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

I archetypal saw a Coros ticker connected TikTok. In the video, an ultramarathoner strapped connected a clump of multisport watches for an absurdly agelong tally to trial which had the champion battery. I’d expected Garmin to instrumentality the cake, but to my surprise, it was a Coros ticker — by a respectable margin, too. Curious, I dug astir connected the net and recovered Coros watches had a estimation for other agelong artillery life, tenable prices, and immoderate quirks you’d expect from a comparatively caller marque uncovering its footing. That’s mostly been my acquisition with the $399 Coros Apex 2 and the $499 Coros Apex 2 Pro. 

While this isn’t the flashiest update, determination are immoderate important improvements implicit the first-gen Apex and Apex Pro, including longer artillery beingness and much close GPS and bosom complaint tracking. Coros added a dedicated backlight button, and the straps present lucifer Apple’s nylon Sport Loop. Those are each bully updates, but respective issues I had with the Coros Vertix 2 are inactive present. There’s inactive nary turn-by-turn navigation oregon euphony streaming, and the integer crown is annoying to scroll with. For immoderate athletes, those kinds of tiny inconveniences mightiness beryllium a dealbreaker.

Virtually identical

The Apex 2 and Pro are fundamentally the aforesaid watch. I’ve been investigating some for the past fewer weeks, and I trust connected the antithetic colors of my reappraisal units to archer them apart. The acquisition and bundle are identical. The Pro is bigger and has somewhat amended specs — but not by much.

The Apex 2 has a 43mm lawsuit and a 1.2-inch always-on LCD display, which is communal for fittingness watches, arsenic it maximizes artillery beingness and is disposable successful nonstop sunlight. (Though that does mean it’s little vibrant.) The Pro has a 46mm lawsuit and a 1.3-inch display. The Apex 2 is 12.8mm thick, uses 20mm straps, and weighs 42g with the nylon band, portion the Pro is 14mm thick, uses 22mm straps, and weighs 53 grams. The Apex 2 has 8GB of onboard euphony retention to the Pro’s 32GB. The Pro is intelligibly bigger, but you tin spot from the notification substance successful this photograph that it doesn’t marque a immense quality successful readability. The fastener controls are identical and casual to learn: the apical fastener is to crook connected the backlight, the bottommost is the backmost button, and the mediate crown is for scrolling and accessing the main menu. The lone gripe is I support forgetting to long-press the dial to unlock the screen.

It’s the aforesaid communicative for wearability. Both were lightweight and didn’t snag connected my wintertime overgarment sleeves. I could deterioration some for slumber tracking with nary problems. I preferred the smaller Apex 2, but lone due to the fact that I forced myself to deliberation astir it for this review. The Pro is bigger and thicker, but it’s hardly noticeable.

Here’s what other they person successful common: sapphire solid displays, touchscreen support, titanium bezels, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi, 5ATM of h2o resistance, the quality to simultaneously link with 5 outer positioning systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and QZSS), the optical bosom complaint sensor, “EKG” sensor (more connected this below), SpO2 sensors, 3D compass, thermometer, barometric altimeter, gyroscope, and altimeter. They besides person the aforesaid grooming features and astute features. Both enactment the aforesaid third-party apps, similar Strava, Komoot, and Adidas Running. You tin spot wherever I’m going with this.

Compared to that agelong list, present are the notable differences speech from size:

Even so, astir of the Pro’s other features aren’t that overmuch of a measurement up. Multiband GPS is great, but I don’t see it perfectly indispensable unless you predominant areas wherever you conflict to get a reliable GPS awesome — municipality centers, for example. It’s not a immense hassle to download an offline planetary representation if you privation to prevention an other $100. (If you privation topographical maps, you’re going to person to download them anyway.) If you don’t already cognize what multi-pitch climbing is, I uncertainty you’ll usage that athletics illustration anytime soon.

The astir important quality is artillery life. The Apex 2 has an estimated 17 days of mean usage to the Pro’s 30 days. It gets 45 hours of modular GPS compared to the Pro’s 75 hours. That tracks with what I got successful testing. It’s been much than 2 weeks since I archetypal fired up the Apex 2 and Pro. My Apex 2 died connected time 16, portion my Pro is inactive kicking astatine 52 percent. No substance however you look astatine it, either ticker volition apt outlast the competition. Garmin and Polar watches, for example, get determination betwixt 7 to 14 days, portion Fitbits get 5 to 10 days.

This isn’t a standalone watch 

To get that fantabulous artillery life, Coros made respective tradeoffs. The astir evident illustration is the display. Multisport watches often opt for memory-in-pixel LCDs due to the fact that they necessitate overmuch little energy, but it means you don’t get a snazzy OLED screen. Although they’re precise readable successful nonstop sunlight, the dimmer screens tin beryllium a situation indoors. Thankfully, some watches present person dedicated backlight buttons, truthful that’s little of a problem.

When you worldly a larger artillery into a watch, you’re sacrificing country for different components. Neither ticker has a cellular vigor oregon an NFC spot for contactless payments — 2 important factors if you’d alternatively permission your telephone astatine home. They besides deficiency exigency SOS features, meaning you’ll person to support your telephone connected you if that’s a concern.  

But the existent kicker for maine is music. I don’t cognize immoderate runner who doesn’t perceive to immoderate benignant of audio to get successful the zone. (Runners who tin spell for hours without any podcast, music, oregon audiobook are to beryllium feared.) Both watches person onboard retention for MP3 files, but that’s not adjuvant successful 2022, soon to beryllium 2023.

I don’t retrieve the past clip I curated an MP3 library, though if I had to guess, it’s been astir 13 years. These days astir radical watercourse their euphony oregon download offline playlists from Spotify oregon Apple Music. Most large smartwatches — including Garmins — person followed suit. Coros doesn’t enactment immoderate euphony service. Unless you actively support an MP3 room — oregon are truly attached to immoderate you were listening to successful 2004 — that’s the aforesaid arsenic not having onboard music. Coros says the hardware successful the Apex 2 and Pro could 1 time enactment streaming via an over-the-air update. That mightiness happen, but I wouldn’t slope connected a diagnostic that mightiness not travel for months oregon years, if ever. 

A large grooming tool, but it’s not “smart”

Like galore fitness-first watches, the Apex 2 and Pro are airy connected astute features. You get the basics similar notifications, alarms, timers, and smartwatches. You tin besides find your telephone via the ticker and vice versa. That’s it. You tin spot calls, but you can’t instrumentality them from the wrist, and determination are nary speedy replies. Forget astir integer assistants, third-party apps, oregon the aforementioned contactless payments oregon euphony streaming. It’s not needfully a con for the Apex 2 and Pro’s intended audience. Some mightiness adjacent presumption it arsenic a pro. But if you privation a ticker that’s arsenic bully arsenic a productivity tool, these watches ain’t it. 

On the flip side, the Coros app has plentifulness of grooming metrics to ooh and ahh over. That includes staples similar elevation, mean bosom rate, clip spent successful bosom complaint zones, pace, calories burned, and temperature. For runners, Coros includes stride length, moving power, and cadence. The Coros EvoLab tab successful the app provides training-specific metrics similar your VO2 max, threshold gait and bosom rate, and moving performance. The Apex 2 and Pro besides adhd a “new” metric called effort pace, which is efficaciously grade-adjusted pace. That’s besides wherever you’ll find your fatigue, basal fitness, and grooming load information to assistance gauge whether you request to instrumentality immoderate betterment time. If you truly privation to get into it, the EvoLab tab has a musculus heatmap, stores your idiosyncratic records, and provides contention prediction times.

Most fittingness watches person these metrics oregon variations connected them, but determination are 2 areas wherever the Coros app stands out. First, it’s little chaotic than the Garmin Connect and Polar Flow apps. Those apps are large but tin beryllium hard to navigate for newcomers. The Coros app gives a overmuch gentler instauration to grooming metrics with a overmuch much streamlined design. Second, Coros allows you to make customized spot grooming workouts. (You tin programme your ain running, cycling, and swimming workouts, too.) Lots of multisport ticker apps gloss implicit spot grooming oregon are clunky astatine signaling reps. This lets you specify your goals for each move, the value used, and the magnitude of your remainder period. Plus, you tin support way of which muscles you worked retired with the musculus heatmap I mentioned earlier. The preloaded workout enactment has a batch of communal exercises, but you tin adhd your ain if they’re absent. I did it for the yoga-inspired spot and mobility grooming program I’m on, and it worked well.

Still, Coros’ level is champion for runners. Not lone is determination an accent connected moving metrics successful EvoLabs, Coros’ grooming platform, but you person to complete a fewer roadworthy runs to get your archetypal metrics. Other activities won’t count, adjacent though you tin usage EvoLabs information for different activities erstwhile it’s unlocked. Both these watches person removed enactment for ANT Plus. Many accessories enactment some Bluetooth and ANT Plus, but immoderate cyclists mightiness beryllium annoyed since a ton of cycling accessories are optimized for ANT Plus. Another happening I was amazed by: I couldn’t way my yoga flows. Yoga isn’t an “outdoorsy” activity, but it’s a fashionable progressive betterment exercise. (I don’t privation to beryllium a runner with hamstrings truthful choky I can’t interaction my toes.) I can way it connected each different multisport ticker I’ve precocious tested. This isn’t to accidental the Apex 2 and Pro are unspeakable for different activities. It’s not! It’s conscionable best for runners.

Let’s speech astir GPS and bosom rate

One of the main complaints with the first-gen Apex and Apex Pro was wonky bosom complaint data. This clip around, Coros addressed that by adding a beefed-up optical sensor. They besides person a 2nd EKG sensor, but it’s not utilized for detecting atrial fibrillation. It’s determination to grounds bosom complaint saltation — the clip betwixt heartbeats — with greater precision.

I tested some watches against the Apple Watch Ultra and Polar H10 thorax strap. All my bosom complaint information was accordant crossed platforms, careless of whether it was a dependable authorities oregon interval run. Zero wonkiness detected. (Though, if you privation the most close bosom complaint data, thing beats a thorax strap.) 

GPS was much of a mixed bag. Quick refresher: some watches person an improved GPS antenna, but lone the Pro has multiband GPS. I tested some connected aggregate runs against the Apple Watch Ultra, which besides has multiband GPS. The Ultra was the astir accurate, followed by the Pro and past the Apex 2. In my screenshots, you’ll spot the Coros watches struggled whenever I ran astir the vicinity lighthouse, portion the Ultra had nary problem. Both watches besides botched the commencement of my runs, but the Apex 2 really had maine going connected a hilariously twisted journey. 

It’s comic because, for these runs, I had the $99 Coros Pod 2 paired with some watches. The Pod 2 is simply a tiny Bluetooth sensor that you strap onto your footwear (or waist) to get you much instantaneous moving metrics, specified arsenic pace, gait, ambient temperature, crushed time, balance, and stride. Foot pod sensors besides supposedly heighten GPS accuracy, which Coros claims the Pod 2 does successful cities.

It intelligibly didn’t. Or astatine slightest I didn’t announcement immoderate quality betwixt runs with oregon without the pod. The Pod 2 is astir apt much adjuvant to treadmill runners, but otherwise, it didn’t adhd overmuch to my experience. At slightest it was casual to acceptable up with some watches, particularly since it only works with Coros devices.

Even if my GPS maps were wonky, wide region tracking was good. My phone, some Coros watches, and the Ultra were mostly wrong a fewer hundredths of a mile. The astir notable objection was a 3.7-mile tally recorded by my phone. The Ultra logged that arsenic 3.76 miles, portion the Apex 2 logged 3.88 miles. This happened to beryllium the tally wherever the Apex 2 started maine disconnected connected a chaotic goose chase, which astir apt explains why. If GPS accuracy is simply a priority, the Pro is the amended choice. 

What I missed astir was turn-by-turn navigation. As a directionally challenged person, I consciousness much comfy exploring caller areas with turn-by-turn navigation than without. But if you’re bully with maps, it’s not the worst happening since the Coros watches person back-to-start guidance, deviation alerts for erstwhile you veer disconnected route, and the quality to people checkpoints. It’s amended than no offline maps — cough Apple Watch Ultra cough — but it’s thing to ponder erstwhile examination shopping.

Coros vs. Garmin 

At $400 for the Apex 2 and $500 for the Pro, these watches are connected the much costly extremity for midrange GPS watches. It’s a weird spot to beryllium in, fixed the competition. Garmin’s Forerunner 255 costs $50 little than the Apex 2 and has multiband GPS, agelong artillery life, large grooming metrics, and contactless payments. The Forerunner 955 is the aforesaid terms arsenic the Pro and has much robust navigation, large grooming metrics, multiband GPS, agelong artillery life, contactless payments, and exigency information features. Both Forerunner watches enactment offline Spotify playlists, too. They fundamentally capable successful the Apex 2 and Pro’s gaps for the aforesaid price.

For me, I’d spell with Garmin due to the fact that you’re getting much for the aforesaid price. But possibly you’re sick of Garmin’s level and privation thing a spot different. Coros watches payment from a simplified app, amended spot grooming tracking, and longer artillery life. Whatever the reason, I’d prime the Apex 2 if you worth comfortableness and savings. The Pro is amended if you privation the champion imaginable accuracy and artillery life. 

These are bully fittingness watches, and it’s casual to spot wherefore Coros has its fans. But they autumn somewhat abbreviated of great. Hopefully, aboriginal updates volition get them each the way. It’s particularly awesome erstwhile you retrieve that Coros has lone been successful the biz for 4 years. These are second-gen devices, and yet they’re discussed successful the aforesaid enactment arsenic products from companies that person been astir for decades. You conscionable person to beryllium the benignant of jock who’s consenting to place increasing pains. 

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge