Coros Pace 2 review: Setting the pace

(Pocket-lint) - Coros is simply a comparative newcomer successful the sports ticker market, with its Pace 2 an affordable offering that's looking to instrumentality connected the likes of Garmin's Forerunner 55 and Polar's Ignite 2.

It offers staple features to marque it a large moving companion - including GPS, bosom complaint monitoring, and week's worthy of artillery beingness - portion it's besides susceptible of tracking swims, indoor/outdoor rhythm sessions, and tin adjacent beryllium of usage erstwhile you swap cardio clip for a spot grooming session.

On insubstantial it reads similar a promising and feature-packed acquisition for precise bully price. So does Coros present the goods?

Design and display

• 42mm case
• 11.7mm thick
• Display: 1.2-inch 240 x 240
• 20mm interchangeable straps

The Pace 2 is undeniably sporty successful the looks department. Although it lacks high-grade lawsuit materials, it's inactive a ticker that's precise comfy to deterioration overall.

There's a 42mm lawsuit size that measures 11.7mm heavy and soaks up astir the aforesaid wrist abstraction arsenic thing similar the Garmin Forerunner 55. Like Garmin's watches, you're getting a lawsuit made retired of polymer and past there's a prime of silicone oregon nylon straps. 

As a package, it weighs thing from 29g-36g depending connected the strap you opt for. Our operation with the nylon strap offers the lightest setup, but ultimately, if you privation a tiny and airy sports watch, that's precisely what you're getting here.

In presumption of lawsuit colour options, you've got 5 to take from including the caller Pace 2 Speed Series, which adds brighter green, golden and reddish looks. Our navy enactment looks astute enough, but that other splash of colour offered by the caller Speed Series is decidedly welcome.

In presumption of navigating the watch, there's a azygous carnal fastener that tin beryllium utilized to scroll done information from the main ticker face, but erstwhile held down volition besides propulsion you into the speedy settings paper wherever you tin presumption outer signal, cheque artillery presumption and broadcast bosom complaint among different things.  

Above that sits different fastener that tin besides beryllium twisted, letting you scroll done screens. It's textured, making it casual to grip erstwhile your hands are sweaty oregon erstwhile wearing gloves, and tin beryllium utilized to unlock the watch, arsenic to forestall immoderate accidental tracking.

There's a 1.2-inch always-on representation LCD display, truthful there's nary large deed of colour present and it's not a touchscreen either. You bash get thing that offers bully visibility successful agleam outdoor airy though. There's a backlight for nighttime workouts too, and a Night Mode you tin alteration that keeps the backlight connected until you decorativeness tracking.

Around the backmost is wherever you'll find the charging constituent and an optical PPG-style heart-rate monitor, which means you tin way your bosom complaint during workout and passim the time and night. 

You're getting thing that's acceptable for the h2o too. Coros has slapped the Pace 2 with a 5ATM h2o resistant rating, which makes it harmless for being submerged up to 50 metres depth. We've been swimming and jumping successful the ablution with it and we tin corroborate it's acceptable to past successful the water.

Software and performance

• Works with Strava and different third-party apps
• Smartphone notifications only 

Coros is precise overmuch astir sports tracking archetypal and everything after. So its attack to bundle truly reflects that. It's a ticker that works with Android and iOS devices - we've utilized it with some platforms and recovered the acquisition to beryllium mostly the aforesaid - you'll conscionable request the Coros companion app to acceptable things up, which is stacked with features, settings and screens to look over.

The app is fundamentally breached into 4 sections, with the archetypal giving you a snapshot of your regular information (where you'll spell to presumption your enactment tracking and slumber data). The 2nd tab shows your workout history, portion the 3rd is wherever you tin delve deeper into features similar Coros' precocious moving metrics and stats (it's besides wherever you tin entree features similar grooming plans and workout programmes). Last up is simply a surface dedicated to your instrumentality letting you customise elements similar ticker faces, notification support, and update to the latest firmware.

Sticking to those smartwatch features and Coros truly does support it basic. There's the quality to alteration ticker faces, though it's a dilatory process syncing them implicit to the watch. You're besides getting telephone notifications, which are not the actionable kind, and that's truly your lot. There's nary euphony controls, payments oregon app storefront. What mightiness beryllium much appealing is that Coros has sewn up immoderate desirable third-party app support, letting you sync information to Strava, TrainingPeaks, Final Surge, and Adidas Running.

On the watch, it's a spot similar utilizing a Garmin oregon a Polar ticker for the archetypal time. There's a batch to discover, but erstwhile you cognize wherever things live, it's a beauteous straightforward experience. Press the apical fastener to scroll done tracking modes and the fastener beneath volition get you backmost to the location screen. You tin besides scroll from the main ticker surface to spot information widgets similar bosom complaint and sunrise/sunset times, portion telephone notifications volition simply look erstwhile they onshore connected your phone.

It decidedly pays to play astir present - some connected the ticker and the companion app - to get utilized to what the Pace 2 is really susceptible of doing. It tin bash a lot, but you mightiness conscionable beryllium blessed with a nary frills experience, which you tin get present too.

Sports and fittingness tracking 

• Tracks runs, swims, cycling and indoor workouts
• EvoLab grooming metrics and insights
• Strength grooming tracking

The Pace 2 feels champion built for runners, but similar each watches successful the Coros range, it's designed to cater for swimmers, cyclists, and triathletes. You tin way steps and sleep, too, but it feels precise secondary to those halfway sports modes.

There are modes for outdoor running, treadmill running, and way sessions - but you tin besides way excavation and unfastened h2o swims, and indoor and outdoor motorcycle rides. There are immoderate further activities supported similar rowing (indoor and outdoor) flatwater sports similar paddleboarding and there's a dedicated triathlon mode.

In presumption of the sensors astatine your disposal, there's enactment for GPS, Glonass and Beidou outer systems, for accurately tracking outdoor activities. There's a thermometer, altimeter and compass to make further biology information and connection navigation assistance and the emblematic question sensors utilized to way steps, indoor activities and alteration slumber monitoring. 

There's besides ANT+ and Bluetooth connectivity here, which does mean you tin brace up outer sensors, including heart-rate show thorax straps and footpods similar Stryd. We managed to brace Garmin HRM-Pro and MyZone MZ-Switch bosom complaint monitors without issue.

We've tally indoors and outdoors, taken it to the excavation for swimming, and utilized it for indoor rowing workouts, and tin accidental the Pace 2 holds up good connected the accuracy front. In a bid of 10K races the GPS accuracy was reliable, arsenic were halfway metrics similar mean gait and divided times.

If you're intrigued by the thought of moving power, it offers that metric from the wrist too. Heart complaint show is simply a acquainted communicative erstwhile you up the intensity. For dependable runs against a thorax strap it held up good for accuracy connected mean and maximum complaint readings. In contention testing, maximum bosom complaint was 8-9bpm disconnected a bosom complaint show thorax strap.

For swims, it was a akin communicative connected the accuracy front. Before you get moving, you tin set excavation size, setup goal-based alerts, and past spot emblematic aquatics stats similar distance, pace, and bosom rate. Lap and region tracking held up good against a Garmin watch, truthful it's 1 that works good successful the h2o too.

For indoor workouts similar rowing, the Pace 2 offers reliable changeable counts compared to the rower, and akin tracking connected a Garmin watch. Coros besides offers tracking for spot training, which isn't caller to sports watches but does connection a somewhat antithetic approach. It tin automatically number reps for implicit 200 exercises and past offers a musculus heatmap to amusement you the areas you've been focusing connected the most. Rep counting accuracy was bully enough, but not perfect. It's evidently an country for wearables successful wide to improve, but it's bully to person the enactment present to person a grounds of those workouts erstwhile you're not smashing retired immoderate cardio.

Beyond tracking Coros does besides connection an array of grooming and investigation features. You tin make grooming and workout programmes that you tin travel connected the watch. There's besides entree to Coros' Evolab grooming insights, which see a contention predictor that besides shows you predicted times and gait you'd request to tally to get those times. It tin measure your existent moving performance, presumption grooming load and effect insights. It's a diagnostic designed for runners and for runs connected level terrain. 

If you're looking for those deeper moving insights, past they are present astatine your disposal and are usually features you'd expect to find connected much costly sports watches.

Something the Pace 2 can't bash is fto you presumption real-time maps, upload routes oregon connection immoderate benignant of breadcrumb-style navigation. Those features are reserved for its Apex and Vertix watches.

Battery life

• Up to 20 days per charge
• 60 hours UltraMax mode
• 30 hours with afloat GPS

Coros doesn't specify the capableness of the artillery squeezed into the Pace 2, but it does suggest it's 1 you won't beryllium charging each fewer days similar a sporty smartwatch.

With a premix of sports tracking and utilizing those precise basal smartwatch features, it has the quality to past for up to 20 days. When you commencement putting the GPS-based tracking to use, past you tin expect to get 30 hours of artillery life. That doubles if you power to UltraMax mode, which lengthens the sampling complaint of GPS information that means little close tracking data. So it mightiness beryllium a bully acceptable erstwhile you're moving longer distances and attraction a small little astir your time.

In presumption of surviving up to those lofty artillery numbers, the Pace 2 is 1 that tin spell a just distance. An hour's GPS tracked moving tended to dent the artillery by little than 5 per cent. It's the day-to-day drop-off which truly impresses present though - successful standby mode it tin spell for weeks with immoderate regular GPS tracking. It holds that artillery amended than likewise priced rivals from Garmin and Polar. 

Hold down the bottommost carnal fastener and you'll find a utile artillery usage widget that not lone tells however overmuch artillery is left, but besides the estimated clip you person to play with, including GPS tracking and what features are draining the artillery the most.

When it comes to charging, there's a beauteous elemental charging cablegram that's intelligibly inspired by the 1 utilized with Garmin's Forerunner watches. It clips into the backmost and does enactment put, but similar Garmin you'll privation to marque definite it's successful a wide charging determination arsenic the cablegram is casual to sound retired of place.

Writing by Michael Sawh. Editing by Mike Lowe. Originally published connected 24 August 2021.