Sports watch brands: your complete guide to Garmin, Polar, Suunto and Coros

Date:
Mon, 16 Aug 2021 14:14:25 +0000

Description:
Everything you need to know about the big sports watch brands, and what to expect from their devices.

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While smartwatches now do a much better job of tracking runs, swims and big Sunday cycling sessions, a sports watch still feels like the most reliable companion to strap on to keep tabs on that time when youre getting that heart pumping.

Like smartwatches though, there are a lot of sports watches out there and good ones too. Most cover the bases of letting you track runs with GPS, measure effort levels with heart rate monitors and will let you share data with third party apps.

Garmin , Polar, Suunto and now Coros make really formidable options across price ranges. So you can spend big or spend less and get something to track those Parkruns or make sure you can find your way home when you head out for
a big hike.

If youre overwhelmed by the options to pick from, we take you through what to expect from the big sports watch names and what you get from going Polar over Garmin or even trying something new from Coros. Garmin

Garmin is perhaps the best known of all the sports watch brands simply
because it has comfortably the biggest collection of watches available. GPS and tracking your location was Garmins big play when it got into the electronics game and its watches definitely aim to offer a more balanced mix of sports tracking and smartwatch features compared to its rivals.

Forerunner is arguably its most well known range and theres both affordable and pricey, feature-packed options to choose from. At the cheaper end youve got the likes of the Forerunner 55, which is a small, light watch with those key tracking features like GPS, heart rate monitoring and software features like Garmin Coach to help you train for running distances like 5k and 10k distances. The Forerunner 55 is Garmin's entry-level running watch, with a price to match. Paying more for a higher-end watch will get you extra
features such as a built-in music player and more advanced training insights (Image credit: Future)

Spend a little more and you have the Forerunner 245, which is the successor
to the 235, one of Garmins most popular watches. That gives you all you get
on the 55, but with the addition of smartwatch features like Garmin Pay, a built-in music player and more advanced training insights.

In the middle of the Garmin range you have watches like its Vivoactive and
the Venu series, which feel like its most smartwatch-like devices and both ranges share a lot of the same features. The Venu, square Venu Sq and Venu 2 are the only watches in Garmins range that offer full colour touchscreen displays. The Garmin Venu 2 is one of few Garmin watches with a full color touchscreen (Image credit: Future)

When youre thinking more about how you train, when you train and training for longer, then youll be wanting to look at the likes of the Forerunner 745 and the 945. These offer Garmins more insightful analysis like training load and training balance and start to veer into serious athlete territory. With the 945, youre also getting full mapping support where cheaper Forerunner watches will offer more simpler breadcrumb navigation support where you cant view
full maps but you can upload routes to follow in a more simpler fashion.

When you want to spend big and want something built for endurance-style pursuits or outdoor activities like trail running, hiking and open water swimming, then theres the Fenix series and the new Enduro. The Fenix essentially takes what you get in the Forerunner 945 and wraps it up in more high grade case materials. It also comes in a solar charging option if you like the idea of having a watch that can go longer. The Garmin Fenix 6 is essentially the same as a Forerunner 945, but wrapped in a more premium case (Image credit: Garmin)

If you want a watch that can go far, then the Enduro is the one you want. Its capable of going for more than a month in smartwatch mode and 70-80 hours of full GPS battery life. It largely matches the Fenix feature set minus the music player and full topographical maps you will get on the Pro version of the Fenix 6 series. Polar

The Finnish brands heritage lies in heart rate monitoring and was the first company to launch a wireless heart rate monitor . It continues to evolve that technology inside of its sports watches and it also goes big on providing big training and analysis features driven by heart rate and other metrics for those who like to take a more professional approach to training.

Thats not to say it doesnt offer a more accessible option like the Polar Ignite and Ignite 2 , which are designed for general fitness types, and offer features like GPS and Polars Precision Prime heart rate sensor technology to track effort levels during exercise. You also get access to Polars FitSpark suggested workouts feature, and sleep tracking, which includes its nightly recharge measurements to assess whether youre fit to train. The Polar Ignite
2 is an accessible all-purpose sports watch that offers heart rate
monitoring, sleep tracking, and workout suggestions (Image credit: Polar)

Up from the Ignite series you have the Vantage M2 , which bolsters the training and analysis features you have at your disposal over the Ignite.
That includes Training Load Pro letting you pay closer attention to how hard youre working during workouts.

Then you get to the Vantage V2 and the Grit X, which sit at the top of the Polar watch family. The Vantage V2 is designed for serious athletes, think dedicated marathon runners, ultrarunners and triathletes. It offers access to features like Training Load Pro and Training Recovery Pro to delve deeper
into your workout data to help better shape training plans and when to take rest days.

It also includes tests to better assess how well recovered your leg muscles are from training. It offers 40 hours of full GPS battery life and the smartwatch features youll find on the Vantage M2 like music controls, weather forecasts and notifications. The Polar Grit X is an extra rugged sports watch that offers turn-by-turn navigation and fuelling guidance for long endurance events (Image credit: Polar)

The Grit X is Polars first outdoor watch that has all of the features found
in the Vantage V2 and puts it inside of a more rugged design. It offers features like the ability to upload routes to enjoy turn-by-turn navigation and its FuelWise recommendations, which smartly reminds you to eat during endurance-style activities based on heart rate and data like age, weight and gender. Suunto

Like Polar, Suunto is based out of Finland, and while its a big maker of dive watches, it has a sizable collection of multisports watches in its collection too.

Its watches are clearly designed with outdoor adventurers in mind and built with rugged, durable designs, offer rich environmental data and generally promise big battery life too. Theyre a little light on smartwatch features, though the recent arrival of the Suunto 7 has signalled a shift in offering something thats a stronger mix of sports watch and smartwatch. The Suunto 7, powered by Google Wear OS, is the company's first true smartwatch, with added fitness features (Image credit: Michael Sawh)

Sitting at the cheapest end of its collection is the Suunto 3, which is clearly a Suunto aimed at beginners that offers core sports tracking modes
and includes built-in GPS, an optical heart rate monitor and 24/7 fitness tracking and sleep tracking. It also offers adaptive training plans that are generated from your fitness level and logged workouts and will adjust plans
if you miss a session.

At the top end of the Suunto family is the Suunto 9 Peak , which takes the Suunto 9 and gives it a slimmer and lighter design. The 9 gives you
everything Suunto has to offer. That includes up to 170 hours of GPS battery life with intelligent battery modes for those who want to track for days plus the ability to monitor blood oxygen to assess acclimation to altitude. That makes it a good fit for climbers.

Youre also getting 80 sports modes, and you can upload routes via GPS files
to access navigation features like real-time breadcrumb trails. The Suunto 9 Peak is built for serious outdoor training, with extra-long battery life and real-time breadcrumb trail navigation (Image credit: Suunto, Shutterstock, Easy Camerse)

Sitting somewhere in between those two watches is the Suunto 7, the companys first proper smartwatch. It runs on Googles Wear OS , though its not clear
yet if it will be upgradeable to the next version of the operating system, which Google is building with Samsung.

Right now, it gives you all of those Wear staples like making payments, downloading apps and accessing Google Assistant. Youre also getting some of Suuntos own sports tracking, including the ability to access full colour maps that can be stored for offline use and use heatmaps to find popular running
or riding routes. Unlike other Suunto models, youll have to contend with having around a day of battery life when using it in full smartwatch mode. Coros

Coros is new to the sports watch space and has designed all of its watches to be primarily designed for triathletes with some models likely to appeal more to runners or to those who like hitting the trails, hiking or climbing.

Unlike Garmin, it offers less on the smartwatch front, instead prioritizing offering strong sports tracking features, big battery life with GPS and in standby mode, connecting with third party apps like Strava and giving you plenty of stats and analysis to dig into after youre done working out. It
does try to offer largely the same software features across all of its
watches too. The Coros Pace 2 is an affordable sports watch that delivers a lot of bang for your buck, with plenty of workout modes and advanced running metrics (Image credit: Future)

The Coros Pace 2 is the most affordable option in the small Coros watch family, but it still packs a punch for the price. Its the smallest and lightest option and offers core tracking modes for runs, cycling (indoor and outdoor) and swims (pool and open water). It also offers modes for activities like paddleboarding and indoor rowing. Coros also offers strength training
and rep counting like Garmin gives you advanced running metrics and its
Evolab training insights.

It wont give you the ability to follow routes on the watch, so youll need to step up to the Coros Apex and Apex Pro to get those features along with
giving you bigger battery life than the Pace 2. We've tested and ranked the best running watches available today



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/sports-watch-brands-your-complete-guide-to-garm in-polar-suunto-and-coros/


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