Simply because a lot of the best smartwatches have built-in GPS as a typical function doesn’t imply they’re going to be the suitable alternative for all runners. Whether or not you’re coaching in your first triathlon otherwise you need to step up your recreation from newbie to intermediate runner, a devoted GPS operating watch can present loads of advantages over a typical smartwatch. Quicker and extra correct GPS may be a kind of issues, along with extra superior well being metrics, extra trackable exercise profiles and extra-long battery life. And people are on prime of ordinary “good” options like telephone notification alerts, digital assistant assist, onboard music storage and extra. I’ve been an everyday runner for almost 5 years and I examined out a bunch of the most recent GPS operating smartwatches to search out those which can be truly value your cash.
What to think about earlier than shopping for a GPS operating watch
GPS velocity and accuracy
A very powerful factor for a GPS operating watch to have is quick, correct GPS positioning. Which may appear apparent, nevertheless it’s fairly simple to get distracted by all the different options most of those units have. Since most of them may be worn all day lengthy as normal smartwatches, there’s loads of (presumably pointless) fluff that appears good on paper however gained’t imply a lot if the core objective if the system is left unfulfilled. To that finish, I paid explicit consideration to how lengthy it took every system’s built-in GPS to seize my location earlier than a run, if it ever misplaced my spot and the accuracy of the generated maps. Additionally, the system must be good sufficient to allow you to begin monitoring a run whereas the GPS seems in your location.
Exercise profiles and trackable metrics
You could not be capable to suss out GPS accuracy simply by taking a look at a spec sheet (that’s the place this information may also help), however you may examine for options like supported exercise profiles. That’s one thing you’ll need to look into, even when your one and solely exercise is operating. Examine to verify the GPS operating watch you’re contemplating helps all of the sorts of operating actions you love to do (out of doors runs, treadmill runs, and so forth) and some other exercises you could need to monitor with it.
Most health wearables right this moment aren’t one-trick ponies; you’ll discover a wholesome variety of trackable train modes on any operating watch value its salt. That mentioned, the variety of exercise profiles may be immediately proportional to a tool’s worth: the extra premium the product, likelihood is the extra particular, exact exercises it may well monitor.
In an analogous vein, you’ll need to examine the trackable metrics of any watch you’re contemplating before you purchase. Since we’re speaking about GPS operating watches, most will be capable to monitor the fundamentals like distance, coronary heart charge and tempo, and people are naked minimums. Some watches can monitor extra stats like velocity, cadence, stride size, cardio and anaerobic coaching impact, depth minutes and extra. When you’re already a critical runner who trains for a number of races annually, you’ll need to dig into the spec sheet of the watch you’re contemplating to verify it may well monitor all your most important metrics.
Dimension and weight
It’s value testing a watch’s case dimension and weight earlier than going all-in on one. GPS operating watches, and normal smartwatches as properly, can have a couple of completely different sizes to select from so that you’ll need to be sure to’re getting the very best match in your wrist. I’ve a smaller wrist, so I are likely to keep away from extra-large circumstances (something over 42mm or so), particularly if I intend on carrying the system all day lengthy as my foremost timepiece. Weight, alternatively, is rather less controllable, however sometimes smaller case sizes will prevent a couple of grams in total weight.
Battery life
Not like common smartwatches, GPS operating watches have two kinds of battery life you’ll want to think about: with GPS turned on and in “smartwatch” mode. The previous is extra necessary than the latter as a result of most GPS operating watches have stellar battery life when used simply as a wise timepiece. You possibly can count on to get a number of days on a single cost, with some surviving greater than two weeks (with all day and night time put on) earlier than they want a recharge.
Battery life with GPS turned on shall be a lot shorter by comparability, however any GPS operating watch value its salt ought to offer you no less than 10-15 hours of life with the GPS getting used repeatedly. The extra you’re prepared to spend, the upper that quantity sometimes will get, with some GPS operating watches lasting for 40 hours whereas monitoring your location.
Greatest GPS operating watches for 2024
Photograph by Valentina Palladino / Engadget
Out of all of the watches I examined, the Garmin Forerunner 165 was the one I wished to put on essentially the most after I went out for a run. The experience of the Forerunner line is within the identify, and Garmin really excels at making complete but pleasant GPS operating watches in flavors that may swimsuit all types of athletes, from newbie to knowledgeable. The Forerunner 165 stands out with its light-weight design, shiny AMOLED touchscreen, easy button controls, correct built-in GPS and its means to trace exercise stats simply in addition to all-day exercise knowledge.
Beginning a run with the Forerunner 165 is as simple as urgent a single button — the top-right button on the case actually has “run” embossed onto it, and it takes you to the exercise profile menu the place you may select the train you need to monitor. Run is the primary choice, however you could have greater than 25 profiles to select from together with monitor run, treadmill, stroll, energy, swim and extra. When operating exterior, the GPS took a mean of 15-20 seconds to lock onto my location, however you don’t have to attend for it to take action — press the run button once more to start and the GPS will catch up by itself.
Throughout a run, it’s simple to look down on the shiny, 1.2-inch AMOLED show to examine stats like distance, tempo and coronary heart charge. Audio prompts are enabled by default they usually’ll let you know the time it took you to finish every lap (mile). You possibly can customise these prompts additional within the Garmin Join app if you wish to know issues like your present tempo, coronary heart charge or coronary heart charge zone and different knowledge. That is one thing I admire about Garmin Forerunner wearables normally — you may go as deep as you need with them. I want holding audio prompts to a minimal, however somebody with a special desire can get all the information they need learn out to them with only a few faucets within the app.
That extends to different elements of the Forerunner expertise as properly by way of the Garmin Join app, which has come a good distance in recent times. The beforehand clunky, complicated app has been properly refined with the intention to customise its homepage the exercise and exercise stats you care about essentially the most, together with issues like Physique Battery, Sleep Rating, menstrual cycle info and extra. It’s simple to dive into your most lately tracked exercise and get within the weeds with tempo, cadence, coaching impact (cardio or anaerobic), energy and stamina stats. On prime of that, Garmin’s adaptive coaching plans may also help you put together for 5K, 10K and half-marathon races with instructed day by day exercises and personalised ideas based mostly in your most up-to-date exercise knowledge. What pissed off me most up to now with Garmin Join was the truth that it wasn’t very user-friendly, and that made it tough to essentially use a tool just like the Forerunner 165 to the fullest. That’s not an issue anymore.
I discovered the 30.4mm case on the Forerunner 165 to be simply the suitable dimension for my wrist, and at 39 grams, the watch is tremendous light-weight and comfy to put on even in the course of the sweatiest of coaching classes. The bands are interchangeable, too, since they’re a typical 20mm dimension. However I loved those included with the Forerunner 165 as a result of they’ve a wholesome variety of notches on them, making it simple to get a just-right match to permit for correct coronary heart charge monitoring.
Garmin places the battery lifetime of the Forerunner 165 at 11 days in smartwatch mode, and I discovered that to be principally correct even with a handful of GPS-tracked runs thrown in. The corporate claims you’ll stand up to 19 hours of battery life with steady GPS use, which must be sufficient for many runners and athletes competing in long-haul races. You too can get the 165 with music storage in-built or not, with the previous permitting you to retailer music domestically on the watch so you may pay attention with a pair of Bluetooth headphones.
The Garmin Forerunner 165 will set you again $250 with out music storage, or $300 for the mannequin with music storage in-built. That’s on the decrease finish of the worth spectrum for GPS operating watches; you would simply spend $500 or extra for those who’re uncertain about what you want and what’s simply further fluff. Whereas Garmin does have a couple of cheaper units, the Forerunner 165 strikes the suitable stability of function set and worth that may attraction to seasoned runners and people who are simply diving right into a extra regimented operating routine. It does all the fundamentals properly and helps quite a lot of further options like coaching impact that may appease runners on the lookout for one thing barely above common from the leap, however may also be helpful for novice runners who need one wearable that may develop with them because the advance their coaching.
Photograph by Cherlynn Low / Engadget
Learn our full Apple Watch Series 10 review
Do not consider the Apple Watch as a operating watch. Consider it as a smartwatch that occurs to have a operating mode. Years after the unique Watch made its debut, Apple has efficiently remodeled its wearable from an overpriced curiosity to an truly helpful companion system for the lots. However being a gadget for the lots signifies that in terms of operating, the Apple Watch has by no means been as function wealthy as competing units constructed particularly for that objective.
That is still true now, even with the Apple Watch Ultra 2 within the combine. However we’re speaking about the usual Apple Watch right here, and we prefer it partially as a result of it’s the mannequin on this record that we expect most individuals will need to put on each day, all day lengthy. The latest mannequin is trendy, or no less than as trendy as a wrist-based pc may be, and definitely extra so than some other operating watch. The aluminum, waterproof physique and impartial Sport band go along with most outfits and can proceed to look recent after all of your sweaty exercises and jaunts by way of the rain. And the always-on show is straightforward to learn in direct daylight.
As for operating particularly, you are getting the fundamentals plus a couple of extras. You possibly can see your distance, calorie burn, coronary heart charge readings, common tempo and likewise rolling tempo, which is your tempo over the previous mile at any given second. You too can set tempo alerts — a warning that you are going quicker than you meant to, for instance. When reviewing a exercise within the Health app, you may see extra stats like common energy, vertical oscillation, floor contact time and stride size.
For extra detailed monitoring, your finest wager is to look exterior of the Apple ecosystem and experiment with third-party operating apps for the iPhone, like Strava, RunKeeper, MapMyRun, Nike Run Membership and others. These allow you to monitor actions with the Apple Watch and sync knowledge between the devoted app and Apple Well being — arguably the very best of each worlds.
Apple guarantees an all-day battery life and, certainly, I by no means have an issue making it by way of the day even with a GPS-tracked run thrown in. That mentioned, most devoted operating watches declare longer utilization time — between 30 and 40 hours of total battery life in some circumstances. On the subject of exercises particularly, Apple charges the battery life with GPS at as much as seven hours. Provided that, I’d belief the Watch to final by way of a brief run or perhaps a half marathon, nevertheless it may battle in the direction of the tip of a slower, 5-hour or extra marathon.
If battery life is your largest concern, you could need to take into account the Apple Watch Extremely 2, which Apple claims can last as long as 35 hours with GPS turned on. That’s on the excessive finish of Apple’s spectrum, with the low finish being 12 hours with GPS turned on and no different compromises (like Low Energy Mode enabled). Nonetheless, 12 hours is sort of double the GPS-enabled battery lifetime of the Sequence 10, so the Extremely could possibly be a superb choice for runners who desire a watch they will comfortably (and stylishly) put on all day and nonetheless use for coaching. Nevertheless, extra informal runners will discover all they want in the usual Apple Watch.
And for anybody wanting to avoid wasting money, the Apple Watch SE isn’t a foul choice if this method will work finest for you. The SE has all the similar core operating options as the usual Apple Watch, however you’ll have to sacrifice in a couple of methods. In comparison with the Apple Watch Sequence 10, the Apple Watch SE’s show is about half as shiny at peak energy, which can make it more durable to learn outside. The SE additionally runs on the S8 SiP, which gained’t be as environment friendly as the brand new S10 within the Sequence 10. Elsewhere, there’s no fast-charging or ECG capabilities on the SE, and it’s not IPX6 mud resistant. Discover how none of these options are particularly associated to figuring out or operating, however they may have an effect on your total expertise and the longevity of your smartwatch.
Photograph by Valentina Palladino / Engadget
When you’ve used one Garmin Forerunner watch, you’ve just about used all of them. The largest variations between our prime choose and the extra superior Garmin Forerunner 965 are available in further options, plus a bigger case dimension that sports activities a smooth titanium bezel.
For starters, there are a selection of extra particular exercise modes accessible on the Forerunner 965 that aren’t on the 165, together with indoor climbing, archery and bouldering. The premium watch additionally helps trackable metrics like optionally available all-day acclimation for pulse ox, and extra superior knowledge factors like coaching readiness and standing.
To get a superb understanding of the minute variations between varied Garmin units, the corporate’s web site has a handy comparison tool that provides you with the rundown of all essentially the most nerdy stats. When you’ve got a focused coaching plan or a selected objective you’re attempting to achieve, it’ value consulting the comparability instrument to verify the GPS operating watch you’re pondering of shopping for can deal with the whole lot you throw at it, and reviews the whole lot again to you that you just want most.
The 2 {hardware} variations between the Forerunner 965 and the 165 which may make or break your resolution are available in GPS and battery life. The 965 has multiband GPS, which Garmin claims is extra correct when utilizing the watch in “difficult” environments like amongst tall buildings in cities and in areas with a number of tree cowl. I didn’t get the possibility to check this since I stay in suburbia the place properties could also be semi-close to one another, however skyscrapers are nonexistent. Nevertheless, the Forerunner 965 was noticeably quicker at buying a GPS sign earlier than beginning a run — it sometimes solely took 5-10 seconds for it to lock onto my location.
Battery life is rated greater on the Forerunner 965 as properly: you may stand up to 23 days in smartwatch mode, which is double that of the Forerunner 165’s 11-day battery life in the identical mode. The 965 may run for a most of 31 hours in GPS mode (it could possibly be much less relying on the opposite sensors you could have employed concurrently), whereas the 165 will final about 19 hours. Very similar to with multiband GPS, deciding how a lot battery life you want will largely rely in your coaching routine and private preferences. When you’re a long-range runner who spends hours on the path throughout each coaching session, it’s truthful to say both Forerunner system will serve you properly — however you’ll have a big battery buffer for those who go along with the extra premium choice.
Fitbit
We’d be remiss to not point out the Fitbit Charge 6 on this information, which sits on the prime of our record of best fitness trackers. When you’re not bought on the normal timepiece design, the Cost 6 provides a compelling various. It has a decrease profile total, to not point out its band design is extra svelte than a lot of the prime picks on this record. It nonetheless has a full-color AMOLED contact show, a facet button for simpler navigation, 20 train modes and a days-long battery life. The built-in GPS supplies correct distance and tempo monitoring for out of doors runs and bike rides, and you’ll even pair the Cost 6 with some train machines by way of Bluetooth if you’re exercising indoors.
The place you sacrifice with the Cost 6 is in superior options and customization. It could’t compete with Garmin units in terms of train knowledge tracked, and it doesn’t assist that some exercise knowledge lies behind the Fitbit Premium paywall both. Watchfaces are customizable solely to some extent and the bands are proprietary. Nevertheless, it’s one of many cheaper gadgets on this record, so for those who’re trying to solely spend what’s essential to get built-in GPS in a wearable, this could possibly be a superb choice for those who’re prepared to cope with some limitations.
Different GPS operating watches we examined
Polar Pacer Professional
The Polar Pacer Pro appeared and felt fairly just like our prime choose, and it mapped my out of doors runs precisely. Nevertheless, Polar’s companion app is leagues behind Garmin’s with a complicated interface and a design that feels very a lot caught up to now. It’s additionally $100 dearer than our prime choose.
Amazfit Cheetah Professional
The Amazfit Cheetah Pro tracked my out of doors runs precisely and Zepp’s companion app has a training function very similar to Garmin’s adaptive coaching plans that may define a routine so that you can full in preparation for a race or to attain a selected objective. My largest difficulty with it was that its touchscreen wasn’t very responsive — it took a number of onerous faucets on the show to wake it, and sometimes the raise-to-wake function didn’t work, leaving me watching a darkish display.
Trending Merchandise
