Andreas Almgren won last weekend’s New York City Marathon. The 31-year-old Swedish runner broke the tape in 2:06:01 — a frankly silly amount of time for anyone to run 26.2 miles. But although running fans are now analyzing everything from his nutrition strategy to his pacing, it’s his watch that’s got my attention — the Coros Pace 4, one of our best running watches.
Record-breaker Sebastian Sawe, who finished first at London earlier this year, used Garmin’s cheapest watch, the now-outdated Garmin Forerunner 55. Almgren also opted for a budget-friendly, light running watch to help cross the finish line, rather than an expensive powerhouse like an Apple Watch Ultra 4 or Garmin Fenix 9 Pro.
It just goes to show that you can spend under $250 / £230 and still get a fantastic running watch worthy of the best runners in the world.
Coros Pace 4
We reviewed the Coros Pace 4 in February this year and awarded it 4/5 stars. Our reviewer praised its performance compared to its price, calling it ‘a specialized, budget-friendly watch that balances high-end display technology and dedicated functionality for athletes’.
It’s less a smartwatch and more a dedicated training tool, made entirely of lightweight plastic rather than any stylish (but heavier) metal elements. It packs up to 19 days of battery life, a huge improvement over smartwatches from Apple, Samsung, or Google, and even most Garmins, making it ideal for athletes who are doing a lot of GPS-powered, battery-sucking long runs and want to track their sleep on top, all without charging.
Speaking of GPS, that dual-frequency GNSS chipset ensures that the watch will be able to find you better amongst tall buildings — a perfect choice for, for example, the New York City Marathon. As our review put it, ‘the ability to connect across two frequencies is designed to improve positional accuracy in challenging environments such as cities and forests’.
However, it’s not as smartwatchy as other watches; it has limited notifications and call management functionality, and no third-party apps to speak of. Samsung and Google have the Play Store, Apple has the App Store, and even Garmin has the ConnectIQ store, but Coros is strictly a self-contained training ecosystem.
You can link it to other apps like Strava or control media through the watch, but you don’t get custom-built applications on the watch the way you do with other devices.
However, elite runners don’t want those things: they want a lightweight, long-lasting training tool that works, with virtual pacing, accurate positional GPS, and heart rate tracking. In all of these aspects, the Coros Pace 4 delivers — and at $249 USD / £229 UK / AU$479.95, it’s surprisingly well-priced.
A Black Friday bargain?
We’re currently reviewing the Coros Pace 4 Pro, the Pace 4’s successor. It’s shaping up to be every bit as good as the standard 4, but even more exciting is what this means for the Pace 4 — when a new watch comes out, the older one is likely to drop in price, especially during big sales events.
With Black Friday on the horizon (November 27), if you’re shopping for a new running watch, I’d keep an eye out for the Coros Pace 4. With the Pace 4 Pro out, the Pace 4 could drop from an already excellent value price down to an absolute steal. Check TechRadar during the Black Friday deals period — if the Coros Pace 4 drops, we’ll tell you about it.
