Coros Apex 2 and Apex 2 Pro review: slightly short of great - The Verge

In the video, an ultramarathoner strapped on a bunch of multisport watches for an absurdly long run to test which had the best battery.

Curious, I dug around on the internet and found Coros watches had a reputation for extra long battery life, reasonable prices, and some quirks you’d expect from a relatively new brand finding its footing.

That’s largely been my experience with the $399 Coros Apex 2 and the $499 Coros Apex 2 Pro. .

While this isn’t the flashiest update, there are some significant improvements over the first-gen Apex and Apex Pro, including longer battery life and more accurate GPS and heart rate tracking.

The Apex 2 and Pro are basically the same watch.

The Apex 2 has a 43mm case and a 1.2-inch always-on LCD display, which is common for fitness watches, as it maximizes battery life and is visible in direct sunlight.

Here’s what else they have in common: sapphire glass displays, touchscreen support, titanium bezels, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, 5ATM of water resistance, the ability to simultaneously connect with five satellite positioning systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and QZSS), the optical heart rate sensor, “EKG” sensor (more on this below), SpO2 sensors, 3D compass, thermometer, barometric altimeter, gyroscope, and altimeter.

The most significant difference is battery life.

To get that excellent battery life, Coros made several tradeoffs.

When you stuff a larger battery into a watch, you’re sacrificing room for other components.

Coros doesn’t support any music service.

Coros says the hardware in the Apex 2 and Pro could one day support streaming via an over-the-air update.

But if you want a watch that’s equally good as a productivity tool, these watches ain’t it. .

On the flip side, the Coros app has plenty of training metrics to ooh and ahh over.

The Coros EvoLab tab in the app provides training-specific metrics like your VO2 max, threshold pace and heart rate, and running performance.

Most fitness watches have these metrics or variations on them, but there are two areas where the Coros app stands out.

The Coros app gives a much gentler introduction to training metrics with a much more streamlined design.

Second, Coros allows you to create custom strength training workouts.

(You can program your own running, cycling, and swimming workouts, too.) Lots of multisport watch apps gloss over strength training or are clunky at recording reps.

One of the main complaints with the first-gen Apex and Apex Pro was wonky heart rate data.

I tested both watches against the Apple Watch Ultra and Polar H10 chest strap.

In my screenshots, you’ll see the Coros watches struggled whenever I ran around the neighborhood lighthouse, while the Ultra had no problem.

Both watches also botched the start of my runs, but the Apex 2 really had me going on a hilariously twisted journey. .

It’s funny because, for these runs, I had the $99 Coros Pod 2 paired with both watches.

At least it was easy to set up with both watches, especially since it only works with Coros devices.

My phone, both Coros watches, and the Ultra were generally within a few hundredths of a mile.

But if you’re good with maps, it’s not the worst thing since the Coros watches have back-to-start guidance, deviation alerts for when you veer off route, and the ability to mark checkpoints.

Garmin’s Forerunner 255 costs $50 less than the Apex 2 and has multiband GPS, long battery life, great training metrics, and contactless payments.

The Forerunner 955 is the same price as the Pro and has more robust navigation, great training metrics, multiband GPS, long battery life, contactless payments, and emergency safety features.

Both Forerunner watches support offline Spotify playlists, too.

Coros watches benefit from a simplified app, better strength training tracking, and longer battery life.

These are good fitness watches, and it’s easy to see why Coros has its fans