I traded in my Fitbit and Garmin for the cheaper Coros Pace 4 - here's why it's my favourite watch for runners

The Coros Pace 4 is the newest entry in my guide on the best running watches, after putting it through its paces for the past few months.

As a Fitbit wearer for five years and a Garmin wearer for almost seven, it's obvious that I love these brands. I think these will always be some of the best fitness trackers around. I'd recommend them to anyone, but there are a few boxes that the Coros Pace 4 ticks that these do not.

This watch has found a permanent place on my wrist thanks to its advanced yet readable running and workout insights, app design, battery life, and moderate price tag (cheaper than most Garmin and Fitbit watches of the same level at RRP).

Coros Pace 4 review

Quick review

You don't have to be a marathoner to appreciate the benefits of a running watch like the Coros Pace 4 - but if you want to be, this device can certainly take you there. It blends genuinely useful data (from basic pace and distance on your wrist to vertical oscillation and cadence in your in-app workout analysis) with a sleek design, made to be worn in daily life as well as on the move.

Along with multiple running modes, you'll find workout profiles for a plethora of other activities - including strength training, where you can log your sets, reps, and weights to ensure you actually make progress. Sleep, stress, and overnight HRV monitoring form the three pillars to create a rounded guide on how to improve your fitness, recovery, and general health with running at the front of mind.

While much of this is also included on the Coros Pace 3, you'll find that you can now connect to your headphones and control your music during workouts, there's an on-wrist torch for better visibility outdoors, and a longer battery life on the upgrade.

Of course, if you don't enjoy running, this isn't the watch for you. You'll want to be running at least a few times a week to get the most out of this device, and if you're not (or have no intention to), I recommend one of the best Fitbits or best Garmin watches instead.

Specifications

• Size: 43.4 x 43.4 x 11.8 mm
• Weight: 40g (with silicone band)
• Display: AMOLED
• Material: Polymer and silicone with fibre-reinforced glass
• Battery life: Up to 19 days
• Waterproof: Yes, up to 5ATM

What's it like to use the Coros Pace 4?

If you're like me and enjoy running but a three-hour marathon or 100-mile ultra run isn't on your list of life goals, then there's little point in investing in a computer-level running watch with data that'll have you locked into your phone for days.

What I love most about the Coros Pace 4 is how easy it is to use and how accurate the data is. In three taps, you can start a running workout that'll keep you on your pace, distance, and heart rate targets with your numbers large on your wrist. A tap of the action button will flick you through the navigation screen (if you've pre-loaded a route) and your music or podcast controls. When you're done, you can view the details in the app - including your training zones, cadence, and stride length. Together, I've found these not only show me what I need to do to improve my running, but also help improve my form and make my runs more comfortable.

I love the 'Explore' feature in the app. This panel allows you to plot a route from your front door to anywhere you like, and then send that route to your wrist for turn-by-turn navigation and breadcrumb maps.

An upgrade to the design means the Coros Pace 4 has an extra button on the left side. I've found this action button comes in most handy for changing your music mid-workout, but you can also use it to voice record notes during your workout, drop a pin at a particular place when following a route, or turn on the backlight in daily use.

Who is the Coros Pace 4 suitable for?

The Coros Pace 4 is one of the few running watches that I'd genuinely recommend to those new to running, right through to those who've been running for decades. It's a watch that meets you at your current fitness level.

It does with a couple of features. Training Load is the first one. This takes your base level of fitness and the amount of training you've done in recent weeks to reveal the amount of stress your body is under. You'll also be able to see the ratio of easy, medium, and hard workouts in your training to see where you need to spend more time.

Training Status is the other one. This takes your training in recent weeks and reveals how effective that work was in improving your fitness. You want to be aiming for Optimised if you're looking to boost your running fitness or your general cardiovascular health.

In my view, the Coros Pace 4 is also a good fitness tracker, generally, given that it records your basic sleep (like duration, quality) and stress data to create a recovery score. If your score is low one day, you might like to take a rest day and if it's very high, that's a sign to push yourself. It's the kind of data that not everyone wants, but if you like to combine your gut feeling with data to improve your fitness, this is the watch for you.

However, you will only be able to take advantage of the personalised marathon training plans (which can replace many popular running app subscriptions) if you can complete a half-marathon in under three hours. If you're only planning on running 10km, that's not going to be useful for you. A Garmin watch, like the Garmin Forerunner 165 or 265, will offer plans from 5km to ultra-marathon distance for all levels.

Battery life and charging the Coros Pace 4

Making things as easy as possible is key to getting out the door to exercise. A watch with a low battery after a couple of days is not an easy situation. The Coros Pace 4 avoids this entirely with its 19- day battery life, which I think is underestimated. I've worn this watch with workouts in GPS mode for almost a month before, with life left at the end.

The only inconvenience for those of us with phones without a USB-C cable is that the charging dock for this watch needs one. Whereas most watches (including the Pace 3) come with their own cable, the Pace 4 charges via a head put on the end of a USB-C, adding that extra step.

Is the Coros Pace 4 worth buying?

Absolutely. For the price, this is hands-down the most budget-conscious running watch around today. While £229 is still an investment, the Coros Pace 4 boasts features down on fitness trackers and watches three times the price.

It does the basics extraordinarily well and throws in a few extra features that you don't realise you can't live without until you have them. For me, this was the music control during workouts, having used watches without this in the last few years.

I'll be keeping this watch on my wrist for the foreseeable future, which includes a half-marathon race and plenty of easy jogs heading into the summer. So, I'll be sure to update this review with my progress, but I've never recommended a running watch so quickly to friends, family, and colleagues before, as I have with the Coros Pace 4.