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Coros may not be the biggest or most well-known brand, but it has long established itself as the maker of some of the best budget-friendly running watches. It has also successfully ventured into the world of affordable adventure watches. The Coros Apex 2, for example, has some of the best mapping features we have seen in GPS wearables, yet it is priced at a very reasonable $349. To put that into perspective, some of the best Garmin watches with similar specifications cost twice as much. Coros tends to offer good value for money for outdoor enthusiasts like ourselves, which is why we happily took the opportunity to test one of its newest sports watches, the Pace Pro.
The Coros Pace Pro is, as its name suggests, designed primarily for runners, cyclists and other endurance athletes. Admittedly, we are not the target audience for this sports watch — if we ever run, we tend to do it in the gym or on a treadmill at home, and we have not owned an outdoor bike in more than a decade. What we do love and practice often, however, is hiking. The Coros Pace Pro offers a good mix of outdoor-friendly specifications, including a dual-frequency GPS, offline maps and a solid 20 days of battery life in watch mode. By the looks of it, it could be a great walking companion, and we were more than eager to test it out on a four-day walking trip to the Exmoor National Park in southern England. Here’s our verdict on the Coros Pace Pro — from the perspective of an experienced hiker.
Coros Pace Pro: Review from a hiker’s perspective
Coros Pace Pro: Design
- Bright 1.3-inch AMOLED display
- Relatively light and unobtrusive
- Plastic watch case and mineral glass display
Adventure watches are the crème de la crème of fitness wearables: they are the most rugged, the most advanced and packed with some of the fanciest features. For outdoor fitness buffs like ourselves, these gems of technology can be indispensable on a hiking trail.
We only have one major problem with adventure watches — hardly ever do we find them comfortable to wear. The Coros Pace Pro is a different ball game, though. It looks and feels far less bulky and intimidating than many watches we have used before, and we could easily wear it all day without feeling fatigued or distracted by all the complex machinery on our wrist. This alone made us warm to this watch immediately.
Key specs
Display: 1.3-inch AMOLED, 416 x 416
Always-On: Yes
Dimensions (in): 1.8 x 1.8 x 0.5
Dimensions (mm): 46 x 46 x 12.25
Weight: 1.73 oz (49 g)
Finish: Plastic
GPS: Yes
Compass: Yes
Altimeter: Yes
Water resistance: 5ATM
Battery life: 20 days in watch mode, 38 hours in GPS mode
Compatibility: iOS 13 and above, Android 5.0 and above
Storage: 32GB
The Coros Pace Pro was not only refreshingly light and unobtrusive, but we also found it very easy to read. The 1.3-inch AMOLED display was bright, colorful and had great visibility in both dark and light conditions. We had plenty of sunshine during our trip and we do not recall a single time when we struggled to see what was on the screen. That was another big plus point for us.
We liked its silicone band, too — and that is not something we can confidently say about the majority of watches we had hiked with before. Most outdoor-focused wearables come with extremely thick, rigid bands that are difficult to pull and tighten with one hand. The Coros Pace Pro, however, was nothing like that. The silicone band felt surprisingly pleasant to wear. It did not slide, pinch or aggravate our skin, even in high temperatures and with sweat trapped underneath it. This watch may have been crafted with long distance runners in mind, but its design proved to be very hike-friendly, too.
Having said all that, there is one huge caveat when it comes to the Coros Pace Pro — the durability. While it is true that our testing unit survived our hiking trip with no scuffs or scratches, we also suspect it would not be so lucky in more extreme conditions. Two reasons: its 5ATM water resistance and a relatively fragile build.
5ATM certification means that this watch can withstand water pressure of up to 50 meters (164 feet), which is pretty much a standard for running watches these days. Most adventure watches, however, are certified 10ATM, meaning they can sustain twice as much water pressure. But what does that mean in practice? The Coros Pace Pro can be safely exposed to rainwater or used for shallow swimming, for example, but it will not be suitable for high-impact water sports or diving.
This small-but-significant stat has a knock-on effect on what you can and can’t do during your hiking trip. If you spend most of your time on dry land and in relatively sunny conditions, just like we did on our trip to Exmoor, you will most likely be fine. But if you want to take it up a notch and combine walking with dips into streams or waterfall explorations, the Coros Pace Pro may not be the best option here.
Then there is the not-so-durable build. Most adventure watches are encased in sturdy titanium or metal, which makes them quite impervious to dust, drops from heights and many other minor accidents. They also tend to come with Gorilla glass, sapphire crystal or other scratch-resistant features on the display. The Coros Pace Pro, however, is made largely out of plastic and features a somewhat fragile mineral glass display. While this design is suitable enough for walking, different activities — climbing the rocks, for example — may potentially cause some damage to the watch.
Coros Pace Pro: Features
- Altimeter, compass and dual-band GPS
- Offline maps
- Limited smart features
The Coros Pace Pro has a dual-band GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, barometric altimeter and electronic compass — this running watch can tell you where on the planet you are, what your altitude above sea level is, and where to go next. That is a good deal of useful geolocation and movement-detecting features, and even hikers who are used to far more expensive adventure watches should not feel like they are missing out on anything important.
Navigation-wise, the Coros Pace Pro may not be as advanced and versatile as the ultra-premium Garmin Fenix 8, for example, but it covers all the necessary basics and more. The Coros app allows users to create custom routes with topographical and landscape maps, which then can be sent directly to the watch. It can also read GPX files, provide turn-by-turn directions, and retrace your steps with back-to-start navigation. Again, a very hike-friendly set of features.
The Coros Pace Pro also has a lot to offer from a fitness standpoint. It can measure a wide range of health stats, from heart rate and sleep duration to blood oxygen levels and training load, and therefore it is able to give a detailed overview of physical exertion during a hike and a solid estimate of the post-exercise recovery afterwards. Plus, all of its metrics are displayed in an easy-to-understand manner and explained in sufficient detail in the app. In that sense, the Coros Pace Pro is quite beginner-friendly.
On the other hand, the Coros Pace Pro does lack many smart features. For example, it does not have NFC payments or music streaming support. However, these features are not critical to a good hiking experience — or at least they did not make that much of a difference to ours. The Coros Pace Pro also does not have a built-in flashlight or solar charging lens, but then we do not necessarily expect such features in a fitness tracker at this price point.
Coros Pace Pro: Performance
- High GPS accuracy
- Relatively long battery life
- Heart rate measurements may not always be accurate
The Coros Pace Pro has excellent battery life, period. We wore it in GPS mode for approximately six hours a day, with the remaining 18 hours in the watch mode, and yet we did not have to charge it even once during our four-day hiking trip. That is a big plus point for us — there is nothing more frustrating than having to tone down your hiking logs purely because of your watch not having enough energy to fully record them. Of course, we can name at least a dozen adventure smartwatches that boast a longer battery life than the Coros Pace Pro, but then these models also tend to be way more expensive.
The GPS accuracy in this watch was also top-notch. The Coros Pace Pro did a great job mapping our hiking routes and calculating the distance covered, with only a few very minor discrepancies along the way. It also appeared very accurate at calculating our elevation gain and average speed. We found this running watch very useful for reviewing our past hikes and using that information to plan for future trips, especially in relation to training load and rest times.
We were also pleasantly surprised by its resistance to high temperatures. During our Exmoor trip, we spent many long hours exposed to blazing sunshine, but at no point did our Coros Pace Pro overheat and shut down, even temporarily — something that many other running watches in this price range have done to us before. Overall, we were quite satisfied with the performance of this sleek watch.
On the downside, though, the Coros Pace Pro can be annoyingly inconsistent with its heart rate measurements — that is, in comparison with our Whoop MG, a screenless wearable which has shown to be relatively accurate in that regard, or at least more accurate than most other fitness wearables we tested. We simultaneously wore both of these fitness trackers on two of our hikes, then compared the collected measurements.
We noticed that the Coros Pace Pro seems to have a tendency to overestimate heart rate, especially when it goes above 140 bpm (beats per minute) — during some of the more intense climbs, for example. This is something to take into account if you like hiking in the mountains or prefer difficult, very energy-intensive trails. If you want a device that can measure your cardiovascular load with a high degree of precision, the Coros Pace Pro may disappoint you here.
Should you buy the Coros Pace Pro as a hiker?
The Coros Pace Pro is a sleek GPS sports watch designed with serious athletes in mind, and distance runners in particular. While it lacks some advanced features, its robust sports tracking capabilities and an exceptionally comfortable fit easily make up for these shortcomings. It is a good option for casual hiking, too.
Buy it if: You are a casual hiker or looking for a quality running-hiking watch combo. The Coros Pace Pro is unobtrusive, comfortable to wear and brimming with robust workout-tracking features, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time testing it during our hikes.
Do not buy it if: You tend to hike in harsh conditions and challenging environments, or if you are looking for a watch that you can wear while diving into streams and exploring waterfalls. The Coros Pace Pro is a great pick for casual hikers, but for those who prefer more high-octane adventures, it may not be durable or waterproof enough to keep up with their lifestyle.
If the Coros Pace Pro is not for you
Choosing a hiking watch will largely depend on where and how you intend to use it, and how much money you can spend on it. If you like the idea of a lightweight, budget-friendly running watch that can also accompany you on easy to moderate hikes, consider the Coros Pace 2. Just like the Coros Pace Pro, it combines a sleek, comfortable design with good tracking accuracy and up to 20 days of battery life in watch mode, but it is cheaper by a whole $150.
If you are a novice hiker seeking guidance on how to kickstart and maintain your walking routine, then take a look at the Garmin Vivoactive 6. We named it as the best option for hikers in our guide to the best Garmin watches, and that is because it is one of the handful of models from this brand that features suggested walking workouts and beginner-friendly workout tutorials. Plus, it costs $299, making it $50 cheaper than the Coros Pace Pro.
For seasoned hikers, however, we would recommend the Garmin Enduro 2. With up to 46 days of battery life, numerous workout-tracking features, rugged build and excellent on-watch maps, this adventure watch will keep up with your outdoor adventures no matter where in the world you are. However, this little gem of technology can set you back by as much as $900.
Coros Pace Pro: How we tested
We tested the Coros Pace Pro out on a four-day walking trip to the Exmoor National Park in southern England. This beautiful part of the world is a perfect testing ground — Exmoor has a varied landscape, with plenty of hills and rock formations, and some of the best walking trails in the whole of the United Kingdom. We wore this watch day and night throughout the trip, diligently recording our adventures and often facing scorching temperatures and strong winds.
