Coros Pace 3 review: Should you buy it?

Coros’ small, light-weight Pace GPS watch collection has a particular place in my coronary heart. The Pace 2 was the primary — and solely — watch I wore after I received again into working a couple of years in the past. It mixed nice battery life and dependable coaching plans at an inexpensive worth of $200. The Pace 2 was even the go-to look ahead to a few of my working idols, like Eliud Kipchoge and Molly Seidel. Unfortunately, a collection of software program updates tanked that glorious battery and triggered my coaching plan to cease syncing from my telephone to my watch, inflicting me to ditch the Pace 2 for a pricier Garmin different for all my health monitoring wants. We’ll see if the Pace 3 can win again my favor.

First, some dangerous information — the Pace 3 received heavier. Don’t fear, although — it solely gained a complete of 1 gram. Coros bumped its featherweight fighter from 29g to a fair 30g with the nylon band, which is a small worth to pay given a few of the different upgrades. If you go for the silicone band, it weighs 39g, which remains to be lighter than a lot of the competitors. The case remains to be constituted of a fiber-reinforced polymer (plastic), that means the heavier elements are hidden beneath the floor. Coros’ Pace 3 can be sized for 22mm bands, that means that your favourite 20mm bands from the Pace 2 will not match correctly.

Weight apart, the principle distinction you’ll discover on the Pace 3 is its upgraded show. It’s not greater or brighter than earlier than (nonetheless a 1.2-inch panel with a 240 x 240 decision), however it’s now a touchscreen. It took me a minute or two to determine how one can activate the always-on side of the touchscreen — it’s solely lively throughout exercises by default — however it’s a pleasant different to the standard crown and button navigation. Unfortunately, Coros’ Memory LCD remains to be comparatively dim, that means it may be powerful to see in direct daylight or darkness until you press and maintain the crown to activate the backlight. That stated, there are nonetheless loads of colourful watch faces, and Coros is fairly dependable in the case of distinctive faces for holidays (sure, the Boston Marathon counts as a vacation for runners).

The different key improve comes when you flip the Pace 3 over. Coros swapped its outdated, tiny coronary heart charge sensor for a a lot bigger, extra dependable setup — the identical as you’ll discover on the model’s devoted Heart Rate Monitor. The new sensor makes use of 5 LEDs, 4 photodetectors, and an optical pulse oximeter to assemble information whereas you work out and go about your day. I had no points with the Pace 3’s accuracy throughout my testing, whether or not paired with the exterior coronary heart charge monitor or standing by itself. You may simply discover the bump a bit extra in your wrist in comparison with the earlier coronary heart charge monitor.

The chart beneath is a 30-minute section from one among my runs whereas in Berlin, and it displays my coronary heart charge utilizing the Pace 3 with out an exterior coronary heart charge monitor. It precisely reveals three drops the place I needed to cease whereas ready to cross the highway, in addition to sharp adjustments at factors the place my coronary heart charge jumped and flat sections the place it was constant. Other runs in my hometown skew a lot increased, with the warmth and humidity making it nearly unimaginable to maintain my coronary heart charge beneath 140.

Coros additionally managed to beef up the battery in its Pace 3, a minimum of by a couple of milliamp hours. It now carries a 236mAh cell in comparison with the Pace 2’s 220mAh choice. According to Coros, the Pace 3 ought to handle round 24 days of battery life in smartwatch mode or 38 hours of GPS monitoring. My Pace 3 arrived with round a 50% cost, so I did plug it in earlier than heading off to IFA in Berlin for per week, however I haven’t needed to attain for the proprietary cable since then. When you drain the Pace 3’s battery, it takes about two hours to get a full cost utilizing the proprietary charging cable.

The new Pace 3 lastly helps dual-band GPS monitoring, too. It’s designed for elevated accuracy in cities (Coros lists New York and Chicago particularly). However, I spent my time with the watch locked into single-band monitoring as neither Berlin nor Baltimore has sufficient tall buildings to intrude with the GPS. I didn’t discover any distinction in accuracy, as you’ll see on the map beneath. The Pace 3 precisely graphed every flip, together with after I made a pointy proper to seize a photograph of Berlin’s Schloss Bellevue.

Perhaps what I used to be most nervous about with the Pace 3 was whether or not or not Coros had fastened its coaching plans. After ditching the Pace 2 in the midst of marathon coaching, I used to be greater than a little bit cautious of leaping again in. So far, nonetheless, it looks as if coaching is again on observe. I grabbed a well-known half marathon plan from the coaching plan library within the Coros app, selected my begin date, and synced immediately. Coros could have streamlined its app from the final time I used it, placing the coaching calendar and restoration timer entrance and heart — not in contrast to the Garmin Connect app. You can discover your coronary heart charge and sleep information a bit decrease within the app, although each metrics take common put on earlier than constructing an correct profile.

While a lot of the tweaks and refinements on the Coros Pace 3 make life higher, one factor remains to be lacking — there’s nonetheless no NFC. The determination in the end means you can’t use Coros’ third-generation health tracker for wi-fi funds. After spending greater than a 12 months with Garmin watches on my wrist, I’ll admit that I’ve turn out to be fairly connected to utilizing Garmin Pay for my morning espresso, so it’s been fairly the adjustment to suit a bank card in my working shorts once more after I head out. Coros additionally axed ANT+ connectivity from its setup, making it tougher to sync with a number of sensors directly, and the watch not syncs by way of Wi-Fi, now syncing solely when the Coros app is working.

The Pace 3 did decide up a slight worth bump to account for its upgrades, rising from $199 to $229. In the grand scheme, it stays a cut price in comparison with a number of of Garmin’s watches that can set you again greater than $1,000. While I’ll miss a couple of of Garmin’s additional options, it’s a lot simpler to justify Coros’ worth level — particularly if that is your first GPS watch.

While the Coros Pace 3 is a good choice for getting your ft moist on the planet of GPS watches, there are many different choices. Here are a couple of GPS watches and entry-level smartwatches with nice well being monitoring you may wish to take into account as properly:

• Garmin Forerunner 255 ($304.99 at Amazon): Garmin’s previous-generation Forerunner 255 presents a full suite of coaching options, together with help for Garmin Pay and a number of case sizes to suit all wrists.
• Apple Watch SE 2 ($269.99 at Amazon): The Apple Watch SE 2 is your finest wager for an iOS wearable on a finances. It doesn’t match the Pace 3’s battery life, although it presents extra in-depth app help and richer notifications.
• Fitbit Versa 4 ($199 at Amazon): Fitbit’s Versa 4 walks a tremendous line between sensible options and well being monitoring on its sq., one-inch AMOLED panel. It packs higher battery life than the Apple Watch SE 2, in addition to help for each Android and iOS.
• Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 ($299.99 at Samsung): Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 slots into the identical class of competitor because the Apple Watch SE 2. It’s costlier than the Pace 3 however presents much more smartwatch-style options like apps and the flexibility to simply reply to messages, doubling as a health tracker in a pinch.