COROS - NOMAD

Garmin and Coros are the top of the industry for heart rate and fitness watches. Frankly Apple Watches aren’t even comparable. That being said there has been some research that shows heart rate wrist monitors on these watches aren’t accurate all the time. The new ones with the latest technology seem to be pretty damn accurate in my experience. If you’re interested in heart rate training I highly suggest a garmin or coros and then pair it with a chest monitor. You can get a chest monitor and pair it to your watch for like $75-150 bucks but like the watch it should last years. Smart watches are not BIFL IMO

I love my Coros as a navigation tool.  My phone very rarely comes out for navigation now.

I've just moved from a Pace 3 to a Nomad and, honestly, they're cracking pieces of kit. I've not had any issues with them since moving to Coros watches in February. For trails I would lean towards at least the Pace Pro or the Nomad/Apex 4 (they're basically the same) simply due to offline maps. Either way, Coros or Garmin, there's a device that meets your needs at a price you are willing to pay.

I've just moved from a Pace 3 to a Nomad and, honestly, they're cracking pieces of kit. I've not had any issues with them since moving to Coros watches in February. For trails I would lean towards at least the Pace Pro or the Nomad/Apex 4 (they're basically the same) simply due to offline maps. Either way, Coros or Garmin, there's a device that meets your needs at a price you are willing to pay.

He might be saying that because of how expensive a new Garmin is. If money is no object for you and you're giving it to him as a gift then a Forerunner 970 is a far superior watch. If he really wants to try Coros, he should do it with his own money and buying it from somewhere that you can return it without paying a restocking fee or shipping such as REI (in-store returns) or Amazon. I'm coming from Garmin and I've been pretty happy with my Coros Nomad, though there are a lot of mostly UI quirks. Functionality wise it's FAR better than Suunto and close but not quite there to Garmin. There is at least 1 completely dealbreaking flaw for me which is that the fonts are way too small in certain places and can't be increased. I can't read my notifications at all which kind of kills all the smartwatch functionality for me.

Interesting choice with the Apex 4, I think the Nomad is a better and cheaper watch 🙂 although I'm a sucker for a ruggedized plastic watch.

I returned my Coros Nomad because the font was just too small. They make pretty decent products but they fall short of Garmin with not being customizable in quality of life ways such as font size, screen brightness (way too bright), beep sounds (too loud and can't turn off or make quieter), and their watch faces aren't customizable. 

My Coros watch has amazing battery life. I went on vacation for 10 days and knew I'd be fine not charging it.

I have a Coros watch. The batteries last forever.

Coros is about half the price for the same features and its not a military contractor…

I know I'm going to be the unpopular opinion here. I love my Coros but I've also tried Garmin and there's really not enough of a difference for me to recommend one over the other. I think it's whatever platform you're used to.

I switched from an apple se2 to a coros nomad and I will never go back. My apple almost died when I was doing a trail race. We have the same concerns, battery life. I only switched because I really wanted the data, I think you probably should think about it. But the aw was a really good daily watch, notifications and all that jazz. But being away from that was pretty good detox too.

Decathlon gps900, best value Coros watch. GPS is accurate, app is great the bartery life still out lasts most watches on the market. Unless you want the very best tech, this watch is perfect.