.

This longevity is big for those who’re doing ultramarathons or Ironman races. It’s additionally simply tremendous handy. “Consider, say, an Apple watch—these perhaps final a part of a day versus this Coros watch, it’s going to have an extended battery life,” Wagner says.

It additionally costs shortly. When it first arrived, I opened up the field to search out the Tempo Professional charged to 75 % (a pleasant perk for these of us who love the moment gratification of a toy we will instantly play with). I plugged it into my pc to obtain some music, and inside a couple of minutes it was already as much as 91 %.

One factor to notice: The watch comes with a charging adapter that connects to any USB cable, which is handy. However the adapter itself is tiny and feels straightforward to lose. (Coros appears to anticipate this, providing a keychain you may stick it in for safe-keeping.)

Setup

To get going with fundamental capabilities, I discovered the setup fairly simple and minimal. However I needed to hunt to determine any fancier options like methods to obtain a coaching plan or add music. There’s no video to take you thru all of the steps, they usually aren’t all the time probably the most intuitive, so I ended up Googling virtually all the things.

The display and {hardware}

The Tempo Professional’s AMOLED display is shiny and straightforward to learn regardless of whether or not it’s darkish or tremendous shiny out. In the meantime, the brand new, sooner processor makes it tremendous fast to faucet round by way of tons of information proper in your wrist.

The one place the place I discovered it’s not probably the most responsive is definitely getting the display to mild up. After I saved it on the “Gesture-Primarily based” setting to increase battery life when not understanding, the watch face didn’t all the time present up instantly once I lifted up my arm to take a peek.

The display is 1.3 inches, and it comes with a silicone band, which I discovered decently snug. It’s not so huge that it will get in my means, and it’s mild sufficient to put on 24/7. Nonetheless, as somebody who doesn’t love sleeping with a watch, at evening I discovered it a bit clunkier than a Whoop band.

GPS connectivity

Coros says the Tempo Professional has a brand new satellite tv for pc chipset and {hardware} configuration for the model’s most exact GPS efficiency up to now. I discovered it all the time related to GPS for me shortly in simply two to 6 seconds.

To examine how correct it was, I seemed again in any respect my maps after my runs. I might see it captured my precise path throughout a road, for example, quite than exhibiting a wiggly line. There have been slight deviations of a foot or two, however no main aberrations, even round buildings that sometimes freak out my outdated Garmin.

Doing a exercise

In principle, one of many main perks of an excellent working watch is the power to program exercises proper onto it. In observe, this may typically be so cumbersome it’s not definitely worth the problem. However I discovered Coros makes it tremendous straightforward to construct a exercise within the app, and there’s additionally a library of coach-designed exercises and even full coaching plans to select from.

On the run, the watch gave me clear indicators of when to begin an interval, when to get better, and how briskly to go. I preferred the best way the pacer possibility saved me sincere about my velocity in a non-irritating means, solely giving a delicate nudge each 65 seconds when my tempo was off (you may customise the frequency). In the meantime, coloured strains made it straightforward to see my coronary heart charge zone at a look. It felt like having a coach on my wrist inform me precisely what I ought to be doing when in order that I might focus in on the working itself.

The Tempo Professional appears primarily designed for runners and triathletes. Living proof: You possibly can select between “run,” “indoor run,” “path run,” and even “monitor run,” plus 4 totally different biking and two swimming choices. However it’s also possible to monitor different actions like snowboarding and rowing. I used it to trace a few energy coaching periods, simply because I might.

“Quite a lot of runners find yourself having fun with their watch a lot that they need to monitor all their information and all their actions with it,” Wagner says. For lifting, there’s an auto-rep counting function, which typically labored and typically didn’t, relying on the train. It additionally recorded my coronary heart charge, which isn’t the purpose of energy coaching, however hey, good to know. I don’t know anybody who buys a look ahead to lifting exercises, so the shortage of usable options right here isn’t surprising. However I did like having the ability to hold monitor of how a lot time I spent doing energy work all through the week.

When you end any type of exercise, you get a bunch of stats to scroll by way of proper on the watch (like coronary heart charge zones, elevation, cadence, stride size, restoration time), and have an opportunity to notice your charge of perceived exertion. Or you may take a look at the info on the Coros app or a third-party platform like Strava or Coaching Peaks. Wagner says she’ll go over this sort of information with the athletes she coaches not less than as soon as a month, and typically as typically as each single day, relying on how data-driven they’re.

One factor I cherished: The Tempo Professional provides you every day stats with out feeling in any respect shame-y on relaxation days. Even for those who set every day objectives, there aren’t markers like unclosed rings if you don’t hit them—you simply get a congrats message if you do.

Maps

The addition of offline maps is a large draw for a lot of runners. With the Tempo Professional, you may create a route (on roads or trails) within the Coros app, or import a GPX file. I discovered it’s a bit extra time intensive to map out a route within the app than in, say, Google maps, however it’s not horrible for those who’ve acquired some endurance.

Then, when you select to observe a route throughout an exercise, you’ll get turn-by-turn prompts and off-course alerts. It might additionally let you know methods to get again to the beginning. Nonetheless, it gained’t re-route you if you veer off (such as you’d get with a routable map on a high-end Garmin), so you’ll want to work out methods to get again on monitor your self by wanting on the map in your wrist

It took me a couple of minutes to get used to the timing of how far forward it warns you a few flip—on brief blocks, I’d get a immediate for a flip two blocks forward, which is simply complicated. However you may all the time look down at your wrist and see the route highlighted. As soon as I acquired a way of the rhythm although, this was an enormous assist that saved me from stopping my exercise to take out my telephone and examine the place I used to be headed.

Different options

One factor that acquired me excited concerning the Tempo Professional was the power to hearken to music proper from the watch, however this function was really fairly underwhelming. Sure, with 32 GB storage, you may match a large playlist, however it solely helps MP3 information—if you wish to stream Spotify or podcasts, you’ll want your telephone. I discovered the Bluetooth connection was additionally fairly darn spotty except I turned off my telephone’s bluetooth connection so it didn’t intervene.

Initially, I used to be additionally intrigued by the Tempo Professional’s all-in-one functionality as each a working watch and sleep tracker. But I discovered the sleep monitoring gave me an excellent deal extra credit score than my Whoop, counting the time I spent scrolling Instagram in mattress as “mild sleep.” It additionally doesn’t all the time choose up on naps. So I’d say that whereas it’s useful to get a normal concept of your sleep, if that information’s tremendous essential to you, I’d suggest a tracker like Whoop or Oura ring that focuses on it.

One cool perk, nonetheless, is that you are able to do a couple of well being exams proper from the Tempo Professional: You possibly can see your coronary heart charge, coronary heart charge variability, breath charge, oxygen saturation, and get an general “stress rating.” It’s not an FDA-approved ECG, however fairly neat for a fast check-in.

Who the Coros Tempo Professional is finest for

Actually, I’d suggest the Tempo Professional to almost any runner who’s out there for a premium smartwatch. The one caveats are that if you would like one which additionally provides you best-in-class sleep monitoring or streams music and podcasts, you’ll in all probability need to hold buying round. (Although you’ll probably have to pay a bit extra.)

But when a protracted battery life, a shiny display, or offline maps are a precedence, this watch really provides you a ton of bang in your buck. “Do you’ll want to spend $800 on a smartwatch? No,” Wagner says. “You may get one for $200 or $300 that has all of the options and extra that you just may want.” The Tempo Professional presents simply that. Personally, I discovered that the gathering of options add as much as higher exercises, taking good care of particulars like the place the heck you’re headed so you may simply give attention to placing within the work.