Suunto has just announced the new Suunto Race 3S, a small-form-factor watch that believes it needs a big-form-factor price increase. On top of that, Suunto has also launched a new subscription service, Suunto AI Coach, where new Suunto App features are being funneled into. I’ve been using the Suunto Race 3S over the last few weeks, and in this review I’ll dive into how it all works, and whether Suunto can justify the price.

The new Suunto Race 3S includes a brighter display, more storage, and some software feature updates that the existing Race S didn’t get this past summer. This isn’t really a major change from the previous model, but nonetheless these updates are appreciated. It also features upgraded materials, shifting from a stainless steel bezel to a titanium bezel.

In any case, I’ve been putting it through its paces over the last little bit, across all sorts of activities to see how it holds up, and how it compares to other newly announced watches from the last few weeks.

With that, let’s dive right into it!

What’s New:

Now, as you probably know, the Suunto Race 3S is an upgrade to the existing Suunto Race S. There was no Suunto Race 2S, and equally confusingly, there is no larger Suunto Race 3 companion at this point. When I asked about the Suunto Race 3 elephant in the room, Suunto simply said a variant of ‘No comment’. Thus, that elephant will stay with us for now, joining other elephants I’ll talk about later.

Of course, when you look at changes vs. the original Suunto Race S, that watch continued to get meaningful firmware updates until this past April. So I’ll ignore all of those things and focus on the new stuff otherwise (software and hardware).

Starting off with the hardware changes:

– Upgraded peak display brightness from 1,000 nits to 2,000 nits
– Upgraded lens cover material from Gorilla Glass to Sapphire Crystal glass
– Updated bezel material from stainless steel to titanium
– Upgraded optical heart rate sensor
– Faster processor (Apollo 510)
– Increased GPS time from 30 hours to 38 hours (dual-frequency), 45 hours (single-frequency)
– Increased smartwatch daily battery life from 9 days to 12 days
– Increased internal storage from 32GB to 64GB
– Added support for offline music playback (MP3 files, no streaming services)
– Increased number of SuuntoPlus apps in a single profile from 2 to 3
– Slightly increased official case size from 45mm to 46mm
– Decreased weight from 60g to 56g
– Increased retail price from $349USD to $599USD (and 349EUR to 499EUR)

Do note that while you might see NFC listed on some spec sheets, that’s only applicable for the China market. There’s no contactless payment integration elsewhere. Unfortunately, like the music streaming services piece, those industry gates closed a decade ago.

Then there are a few new software features, mainly ones that rolled out on the Suunto Race 2 this past summer:

– Added Tide Widget
– Expanded map labels (road names, water, mountain peaks)
– Added Ascent as an exercise target

Finally, Suunto has noted that there’s a new ‘Race Planner’ feature coming later this year to the Suunto Race 3S, though it’s not there at launch. Here’s a quick blurb on that:

This sounds super interesting, and so I’m keen to see how this works. Especially the pieces looking at weather. For example, does that also look at your historical training weather (e.g., if you train in cold temps, but then arrive at a hot-temp race day). And, best of all, it doesn’t require Suunto AI Coach.

Finally, when it comes to model colors, here are those three options – purple, white, and black:

With that, let’s get into the box.

In the box:

This section is pretty straightforward. Above is the Suunto Race 3S box, following the same design as other recent Suunto watches.

Below are the contents of said box:

You’ve got the band/strap, the pod (separated from the band), the braided charging cable, and some paper stuff.

The charging cable follows other recent Suunto models, and is magnetic and much better than the one that came with the original Suunto S model, which I found would often become misaligned.

In any case, you simply embark on a 10-15-second IKEA assembly project to attach the standard band straps to the watch pod, and you’re off and running.

The Basics:

In this section, I’m going to look at some of the basics of the watch, including daily usage such as activity tracking, sleep, etc. As well as pieces like responsiveness and general usability.

The Suunto Race 3S has a three-button layout, as well as a touchscreen. You can mostly use either touch or buttons for navigating around the user interface. The upper right button accesses the sport menu, the middle Digital Crown allows access to pinned widgets during smartwatch use (and of course scrolls up/down), and the bottom button acts as a back/escape button.

The left side has no buttons. Meanwhile, the touchscreen is a 2,000-nit display that’s perfectly viewable in both bright sunny conditions or shade conditions. I live on a Mediterranean island, and I’ve had no issues viewing the display in any scenarios out on the trails. Oh, for fun, here are three watches side-by-side: Suunto Race S, Suunto Race 2, and Suunto Race 3S

That said, it can’t be left unstated that virtually all watches released in 2026 are using 3,000-nit panels. The COROS Pace 4 Pro released a few weeks ago is using a 3,500-nit display (which is also larger), and atop that, the more-capable watch is $150 cheaper. To be super clear here, I have no issue with seeing the display at all. Period, hard-stop. However, we can’t ignore the fact that Suunto is putting in kinda old tech but with over-the-top premium prices. To me, the ‘savings’ on this display panel should be reflected in the price. It’s clearly not.

The only minor ‘nit’-picking I’d have with the display is that their power-saving algorithms seem a little bit aggressive at times, quickly dimming the panel within a few seconds of wrist-raise. Again, the display is still visible, but this could use a bit of work.

Speaking of brightness, note that for whatever weird reason, there’s no physical LED flashlight like there is in the Suunto Vertical 2 watch (which is priced the same at $599). You still have a screen-based flashlight, but obviously that’s not the same.

Perhaps given Suunto’s lawsuit with Garmin concerning the topic, they got a bit skittish. Either way, it’s a bit of a bummer.

In any case, scrolling down into the widgets, you’ve got a customizable set of quick-access data bits. I will note that if you watch the video, you’ll see it’s more laggy here than the older Suunto Race S – despite the claims of a faster processor. This is such a good example of why processor specs mean absolutely nothing in most devices. You can have the fastest processor in the world, but if the firmware/operating system isn’t optimized for it, it’ll still be slower than an optimized processor. Again, check out the above video for that.

As for those widgets, they all work just as before. Aside from the new Tides one, there’s nothing new here. You can tap into any given smaller widget in this list to open up details about that topic, such as steps, sleep, weather, etc.

When it comes to things like sleep tracking, the times I went to sleep and woke up have largely been correct here, usually matching the other wearables within a few minutes. The same goes for the HRV status values. I don’t compare sleep phases/stages, because doing so is peak faux-science. The best-case reference devices you can use to do so are only about 80% accurate, which isn’t all that great (and again, that’s a best-case scenario in perfect lab conditions). Thus, we’d never compare a heart rate sensor to a chest strap that was wrong 20% of the time. Therefore, I’m not gonna do it here either.

Meanwhile, most of the data around heart rate-driven metrics comes from the new optical heart rate sensor seen on the bottom. As I’ll show you within the accuracy section, this heart rate sensor is a huge jump up over the previous Suunto Race S sensor, which wasn’t super awesome.

Speaking of other internal-ish things, the unit now has 64GB of internal storage, which is ostensibly mostly for offline music (yes, it’s also for maps, but Suunto’s maps are so well optimized that you simply don’t need anywhere near that much storage…more on that in the next section).

Now, with Suunto’s offline music playback, it requires you to transfer MP3 files via USB cable to the device. There are no offline streaming services (e.g., Spotify/etc), and that’s simply not going to happen anytime soon. Those industry gates closed nearly a decade ago now, and the only way Suunto would gain access to them is by going back to WearOS. Nonetheless, if you’re one of 12 people who are still transferring your owned/“borrowed” MP3 files to your watch via cable, you can do that here. You’ll pair up any Bluetooth audio device (e.g., headphones) to the watch, and off you go. It all worked pretty easily for me, and you can also load in playlists as well.

Finally, when it comes to smartphone notifications, you’ll get the basic text and emoji from your phone.

Ok, with all that sorted, let’s get into the sports bits.

Sports Usage & Mapping:

Next up, we’ve got all things sports, including mapping and navigation.

To access a sport mode, you’ll tap the upper right button, which opens up the workout panel. Here it’ll automatically open your last sport mode, and start searching for GPS (if outside), as well as get heart rate lock. Further, if you’ve got paired sensors (like cycling sensors or an external heart rate sensor), it’ll pair to those too.

You can change the sport mode to one of a boatload of other sport modes in the list:

Back on that main page though, you can select to load a course (within Navigation), as well as select/load SuuntoPlus apps. The Suunto Race 3S supports up to three concurrent enabled SuuntoPlus apps within a given sport profile (you can have additional apps loaded but not enabled). In addition, you can also load up ‘Guides’, which would include things like structured workouts. However, you can only load two apps + one concurrent guide, if using guides.

Finally, there are also the exercise options, where you can tweak various display, map, and other target settings. For example, the Suunto Race 3S added the ability to set an Ascent target (similar to how you might set a calorie or distance target). This came in a firmware update for other newer Suunto watches this summer, but the existing Suunto Race S was skipped.

In any case, circling back, I’m gonna add a course to navigate for my trail run. So I’ll select that back in the Navigation/Routes area:

In terms of maps, the Suunto Race 3S doesn’t have any maps pre-loaded, though they are easily downloadable via WiFi from Suunto. You simply go into the app and choose the regions you want. Here are some random sizes to get a feel for things:

Since I’m here, one thing I really wish Suunto would sort out is their app to watch syncing/configuration situation. For years it’s been that as soon as the watch thinks you want to tweak something, it starts syncing, which in turn prohibits you from actually tweaking the thing until it’s done, taking forever to do that. It’s just very 1990s-modal style. I can’t think of a single other wearable device that still has that restriction left. And more critically, there’s no way to cancel the app from syncing once it starts. That’d at least half-way solve it.

It’s in this area of the app that you’d modify things like the data fields/pages of your sport modes, add new SuuntoPlus apps, create interval workouts, and more. Of course, like in the past, you still can’t modify default sports profiles; you have to create a new custom one if you want to tweak something. And it needs to sync a bunch back and forth too. These are the types of actual useful things I wished Suunto would focus on, rather than adding offline MP3 music support that virtually nobody will use.

With that all sorted, synced, and re-synced, we’re ready to start our workout. Off I go for a run. While running, I’ll of course see my data pages as configured:

From a navigation standpoint, I’ll get a little chirp and then an on-screen notification when a turn comes up. And then if I miss a turn, I’ll get a notification about that too, such as this:

Otherwise, the route shows as expected, and in terms of the responsiveness of the map, it’s a double-edged sword. For rotation, things were instant, and I didn’t experience any black square tiles. You can see this in the video.

But for zooming in/out, there was always at least a second or two of black square tiles. Ironically, a runner friend was with me as I was sitting there filming this, and not being familiar with Suunto watches, he was a bit surprised and asked “Is that normal?”

And ultimately, different companies handle things in different ways. For Garmin, when it slow-map renders, it has a fuzzy look or other color-matching tiles (or shows a tile at a higher zoom level first, before enumerating the detailed tile). Most other companies do the same. But in Suunto’s case, they’re just showing black tiles, which looks a bit sloppy.

Even more so, because I’d also notice these tiles as I run, if I had the map screen just open. Meaning, visible at a glance on my wrist even when not fully raised. Again, we can have an academic debate on slow-map-loading differences (more detail vs less detail, etc.), but I think we can all agree that the black tiles just look rough.

In any case, you’ll also be able to see your progress on the elevation and climbs, both for the full course, and then specific climbs as you trip them:

All of this worked perfectly fine. After the workout, you’ll get a summary of your workout as expected on the watch:

And then likewise you’ll see the additional detail within the Suunto App:

Assuming you have your account connected to one of Suunto’s boatload of partners (e.g., Strava, TrainingPeaks, etc.), it’ll automatically push that data off to those platforms. Again, all of that worked without issue for me.

So then, let’s talk about the accuracy of that data.

Accuracy of Heart Rate & GPS:

The new Suunto Race 3S has a new optical heart rate sensor compared to the existing Suunto Race S. Suunto says this new sensor has six LEDs and four photodetectors behind 2.5D curved sensor glass. No matter what it has behind it, I’ll just state things up front: It’s really darn good in my testing.

I’ll also cover the GNSS/GPS side of things, as well as battery and elevation bits down below. But the GNSS piece hasn’t changed here, so we’ll keep that efficient.

Let’s start off with this slightly hilly run I did. It started off with a long and occasionally steep descent, before some flats, and then going all the way back up again. As a reminder, hills (going down), can often be challenging for optical HR sensors. Still, the Suunto nailed it here. I’ve got zero complaints.

Next, we’ve got a 90-minute long trail run across plenty of varied terrain (steep stuff, shallow stuff, rocking spicy stuff, etc.). And again, overall very good.

About the only thing I could nitpick here is this section for about 20 seconds, where it’s off by about 3-5bpm. That’s nothing in a 98-minute long workout. Again, really good job here.

Here’s another trail run from yesterday. Setting aside whatever happened with the chest strap at the 28-minute marker for a few seconds, things here were quite good as well. Again, there’s virtually nothing to be upset about, and this also included some steep ups/downs.

Next, just for fun, check out this shorter morning gravel ride thing I did a few days ago. I was taking photos and such on this ride of a few different devices. So lots of stop-and-go. Lots of pretty spicy typical Mallorca gravel chunk (most would call it MTB material). And yet, it absolutely nails this. Like, really solid job while cycling.

Now, I’m going to continue to test this sensor, but switch over to the new Suunto Run 2 sensor over the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. I don’t expect a difference though. Either way, this represents a major improvement for Suunto over past sensors.

Meanwhile, on the GPS side, let’s quickly run through some of these. Here’s that city run from a few nights ago. At a high level, obviously all look pretty good.

Meanwhile, in the actual city/downtown parts with tall buildings, none of the units did amazing. None were bad, but across the board (Garmin, Suunto, Apple), all of them were ‘blah’ accuracy-wise. I’m not quite sure why.

You can see this here as well. Again, nothing was crazy-bad, but all four units took turns crashing through buildings slightly, cutting corners, and generally acting like the drunk tourists that fill this area.

That said, as soon as I left the buildings behind, it was perfectly fine on the rest of the run:

Moving along, looking at yesterday’s trail run, which includes cliffs, ravines, trees, etc., things at a high level look good:

I could quibble about each unit being a few meters offset at different parts of the route. Here the Fenix 9 Pro briefly goes across the road, then the COROS and Suunto do the same some 20 seconds later.

Still, we’re talking less than a 5-meter difference in most cases, such as this here:

Or going around this gate for cars. The Garmin & Suunto were most correct here; the COROS went a bit more lazily around it.

Anyway, this is the pattern over and over again – basically all these units were spot on across runs, rides, etc. I’ve got some actual swim tests to do this weekend (I’ve spent a bunch of time in the water swimming with it, but wasn’t doing accuracy testing).

As for looking at the elevation, no major concerns on any of my activities. Here’s that 90-minute trail run:

This is the one I showed the other day in the Garmin MARQ Gen3 review, where for some reason both Garmin units started sliding downwards while I stood and took some photos (27min marker). Garmin’s already digging into it, as it’s likely firmware-related if two different units do it. I will say there’s a little bit of separation early on in the above that seems a bit odd between the Suunto/COROS and the Apple/Garmin watches. Though those all eventually bundled back up together again.

As for the battery bits, here’s the official battery chart:

Looking at my battery life in always-on display, with roughly 60-90mins of GPS time per day, I’m closer to about 5ish days, maybe a touch bit more, but a little shy of the 7-day above (which is spec’d as 60mins per day, versus my times a bit higher). Also, my routes had navigation enabled, which would draw more battery.

Speaking of which, looking at that 98-minute trail run, you can see it burned about 5%, putting me on a 28-hour battery estimate in dual-frequency/multiband mode. This is a touch bit lower than the always-on specs above, but again remember I did have navigation enabled, which draws more battery.

Also, kudos to Suunto for including battery data in their .FIT files (Garmin, Wahoo, and others do so, though unfortunately COROS does not).

In any case, in terms of all my accuracy bits, I’m good across the board here; I’ve got no concerns in any category. Again, for the heart rate sensor side, this is a big upgrade.

Suunto AI Coach Subscription:

Next, Suunto has announced a new Suunto AI Coach subscription feature, which let’s you use your current and historical Suunto data to get race planning information and tons more. This feature is launching on/with the Suunto Race 3S, though it is expected to go to other watch user bases. It’s currently fully on the app itself, as there’s no on-device component.

Suunto has a pretty good 10-minute video that explains the boatload of features that exist there.

My one (kinda big) quibble here is that Suunto Race 3S users get 3 months free to the service, yet Suunto hasn’t defined what said service will actually cost once that free trial ends. And somehow that rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it’s because my inbox is filled with AI vibe-coded slop apps that often attempt to hook you into the platform before eventually charging you down the road. In this case, Suunto is clear they’ll be charging you eventually, but aren’t saying what that is. Thus, once you get hooked on it, you’ll feel compelled to start paying for it.

Now mind you, what Suunto is offering certainly seems a heck of a lot more compelling than what Amazfit, Garmin, and others are doing. It doesn’t seem as deep as what Fitbit/Google are doing, but again, we don’t know Suunto’s pricing yet. Suunto says that part of the reason they haven’t decided pricing is because they want to see what people actually use, and get feedback. Which is fair enough, but still seems like something they could have done before they launched it.

Now, despite my annoyance with Suunto’s AI Coach rollout, I will give them all the credit in the world that they’ve also announced a new Suunto MCP that’ll be free for all Suunto users. This joins COROS in offering such a thing for free. I have a feeling we’re going to see similar announcements in the near future from others. Note that in the case of Suunto’s MCP, the details are thin at this point, other than it’ll be free, and it’ll exist. Still, I take both of those for the moment.

Wrap-Up:

Suunto has had a string of solid product launches over the last couple of years, paired with frequent and meaningful firmware/feature updates on the app side. And good expansion on the developer side. They’ve been on a roll across the board. But I struggle to put the Suunto Race 3S in that category of wins. This watch feels…off.

To begin, the biggest issue is the price. At $599USD/499EUR, it’s more than a 70% USD price increase over the launch price of the Suunto Race S just two years ago. And it’s not like they’ve drastically changed the hardware. Sure, it has a brighter 2,000-nit display panel, but that panel is what other companies were putting in their watches two years ago, not the 3,000-3,500-nit panels that companies are putting in watches in 2026. Further, while they increased the storage from 32GB to 64GB, it doesn’t really serve any meaningful purpose. Suunto’s maps are tiny in size, and easily fit within even just 16GB of space. And while in theory the extra space is for music playback, the reality is virtually nobody is downloading MP3s to their watches in 2026 (since Suunto doesn’t support offline music from any streaming service). Plus, where are the other hardware features that other companies are putting in their watches for half the price (e.g., flashlights, voice, microphone & proper speaker, etc.)?

After a string of wins, I think Suunto missed the boat on this one. It feels both overpriced, and kinda seems like it’s just a collection of leftover hardware parts, rather than representing the start of a new Race 3 series generation of watches. Perhaps if it was priced at $399 or at most $449, I’d feel differently. But with the just-released COROS Pace 4 Pro being at $449, that’s a very tough spot for Suunto to be competing in with the specs they have in the Race 3S.

With that, thanks for reading.

The first thing to understand about Fight Club…err…MARQ Club, is that it’s oddly not about the price. Nor is it supposed to be a classical timepiece meant to hand down to your grandchildren. Just like people who buy a business class ticket across the Atlantic for 7 hours of flying at $4,000 don’t pass that down to their grandchildren in 20 years.

But more importantly, the second thing to understand about MARQ Club is that for the first time ever, the MARQ actually has a slate of new features and additional hardware that the Fenix doesn’t. Up till now, the MARQ series (and Chronos before it in 2016) was simply a ‘swankier’ Fenix. But it never had any truly unique hardware or features (save getting JetLag software features just barely earlier back in 2022). But certainly not unique hardware components. That pattern ends now, with Garmin giving a good technical reason to ‘upsell’ the MARQ. This comes in the form of real-time ClimbPro *without* having loaded a course. Both for running/hiking/walking, as well as cycling. That’s a first, not just for Garmin, but for any company to have route-less automatic ClimbPro. And Garmin has added additional features beyond that. But, again, more details in a second.

And ultimately, testing out these features and how the watch works day in and day out is what I’m here for. I’ve been testing both the new MARQ Gen3 Diver unit and the MARQ Gen3 Adventurer unit across a boatload of different activities. No really, an actual literal boatload. Boats were involved. Many times. Plus of course, things like running, cycling, diving, gym workouts, swimming, and plenty more.

Note that these two units are media loaner units. Also note that Garmin did hold a media event in Mallorca last month, though since I live in Mallorca I actually pedaled 15 minutes to said event and then changed in the parking lot, James Bond style. Point is, I didn’t take any money for travel or accommodations there, as always. I’m just gonna tell it like it is – the good, bad, and ugly. Though honestly, there’s not a lot of ugly here.

With that, let’s get right into it!

What’s New:

Comparing the MARQ Gen3 to the previous MARQ Gen2 is a bit overwhelming because the previous Gen2 unit was from 2022, and was essentially an Epix (non-Pro). In between now and then, there have been four iterations, once per year: Epix Pro, Fenix 8, Fenix 8 Pro, and now the Fenix 9. The MARQ Gen3 is based on the Fenix 9 series.

Thus, if I were to combine all of my ‘What’s New’ lists, it’d be hundreds upon hundreds of lines long to cover all the features. Instead, I want to focus on the biggest-ticket items if you were coming from a MARQ Gen2. Then below that, the things that are unique going from the new Fenix 9 to the new MARQ Gen3 models. Make sense?

First, here are the biggest ticket items compared from MARQ Gen2 to MARQ Gen3:

– Upgraded 1.4” AMOLED display at 3,000 nits
– Fully borderless display design (meaning, no extra space between display and ceramic bezel)
– Added three-color LED flashlight to front of the unit
– Added LTE communication features (calling, texting, LiveTrack, etc.)
– Added satellite messaging features (for non-cellular areas, such as texting, Emergency SOS, weather)
– Added full scuba diving and free diving features (unit is fully depth-gauge certified to 40m)
– Added microphone and full speaker support, including voice assistant, voice control, voice notes, phone calls from wrist, music playback via speaker, and more
– Added Gen5 optical heart rate sensor, including medically certified ECG & Afib detection
– Added all the Fenix 9 Software features, including Garmin Epic features, indoor rowing connectivity/features, Rucking expansion, Stamina features, Ski Erg features, Field Tools, and plenty more
– Added all the Fenix 8 Pro software features, including custom focus modes, calculator app, Evening Report feature, Running Economy, Running Tolerance, and numerous other Running & Triathlon Features
– Added all the Fenix 8 software features, including the new Fenix user interface, and eventually some months later a boatload of sport modes via firmware updates
– Added all the Epix Pro software features, including Endurance Score, Hill Score, shaded relief on maps, 30+ new sport profiles, faster charging speeds, RedShift mode, multiband GNSS/GPS
– Has full offline mapping and navigation features globally

From an LTE & Satellite messaging features standpoint, all of the following are included in all MARQ Gen3 units (unless sold in a country that doesn’t permit it):

– LTE Live two-way voice calls
– LTE LiveTrack (30-second sampling rate)
– LTE Voice Messaging
– LTE Text Messaging
– LTE Weather
– LTE & Satellite Emergency SOS
– LTE Location Check-Ins
– LTE Incident Detection & Assistance
– Satellite Messaging (basic texting)
– Satellite position/location check-ins
– Satellite Emergency SOS (via Garmin Response)
– Satellite updating of weather (new in the Fenix 9 Pro)

As I said, there’s just a ton of new features here. Next, and perhaps of more interest to folks, are the differences between the Fenix 9 Pro inReach to MARQ Gen 3?

In other words, you’re paying an extra few thousand dollars; aside from all the fancy/premium materials, what else do you get?

– Upgraded 128GB of internal storage (versus 64GB on the Fenix 9 series)
– Added Worldwide Topographic maps pre-loaded (Fenix 9 is essentially your local continent, and the rest you download as needed)
– Added on-device real-time ClimbPro for pedestrian & cycling activities *WITHOUT* a route loaded (Fenix 9 requires a course)
– Added on-device address navigation such as 123 Maple Street (the Fenix 9 can go to POI, but not an address)
– Added Predictive search via the keyboard showing suggestions
– Added Lume Mode, mimicking night lume on a watch
– Added slate of MARQ-only watch faces, including unique calendar ones
– Expanded use of ‘Styles’ feature, increasing customization of watch faces
– Expanded color scheme option, increasing color scheme of watch faces
– All the individual watch vertical features (e.g., flying features for the Aviator unit, extra diving features for Diver, etc.)

Of note for the real-time ClimbPro piece, a big part of why they have the extra storage is to enable this scenario. In order to pull this off, they have to pre-cache all of these climbs, which is a mind-boggling amount of pre-caching. We see that today on the cycling-only side within the Garmin Edge units. But obviously once you add every tiny goat-path of a trail out there in the world, that gets massive.

The only downside is that at present that feature has been slightly delayed, and isn’t yet available for me to test. It sounds like this is a matter of days away, and not months or such. I’ll update things accordingly here, once that happens.

Next, there are a few super-specific hardware differences, aside from all the premium materials, that I want to call out:

– The buttons on MARQ have actual mechanical clicking, while still being induction buttons for waterproof reasons. This is different from the Fenix 9, where the buttons are induction, and the ‘click’ is done through the vibration motor. Here, it’s actually a mechanical system outside the case of the watch, within the button.

Also, here you can see the sealed case design of MARQ Gen3 (and Fenix 9):

– All MARQ units have a full ceramic bezel, and within that, the coloring is ‘baked’ all the way through. Meaning, on the Diver, for example, the blue you see is actually fully blue, so even if it scratches, it’s still blue. The white lettering you see (in the case of Diver) is etched out, and then filled with ink.
– The MARQ Gen3 series has a different charging cable. It’s a magnetic one that snaps to the back of the unit. It’s different than the also-unique MARQ Gen2 cable, because the optical HR sensor and case design are different, and wouldn’t have been compatible.  Oh, and it’s a braided cable.
– All MARQ units except the Athlete also get a secondary silicone band in the box, for athletic wear (e.g., to not have substantial water damage to the leather band). The Athlete edition is already such a band.

Ok, now, there are also per-model unique things, but the above covers the across-the-board changes. With that, let’s dive into the models.

The Models – An Overview

Next up are all the models. I know this section might be a bit long, but we’re ultimately talking about six different models. Each of these models aligns to a different top-end unit within the Garmin watch lineup. For example, Golfer aligns to Garmin’s Approach lineup. Commander aligns to the Tactix lineup, Aviator to D2 Mach, Diver to Quatix/Descent, and Athlete/Adventurer to Fenix.

Here are the MARQ Gen3 models and their pricing:

MARQ Athlete: $2,500USD/2,550EUR

MARQ Adventurer: $2,700USD/2,750EUR

MARQ Golfer: $2,800USD/2,850EUR

MARQ Diver: $3,100USD/3,150EUR

MARQ Commander: $3,100USD/3,150EUR

MARQ Aviator: $3,100USD/3,150EUR

Note that, as a quick starting-point reminder, all units:

– Have a full Grade 5 titanium case (which is harder than the Fenix 9 titanium level, which is Grade 2)
– Have a full ceramic bezel
– Have both induction-sealed buttons (the case has no holes for the buttons), as well as full tactical mechanical click
– All watch faces are available to all MARQ models

With that, let’s get straight into each model and some additional details.

MARQ Athlete:

This is effectively the ‘base’ model, and it essentially has the same software features as a Garmin Fenix 9 series, plus the extra MARQ things noted above. But it doesn’t have other-category extra features like you’ll see on the Aviator (flying) or Golfer (golfing) models.

Still, there are some hardware differences here:

– $2,500USD/2,550EUR
– It’s a full titanium case
– Your VO2Max & Recovery Time are shown on the bezel, in the upper left/bottom left, tied to the watch face
– It has so-called ‘AMP Yellow’ accents
– It has the integrated silicone band

I’ve gotta say, I just wish this model was prettier. Or more specifically, didn’t have yellow on it. I get that’s a personal choice (in the same way I like the orange accents on Fenix). But to me, the yellow just feels kinda dated here. But again, my wife would argue my fashion trends are often dated as well. Still, I sometimes feel like the point of the Athlete model is to convince you to buy a better-looking MARQ model.

MARQ Adventurer

Meanwhile, over to the Adventurer, this one might be my favorite-looking model, tied with the Diver. On the regular though, I think the Adventurer is where I’d be if I were to sacrifice a few years of ice cream budget for a MARQ watch.

Like the Athlete model, this unit doesn’t have any specific extra software features over an existing Fenix 9 Pro inReach; instead, it’s still about materials.

– $2,700USD/2,750EUR
– Has a 360-degree compass on bezel
– Has a sunburst brushing effect on bezel
– Has machined notches for N/S/E/W marking on bezel
– Has micro-knurled buttons
– Band is vegetable-tanned Italian full-grain leather on the outside, but has an HNBR hybrid strap on the backside to minimize against light sweat damaging the leather

I’ve been using this model for my dryer actives, occasionally switching to the silicone band for any sweatier activities. I was kinda curious how far I could push the hybrid band piece. In my case, I did two workouts with the leather/hybrid band. One was an easy 90-minute trail run on a windy day where basically I was sweating, but not massively so. Still, after that I could see some slight areas of color change on the band.

I think this is where, once you had a bit more light sweat, the whole band would be the same darker leather color and life is grand again.

Meanwhile, I did an hour or so gravel bike ride where it was low intensity, and no negative change there. As Garmin noted, long-term with occasional rain or such, this would probably age quite nicely. Otherwise, I’d switch to the silicone strap for other workouts.

MARQ Golfer:

Next is the Golfer edition; this ‘Pine Green’ color scheme unit aligns most closely to the features of the Approach S72 unit, though minus two features that require additional hardware. From a MARQ hardware standpoint, notable differences here are:

– $2,800USD/2,850EUR
– 18-hole indicator in white detailing on bezel (aligned with software in the display)
– White detailing on the buttons
– Jacquard woven tri-color band/strap
– Ceramic end links
– All Approach S72 Software features including Virtual Caddie, Putt Break, and Biometric data aligned to each shot on the hole (e.g., first shot vs at the hole, vs transition between holes). However, it does not have the S72 ‘Swing Metrics’ and ‘Driving Range Mode’ features, as those require additional hardware.

MARQ Aviator:

This model aligns with Garmin’s D2 Mach 2 unit in terms of software features. From a hardware standpoint, this unit has:

– $3,100USD/3,150EUR
– Mirror-polished black ceramic bezel
– 24-hour UTC on outside of bezel, they selected UTC vs GMT, as aviation uses UTC
– Italian calfskin padded leather strap
– Strap has a deployant clasp system
– All software features from the D2 Mach 2, including full aviation airspace maps, avionics connectivity to Garmin cockpit systems, Morning Report with flight conditions integration (including IFR condition states).

MARQ Diver:

This watch replaces what was the MARQ Captain last time, focused purely on boating. Now with diving being part of all MARQ editions, the MARQ Diver is a bit of a blend between the Garmin Descent product and Garmin Quatix products, but in MARQ form. The difference though, is that this doesn’t have the added wireless air integration on the dive side that the Descent products have, but it does have the DiveView maps, as well as all the boating bits from a Quatix series device.

Additionally, the following notes:

– $3,100USD/3,150EUR
– 60-minute (up to) quick timer on watch face
– Silicone dive bracelet with deployment clasp and 15mm micro adjustment
– Has Dive Readiness feature
– Has NDL Aware Depth Metrics
– Has Apnea Hunt Mode
– Has Gauge Mode
– Has full global DiveView maps (including depth and dive sites)
– All Quatix Sailing & Boating features except the ‘Boat Mode’ (which is different than the Boat profile, as Boat Mode essentially does some prioritization pieces with the settings).
– Has boating/marine Autopilot Heading hold (with compatible Garmin boat equipment)

This is the second model that I used, mainly when diving as well as out boating. I’ve got more thoughts on that down below. Do note, though, that from a dive functionality standpoint, outside of the added DiveView maps, all of the MARQ units otherwise have the same dive features, as those come from the Fenix 9 series (well technically, started with the Fenix 8 series).

As I noted earlier, this would probably be a close tie for my next-favorite unit in terms of color scheme. It looks really nice out on the water, or even with the right outfit. Obviously, given the blue look, it won’t be for everyone, but dang, it really shines when the light hits it right.

MARQ Commander:

The unit is essentially taking the Tactical features from the Garmin Tactix series watches, and then blending them into a Fenix 9 variant. As with the Quatix and D2 pilot series, there aren’t yet Fenix 9 variants of those watches or the existing Tactix watches. So this is filling the gap at the high-end price point.

Here are the differences:

– $3,100USD/3,150EUR
– Matte carbon gray DLC bezel (no polished or glossy surfaces)
– 24-hour UTC Military Time Bezel etchings
– Jacquard woven camouflage 3-color weave pattern
– Has all Tactix 8 tactical features, including: Applied Ballistics Solver, Stealth Mode, Night Vision Compatible, Xero C2 Compatibility, Stealth Mode, and Kill Switch (which purges data)

I did actually wear this one for about half a day. As with most Garmin Tactix watches, this one kinda depends on what you’re looking for.

This one stands out the least out of the group in terms of the ‘swankiness’ of it. It feels very understated, to the point that I’m not entirely convinced most people would realize it’s a $3,000 watch. Obviously there are some very nice touches, such as the Jacquard woven strap, but again, to each their own.

The Box:

Here’s just a quick look at the box itself. This is a bit of a ‘step down’ from some of the metallic boxes of the past, though Garmin basically said that folks found the past packaging a bit wasteful. This one finds a good balance between being quite elegant, but also totally recyclable.

Inside the box you’ll essentially find your watch, the extra silicone band for sports (except in the Athlete model), the braided charging cable, and then some paper stuffs you won’t read.

Speaking of which, here’s that charging cable:

And you can see how it snaps on:

The simple reason you don’t see this for every Garmin device, is that each device would require a different charging cable for each case design, including optical HR sensor bump, etc.

With that, let’s get into basic usage.

The Basics:

In this section, I’m going to run through the general basics of the MARQ Gen3 unit. This applies to all the MARQ Gen3 models and is virtually identical to that of the Fenix 9 units. Thus, I’ll do a bit of a truncated version of my deeper ‘Basics’ section found on my recent Fenix 9 In-Depth Review here.

Starting off with the user interface, the MARQ uses the standard Garmin 5-button layout, in combination with a full touchscreen. As with other Garmin touchscreen devices, you can choose whether or not you want the touch enabled at both a system level, as well as a per sport level (for example, perhaps not while sailing, but you do want it for running).

The screen on the MARQ is a 1.4” 3,000-nit AMOLED display, and is 36% larger than the Gen2 MARQ, and 2.5X brighter than the Gen2 MARQ. It’s also a fully borderless display, whereas the Fenix 9 series has a secondary border between the display and the bezel. As one who lives on a sunny Mediterranean island, I have had zero issues seeing the display in the brightest of sunny days on the water. And inversely, no issues with the display at night.

In fact, speaking of at night, if enabled (it’s off by default), you can have the watch emulate a lume mode. This can be enabled in the Display settings (same place as Color Shift), and can be either automatic at a certain time (such as 2 hours before bedtime, or after sunset), or just manually enabled.

Personally, I don’t find this look super awesome. But again, as with most style things, to each their own. I find the stock watch faces so good, that this kinda kills the vibe a bit. As a reminder, it’s not on by default.

Anyway, as noted there’s a bunch of watch faces you can choose from.

Additionally, for each watch face, there are additional styling and color options you can set:

Next, down from there are all your widgets and widget glances. You can customize which ones to display and the ordering. The world is your oyster here. Within that, you can open any given widget for more details about the metrics behind it. This could be steps, sleep, barometric altimeter, Training Load, Training Readiness, or many other metrics.

All of this information is of course synced to Garmin Connect, Garmin’s cloud platform, as well as the mobile app. You can access it on your smartphone, or a desktop computer. By default, your watch will sync via Bluetooth to your phone. But it can also sync via both WiFi or USB cable.

The MARQ supports smartphone notifications like most other wearables, and on Android you can do basic replies as well as see photos/images sent to your phone (on your watch). Whereas on iOS, you can’t yet reply to messages (due to historical Apple limitations), nor can you see images yet. Though those restrictions have recently eased in the EU, so perhaps soon it’ll be enabled on Garmin devices.

In terms of battery life, you’re going to see similar stats to the Garmin Fenix 9 series for the 47mm units. Thus, in my case, I’ve been getting roughly 4-6 days of battery for the units I’ve been using, in an always-on display configuration with 1-2 hours of GPS time per day on average. If you turn on gesture-based display (which is the default, btw), then you’re likely going to get 2-3x the battery life, up to about 15 days of battery between charges.

Finally, all MARQ Gen3 units now have an LED flashlight. In this case, it’s the same trim-color flashlight just launched on the Fenix 9, which includes a white LED at four brightness levels, and then a red and green LED mode. This is a real LED on the front of the unit:

And the throw of the light is roughly the same as a smartphone flashlight. Now flashlights on the front of watches might sound a bit Inspector Gadgety, but as any Garmin owner will (happily) tell you, it’s a game changer for just silly night tasks. Sure, you can use it in a tent on the side of a cliff. But it’s simply just something I use every night for getting something in a kid’s room in the middle of the night, getting around an unknown hotel room at 3AM, or finding something under a couch.

Ok, with that, we’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s shift into some of the sports features.

Sports Features:

Next up, I’m going to do a quick look at the sporting features. Keeping in mind that, again, this is a full Garmin Fenix, which is typically considered Garmin’s flagship sport watch, and is further considered the most in-depth sports watch on the market today. Even Garmin’s competitors wouldn’t try to argue that.

As with the previous section, I go even deeper on this in my Fenix 9 in-depth review (breaking out bits like mapping, navigation, training load, etc.). But for here, we’ll keep things a bit more streamlined.

To access a sport mode, you’ll tap the upper right button, which opens up the app menu for both sports and other apps (other apps include satellite messaging, voice commands, voice calling, Music etc.).

From here, you can pin your favorite sports to the top, as well as sift through your favorites (or find ones you want to do):

Within this realm, you’ve got literal boatloads of sports you can do. Here are the sport modes seen on the Athlete and Adventurer models. Other models may have slightly additional sport modes. For example, the Diver model has an additional ‘Gauge’ diving profile. And the Aviator would have flying modes; the Commander has some additional tactical apps/modes, etc.

Again, here’s the starting point that all units have:

Run, Track Run, Treadmill, Virtual Run, Indoor Track, Walk Indoor, Trail Run, Ultra Run, Hike, Walk, Adventure Race, Bike, Road Bike, Bike Indoor, MTB, eBike, eMTB, Cyclocross, Gravel Bike, Bike Commute, Bike Tour, BMX, Strength, Rucking, Golf, Mountaineering, Bouldering, Fish, Hunt, Disc Golf, Horseback, Expedition, ArcheryX, Obstacle Racing, Inline Skating, Pool Swim, Open Water, Triathlon, Mixed Session, Swimrun, Cardio, Mobility, HIIT, Yoga, Pilates, Treadmill, Elliptical, Stair Stepper, Row Indoor, XC Ski Indoor, Climb Indoor, Bouldering, Floor Climb, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Jump Rope, Cow Tipping, Scuba Dive, Apnea Dive, Snorkel, Ski, Snowboard, Backcountry Ski, Backcountry Snowboard, XC Classic Ski, XC Skate Ski, Snowshoe, Ice Skating, Snowmobile, SUP, Kayak, Row, Surf, Kiteboarding, Windsurf, Snorkel, Whitewater, Boat, Sail, Sail Race, Sail Expedition, Wakeboard, Wakesurf, Water Ski, Tube, Soccer/Football, American Football, Basketball, Baseball, Softball, Volleyball, Cricket, Lacrosse, Rugby, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Ultimate Disc, Gaming, Tennis, Pickleball, Padel, Racquetball, Squash, Badminton, Table Tennis, Platform Tennis, ATV, Snowmobile, Overland, Motocross, Motorcycle, Meditation, Breathwork, Jumpmaster, Track Me, Tempo Training (Golf)

Once you’ve selected a sport mode, you’ll see a pending screen that’ll get GPS satellite lock (assuming outside), as well as heart rate lock. Further, if you’ve got accessory/sensors paired, it’ll go off and find those.

It’s in the settings here that you can do structured workouts, load up a course to navigate, as well as change any number of data fields and settings. Each sport mode has its own data pages you can configure, with your own data field customization.

Now, I will briefly note one of the MARQ Gen3 unique features is the ability to do an ‘Address Search’ on-device. The existing Fenix 9 series allows you to look up points of interest (e.g., a landmark, restaurant, etc.) and navigate to them. But here you can actually type a street address in:

And then with that, you’ll see the other MARQ-unique feature, which is the ability to use predictive text completion (seen at the top):

After you’ve entered in an address, you can navigate to it. Of course, most people are probably gonna load a route instead, or use the map to find a spot, or so on. All of which work exactly the same as past units. With the MARQ Gen3, you’ll get the faster map rendering (including panning and zooming) that came with the new faster processor on the Fenix 9 Pro series.

Ok, with all that sorted, off you go to start navigating and doing your activity.

One of those features is ClimbPro, which will automatically show climb data as you start ascending. However, with the MARQ Gen3, a big-ticket new feature coming is the ability to get ClimbPro details without having a course loaded. Up till now, every past Garmin wearable has required a course to be loaded in order to see the climb details. But now, that’ll happen automatically, like it occurs today on Garmin’s Edge devices (for cycling). But having it for both cycling and hiking/running/walking on the watch will be a super handy change for those of us who don’t always bother to create a course for things.

In any case, I had no issues in terms of daily usage during workouts. This included road bike and gravel bike rides, trail runs, track run workouts, road runs, some gym workouts, indoor trainer rides, as well as the boating and dive activities I’ll get into later.

At the end of a workout, you’ll see all your stats consolidated into some summary pages:

And then likewise, all of this is available in Garmin Connect too.

You’ll also get all of your Training Load & Recovery metrics, by way of Acute Load (for Training Load), as well as the umbrella Garmin Training Readiness feature. Training Readiness looks at not just your Training Load, but also your sleep, heart rate variability, stress, and more.

And just to be clear, buying a $3,000 watch does not exempt you from the right of passage that is Unproductive. Fear not, I successfully unlocked that for a day:

Ultimately, when it comes to all of the sports features here, they remain top of the line within not just the Garmin lineup, but also the industry. I’m super eager to try out the real-time ClimbPro features once those hit. Stay tuned for that down the road (hopefully not far down said road).

LTE & Satellite Connectivity:

The Garmin MARQ Gen3 includes LTE & Satellite messaging connectivity on all models, unless bought in a handful of countries where such connectivity is legally restricted. In those countries, there is a version without LTE & Satellite connectivity.

From a Garmin standpoint, both of these features are more about keeping in touch with close friends and family, rather than your boat repair guy calling you on WhatsApp. Meaning that for LTE for example, it doesn’t share your existing phone number, nor do you even get a phone number for people to call. Instead, calling routes through the Garmin Messenger app, which your friends/family must have. Likewise for satellite messaging, which is even more limited.

Still, I find the LTE functionality mostly just useful for LiveTracking purposes (it’ll automatically start a LiveTrack session and send my friends/family a link). My wife uses it on her Fenix 9 when she’s out running long at night by herself (she hates running with a phone).

The features are divided into two sections, LTE and satellite. When it comes to LTE features, Garmin offers the following features over their LTE network, via LTE-M (which requires lower power as an ecosystem, including voice calling over LTE-M):

– LTE Live two-way voice calls
– LTE LiveTrack (30-second sampling rate)
– LTE Voice Messaging
– LTE Text Messaging
– LTE Weather
– LTE & Satellite Emergency SOS
– LTE Location Check-Ins
– LTE Incident Detection & Assistance

In addition, they also offer satellite text messaging; more on that in a second. Notably, the watches are cross-region compatible due to LTE-M. Meaning, you can use your European model in the US for LTE-M (and satellite), and vice-versa.

Next, for the satellite features, these are more focused on updating status and asking for emergency assistance. Unlike LTE, which just works in the background, all of these features require holding a watch out in front of you to maintain a specific orientation towards a satellite (this is the same with Apple, Google, and others).

– Satellite Messaging (basic texting)
– Satellite position/location check-ins
– Satellite Emergency SOS (via Garmin Response)
– Satellite updating of weather (new in the Fenix 9 Pro)

And then finally, when it comes to the launch of the Fenix 9, Garmin also added a few more things at the same time that are largely tied into the Garmin Messenger app. These aren’t actually dependent on the Fenix 9, but I figured I’d mention it here:

– Added new Garmin Locate feature within Garmin Messenger app
– Added ability to see athlete heart rate, pace, distance, elevation information in Garmin Messenger App

Ok, so with that covered, note that none of these LTE or inReach pieces are free long-term, despite all of their competitors offering the satellite pieces for free. Getting things set up requires setting up an account within Garmin’s inReach platform. This gives you 30 days free, after which it is $9.99/month for unlimited LTE stuffs, and emergency-only Satellite bits. Beyond that, there are additional fees for satellite check-ins/texts that I’ll cover below (or, a higher-priced plan).

From there, you’ll see a menu option on your watch that shows the different connectivity status options, in terms of how and when it leverages both LTE & satellite. Essentially, you can leave it on Auto, force it off/on, and any number of combinations within that.

One of the things I’ve learned over the past year is that this is pretty handy if you actually don’t care about LTE connectivity; it’s best to just set it to ‘Satellite Only’, which means to essentially shut off LTE on the watch entirely, and just use my phone connection. Since the Satellite messaging pieces require a bunch of knowingly manual steps, it’s not something that can happen in the background anyway.

I dive into all the nuances of the LTE & Satellite features in both my Fenix 8 Pro & Fenix 9 Reviews (with a sprawling LTE & Satellite section). This includes voice calling, transcription of voice messages automatically, and plenty more.

That said, in terms of satellite messaging, which requires no cellular service nearby, probably one of the most notable things you’ll need to do first is to pair it up to the Garmin Messenger app on your phone. You don’t need this app again once you’ve done this once. But if you don’t, then all your Messenger contacts won’t sync to the watch. Sure, Emergency SOS will work just fine, but otherwise you won’t be able to send messages to friends/family. Honestly, this just seems super clunky to me. I totally understand all the Garmin technical reasons behind the scenes for this, but I simply don’t care Garmin, figure it out. It shouldn’t be this clunky for any user.

In any case, with that said, note that currently satellite messaging coverage is essentially limited to Europe and North America. And within that, not quite all regions. Here’s a map of it:

Assuming you’re within coverage range, you can open up the Messenger app on your watch, which allows you to select pre-canned messages (both Garmin ones, and ones you can customize), as well as simply type a message out. Likewise, you can also use the Garmin Messenger app on your phone (connected via Bluetooth) to type out messages much faster.

Once that’s done, you’ll choose to send. For this you’ll stick your arm out in front of you, and it’ll give you instructions on orienting your body and wrist accordingly. In my testing with the MARQ Gen3 models, all messages sent within 30 seconds, even including through some light tree branches.

Lastly, as you’d expect, there are the Garmin SOS features, leveraging Garmin’s Response Center, for emergencies. You can access that via the controls menu, which then gives you 10 seconds to cancel it, in case it was accidentally activated. As with the other features, it’ll first try via LTE, then satellite.

Ultimately, I find the Garmin satellite feature handy on Garmin watches. Sure, my phone already has some sort of satellite messaging capability, but I might not always have my phone. And in my case I live barely 2-3 minutes out my front door into no-cellular areas of empty wilderness. Further, as many divers have pointed out, having a way to reach a dive boat after you surface can be handy, especially for drift dives, if the party has broken up a bit. And knowing that’ll work even without cellular can be clutch.

Scuba Diving & Boating:

Now in my case, I had both a Diver unit and an Adventurer unit. Practically speaking, all units support scuba diving & free diving, just like the Fenix 9 units (and since the Fenix 8 units). However, the Diver also has additional integration with Garmin marine systems that the Fenix doesn’t have (but the Fenix cousin, the Quatix series, does have).

The Diver also has a few extra diving features that the Fenix 9 doesn’t have. They are:

– Full Coverage preloaded DiveView Maps
– Dive Readiness Feature
– NDL Aware Feature
– Gauge Mode

The DiveView maps in particular show you depth (both for diving as well as boating), and then also show you nearby dive sites.

So, let’s briefly run through the dive features first. As a brief aside, while digging into a few things, I stumbled upon Garmin’s Dive features technical explainer site, which is surprisingly comprehensive in terms of explaining all their features and the specific science behind it. Note that not all features are on the MARQ Gen3 (for example, features tied to air integration). But if you’re into dive geekery, I thought it was kinda neat.

Anyway, for this post I’ll focus on scuba, simply because that’s what I did the last few weeks (I’ve got some free-diving coming back up again in a few weeks). To start you’ll select a Dive type (e.g., Scuba), and then open it up. One of the options you have though is for it to automatically engage the moment you go 1.5m deep in the water. In any case, by opening it up first, you’ll get your GPS lock, which is then recorded as the entry/exit points in your dive log.

Here you can customize any settings you want about the dive. This includes water type, tank settings, conservatism preferences, etc… Further, you can change your data field configurations to show specific metrics you want to see (or don’t want to see). Again, the MARQ Gen3 doesn’t support air tank integration like their Descent units. I do feel like for the Diver model specifically, this is a bit of an odd omission. I get from a technical conformity standpoint that would have likely opened up an entire manufacturing can of worms for Garmin, but isn’t that the point of a $3,000 watch called ‘Diver’? That’s precisely when that can should be opened up.

In any case, with all that sorted out, off into the water you go. The moment you get down into the water, it’ll start tracking the dive. You’ll see your metrics automatically.  One of these days I’ll get good at taking underwater shots of watches. Today was not that day.

As with Garmin’s other dive-certified units, I had no issues with it automatically tracking my dive metrics throughout my dives. It works exactly in-line with a Fenix 9 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra 4 I had on all my dives. All of which are fully certified depth gauge dive computers down to 40m. Remember that’s the certification level of the depth gauge, the actual watch, from a case standpoint, is certified down to 100m.

Once I started to surface, it’ll automatically notify me of my safety stop, and track that. Further, if I ascended too fast at some point, it’ll also have notified me of that too.

After I reach the surface, it’ll start a countdown timer to end the dive automatically. Assuming you raise your wrist above the water, it’ll also track the exit point (via GPS). This is then saved within the dive log.

These logs are accessible via the Garmin Dive app, which pulls from your Garmin Connect account. You can update additional dive log details here, as well as add photos/etc…

In the case of the Garmin MARQ Diver, it actually has a few extra features the Fenix 9 doesn’t have, such as Diver Readiness. This is essentially like Garmin’s Training Readiness, except it also looks at your historical dive data, to see whether or not you dive frequently enough that your body can adapt to the dives quickly. Further, it gives you warnings not to do hard workouts afterwards (just like you also get No-Fly warnings like on the Fenix).

Additionally, when it comes to planning a dive, the extra and included depth maps will show you depth, but also show you dive sites.

You can view this by using the Dive Planner option, which lets you lookup nearby Dive Sites:

Meanwhile, on the boating side, I’ve been using it a bit there, though none of the boats I have access to have Garmin marine equipment on them, so I couldn’t use the autopilot/connected features. If someone would like do donate a fancier boat to me, I’d be happy to ensure compliance.

Instead, I mostly used it from the standpoint of course/speed/etc, as well as checking depth using the marine maps that show depth information:

Note that I did have an odd quirk where, when in a boating profile, the land-based TopoGraphic maps aren’t enumerating correctly. In this case I see the marine maps for the watery portions, but the land portions aren’t properly showing anything except blackness. In talking to Garmin, this is already fixed in a firmware update that’ll likely land in my device in the coming days.

In any case, I do feel like it’s worth mentioning one other quirk, which is around the anchor alarm feature. Perhaps it’s just me being new to Garmin’s implementation of this feature, but frankly, it doesn’t make much sense the way it’s implemented. For those not familiar with boating, an anchor alarm is essentially a GPS-based geofence that you enable so that if your anchor drags and you start drifting, then it’ll sound a loud/annoying alarm to let you know. You can set it on Garmin Quatix watches, Fenix watches, and probably some others.

However, where this kinda falls apart is that you have to end your current boating activity entirely. You can’t merely pause it, or ‘Resume later’. Thus, if you’ve sailed somewhere where you want to anchor for a bit (perhaps a couple hours) before continuing on, you can’t set the anchor alarm without ending that activity. In the hiking world, that’d be akin to being forced to end your hike merely cause you wanted to pause for a few minutes to have lunch.

Now some might argue that you’d normally use this feature when anchoring for the day, going into night. Except that ignores the marine reality here: If you’re anchoring for the night, it’s extremely likely your boat already has an anchor alarm feature built into it. Whereas, inversely, if you’re boat lacks cabins (more of a day craft), then it’s more likely you don’t have an anchor alarm built into it, and thus the benefit of the watch feature.

In my case, the boats I go out with are more for day-use. I just want to ensure when I’m on anchor that I’m not dragging anchor into the rocks. This weekend was a great example of that with a bit of swell, but trying to anchor as close as possible to the shore, to minimize that swell.

Anyway, I know this is a first-world problem, and it seems like one that’s been around a long time. I just can’t decide whether nobody bothers to use the feature, or just shrugs and assumes it’s always this way. Or maybe Garmin Marine products just need more ‘me’ in their life reviewing them to point out these weird issues.

Nonetheless, setting all that aside, I had no issues with the marine or scuba feature I did use.

GPS & Heart Rate Accuracy:

The MARQ Gen3 shares the same Garmin ELEVATE Gen5 optical heart rate sensor as numerous other watches before it, including the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro series. Further, it shares the same GPS components and antenna design as the Fenix 9 Series. Though Garmin did note that they used different nano-molding technology to deal with the layers associated with the antenna design and case on the MARQ series, allowing them to achieve a thinner design than normal bonding found on the Fenix 9.

Nonetheless, I still checked the accuracy of the heart rate and GPS systems across numerous workouts, both inside and outside, and across different sport modes. So, let’s just run through some of those.

First up, we’ve got an interval workout from a few days ago:

As you can see, it’s basically spot-on with the chest strap, so kudos there.

Looking at the GPS track for that, the area was relatively easy, but it was also loop after loop after loop, so any inconsistencies would be easy to see.

Specifically on the turns, where here it nailed each one exactly where I was each time (on the deserted road). The COROS Pace 4 Pro was slightly offset.

After that, I’ve got a trail run I did. Starting off on the heart rate side of things, things look good here, except for one brief spike, which I believe it tied to a short/steep downhill section. Basically, classic cadence lock where the heart rate locks onto your running cadence/footsteps. This is mildly interesting to me, because I run this steep hill at least once a week, and this is the first time I’ve seen Garmin’s Gen5 optical HR sensor trip up on it.

In any case, looking at the GPS side of things, from a wider standpoint, things look pretty solid:

Looking at a section in a ravine with trees, no issues. All the units are all reasonably close, within a few meters of each other:

And likewise, later along some cliffs coming back up a trail, no issues. As with the rest of the run.

I did, however, see both the Garmin Fenix 9 & MARQ Gen3 struggle a bit from a barometric altimeter standpoint here. That section where they split apart from the Apple Watch & COROS unit isn’t correct. I was standing there on a cliff edge taking photos, and you can start to see the Garmin units separate. I don’t know whether that’s a barometric altimeter issue or a terrain-locking issue (perhaps thinking I was off the cliff). Either way, it’s the first time I’ve seen it on any Garmin unit in many years.

Now let’s look at an outdoor run I just did last night. Nothing crazy, but nice and sustained through some high building areas. First, looking at the heart rate, we can see nothing of note there (I used a silicone band here):

And then on the GPS side, at a side level, nothing of note here:

Looking at some tall building areas with taller hotels, as well as under a building with a swimming pool above me (for real, it’s like half a football field long), the MARQ handles well there. Though, it is slightly in the buildings a few meters at a different point earlier for a few seconds. This was with the default GPS settings (which is SatIQ).

Ultimately, I’m seeing performance here that matches the Garmin Fenix 9 series, which is industry-leading in terms of GPS accuracy as well as elevation accuracy. And then further, from a heart rate standpoint, I also see similar performance to that, which tends to be among the best in the industry as well.

(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, running power, GPS tracks, and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons; more details here.)

Garmin MARQ Odds & Ends:

I don’t know where to put these things, but I went to a media presentation about the watch, and I thought these tidbits were interesting, and likely wouldn’t otherwise see the light of day within the general fancy-watch media crowd. Not because they aren’t covering things in detail, but just because I suspect they’re focused on other areas. Anyways, in no particular order:

-Uploads per year: There are “approximately 6 million MARQ workout/activity uploads per year” currently to Garmin Connect (from Gen1/Gen2), as part of the far larger “billions” of workout/activity uploads each year to Garmin Connect from all Garmin users

– Fenix 1 Users: There are still some 4,000 active Fenix 1 users uploading to Garmin Connect daily. While this isn’t MARQ, Garmin’s point is that people do indeed use these watches for upwards of a decade. There’s nothing wrong with it in a few years, aside from consumerism driving you to buy a new model.

– Increase in retailers: They’ve had a 4x increase in MARQ retailers since MARQ Gen 2 launched. Note that there is a huge slate of requirements to be a MARQ retailer, just like any other luxury watch brand would have. For example, you generally won’t find MARQ watches on Amazon. Though sometimes they find their way through random distribution or small resale quirks.

– Increase in sales: They say they’ve had “8x the amount of sales turnover” since MARQ Gen2. Meaning, there’s clearly demand for this product. Given we’re on the 4th generation of it now (assuming you include Chronos as the first generation), Garmin wouldn’t be sticking around if it wasn’t making them money. Garmin has very clear internal rules around financial ROI/margins.

– Driving new Garmin customers: They noted that 50% of MARQ customers are new to Garmin in terms of wearable or sports products (they might have boat or aviation gear, however, in their cockpits).

– The Lack of Metal Bands: You’ll notice there are no metal bands for MARQ Gen 3, just like there are no metal bands for the Fenix 9 Pro series. This is due to the LTE & Satellite antenna communication components in the current design. It sounds like their long-term hope is to be able to engineer some solution in future hardware. This should have no meaningful impact on GPS accuracy or other features.

– The most popular MARQ activities. When it comes to existing owners and what they’re uploading to Garmin Connect, here’s the current breakdown:

That’s it, I’m out of interesting tidbits at this point from the media briefings that I didn’t already include elsewhere.

Wrap-Up:

Writing a review for a watch like this is tricky. There’s a simple reality that for a large portion of the population, this watch will seem like a waste of money. But the same could and would be spent on photography gear, I and many other photographers buy. A $2,000 lens on a $2,000 camera body, and that’s just one lens (a lens that I managed to flood the other day, costing me another $1,000 in repairs…sigh). Sure, that gear will last many years, but as Garmin pointed out with their Fenix 1 metrics above, people can and do still use these watches long term (more than a decade in that case).

And now finally with the MARQ Gen 3 units, Garmin has a watch that doesn’t lag (far) behind their premium Fenix watches. Instead, the opposite – it’s finally a watch that tops the Garmin lineup with all the features of a Fenix and then a slate of additional hardware and software features. Whether or not it’s worth the price Garmin sets is somewhat of an aside; it’s that there’s finally not a caveat on it being a subpar watch feature/spec-wise but with fancy materials. Now, it’s both.

In terms of my usage, overall I had very few bugs over the last near-month with it. And all the items I did identify (mainly around mapping) are slated to be fixed in a firmware update in the near term. Of course, Garmin hasn’t yet released the real-time ClimbPro features, so those will have to wait to see how they shake out. You can of course still use the existing course-based ClimbPro as I did, without issues.

As for whether or not I’d buy one? If I were to buy one, I’m almost certain it’d be the Adventurer, despite the slightly added features of the Diver. But those features aren’t really make-or-break for me. But at the same time, with me testing watches as my job, this just wouldn’t get as much use as it would for someone who puts it on their wrist 24×7. Therefore, it’s hard for me to justify spending the money (especially with all the other toys on my list to buy). But unlike in the past, at least I could see the path to a case in front of the accountant (my wife). Albeit, it’d still probably get rejected – but at least not because she doesn’t find them good-looking. She does. Which, is a pretty big step in getting something approved.

With that – thanks for reading!

Fitbit has decided there will be no Fitbit Charge 7. Instead, the device will now be known as the Fitbit Edge, and with that, it follows more closely in line with the user interface of the Google Pixel Watch 5, alongside technology stashed inside the recent screenless Fitbit Air. If there were any questions as to whether or not Google remains committed to the Fitbit branding (in name), this would certainly answer that. Fitbit as a brand is clearly here to stay, even if they renamed the app to Google Health earlier this year.

The Fitbit Edge is a small-screen activity tracker, just like the Fitbit Charge series before it. With it, Google has made some big changes, mostly good, but not all good. On the ‘good’ side, they’re claiming the GPS is now actually functional. Previously, on the Fitbit Charge 5 & Charge 6, the GPS only worked if you loosened the band substantially, but when you did that, heart rate stopped working. For real. They even admitted it was a design choice at the time. Now, Fitbit is saying GPS should be “40% better” than the Charge 6. Plus, they added an altimeter, for both stair tracking and elevation tracking.

Beyond that, the Fitbit Edge gets all of the automatic workout recognition pieces of the Fitbit Air, except as of today, that sport list goes from like 10 sports to roughly 100 sports. Meaning even if you don’t press any buttons, it’ll still figure out that you’re pole dancing. Or…maybe that icon is a stand-up paddleboarder. It’s fuzzy. Atop that, the user interface now matches the Pixel Watch 5, which is cleaned up. Oh, and it’s got a ‘real’ button now, versus a touchable pseudo-button. But there are some downsides too – like no more Google Pay (contactless payments). And the price has significantly increased, up to $179USD from the usual $99-$129 that the Charge 6 floats at these days.

In any case, I’ve got a unit that I can start sharing hands-on details on tomorrow, but for now, here’s everything you need to know.

What’s New vs Charge 6:

The Fitbit Edge is the next version of the Fitbit Charge 6, which came out in 2023. Here’s how it’s different:

– Increased screen/display by 46% (has 1.34” display)
– Case thickness is 11.5mm
– Added physical side button that actually clicks (previous was just a touch area)
– Added altimeter (for stair tracking, as well as elevation tracking)
– Added automatic workout detection (now supports 100 sports)
– Increased supported manual workout profiles to 50 workout profiles
– Made user-replaceable/serviceable battery (the first Fitbit-branded product to do so)
– GPS accuracy improvement claimed at 40% more accurate (via new GPS chipset, and new aluminum case design)
– Switched to a more modern user interface, matching the Pixel Watch 5 series
– Added structured workout support
– Added support for dual usage with Pixel Watch and Fitbit Air (e.g., switching back and forth seamlessly)
– Added fast charging (5 minutes gets you 1 day of usage)
– Removed Google Pay (NFC Contactless payments)
– Removed EDA Scan feature (but does have continuous stress monitoring in the background)
– Changed the band attachment mechanism (old Fitbit habits die hard)
– Switched the charger to the same charger as the Fitbit Air (hey, at least they picked something else they already had this time)
– Added a bunch of band accessory types
– Price increased to $179 (officially the Charge 6 was $159 previously, but realistically it sat between $99 and $129 virtually all the time)
– Also a Stephen Curry model at $219 (US, Canada, EMEA)
– Pre-orders start today; availability October 27th.

In terms of some other general specs, just for recap purposes:

– Same claimed 7-day battery life
– Still has heart rate broadcasting feature via Bluetooth (though it can be a bit funky in terms of compatibility)
– Still has music control of your phone’s music (no onboard music storage)
– Still has Google Maps turn-by-turn directions (with phone)
– Still has smartphone notifications (more integration on Android than iOS)
– Still has full sleep tracking
– Still has continuous heart rate monitoring (background and workout)
– Still supports high & low heart rate alerts
– Supports the Google Health Guardian features announced a few months ago
– You can do quick replies on Android, though not on iOS devices
– Has FDA/EU approved medical ECG functionality, including background Afib detection
– Includes skin temperature sensor
– Supports Steps, Distance, Active Zone Minutes, VO2Max, Floor/elevation, Cardio Load, and many more metrics
– Two sizes of bands (see specs below)
– Water resistance level is 5ATM, and IP68 for dust protection

Finally, for lack of anywhere else to stick it, Google also announced a multi-year partnership with Flo Health (which has 80 million users), which will allow bidirectional syncing of data between the two platforms starting early next year. From Flo Health to Google Health, you’ll be able to pull your cycle data in. And then from Google Health to Flo Health, you’ll be able to send resting heart rate, skin temperature, heart rate variability, and sleep metrics. Further, on the Google Health side, it’ll leverage your cycle-tracking information for both general suggestions as well as workout suggestions. Finally, Google also noted:

“We will partner to build new products that are specifically designed for women, with a deep integration of Flo’s women’s health insights and algorithms with our expertise in wearable hardware and advanced sensors.”

It’ll be interesting to see if that’s hardware products or software “products”. Further, they noted there are upcoming plans around dedicated women’s health research initiatives (I assume that means large-scale studies you could opt-in to). Note that in the case of the Flo Health integration, Google says this is all optional, of course, and you can enable and then subsequently turn on/off things as you see fit.

Again, I’ll have much more hands-on details coming, starting tomorrow, but for now, let’s get to all the model options.

Detailed Tech & Model Specs:

The Fitbit Air case comes in 5 different colorways, and then with that there are approximately 2,328 band options. Starting off with the core options you can buy, they are as follows:

– Matte Black Aluminum case / Obsidian Active Band
– Polished Silver Aluminum case / Fog Active Band
– Satin Pyrite Aluminum case / Olive Active Band
– Champagne Gold case / Canyon Active Band
– Satin Pyrite Aluminum case / Stephen Curry Special Edition

And here’s a look at each of these. First, the Matte Black model with black band:

Then the Polished silver model with fog band:

Then the Satin Pyrite Aluminum case model with olive band:

Next, the Champagne Gold case with canyon band:

Oh, and there are the metal link bands too:

Finally, looking at the tech specs, here’s a whole slate of things that may or may not be interesting to you:

– Display is 1.34”/34mm AMOLED display, supporting an always-on configuration
– Display supports adjustable brightness
– Bluetooth 5.4
– Processor: Ambiq AP5 MCU
– GPS chipset supports GPS+Galileo in US, and GPS+Galileo+GLONASS+BeiDou+QZSS outside of US
– Onboard memory: 64MB NOR flash memory, 7 days of detailed motion data (minute intervals), 30 days of daily totals, heart rate at 2-second intervals
– Internal sensors: Altimeter, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Red and infrared sensors for oxygen saturation (SpO2), Multipurpose electrical sensors compatible with ECG app, Photoplethysmography (PPG) optical heart rate sensor, Ambient light sensor, Far-field skin temperature sensor
– Battery is 65mAh
– Fully end-user replaceable battery
– Charging speed: 5 minutes of fast charging for 1 day of battery life, or 100% in 90 minutes
– Requires iOS 16.4 or newer, and Android 11 or newer
– Fitbit Edge Weight: 17.7g without band
– Fitbit Edge Dimensions: 39.22 x 25.56 mm
– Fitbit Edge Height/Thickness: 11.58mm
– Case is made from 100% recycled aluminum
– Active band: Silicone with “soft-touch coating”
– Active Band Sizing: Small fits wrists 130-170mm around, Large fits 170-210mm around
– Stephen Curry band: “Recycled polyester yarns with water-repellent coating and stainless steel lugs, as well as a raised interior print for increased airflow.”
– Stephen Curry band sizing (US): Small fits wrists 135-170mm around, Large fits 170-210mm around
– Stephen Curry band sizing (EU/Canada): Single-size fits wrists 150-195mm around
– Water resistance: 5ATM/50 meters
– Dust immersion resistance: IP68

On the manual workout profile side, here are the workout profiles that are supported on the Fitbit Edge. Note these are a subset of the automatic detection list, which is around 100 activities.

Aerobics
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Bike
Bootcamp
Boxing
Canoeing
Circuit training
Core training
Cricket
Cross-country ski
CrossFit
Dancing
Elliptical
Field hockey
Football
Golf
HIIT
Hike
Indoor climbing
Kayaking
Kickboxing
Martial arts
Mountain bike
Open swim
Outdoor workout
Paddleboarding
Padel
Pickleball
Pilates
Pool swim
Powerlifting
Rollerblading
Rowing machine
Rugby
Run
Skating
Skiing
Snowboarding
Soccer
Spinning
Sport
Stair climber
Strength training
Surfing
Swim
Tennis
Treadmill run
Walk
Weightlifting
Weights
Workout
Yoga

I definitely appreciate having all of these profiles available on-device, rather than just a very basic set. Which I suppose is the general trend in watches/wearables the last year or two: More workout profile options is better.

Next, when it comes to automatic workout types, here’s how those are broken out:

Core sports without any context:

Outdoor Walk
Outdoor Run
Outdoor Bike
Stationary Bike
Elliptical
Rowing Machine
Swim
Racket Sports
Rowing
Golf
Basketball
Soccer
Strength Training
Sports (generic – team sports)
‘Activity’ (generic – periods of sustained elevated HR)

Then this next set requires some sort of historical context, as well as previous confirmations of the activity in the app.

Context-required Automatic Detection Types:

Treadmill Run
Treadmill Walk
Core Workout
Yoga
Stretching
Dancing
Baseball
Football
Pickleball
Hockey
Water Aerobics
Fishing
Shooting
Cleaning
Meditating
Mowing Lawn
Gardening
Carpentry
Archery
Martial Arts
Rock Climbing
Kayaking
Skating
Snowshoeing
Skiing
Surfing
Snowboarding
Paddleboarding
Fencing
Ultimate Frisbee
Gymnastics
Horseback Riding
Orienteering
Polo
Skateboarding
Trampoline
Wrestling
Diving
Sailing
Water Skiing
Trail Run
Incline Run
Power Walking
Hiking
Rucking
Stroller Walking
Nordic Walking
Incline Walk
Walk With Weights
Mountain Biking
Spinning
Snorkeling
Hiit
Crossfit
Jump Rope
Boxing
Kickboxing
Stairclimbing
Zumba
Soccer
Basketball
Tennis
Volleyball
Badminton
Free Weights
Body Weight
Weight Machines
Power Lifting
Calisthenics
Resistance Bands
Trx
Cardio Sculpt
Circuit Training
Pilates
Barre
Tai Chi
Ballet
Softball
Cricket
Rugby
Squash
Table Tennis
Racquetball
Field Hockey
Handball
Lacrosse
Curling
Water Polo
Water Volleyball
Water Jogging
Hunting
Indoor Climbing
Canoeing
Roller Blading
Ice Skating
Roller Skating
Cross Country Skiing
Aerobic Workout
Modern Dance
Jazz Dance
Tango
Ballroom Dance
Breakdancing
Hip Hop
Karate
Jiu Jitsu
Taekwondo
Muay Thai
Musical Performance
Assault Bike
Cheerleading
Parkour
Scootering
Electric Scooter
Electric Bike
Motorcycle
Tabata Workout
Beach Volleyball
Bikram Yoga
Hatha Yoga
Power Yoga
Vinyasa Yoga
Weeding
Hoeing
Household Chores
Shoveling
Painting
Frisbee Playing
Unicycling
Croquet
Motocross

I do want to point out that I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in conference rooms at Google when they debated putting the ‘Hoeing’ activity type in there. I just can’t wait for the Instagram meme jokes that come from that.

(As a geeky aside, it’s astonishing how detailed/comprehensive Google/Fitbit has become with their technical information, imagery, videos, and detailed documents explaining things. While I get full briefings, devices sent on time, and seemingly 24×7 responses within minutes, even on holiday weekends, it’s just such a difference to what some companies do, where every question is almost begging for answers. When companies make it easy to cover your products, you’ll find media tend to cover it with more details.)

Some Fitbit Air Updates:

As part of all of this, the Fitbit Air gets a few quite notable updates. First and the biggest is a massive expansion of the automatic workout detection profiles, from roughly 10 (though realistically it was less than that), to 100 sport profiles. I don’t yet have an official text listing of those profiles, though here is a nifty screenshot of all the icons that are included in this listing:

At present, I can only assume that the one with the person holding onto the pole is pole dancing. Sure, some might argue SUP. But what’s the fun in that? I’ll update this once I have a full listing. [Update: Just added in full list above. No pole dancing…but hey, there’s ‘Hoeing’.]

Do note that Fitbit says some of this is coming from understanding your patterns, rather than straight sport recognition. When it comes to automatic workout detection, there’s sorta two levels. The first is the device/platform (most processing is done in the cloud) actually being able to figure out that you were running, or cycling, or mountain biking. That’s the most ideal scenario. The second level is when a platform knows that you did something, but is a bit fuzzy on what exactly. In those cases, they can look at your history and context and say “Oh, every Saturday morning she goes mountain biking and she updated past activities to specify that, so this must be mountain biking because it’s Saturday morning”. That’s so-so in my opinion, because it’s better than nothing, but still not really nailing the movement recognition as good as Whoop does.

Nonetheless, Fitbit says that with this new algorithm they are “2x more accurate” in detections, and reduced “missed workouts by more than half”. Workouts must still meet the minimum 15-minute threshold as in the past.

Next, there are some new Metal Mesh bands coming out for the Fitbit Air. This includes a Champagne Gold or Polished Silver band for $69, or you can buy the Champagne Gold band with a Fitbit Air for $149 (so basically a $20 savings). Here’s what that looks like:

And here’s the polished silver one:

And finally, as previously announced, the Health Guardian feature will start unlocking reports later this month for existing Fitbit Air users, as well as other Fitbit users.

Once the firmware rolls out for the Fitbit Air and the new sport profiles, I’ll start digging into it and report back.

Going Forward:

Now, starting tomorrow, I can start sharing details from the device itself. Of course, having such lineage to both the Fitbit Charge 6 and their more recent products like the Fitbit Air & Pixel Watch 5, I don’t really expect any sort of crazy surprises here. However, the sport mode expansions are real and quite legit. Up to 100 sports now in auto-detect mode for both Fitbit Air & Fitbit Edge is a huge shift, and now much more competitive with Whoop (at least in theory; we’ll have to see in reality).

While the unit is priced higher, I think some of the added features may make it worthwhile. Notably, the structured workouts support, added altimeter for stairs/elevation, the theoretical improvements in GPS accuracy, plus the bigger display. Of course, the removal of Google Wallet/Pay seems like an odd choice to me. In this scenario, especially for iPhone users, it’s not really pushing those users up to the Google Pixel Watch, because that doesn’t work for iOS (just Android). Perhaps eventually Google will unlock the Pixel Watch for iOS users too.

In any case, plenty more to come shortly on the Fitbit Edge as I dive into testing.

With that, thanks for reading!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the Fitbit Edge (Pyrite/Olive) or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

Fitbit Edge (Pyrite/Olive)

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Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:

Fitbit Edge (Steph Curry Special Edition)

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Fitbit Edge (Black/Obsidian)

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Fitbit Edge (Silver/Fog)

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Fitbit Edge (Champagne Gold/Canyon)

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Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

Garmin has announced the new Enduro 4, which takes the existing Enduro 3 and Fenix 9-ifies it. This follows the same pattern that Garmin did when it announced the Enduro 3 & Fenix 8 series back a few years ago. This means that the Enduro 4 gets some updated hardware internals, such as a faster processor and more RAM, as well as doubled storage for more offline maps. With those more powerful internals, you’re getting faster mapping features. Plus of course, the Enduro 4 gets all the Fenix 9 software features (which Enduro 3 & Fenix 8 users are also getting).

There are also some slight material changes too, mainly with the band and bezel. They’ve swapped out the UltraFit band for the new ComfortFit ones, which is a great change in my opinion. I’ve been using the new ComfortFit ones with the Fenix 9 series, and they’re awesome. Further, they changed up the color of the bezel, which you may or may not like depending on your personal color palette preferences.

In any case, I’ve started to put the Enduro 4 through its paces, though given all the other wearables slated for the next 6 days, wrist space is very limited right now. So for the moment, let’s just get into how things are different.

What’s New:

The Enduro 3 to Enduro 4 upgrade of hardware may not seem like a big one, mostly because you have to remember the whole point of the Enduro series is to *minimize* things that burn lots of battery. Meaning, adding in battery-hungry features like LTE & inReach (satellite messaging) are sorta the last thing you want Garmin to do.

However, more critical here is Garmin’s decision to bring virtually all the new Fenix 9 features back to the Fenix 8/8 Pro & Enduro 3 watches. Thus, by definition, with them all being treated as a single software platform, it becomes a more minor hardware update (akin to what Apple does each year). The point isn’t really for Enduro 3 owners to buy up (because you’re getting all the cool new Fenix 9 software features for free), but rather, for Enduro 1 & Enduro 2 folks to buy up. Make sense?

In any case, here’s what’s new hardware-wise:

– Faster processor for maps (specifically the Fenix 9 base processor, not the Fenix 9 Pro processor)
– 50% more RAM for map speed increases
– Doubled storage from 32GB to 64GB
– Went from black titanium bezel to a grey titanium bezel
– Cleaned up bezel to have fewer green/yellow markings
– Changed the GPS mode names to match Fenix 9, though the battery life remains identical
– Changed from UltraFit band to ComfortFit with QuickFit (trust me, it’s far better)
– New band increased total unit weight by 3g, case weight is identical (total weight from 63g to 66g)
– Same $899 price as the Enduro 3 (though the Enduro 3 went on sale this week to $799 with a bunch of other Garmin things for Amazon Prime Days)

Here you can see the new band/clasp system as part of the ComfortFit bands:

Meanwhile, here are the things that stay the same from Enduro 3 to Enduro 4:

– Same exact 1.4” MIP display panel at 280x280px
– Same exact Solar components
– Same exact smartwatch battery life (36 days smartwatch, 90 days with Solar)
– Same rough GPS battery life (see chart), though with new mode names
– Same thickness and case size (51mm)

Here’s the battery ‘chart’ showing all the battery modes/times:

Enduro 4 Battery Specs/Claims:
Smartwatch: Up to 36 days/90 days with solar*
Low Power Watch Mode: Up to 92 days/unlimited with solar*
Activity Mode (Normal): Up to 80 hours/144 hours with solar**
Activity Mode + Music (Normal): Up to 22 hours/25 hours with solar**
Activity Mode (Max Battery): Up to 210 hours/unlimited with solar**
Activity Mode (Extended Battery): Up to 120 hours/320 hours with solar**
Activity Mode (Max Accuracy): Up to 60 hours/90 hours with solar**
Expedition Mode: Up to 77 days/unlimited with solar*

*Solar charging, assuming all-day wear with 3 hours per day outside in 50,000 lux conditions
**Solar charging, assuming use in 50,000 lux conditions; assuming typical use with SatIQ technology

Here’s a side-by-side photo of the two units out tanning in the direct sun.

(At left, Enduro 3, at right Enduro 4)

Then, from a software standpoint, here are all the new features. All but the last few features are coming to the Enduro 3 via software update (in fact, some, like the Ski Erg features, already did last week). However, this just gets you all of them right now. The last few ones are dependent on the new mapping engine, which in turn requires the faster processor/more RAM:

– Added new Garmin Epic features, which group multi-day events/adventures (both on-device, and on Garmin Connect)
– New Stamina zone concept
– Added New Stamina Endurance time concept
– Added New Stamina trending feature (on Garmin Connect)
– Added New Running & Cycling Stamina graphs/curves
– Added New Rucking/Pack-Weight calorie breakout for activities (in multiple sport profiles)
– Revamped algorithms around pack-weight to more accurately cover calorie impacts
– Added New Rucking target calculator on-watch: Can tell you how far you need to go for a certain goal & pack weight
– Added ability to change pack-weight mid-activity
– Added Dedicated Rucking Reports (summarizing pack weight, calories, elevation, pace)
– Added Rucking Multisport mode option
– Added New on-device Rucking structured workouts with GoRuck
– Added New Ski Erg Profile (officially called ‘XC Ski Indoor’)
– Huge update/change for Indoor Rowing
– Added new heart rate zones for rowing, and max heart rate
– Added new power zones and power curves for running
– Added new indoor rowing FTP values/estimation
– Added new indoor rowing VO2Max values
– Added lactate threshold for rowing, and performance condition
– Added indoor rowing activity profile countdown timer (5-second timer, to let you get ready)
– Added support for indoor rowing to update Training Status (e.g., Productive, Unproductive, etc.)
– Added Rolling GAP as a data field (both kilometer and mile)
– Added Rolling GAP as a structured workout target option
– Added new ‘Field Tools’ feature, including ABC, measure height, reference point, and more

And then, here’s another set of new features that the Enduro 4 & Fenix 9 series get, but the Enduro 3 & Fenix 8 series won’t get, due to hardware constraints dependent on the increased RAM & processor (or, in the case of the GPS modes, so they don’t have to re-test all of the existing models’ official specs for new battery claims).

– Mapping: New Perspective view (sorta a tilted map view)
– Mapping Performance: Smoother/faster zoom
– Mapping Performance: More responsive heading updates (orientation)
– Added new ArcheryX feature
– Added new Dynamic Battery GPS modes, which basically simplify the naming of the satellite modes

Again, if you have an existing Garmin Enduro 3 or Fenix 8 series watch, you’ll eventually get all of the features in the first list. The timelines on that remain fuzzy, but Garmin says it won’t be this year for everything, though some features have already started showing up in recent updates.

Key Differences to Fenix 9?

(At left, Enduro 3, center Enduro 4, right Fenix 9 Pro Solar 47mm)

Now, real quick, what are the key differences between the Enduro 4 vs Fenix 9? Just like with the Enduro 3 vs Fenix 8 series, this is mostly about the Enduro series being optimized for higher battery life, but also reduced costs. They do away with extra things required for diving, LTE, speakers/mic, etc., and that in turn gives you more battery life and a ‘cheaper Fenix’ in the name of Enduro. Again, remember the Enduro & Fenix watches are under the same software watch family. All software releases for the Enduro 3 & Fenix 8 series were identical and grouped together, and the same is now true with the Enduro 4 & Fenix 9.

In any case, here are the key differences (when focused specifically on the SOLAR-MIP models):

– Enduro 4 has a bigger solar ring than the Fenix 9 Pro Solar models
– Enduro 4 is far lighter than the Fenix 9 (66g vs 102g for the Fenix 9 Pro Solar 51mm non-inReach)
– Enduro 4 is slightly thinner than the Fenix 9 (15.7mm vs 16.6mm for Fenix 9 Pro Solar 51mm)
– Enduro 4 is offered in one size (51mm), whereas Fenix 9 is offered in three sizes (43/47/51mm, though MIP-Solar only in 47/51mm)
– Fenix 9 series has depth gauge and scuba/freediving features (Enduro 4 does not)
– Fenix 9 series has induction buttons for better water resistance
– Fenix 9 series has a speaker/microphone (Enduro 4 has a simple beeper, no microphone
– Fenix 9 series has voice control/calling features with that microphone (Enduro 4 does not)
– Fenix 9 Pro series has a faster processor than the Fenix 9 base/Enduro 4 units
– Fenix 9 Pro series has full Titanium case options (Enduro 4 does not)
– Fenix 9 Pro series has a green LED flashlight (plus the white/red that Enduro 4 has)
– Fenix 9 Pro inReach models have LTE & inReach Satellite Message (Enduro 4 does not)
– Fenix 9 base starts at $999 (AMOLED only), Fenix 9 Pro from $1,099 (AMOLED/SOLAR), Fenix 9 Pro inReach/LTE from $1,199 (Enduro 4 is $899)

When it comes to those LTE & inReach Satellite features found on the Fenix 9 Pro inReach models, these are those features (none of which are on Enduro 4):

– LTE Live two-way voice calls
– LTE LiveTrack (30-second sampling rate)
– LTE Voice Messaging
– LTE Text Messaging
– LTE Weather
– LTE & Satellite Emergency SOS
– LTE Location Check-Ins
– LTE Incident Detection & Assistance
– Satellite Messaging (basic texting)
– Satellite position/location check-ins
– Satellite Emergency SOS (via Garmin Response)
– Satellite updating of weather (new in the Fenix 9 Pro)

In terms of some quick-hit similarities between the Enduro 4 and Fenix 9, this is things at a high level:

– Both run the same software and all the same features
– Both have Garmin’s Elevate Gen5 optical HR sensor
– Both have medically certified ECG hardware/features
– Both have Sapphire glass display covers (lens)
– Both have LED flashlights (but again, Fenix 9 Pro models have green LED too)
– Both have onboard offline maps
– Both have onboard storage for offline music (Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, MP3 files, etc.), to play back with Bluetooth headphones
– Both have WiFi syncing support
– Both have full ANT+ & Bluetooth Sensor support

Again, there are a gazillion more things that are the same between those two watches (primarily on the software side), but those are the main things to remember.

Mapping Speed Differences:

Now, with everything essentially being the same software-wise and display/battery-wise, the only real difference between the two is around the increased processing power, increased RAM, and then,  in turn,  the downstream improvements to map processing that Garmin has touted for the Enduro 4 as well as Fenix 9 series units.

Remember that in this case, the Enduro 4 shares the same processor as the base Fenix 9 units, not the slightly faster Fenix 9 Pro series processor. That new base processor is still faster than the Fenix 8 series units (which the Enduro 3 shared), and Garmin says a fair chunk of the improvements to speed is also coming from the rebuilt mapping engine, which requires that 50% improvement in RAM.

In any case, all that said, in terms of the speed improvements I see, like with the Fenix 9, it’s mostly ‘shrug’. Yes, they are faster, but not massively so. Here are some simple tests I did:

Speed test: Open a course file of 50KM/31mi:
Enduro 3: ~8 seconds
Enduro 4: ~8 seconds
Fenix 9 Pro: ~8 seconds

Speed test: Create a running route to a point across the island over a mountain range ( 23KM away as the bird flew, 30KM as the runner went):
Enduro 3: 1min 15sec
Enduro 4: 45sec
Fenix 9 Pro: 28sec

In the video, I also show some differences panning around, for which there is a notable difference, but mainly about 1-2 seconds of extra render time in my mountain-ish area with just light trails/terrain. Perhaps in some city scenario or such, but realistically that’s not where I tend to use the mapping features of any Garmin watch (I have my phone for that).

Now, as I noted in the Fenix 9 review, it’s easy to compare the maps from COROS zooming around/panning around, but the simple reality is those aren’t fully routable maps. They are essentially pictures/tiles that just load, whereas Garmin is actually rendering up a full routable map that you can route on-device to any other point without a phone. Creating a new route on a COROS device requires a phone. On an Amazfit device, you can create on-device routes only for round-trip routes, and even then, they almost always fail (as every reviewer has pointed out). Likewise, Garmin’s maps have far more information depth than anyone else.

Now, don’t mistake me pointing out map facts from me saying you actually need the on-device route generation that Garmin has in everyday life. As I noted in my Fenix 9 review, I can literally count on one hand the number of times in the real world I use the on-device route creation in real life (aside for review funsies purposes) as roughly twice. And neither time was super critical. Handy, yes…critical no.

In just the same way that while I don’t find that feature super useful, neither do I find just randomly panning around the map like a candy-fueled toddler, like every YouTuber likes to do. I simply don’t do that in real life out on multi-day treks, or even long single-day ultras. Do I occasionally check something a few hundred meters away? Sure. Does it take an extra 1-2 seconds on a Garmin? Sure. Am I upset that I have to wait 1-2 seconds longer in the middle of a 17-hour day? Nah. Do I wish Garmin’s maps were faster? Of course.

All of these things can be true. It doesn’t have to be fanboyism.

In any event, one new mapping feature is the new Perspective View, as seen on the Fenix 9. Here’s what that looks like side-by-side with the Enduro 3’s straight-down view:

(At left, Enduro 3, at right Enduro 4)

I’ve grown to like this view quite a bit on the Fenix 9, though admittedly, half the time I forget to tap the little compass icon to toggle it on. Plus, I don’t tend to stay on the mapping page for very long, since the mapping page on every watch is the fastest way to see just how little battery life you’ll actually get (map pages burn battery life like crazy on every wearable).

Wrap-Up:

Ultimately, the Enduro 4 is one of those Garmin upgrades that really isn’t about appealing to the prior-gen owners. Just like most Apple Watch upgrades aren’t about appealing to people who just bought last year. Instead, it’s primarily targeted at existing Enduro 1 or Enduro 2 owners who would get a big boost in terms of sports features as well as daily life things. And I suppose, for those who simply want the new Fenix 9 features now, versus waiting for Garmin to release those planned updates to the existing Enduro 3 owners.

While some might want even longer battery life, or perhaps a better MIP display, or perhaps changes in solar – the reality is that those are all industry-leading within the category in real-world usage. The Enduro 4 (and Enduro 3 before it) already has the longest GPS battery life out there, even before solar gains are considered, which can push it notably higher. As for the MIP displays, the reality is that there are very few companies making these panels, and they have very little reason to innovate in an area that continues to see dwindling unit volume. Certainly, I’d love to see a more readable MIP display in dimmer conditions, but I have a feeling that’s not happening anytime soon. Especially as AMOLED watch unit overall battery life continues to climb closer and closer to MIP display units.

In any event, assuming you’re choosing a MIP display unit, between the Garmin Enduro 4 vs Enduro 3 vs Fenix 9, I think the question you ask yourself is relatively simple: Do you care about scuba diving, microphone/speaker features, LTE, Satellite Communications, or a smaller 43/47mm unit? If the answer to all of those is ‘Nah’, then the Enduro is the clear winner. If you go for the Enduro 4, you’ll save yourself $200 over the Fenix 9 Solar unit priced at $1,099+. If you want to save a bit, you could pick up the Enduro 3 at a bit cheaper today, knowing it’ll get virtually all those new Enduro 4 software features in a few months or so. What the future in a year or two brings, I’ve got no idea (and I suspect Garmin hasn’t decided yet either).

In any case, hopefully all the above was useful in helping you decide.

With that, thanks for reading!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

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The COROS Pace 4 Pro at first glance might just look like a premium materials Pace 4, and in many ways, there’s a fair bit of truth to that. And there’s nothing wrong with that, as I’ll dive into. It’s unquestionably a more premium watch than either the Pace 4 or Pace Pro, and it’s got a new heart rate sensor too (don’t worry, plenty of accuracy testing below).

But from a company standpoint, it represents a clear attempt at trying to break into the premium market. Less ‘trying to make’, and more ‘trying to get people to buy it’. While COROS continually smashes it out of the park when it comes to budget watches (e.g., the Pace 3 and most recently the Pace 4), it has repeatedly struggled to attract buyers to more premium-priced devices that compete head-to-head on price with Garmin. After all, it’s been 5 years since the last major launch of their top-end flagship COROS Vertix 2 (and no, I don’t count the slight materials refresh in the Vertix 2S as a major new watch, and even that was 2.5 years ago).

With the COROS Pace 4 Pro at $449, COROS is trying to thread the line just enough under Garmin’s premium pricing of the Forerunner 570 (at $549) to entice buyers to forget the FR570’s extra software features, and save the cash for ice cream. The question is, does COROS pull it off?

With that, let’s dive into it!

What’s New:

In some ways, it’s hard to have a ‘What’s New’ section when COROS doesn’t have a prior-generation Pace 3 Pro to compare it to. Instead, this watch is basically a re-imagined COROS Pace Pro, but with the ‘4’ stuck in there to keep marketing life simple. Though, it gains some features the Pace 4 added that the Pace Pro lacked.

There, here’s how it differs from the existing Pace Pro:

– Larger 1.47” AMOLED display from 1.3” AMOLED (biggest COROS screen to date)
– Increased pixels (466x466px vs previous 416x416px)
– Increased brightness to 3,500 nits (Pace 4 was 1,500 nits)
– Ability to add up to 11 data fields per page (from 8 fields on Pace Pro)
– Added new multi-data page field that can cram in 13 data fields
– New 4th Gen optical HR sensor (for COROS watch with it)
– Added sapphire glass display
– Added action button (Pace Pro doesn’t have that, though Pace 4 does)
– Added microphone (Pace Pro doesn’t have that, though Pace 4 does)
– Added voice control from watch (Pace Pro doesn’t have that, though Pace 4 does)
– Added full speaker (neither Pace Pro nor Pace 4 had that)
– Added ability to take calls from watch (neither Pace Pro nor Pace 4 had that)
– Added GPS ‘Auto’ mode (dynamically selects required satellite level)
– Increased maximum GPS battery from 38 hours to 60 hours
– Improved bezel material from plastic to titanium
– Increased weight from 32.5g to 38g
– Doubled the onboard RAM
– Same 22mm band size (same as Pace 3/4, Pace Pro, APEX 2 Pro, APEX 4 42mm)
– Priced at $449USD, 449EUR, $799AUD, 389GBP, 619CAD

From a software standpoint, there are actually no new software features here. At least unique/specific to the Pace 4 Pro. Instead, all the COROS watches are getting their usual roughly quarterly update of software features, and the Pace 4 Pro is part of that (as is the Pace Pro). For example, for September this included an update to the Adventure Journal (mostly on-app), the option to directly transfer firmware via computer, and cycling climb alerts on the watch (previously this was on Dura). Also recently there was a revamped sleep score and sleep metrics on the COROS app.

In terms of color options, there’s black and white, each with either the silicone or nylon straps:

In terms of all the other usual bits for recent COROS watches, it’s got:

– Global offline mapping pre-installed (and free downloadable updates)
– Turn-by-turn navigation with pre-planned route
– Barometric altimeter
– Dual-frequency/multiband GNSS/GPS
– 32GB of Storage
– 447 mAh battery capacity
– 5ATM (50m) water resistance
– Access to the COROS MCP for connecting to Claude & ChatGPT

Next, looking at the size, here’s how things compare:

Also, importantly, the display itself is identical in size to that of an Oreo. Concerned about accuracy, I measured it three times with three different Oreos. I can confirm all three Oreos tasted great. I mean…they were all properly calibrated to match the display.

Finally, from a battery chart standpoint, here’s where things stand:

Just to quickly cover this chart with my real-world testing. When it comes to daily battery life, I’m seeing roughly 4-6 days in the real world (which is inclusive of 1-2 hours of GPS workouts per day).

For the workout claims, I’m simply not getting anywhere near those results. They claim 30 hours in always-on display mode with Max GPS, yet I’m consistently under 20 hours, sometimes low 20 hours. For running, they’re saying it may be a bug with the GPS subsystem. For cycling, it’s also been consistently estimated at 20 hours. In cycling, they say that’s because of a bug in how the device goes into Bluetooth accessory scanning mode each time I stop (including even at stop lights/stop signs), searching again for any sensors it can’t find (such as those for other bikes). As a result, in cycling mode it’s barely achieving an estimated 20 hours of battery life. COROS says they plan an update in November to address this.

With that, let’s dive into the daily basics!

The Basics:

In this section, I’ll cover all the daily basics of using the watch. Things like the hardware, user interface, activity/sleep tracking, and more. Then after that we’ll dive into all the sports bits, following which I’ll cover the accuracy of the new heart rate sensor, as well as GPS accuracy.

Starting off with the hardware aspects, the unit has three buttons, with one of them being the Digital Crown. On the left side you’ve got a button that opens up a quick-access control panel (for enabling/disabling things like sleep mode, or satellite modes, speaker volume, etc.). This was previously the Action Button on other recent watches, but now it is more…ummm…actionable. During activities it switched to the map page.

Meanwhile, on the right side, there’s the Digital Crown for scrolling through menus (and pressing enter to start a workout), as well as the lower right button, which acts as a ‘back/escape’ option.  You can long-hold the lower right button to get to the controls menu.

As for the Digital Crown, as always I like them for scrolling in maps, but otherwise I find them finicky on a sports watch. This includes on Apple Watches just as much as COROS watches. That said, with the touch screen on the COROS watch, I’ll generally use that for getting around menus instead, so it’s mostly a wash here.

Next, the Pace 4 Pro has a much brighter 3,500 nit display – by far the brightest display from COROS. Do keep in mind though, that every company advertises *peak* brightness, not actual constant brightness levels, which are variable based on the ambient light sensor. No company can maintain an AMOLED display at 3,500 nits constantly without slaughtering the battery and display life.

That said, it’s also unnecessary to do so. I live on an island in the Mediterranean, where it’s bright and sunny, and I have no issues seeing the Pace 4 Pro in any lighting conditions (including bright sunny days), and most of the time I can tell it’s clearly not at 3,500 nits (because even 1,500 nit watches are more than enough for sunny days).

Here’s the Pace 4, Pace Pro, and Pace 4 Pro side-by-side in direct sunlight:

In the above case, all units were set to their default brightness settings of ‘Standard’ (there are three levels: Standard/High/Max). Point being, even on the lowest level, I had no issues at all.

Now, one nifty thing here is the new battery usage feature COROS recently added to their app. This lets you see what drives battery level for each function. The problem is, as nifty as this is, it’s also hilariously wrong when it comes to sport usage. I’d argue it’s heavily misleading, though I think that misleading aspect is more engineering geekery than purposeful deceit. The reason is that the % listed next to the activity level is incorrect. Instead, it’s *only* looking at the GPS function specifically, not the processing pieces, which get bundled under ‘General Use’ and ‘Daily Features’, making it seem far higher in GPS time than reality.

So, let’s look at today’s run I just did (90 mins). In this case, looking at the battery chart, it shows a mere 2.6% above.

But in reality, you can see the before/after photos I took, where the battery went from 69% to 61%:

Since the beginning of watch time (including COROS’s own GPS battery claim chart shown above), you’d list this as 8% battery loss. Not 2.6% battery loss. I brought this up to COROS (for a different workout/ride), and it sounds like some changes might be on the way, with them saying:

“Lastly, sorting out the battery health / usage topic with our PM now and we are sorting out a way to display battery drain for an activity with sub-items all from within the activity usage, so in your example you would see 15% as the total activity amount rather than 8% for the activity, and the other 7% placed under other categories.”

Hopefully that’ll happen, as the feature is actually really really cool, and better than anything else out there for sports watches (Apple has some elements of this on the app, and Garmin has most aspects of this on the watch, but COROS implements it better UI-wise long-term in the app).

Nonetheless, moving along, here’s the stock watch face. As with other COROS watches, you can customize plenty of it within the watch itself, or from the COROS app:

Sliding down from there are the widgets. Each widget glance of sorts can be opened up to see more details about it. For example, here’s the daily activity widget showing today’s activity details, and then if I crack that open, I can get those metrics trended over 7 days:

Scrolling down from there, there’s a handful of others as well. I can customize these, including whether they appear, as well as the order:

Of course, one of them is sleep metrics. Here I can see my sleep summary details, as well as my deeper stats like sleep phase/stage time.

All of this is also displayed on the COROS App, including newly revamped sleep pages with sleep score details, and tons more sleep data. Or at least, the presentation of the data is improved.

Additionally, in the event you take a nap, COROS will show nap details. In fact, I really like the way they show your different sleep bits on a single page, and even offer the ability to merge things together. Like, for example, two days ago when I went to bed too late, then we had some bonkers-crazy thunderstorms in the middle of the night that kept all the kids up for a bit. Point being, by the time I got back from school drop-off rounds, I just went back to sleep for 90 minutes.

As for the accuracy of these metrics, I focus specifically on the times I went to sleep and woke up. And these have been mostly spot-on, though, last night wasn’t great. I don’t compare sleep phase/stages, because that’s mostly fake-science for clicks. The accuracy of those metrics from so-called gold-standard methodologies is only about 80% accurate. So trying to compare one device to something that’s at best 80% accurate isn’t super helpful to anyone. Thus, I won’t waste your time with that.

Instead, if we look at last night, for example, here’s how things handled (I was reading on my phone for a while):

Feel Asleep (Actual): ~12:50-12:55AM
COROS Pace 4 Pro: 12:01AM
Apple Watch Ultra 4: 12:50AM
Garmin Cirqa (Bicep): 11:56PM
Whoop 5.0/MG: 12:52AM
Amazfit Helio (Bicep): 12:55AM
Fitbit Air (Bicep): 1:03AM

Woke Up (Actual): Alarm at 7:50AM, snoozed to 7:58AM
COROS Pace 4 Pro: 7:58AM
Apple Watch Ultra 4: 7:58AM
Garmin Cirqa (Bicep): 8:00AM
Whoop 5.0/MG: 7:56AM
Amazfit Helio (Bicep): 7:58AM
Fitbit Air (Bicep): 7:49AM

Next, one of the metrics it’ll capture while you’re sleeping is your overnight HRV. It’ll trend this over time after you’ve established your baseline metrics, showing things like ‘Normal’ or outside of ranges:

Here’s how that compared last night:

COROS Pace 4 Pro: 64ms
Apple Watch Ultra 4: 66ms
Garmin Cirqa (Bicep): 63ms
Whoop 5.0/MG: 63ms
Amazfit Helio (Bicep): 68ms
Fitbit Air (Bicep): 55ms

As you can see, virtually all of them are the same. Save the Fitbit Air, which I find consistently low for whatever reason.

Now, all of these metrics (HRV, sleep, activity, etc.) are pulled into the COROS app on your smartphone, where you can view them and dig into more details for any of them. You can also adjust these tiles as you see fit:

Next, switching topics, at this juncture COROS has yet to implement a real LED flashlight into their watches. Still, they do offer a simplistic screen-based flashlight. And given the brighter 3,500-nit display, it works just fine.

That said, I’m really hoping COROS joins the Flashlight Club (which currently contains Garmin, Suunto, and Amazfit). It’s just more practical to have the flashlight pointed at the thing you’re trying to illuminate, rather than illuminating my own face.

Now when it comes to music, note that the COROS Pace 4 Pro does have music storage on it, but realistically you probably won’t use it. It supports downloading MP3 files, and then pairing up your headphones via Bluetooth. But of course, in 2026 almost nobody is doing that. They’re instead using platforms like Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, etc., which COROS doesn’t support (certainly COROS would love to support those platforms, but those major platforms have largely gatekept their services).

That said, you can control music/media on your phone, such as podcasts or any other platform:

Oh, and lastly, there’s the voice control bits. There’s actually a few different features that leverage the microphone, both in workout mode (like saving voice notes), as well as afterwards for saving workout notes. But in regular mode, you can also use it to simply use your watch to open things. Just long-press the lower left button. For example, you can ask it to start a run:

Now, as I’ve said on countless other watches, I’m not really a ‘talk to my wrist’ guy. And especially not a ‘it takes longer to talk to my wrist and wait than just press the darn button twice’ kinda guy. I’m sure down the road years from now this sort of thing will be faster and more useful, but these days it’s mostly a gimmick to me. Nonetheless, to each their own!

With that, let’s head out for a workout.

Sports Usage:

Next up, if you’re buying a COROS watch, you’re almost certainly doing so for some sort of sports usage. So in this section I’m gonna go through all those pieces, including during workouts, post-workout training load and recovery pieces, as well as a bit of offline mapping and navigation components. To be clear, absolutely nothing here has changed since any other recent COROS watch (which are all running essentially the same software). Instead, the changes around sport usage mainly come from heart rate accuracy, which I cover in the next section.

In any case, the first step is choosing a sport mode. The COROS Pace 4 Pro has virtually all the major sport modes you’d expect. It’s not quite the Girls Gone Wild listing of some 200 sports modes of Amazfit, but it gets the job done. The main ones you’d be missing compared to some of COROS’s higher-end watches are around climbing (e.g., rock climbing). But if heights aren’t your jam, then you won’t miss anything here.

In any case, to select a sport mode, you’ll tap the upper right button and scroll through the sport modes to find your pain:

Once you’ve done that, it’ll go off and find GPS (if outdoors), as well as any sensor accessories (such as cycling power meters or an external heart rate sensor). It’s here that you can select things like structured workouts, basic interval workouts, and apply a route for navigation. Or just tweak other sport settings.

In our case for today’s run, I’m going to load up a route/course. I created this route in Strava, which then pushed to my COROS account. Though (still) annoyingly, COROS doesn’t automatically transfer that to my watch. I’ll need to go into the COROS app and then select to push it to the watch. I know I’ve harped on this for years, but when it comes to tiny features that are actually helpful to athletes, just syncing the darn route is so much more useful than voice prompts.

Once I send it to the watch, it appears here to select, along with some quick stats about the run:

You can also, of course, create routes on other platforms, import GPX files, and create routes within the COROS app as well (including creating waypoints).

Once all that is sorted, out we go for our run. While running, you’ll see the data pages as you’ve configured them. All of this is pretty straightforward:

When it comes to that route, you’ll see your route overlaid atop the map, and then get turn notifications ahead of each turn (about 50m away while running/hiking, a bit further while cycling). It’ll indicate which way to turn:

If you go off-route, then the watch will let you know within about 50m as well. Note that the COROS watches don’t support offline re-routing. It’ll simply let you know which compass direction the actual route is, and it’s up to you to figure that out.

You can also see your elevation profile of the planned route, and other handy stats:

Plus, automatic climb details will engage as you hit a climb:

In the event you want to create a voice note, pinned to the location, for later inclusion in your workout journal, you can do that via the controls menu. These will then show up as notes (with your voice note using the microphone) on the journal and workout track. Again, it’s not really my jam, but I know people who do find the voice notes useful for scouting things. Note the play button below, and then the automatic transcription (I include the actual audio in my review).

Once your workout is complete, you’ll see all the summary stats on the watch, such as this from today’s trail run:

And you can also add yet another voice note, this time for RPE. I’ve skipped that, and just went with smiley-face style. That’s more my jam.

Then, once this all syncs to the COROS app, you can see your full workout details here; note in particular, it’ll show your voice notes on the map itself, and you can also add in photos from the workouts, which will show up accordingly in the right spots using GPS information.

When it comes to training load metrics, COROS has a basic Race Predictor feature, a Running Score feature, and Training Load metrics. Here’s the Race Predictor feature. Note that this really only takes into account flat-ground runs, and not hilly trail runs like mine. In my case, the vast majority of my runs are trail runs (and specifically, very hilly ones), so my numbers rarely get updated here.

There’s also your overall training Intensity and Recovery metrics. I find the recovery metrics reasonably close to how I’m feeling.

Next, there’s training load. And like clockwork, I’m going to complain again that this resets every single Monday. In real life, training load doesn’t reset every Monday. If you did the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, you still very much have that training load in your legs Monday morning (as any staircase will remind you). Yet for COROS, it all disappears. Here’s my Sunday night:

And then the next day it’s zero. Sigh.

I’m hoping if I keep banging this drum, COROS will finally change it. They did on the smartphone app, but not yet on the watches. Eventually?

Heart Rate & GPS Accuracy:

First, let’s look at a lazy interval workout yesterday; you can see that overall it’s mostly good. There’s one minor error early on for a few seconds, then it sorts itself out. Along with some slight delays coming down from intervals towards the end (as I’d start the walk), though neither is a massive deal. Also very, very slight delays on the start of some intervals, but nothing you’d likely notice in real life.

Next, we’ve got a harder interval workout at the track. Now, in this case I had a Polar H10 chest strap with me, though apparently it was on its last battery legs, and created a proper mess of things, as you can see below. Still, as for the COROS itself, it happily agreed with all the other devices on this journey, which is good. And if I sift through the mess below, I don’t see any cases where the COROS Pace 4 Pro is out of line here.

Next, some indoor trainer high-intensity intervals. From a cycling standpoint, these 30-second intervals went from 150w to 590w, and were probably the most visible case of delays with the optical HR sensor. You can see it took quite a while to catch up:

That said, for these sorts of high-intensity intervals, the delay of the HR being a few seconds late isn’t usually something most coaches (or analytics aspects) would look at. That’s because HR itself (your actual heart) is a lagging indicator for effort here. Instead, using pace or power is what actually matters here. And you can see in the second half when I lowered the intensity a bit, it was much faster to catch up.

Meanwhile, on this other trainer ride, which was following a virtual route where things were a bit more civil, the two lines are reasonably close. There are some minor quirks coming down from high-intensity moments, where you see a bit of bobble in the HR. Nothing massive, but something that could use a bit of work. Also note the colors are flipped here, just…sigh…because.

The same goes here with another trainer ride. On the whole it’s pretty darn good (though remember, trainer rides are like the easiest thing ever for optical HR sensors). Still, there are some minor mistakes here that could use some work. This kinda vaguely reminds me of Polar’s HR mini-spike/bobbling-drop issues on most of their recent wristwatches.

And then switching to the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of difficulty for optical HR sensors to track, is an outdoor ride. Here we can see that, on the whole, it’s got the gist of things. But we can also see numerous errors/offsets, especially at higher intensities when things are normally stable. This is actually fairly unusual. Usually for outdoor cycling, once you reach a higher intensity, heart rate readings tend to become easier for devices to track. It’s the transition phase (easy to hard, hard to easy) that most wearables in rougher conditions mess up.

In any case, looking at the new optical HR sensor, I’d argue it is improved over the previous generation, but equally, other companies are also improving. And I’d say those other companies’ pace of improvement is faster than COROS here. Which isn’t to say the above is bad. It’s certainly not. But rather, the bar has been raised, and while COROS has made improvements, their overall place in the standings stays roughly at the upper end of the mid-tier. But it’s far from industry-leading.

Meanwhile, for GPS I’m simply not seeing anything that’s concerning at this point across running (trail running and road running), as well as cycling. For example, a trail run today (in ‘High’, but not ‘Max’), and things are virtually identical to the Fenix 9 Pro:

I’ve got some other watches in this test, but you’ll have to wait till next week for those. Either way, they all match here.

Here’s another trail run, this time versus the Amazfit Dual Solar watch (and Garmin Fenix 9 Pro), at the ‘Auto’ level, all looks well:

Though, you can see in the trails that the COROS Pace 4 Pro easily outperforms the Amazfit unit, which was frequently off in the bushes. I only spend time in the bushes when I need to collect a crashed drone, and this wasn’t one of those times.

Here’s an interval run we did on the streets. Over and over again loops. Loops like this are always fun for repetition purposes on GPS tracks. Again, at a high level it all looks good:

That said, looking closely here, I do see a slight offset by the COROS on this stretch. Again, merely the wrong side of the street, so not a massive deal. Though, consistently the wrong side every loop. The others were correct (we ran down the left side of this deserted street).

Setting aside this street/turn, on the whole I think the COROS Pace 4 Pro has perfectly functional GPS accuracy. As I noted earlier, I remain a bit concerned about the battery burn during GPS workouts, due to bugs COROS says are lingering, causing that battery to be substantially higher than it should be. COROS says fixes are coming in the November timeframe, but as always with GPS vs. battery fixes, there’s usually a tradeoff. Especially in cases like the Auto one where COROS says it’s switching too frequently.

In any case, it’s something I’ll keep an eye out for later this fall.

(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, running power, GPS tracks, and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons; more details here.)

Wrap-Up:

Overall, the COROS Pace 4 Pro definitely *feels* more premium. It was easily mistaken by friends as a Garmin Forerunner 570 or Forerunner 970 on my wrist numerous times. It looks a lot like it. The display is brilliant, in terms of size and clarity, as well as brightness. Likewise, the titanium bezel looks nice. All of that is good. Whether or not consumers find the $150 upsell over the existing COROS Pace Pro to be worthwhile is probably the bigger question.

COROS has argued in media presentations that it competes with the Forerunner 970. As I noted in the video, that’s simply a hard no. Not even close. On the hardware front, it lacks many of the hardware features the Forerunner 970 has (e.g., the flashlight, medically certified ECG, a much better optical HR sensor, better GPS accuracy, and more). And then on the software side, it’s not even close, no matter which software category you choose. Garmin dominates there (very deeply).

However, compared to the Forerunner 570? That’s fresh meat for the taking. Priced $100 more at $549, the Forerunner 570 lacks offline maps, lacks a flashlight, and lacks ECG. Yes, the Forerunner 570 is an excellent sports/running watch if you exclude those features, and is deeper in most (all?) of the non-mapping sports categories than COROS is. But it’s a price tradeoff that it seems many people are willing to take. COROS is better served to focus on that battle.

But whether those same consumers are willing to pay substantially more than the Pace 4 or Pace Pro for nearly the same software? Now that’s a bigger COROS-focused question that only time will tell. History has spoken loud and clear (repeatedly) that COROS is most deadly when they focus on budget. Though, this time it does somehow feel slightly different.

Either way, I think it’s a great-looking watch that’s coming from a company that continues to push new features to both the app and hardware roughly every quarter, and also continues to add polish to the app & watch firmware.

With that – thanks for reading!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the COROS Pace 4 Pro or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

COROS Pace 4 Pro

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Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:

COROS Pace 4 Pro (Black)

Amazon REI

COROS Pace 4

Amazon REI

COROS Pace Pro

Amazon REI

COROS APEX Pro

Amazon Backcountry REI

And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

Amazon’s running its Prime Big Deal Days today and tomorrow (6th and 7th), which includes a decent chunk of sports tech deals – including on some newly released products (like the Apple Watch Ultra 4, Pixel Watch 5, GoPro Mission 1 Pro, and more!).

Here’s the Top 5 items that DC Rainmaker readers bought on Day 1 (and all are still available):

1) Wahoo Fitness KICKR CORE 2 with Zwift Cog V2: This is probably one of the strongest deals, at just $399, including the new Zwift Cog V2 & new Zwift Clicks. Plus, of course, the newish KICKR CORE 2 trainer. There’s also the mechanical 12-spd cassette version too for the same price.

2) Apple AirPods Pro 3 (with optical HR for workouts): Down to just $179, these are both my wife’s and my go-to headphones for virtually everything. Travel, editing, work, workouts, etc…

3) DJI NEO Self-Following Drone: At merely $139USD, this is a steal for one of the best and most indestructible options on the market. Both my kids and I have tried to kill it. No luck. Hundreds of crashes later during all sorts of running, cycling, etc… and it’s still perfectly fine.

4) Anker 25,000mAh Laptop/etc High Speed Power Bank: No surprise, at ~30%, this is a great unit that has become the mainstay of both daily usage (working from a cafe table without a power outlet), to travel usage, to backcountry hikes and long gravel rides. Love it.

5) Garmin Fenix 8 for $731: Again, zero surprise here. Especially with Garmin announcing that almost every Fenix 9 feature is soon coming to the Fenix 8 series, this is a very strong deal.

To take advantage of Amazon Prime Deals, you simply need to be an Amazon Prime member. The good news is that you can sign-up for the free trial and cancel later if you don’t find value in it. Just hit up this giant banner below to do so:

I’ve organized all the best sports technology Amazon Prime Deals (and a few others I’ve found) below in the tables by category. I’ll be updating them throughout the next two days. Keep in mind that not all deals last (in fact, most don’t). So, if you see something that’s hot, I’d strongly suggest buy now (and return later if need be).

With that, onto the deals! And thanks for supporting the site via the links below. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Enjoy!

Watches & Wearables:

This covers anything you can wear that’s watch-like or activity band-like, including sensors.  Generally speaking, you’ll mostly find deals here that are on things I’ve written about in the past.  So you won’t find a deal on some random non-sports tech watch here, or on socks. Unless the socks have some crazy sensor or something in them.

There are no deals currently.

Cycling Gear & Trainers:

Got a bike? Then this section is for you.  Everything from bike computers to bike lights to trainers, it’s all here.  I won’t generally be adding things like brake cables or bike seats here, but if I find a good deal on a cassette to stack on that new direct-drive trainer you just bought, I’ll probably list it here.

There are no deals currently.

And then here’s a separate bucket for trainers and indoor bikes:

	Product	Sale Price	Amazon	Sale Notes
	Lasko High Velocity Pro-Performance Fan - 15% off	$54	Amazon	This is one of the most popular indoor trainer fan companies out there, which rivals the Wahoo Headwind fan but cost a fraction of the price. Of course, it lacks ANT+/Bluetooth integration, but realistically if you really want that you can add a smart outlet for $10 to toggle it on/off from your phone if need be. It's one of the ones in my rotation.

Action Cameras & Drones:

Wanna record it?  No better way than an action camera.  Anything that’s action camera-related or drone-related, you’ll find here.  That’s especially true of action camera mounts, which are often found for great deals around the holidays.  Same goes with drones and drone accessories.  Usually a great time to pick up an extra battery or extra props.

There are no deals currently.

Other Sports & Fitness:

Anything else that’s sports and fitness-related that I think is interesting will be here.  It may not be super techy – but it’s stuff that most readers will be using in pursuit of their running/cycling/swimming/hiking/whatever.

There are no deals currently.

DCR Random Gadget List:

These are basically the mostly totally unrelated gadgets and things I think are cool deals that I’ve likely bought one or five of (you can never have too many, right)?  Some of it’s probably photography stuff.  Some of it’s random stuff like chargers and battery packs that I use daily, fun camera gear I use to make videos, like sliders and turntables, and well…just random things you’ll find around the DCR Cave.  It’s all random…but it’s all awesome randomness!

There are no deals currently.

Europe Folks Note: I’ve tried in the past to keep track of all the separate Amazon European sites, and honestly, I have given up. With 100+ products on the US list, and then cross-checking each one manually across each country…has proven impossible. That said, you can click any link and, in theory (strong “hopefully” theory), it’s often also on sale in the EU sites.

With that – thanks for reading, and for supporting the site via the links above.

Stages is back. Though they’ve actually been back for a year or so now. But more specifically, they’ve just launched the new SB200 indoor smart bike, which has many ties to the older Stages SB20 launched in 2020, but in reality looks nothing like it.

Now I’ll dive into some of the company bits below (see the section titled ‘Quick Company Update’), but the new SB200 follows much of the indoor cycling trend of focusing on a streamlined design, greater rider fit aspects (e.g., serving both a small rider and a taller rider on the same frame), as well as better handlebar button integration with 3rd party apps. It’s a pattern we’ve seen implemented on full smart bikes from the likes of Wahoo, Technogym, and Wattbike, as well as trainer-mounted smart bike-like frames from Zwift, Elite, and others.

In this case, both me (tall) and my wife (vertically challenged) have been riding the SB200 for all our recent indoor cycling rides. Albeit, admittedly, the bike is technically outdoors. But we won’t let that get in the way of the indoor trend. So I’ve got a pretty good idea of what works well, and what I’m not in love with.

With that, let’s dive right into the newness!

What’s New:

While the SB200 is certainly an evolution of the existing SB20, I’d argue for the most part that’s really only in name. Almost everything else is different. One thing to remember, though, is that when it comes to making indoor bikes, Stages has made far more indoor bikes than literally everyone except perhaps Peloton. And even there, Stages is literally making the newest Peloton commercial bike (you’ll notice it looks a heck of a lot like Stages existing commercial bikes). So…yeah.

However, one of the ‘complaints’ about the previous SB20 was that it felt too much like a gym bike, and less like a bike that would fit in your living room (or garage). And indeed, the thing was a tank. Sure, it could last forever, but equally, it was overkill to the extreme for home usage. Like driving a tank to school.

So, here’s how it’s different:

– Added side-to-side pivoting/movement within the frame (about 2°, adjustable)
– Reduced the weight by 55 pounds/25kg (compared to SB20)
– Added roller wheels at the back of the frame for moving/relocating around the house
– Increased flywheel inertia 5x compared to Stages SB20
– Switched to dual-stage belt drive (versus 1x belt drive on previous unit)
– Adds front LCD/display, showing in-ride stats
– Adds a slate of customizable buttons, also preconfigured for Zwift, Rouvy, TrainingPeaks Virtual
– Adds 5 custom shift/bike profiles, selectable right from display
– Added full shifters, customizable to either SRAM or Shimano-style shifting (previously was just buttons)
– Has braking for in-game usage, as well as just adjusting resistance
– Added WiFi support (including connectivity across trainer control “standards”)
– Added 10hz Race Mode over WiFi (data 10x a second)
– Added 4hz Race Mode over Bluetooth (data 4x a second)
– Added heart rate monitor/sensor bridging (into WiFi/etc)
– Added fully internally-routed wiring to all components
– All hidden-cable wiring, no exposed wires/cabling
– First indoor bike to support OpenBikeControl
– Also supports Bluetooth (including FTMS), Zwift Protocol (No ANT+, though)
– Optional swappable seat post accessory
– Tool for adjusting now built into frame
– Changed from previous bear claw crankset design to different adjustable crank arm design (previous design was susceptible to failure when overtorqued, or sweat pooled in holes driving corrosion faster)
– Changed to measuring power at the brake, versus previous dual-pod crankset design
– Claimed power accuracy of +/- 1%
– Supports both spin-down calibration and manual calibration
– Added built-in spring-loaded phone holder above LCD
– Added secondary tablet holder option
– Added free Stages app that includes craptons of structured workouts for free
– Added support for syncing in TrainingPeaks workouts to app
– USB-C charging ports built-in (2 AMPS)
– Added a simple on/off switch to rear of bike
– Price is $2399USD/ £2199/ €2399

For context, the previous SB20 retailed initially at $2,899, though, like all bikes, it shifted in price over time, especially in/out of COVID. Either way, the SB200 being at $2,399 is quite competitive in the full smart bike realm. Obviously, trainer+frame bikes (like the Zwift Ride) tend to be cheaper, though they also tend to offer less fit adjustability than dedicated smart bikes. There are, of course, other pros/cons to weigh as always. For reference, the KICKR BIKE PRO is at $3,999

Finally, as for general specs (rather than the newness above), here’s the quick and dirty of the core indoor bike specs:

– Internal dual-stage belt drive
– Resistance system: Single coil electromagnetic braking
– Power support to 2,500w (1,500w @ 120RPM, 400w @ 40RPM)
– 2.23” display (128 x 32 dot matrix)
– 40cm handlebar with 31.8mm standard tube
– Handlebar customizable buttons (10 total)
– Handlebar braking and shifting (normal bike style)
– Audible feedback when reaching the end of the cassette/shifting
– Free Stages app for control, customization/setup, structured workouts
– Control over Bluetooth Power, Bluetooth FTMS, OpenBikeControl, WiFi
– 4 concurrent Bluetooth Connections
– 2xUSB-C power (5V @2.0A)
– Q-Factor: 153mm
– Rider range: 147cm to 208cm (4’10” to 6’10”)
– Steel frame, phosphate plating with powder coat
– Bike weight: 70lbs/32.3kg
– Bike length: Min is 127cm (49.9”), max is 137.3cm (54.0”), plus tablet holder is 10cm (3.9”).
– Bike Width: 80.4cm (31.6”)
– Bike Height: From 97.9cm (38.5″) to 117.2cm (46″) (+ tablet holder is 14.8cm)
– Maximum rider weight: 300lbs/136kg

With that, let’s just briefly touch on the company aspects.

Quick Company Update:

One can’t talk about Stages without at least talking about Stages going under. Which they did back in 2024. Like many cycling companies coming out of COVID, they over-invested in inventory, which simply sat around for a market that didn’t materialize.

However, unlike some of the other brands that made this mistake and then went under forever, Stages only temporarily disappeared. Later that year, Giant acquired what was left. Keeping in mind that Giant previously built Stages bikes, and was one of the biggest companies left holding the empty bag.

One could probably argue that in some scenarios, Giant would have done the acquisition prior to bankruptcy, but I’m sure lawyers decided this method was better. Either way, Giant ended up acquiring Stages, and much of the top engineering that was at Stages ended up at Giant. For example, all the same product leads that I knew at Stages for the past 15 years are still there.

Of course, in the short term, none of this made existing Stages customers super happy. There was unquestionably a time period where Stages customers were the ones that got shortchanged here. No service, no parts, no nothing.

However, despite no legal requirement to do so, Stages has gone back and manufactured parts for the previous SB20 (you can find them all here). They’ve opened up support lines for it, and they touted that the current average customer support time is under 4 hours, and the average ticket closure time is under 48 hours. They wholeheartedly agree the customer support situation (meaning, no real situation) a few years ago sucked, but equally they note that if you have an existing SB20 and haven’t tried support in a few years, you should give it a whirl.

Looking at some of the Stages SB20 Facebook owner groups, people generally seem pretty darn happy with the current support situation. Obviously, there are some folks that were wronged years ago, and are still holding that grudge (rightfully or otherwise). But it seems like the situation today isn’t really any different than calling Wahoo, Elite, or otherwise.

Plus, it’s pretty darn unlikely that Giant’s going to disappear anytime soon. Should that happen, we’d have a whole lot of other much bigger problems in the bike industry.

Anyway, take those tidbits for what you want.

Unboxing & Setup:

Man, what a difference this bike is. I remember so clearly getting the Stages SB200 bike all unboxed and set up 6 years ago. It was just so…overly everything. An overly built bike, overly packaged for apparently being dropped out of an airplane at cruise altitude, and an overly long, cumbersome process to get set up. Not hard, not difficult, just a general pain in the butt.

This time though? A world of difference.

The total packaged weight dropped from 160lbs/72.5kg to 103lbs/46.7kg. And the bike itself dropped from 126lbs/57kg to 71lbs/32.3kg. And more than that, Stages has clearly followed in the footsteps of Zwift’s consumer-first assembly aspects.

While it always takes me longer to do unboxing and setup compared to a regular person since I’m filming/photographing it, it’s probably balanced out by me having done so many of them. This one though, was just simply fast, even despite the camera work. After removing the cardboard, you’re left with these pieces:

Above you’ve got:

1. Main frame portion
2. Seatpost + saddle
3. Handlebar
4. Front assembly (that holds the handlebar)
5. Rear base
6. Some power cabling stuff
7. Extra set of feet
8. The tools to assemble it all

You’ll start by attaching the base to the frame, which is just two bolts. Quick and easy.

Side note: on this 2nd step, it has you finger-tighten the bolt. However, in the almost-last-step, you’ll crank that bolt down nice and snug with a tool. If, however, you forget this last step, your bike will soon squeak like an adult movie. I mean, just letting you know from a friend.

Next up, you’ll insert the front handlebar holding assembly, and with it, the wires. This is where I want to point out how clean this setup becomes, with all the wiring internal. You can then see the cover I’ll place over it.

There was just so many little details while I was building it up, that were like “Oh wow, that’s super clever engineering”.

Up top, you’ll do the same thing. You’ll simply connect the two wires together. This is a 4-8 second task. And then the wires are now hidden from view. After that, you’ll install the standard handlebar (which you can swap out), and then snap on/screw-in the cover.

What’s cool here is that hidden under that small circle is a mount for your Garmin or Wahoo unit (or anything else that uses those two mounting types…which is everyone).

At this point, the last piece to do is simply sticking in your pedals and plugging it in. I’ll cover crank arm adjustability bits in the next section.

Again, my entire assembly video file I had recording the entire time is about 25 minutes, and that includes taking a slate of extra photos as I assembled, taking extra close-up video of parts, repositioning a few cameras/things, etc… I bet someone not doing that could probably assemble it all in 15-18 minutes tops. And all of it was silly easy.

Bike Fit Bits:

Next up, let’s talk about adjustability of the bike. As with all indoor bikes, one of the key reasons you choose an indoor bike over your regular bike + trainer, is for multi-person adjustability. Obviously, not everyone is sharing a bike, but it’s a main driver for many people getting such a bike. Starting off with the main adjustable specs, you’ve got:

Rider Height Range: 147cm to 208cm (4’10” to 6’10”)
HB Stack Range: 53.5cm to 72.8cm (21.1” to 28.7″)
HB Reach Range: 34.1cm to 56cm (13.4” to 22.0”)
Crank Length Adjustability: 165mm/170mm/172.5mm/175mm
Rider Weight Allowance: Up to 136kg/300lbs

So let’s go through some of these different areas, starting off with the crank length adjustability. This area has been redesigned, specifically to address issues with the previous bearclaw-style crank arms snapping (mainly when they were over-torqued, and then combined with sweat pooling in the other holes and speeding up corrosion). This new system has two small plates that you match together to pick one of the supported crank lengths above:

It’s a perfectly functional system, though I still kinda prefer the bear claw design. But that’s more due to personal preferences than anything else (and probably a touch that when I test things, having a single piece of crank arm metal means I can usually get power meters torqued on more properly). But again, from a normal user standpoint, this is perfectly functional.

Next, there’s the front-end adjustability. There are two core pieces here. First is the up/down piece of the front handlebars, and then the second is the forward/back piece of those same handlebars.

To adjust the up/down pieces, there’s a bolt down on the fork near the Stages logo; simply rotate that, and up/down you go:

Note that you’ve got this nifty wrench that’s just hanging out in the back seat-stay area, always ready:

Next, there’s the forward/back piece of the entire handlebar assembly (including the phone and/or tablet holder you have there). You’ll adjust the bolt under the front portion of the assembly to tweak this:

And then off you go to wherever you want. Super simple.

While having a hand-clamp like you’d find on the Wahoo KICKR Bike SHIFT/PRO might seem appealing at first glance, the reality is it’s not long-term. The KICKR Bike has long suffered from seatposts that slide, and the front-end adjustably can also be finicky. So as much as I prefer a tool-less design, having a tool that simply has a home in the frame means it takes mere seconds, and the seatpost/front-end/etc. just doesn’t move. Thus, ultimately, it’s a better solution.

In any case, for both myself (6’2/188cm) and my wife (5’2/158cm), we had no problems moving back and forth between us. Once you write down those preferred measurements, then it’s easy to do.

I will say that one gap here is a lack of a simple fit sizing chart, which Zwift provides as a starting point for getting the right sizing. I had attempted to measure my wife’s bike and align it all up, but sometimes getting those things to match can be tricky at best. Same goes for trying to match bike-fit coordinates (especially if those fit coordinates are more for a triathlon bike than a road bike).

Again, there’s obvious benefit to getting a proper bike fit, but the simple reality is that most people aren’t doing that for their indoor bike (or perhaps at all). And thus having a company give a rough estimate of a starting point is really handy.

In any case, finally, there’s adjustability of the saddle itself. While this follows the industry-standard bike seat/saddle rails, it doesn’t follow a normal seat post adjusting system (which uses hex wrenches). Instead, it uses these bolts, which suck for adjusting. I’m just gonna say that straight up, they’re annoying to rotate without hitting the rest of the assembly.

Setting that aside, the other gap here is adjustability of the seatpost fore-aft. By default, you can’t do that. That’s somewhat ironic because Zwift literally just came out with the Zwift Ride V2 addressing this complaint. Of course, Stages has a *TON* of experience in gyms with seatpost adjustability, and their previous SB20 had seatpost fore-aft adjustability.

As a stopgap, you can go ahead and purchase an accessory seatpost that does allow for fore-aft adjustability. But that’s an extra cost. In any case, neither my wife nor I felt it was a deal-breaker, but equally, I do feel like so many other bikes include it by default, and I was kinda surprised this didn’t.

Nonetheless, we had no issues quickly moving it between our different positions. Neither of us has perfected the bike fit numbers yet on this specific frame, probably because both of us can pretty easily ride on any frame roughly in our range without an issue (at least for ride durations up to a few hours at a time).

Daily Usage:

(Yes, sunglasses are sometimes needed here, as this is technically outside, just under a cover)

In this section I want to dive into some of the day-to-day usage bits, including aspects around the handlebars/shifting/etc. First though, I’ll start with the ride feel.

The new SB200 now includes a two-stage belt drive system (compared to one stage previously). Stages says this new system gives them 5x the inertia of the previous SB20. While I don’t have an SB20 handy anymore, I can say the inertial feeling here is very very very smooth. It accelerates well, and I’m quite happy with that. For fun, here’s what it looks like inside:

I’ve actually got to take it apart later today (more details on that in the accuracy section), so I’ll take some of my own shots and update here.

The only downside, though, to the SB200 system is the freehub sound when coasting. While certain outdoor bikes (within the freehub) have that high-pitched clicking sound when you coast down a hill, most indoor bikes don’t. Mainly because nobody actually wants to hear that inside. Yet, the SB200 does, and it’s rather loud when coasting. You can hear this in the video at the start of the post.

This isn’t a deal breaker by any means, but equally, I just kinda wish it wasn’t there. Apparently, you can mitigate this a bit by packing some more grease into the freehub, which reduces the sound notably; though it’s not something I’ve attempted yet. To be honest, this is really the only hardware-specific complaint I have about the SB200.

Otherwise, it’s very quiet, like most indoor bikes these days – essentially quieter than the fan you might have running.

So then, since I already covered adjustability in the previous section, let’s talk about the handlebars here. The new handlebars include proper shifters (the SB20 had lame buttons), as well as braking (which the SB20 did have). But the star of the show is arguably the small display here. I know some people don’t care about displays (and most manufacturers dislike them due to added cost and complexity), but it’s just such a simple practical thing:

This is less so about seeing your power in real time (since whatever app you have likely already does that), but actually useful for selecting your gear configuration. That’s because the SB200 supports up to 5 custom profiles, with different gearing arrangements for each one. That could be two for me and three for my wife. Or it could be five different bikes for me (e.g., road 2x SRAM configuration, gravel/MTB Shimano 1x configuration, etc.). The world is your oyster here, and you can create these in the Stages App. You can see these profiles named on the left page here (along with the ‘Shift Beeps’ setting when you reach the end of range), as well as the options to the right.

Then when you power on the bike, it asks which profile to use, and you simply use the buttons to iterate through them. Brilliantly simple, yet super useful – especially for more than one person sharing a bike.

Otherwise, while riding, it shows your stats. Though I do wish there was more customization here for the data pages/fields. There are a handful to choose from, but I kinda want them to channel their inner Stages Dash bike computer data field geekery. After all, why hold back? It’s just a software list of data fields. Go wild.

In any case, above that is the phone holder, which both my wife and I have really appreciated. Again, simple things, like a simple place to stick your phone (she often reads on her longer trainer workouts). Or the Zwift/etc. Companion app. Love it.

The two posts to the left/right are spring-loaded arms that keep it in place, either vertical or horizontal. The only minor nitpicking I have with it is that when I place my phone horizontally (landscape mode), it’s got a smidge too much force and actually pushes the phone buttons. You can find some slightly off-center placement that manages not to do it, but…it’s not quite perfect.

Of course, the box also includes a full tablet holder. I didn’t use it, simply because my wife and I were mostly using my laptop on my cheap projector stand:

I’m not sure how exactly it came to be that I went from like 5-7 trainer desks to zero trainer desks and a $28 projector stand. But here I am. Ultimately, I suppose space was the main thing for me with my current setup for us.

Oh, and below that phone holder are two USB-C ports:

Next up, the handlebars: I’m totally good with the stock grip tape here, and of course, being 31.8mm standard, you can swap things out if you want.

Meanwhile, the biggest change aside from the LCD is, of course, the full shifters, which feel just like real-world bike shifters. They click nicely, though there’s no drivetrain pulse/vibration like you get on some bikes (such as the KICKR Bike) confirming a shift. But given the tiny display there, it’s not a big deal.

There are also brakes, which will do exactly what the name brakes implies. This is mainly handy for quieting the bike when it’s coasting if you stop pedaling (obviously doing this mid-Zwift ride, though, will stop your avatar…so…beware).

Meanwhile, on the side of the handlebars are the customizable buttons. Five per side, and they are designed to roughly mimic those of the Zwift buttons – and they match directly up to that.

You can customize these within the Stages app, and on a per-app basis (e.g., Zwift, Rouvy, etc.).

From a shifting/etc. standpoint, I’m pretty happy. All things handlebar are good for me.

The last area to mention is movement, as well as sprinting. The SB200 includes feet that compress slightly and allow the entire frame to tilt side-to-side up to 2 degrees (officially). These are similar to numerous other trainers/bikes we’ve seen adopt this in recent years:

In reality, it’ll be more than that, especially if you have a trainer mat there, since that compresses too, allowing (far) more movement, as seen below. But at no point did it feel like it was going to tip over. The back base area is pretty stable there.

Again, the main point of side-to-side tilt/sway is so that it feels like a bit more movement, like on your real bike outside. If a bike has zero movement (e.g., the Tacx NEO Bike), it’s like riding a concrete wall. It just doesn’t ‘give’ and feels unnatural. So, the movement is good here.

Meanwhile, the one downside to the front end being rather skinny and lightweight is that it’s kinda easy to throw it around on a sprint, and it tends to bump up/down a bit on hard sprints. Now as always with sprinting, there’s a portion of the population that believes sprinting is best accomplished by relocating your indoor bike halfway across the living room with exaggerated motions. The other portion simply puts out the power, without the relocation. If you fall into the first category, this bike might not be for you.

In my case, I found that frequent hard sprinting would actually end up shifting the bike forward, causing my cheap $29 Amazon trainer mat to bunch up a bit. You can see it occasionally in the video. I’ve had Amazon mats for years and never quite had this issue; thus, while one might blame it on the cheaper aspect (or perhaps because the legs spread out a bit wider than mine), I think it’s mostly because the whole bike bounces a bit.

One thing that might help here is the RigidRide front fork accessory that Stages is offering, which is mostly meant to cut off the side-to-side front movement. But perhaps that’d also make the front a bit more stable. Nonetheless, this isn’t really an issue that I personally think is a big deal, but just throwing it out there for those that might be more ‘agile’ or ‘robust’ in their sprinting performance.

With that, I think I’ve covered all of my daily riding thoughts, so let’s get into some of the app compatibility bits.

App Compatibility:

The new Stages SB200 bike is very unique in one aspect: It’s the first piece of hardware to support the new OpenBikeControl protocol, which is an emerging standard that gives apps and hardware makers a single open standard again. Previously, that was ANT+ FE-C, then Bluetooth FTMS. But these days, with Zwift and their Zwift Protocol, the openness in the indoor cycling industry (or the entire cycling industry for that matter) is falling apart. Of course, this is mostly due to Zwift and their pushing the Zwift Protocol (which drives trainer/bike companies to support it), but ultimately these same companies are kinda part of the problem, due to them being unable to formally agree on anything.

In any event, the OpenBikeControl protocol is a great first step, and seeing an actual hardware company support it is huge. On the software side, it’s already supported by TrainingPeaks Virtual, MyWhoosh, and a number of smaller apps. I’d love to see Elite, Tacx, and Wahoo make quick work of supporting it. Whether or not Zwift will convince them otherwise remains to be seen.

As a reminder, the main reason OpenBikeControl is interesting isn’t for clean/simple power and trainer control, but rather all the other things that indoor trainer/bike companies want to do around buttons, power validation, etc. Basically, stuff that today they add extra special sauce to make happen (like Zwift does with the Zwift Clicks/Play/Handlebars).

In any case, as for the Stages SB200, it supports the other protocols you’d expect to see today. The only notable exception is not having ANT+ support.  But given the discontinuation of ANT+ nearly two years ago. I don’t think that’s really an issue here, though. Here’s what it does support:

– Bluetooth Power (clean)
– Bluetooth FTMS
– Zwift Protocol (BT/WiFi)
– Open Bike Control (BT/WiFi)
– WiFi: Power meter & trainer control

In addition, it also supports heart rate bridging. This helps save you a channel on Apple TV… Though given the WiFi/etc. aspects, that’s really becoming an issue of the past. You can pair any Bluetooth heart rate monitor to it, and it’ll funnel it in over Bluetooth/WiFi/etc., as a single channel along with the rest of the SB200 data/control.

In my case, I used it with a number of the big apps today without any issues. This included Zwift (all these screenshots are from my rides on the SB200) in both SIM & ERG mode:

As with all the apps in simulation (SIM) mode, it showed gearing without issue, as you can see below (Gear 2-10):

I used it in TrainerRoad in structured workout (ERG) mode:

I used it with TrainingPeaks Virtual in both ERG mode and Simulation mode:

And I used it with Rouvy in simulation mode:

I had no issues pairing it with any of them, nor any issues with shifting/braking/etc. Everything there worked perfectly fine.

Power Accuracy:

As it seems with so many other trainer or indoor bike reviews, things got off to a slightly rocky start here, with the unit not quite being spot-on. Nothing horrendous, but about 5-8w too high in the most common ranges for me (200-350w). Slightly higher above that, slightly lower below that.

I’ll save you tons of extra data sets, but after a lot of throwaway rides, it became clear issue was that when my unit originally left the Stages factory for me some 1.5 months ago, the calibration rig wasn’t yet final. Long story short, Stages was actually able to send over an updated inertia value, based on the inertial data from within the app paired to my bike (it’s kinda neat; it gets a QR code that the app can read and download). Notably, Stages did not actually have any of my comparison data sets at this time, just my note saying things seemed off.

In any event, once I got that value, then doing a short warm-up, followed by a zero offset, and then a calibration (plus a new/final firmware update), the unit was finally sticking the landing. So, let’s look at those numbers.

Note that in this case all data is compared to a set of Favero Assioma Pro RL power meter pedals (dual-sided). I usually like to compare against multiple sets of power meter pedals, but frankly, I spent so much time chasing down offset issues that I didn’t really have the desire/time to deal with some other power meter pedals being a PITA.

We’ll start with a SIM ride first (meaning, just following the virtual gradient, not a structured workout). This ride was done in TrainingPeaks Virtual; here’s that data set:

Above you can see the workout structure, which was a bunch of 590w intervals. Ignore the 4th interval in the second set; I had briefly stopped during the recovery period prior for a few seconds to it to grab a towel slightly out of reach, and TrainingPeaks Virtual had disengaged ERG mode but I didn’t realize it (since the power was so low that my easy pedaling felt basically the same). Once the interval started, there was no viable way to spin up to 590w in that short time period with all the shifting required. Anyway, point being, that was me.

Otherwise though, looking at the above, things look pretty much the same at a high level.

So, picking one of the intervals below, you can see that the power between the two units is quite close. I have no concerns there at this point. Though, you can see there’s quite a bit of variability in the power levels being held. While the jump from 150w to 590 was properly efficient (2-4 seconds), it did overshoot a fair bit initially, then undershot, and then wobbled a bit.

Part of that is due to the flywheel’s inertia. Generally speaking, more inertia makes for a smoother ride (and it does), but it also tends to make it trickier for ERG mode to stick the landings, or be super stable.

In talking to Stages about this (from looking at all my other ERG mode sessions), they noted that different folks prefer different levels of smoothing. I’ve often talked about this in my reviews, and can certainly concede that I generally don’t want much smoothing applied to my ERG workouts. But to me, this just seems too volatile (my wife very much dislikes it).

As a result of my feedback and other reviewers, Stages is going to be introducing a three-toggle system to allow a bit more smoothing to find some middle ground there.

In any case, back to the power accuracy here. Looking at the mean-max graph for this, it’s very close, easily within 1.5% of the pedals (which are measuring upstream, and thus should be slightly higher than the bike drivetrain):

And then likewise, here’s the cadence graph. The cadence on the Faveros appears to be ever-so-slightly smoothed more than the Stages, where the Stages floats about 1RPM up/down most of the workout. You don’t notice it when looking at a single unit by itself (either unit). Only on a chart like this. Either way, not an issue.

Above, the discoloration around the 36-minute marker is when I tried to manually ramp up for that interval I missed, but obviously failed to react fast enough to make it work.

Next, let’s look at a Zwift SIM-mode workout. This one includes a few sprints in there, plus some sustained power bits. Here’s that data:

Again, at a high level, this looks pretty close, but let’s zoom in on some sections. Below we have two different things. First is a bit of a 550-600w surge for about 20-22 seconds. In this case, the two units stay basically spot-on to each other. As you can see, highlighted below, they are within 1% of each other during this.

However, in the second peak above, upwards of about 800w, we see the two units virtually identical for the initial 2-3 seconds (again, within 1%), but then we see the Stages SB200 go a bit higher, roughly 100w higher. Obviously, with just two power meters, it’s hard to know which one is correct for these sorts of sprints. That’s one of the downsides of testing indoor smart bikes.

Two units matching can mean it’s correct, or could frankly mean both are wrong. In this very specific case, I’d edge more towards Favero being correct, given the way the power surges after the initial sprint portion (since most of my sprints tend to reach their highest power initially, and then taper off).

In any case, a bit later, two dual sprints in the 800w-900w range, and while the timing is about 1-second difference on these (welcome to the world of 1-second recording rates across multiple devices), they’re reporting very similar power. Again, getting two power meters to record identically on a sprint is usually more luck than accuracy.

And finally, a 3rd sprint in this workout, roughly 1,000w, and this time Favero goes higher than Stages. So…yeah. Again, welcome to the world of trying to compare max powers on trainers. And this only gets messier the higher you go (e.g., 1,300w, 1,500w, etc.).

Finally, looking at the Mean-Max power curve for this workout, you can see it’s within 1.5% between the two units at 400w, and only slight separation as we go up to higher wattages.

Last up, we’ve got a Rouvy SIM ride from last night. This one was interesting, because I had some belt slip issues at one point. Stages has sent me simple instructions on how to tighten it (not hard, but not something I had time to do yet this morning). But you can see each time it slipped on a bit of a sprint, how things temporarily went sideways. Anyways, here’s the data. For the screenshot below, I excluded the last 10 minutes where the slippage occurs; I’ll show it later on below.

Here’s a bit of a surge I did to 700w, and no issues here:

Here are three lazy 800w sprints I did back-to-back. In this case, you can see slight differences with each one, but equally, all are essentially in the same ballpark. From either a racing or training standpoint, there’s no difference here. We’re again talking 1-second recording rates being the difference in these values.

Next, I tested high cadence on the unit, pedaling up to 190rpm before my legs decided it was enough. Had I tried it again, I’d probably gotten to 200rpm, which is the limit of the Stages SB200 from a cadence measurement standpoint. You can see the Favero’s flutter up to 198rpm here. I’m honestly not sure if that’s correct though, because you can also see down below it goes and oscillates a ton right as I easy-pedal, which doesn’t quite seem right either.

That said, the power between the two units for this high-cadence work was spot-on. Well done here.

Finally, as promised, here’s the moment the belt slipped on me, and then the immediate power offset. In confirming with Stages, the offset would exist until the belt stopped moving (which matches what I saw), because the bike immediately sees the belt slip and stops ‘trusting’ the values till it resets.

As noted above, Stages says I should only need to remove the casing and tighten a bolt one turn, and then I should be good to go. They don’t expect this to be a recurring issue once this is done. I’ll update this post once I’ve done that (it just happened last night) and then, longer-term, whether it pops back up again.

In any case, as for power meter accuracy, I’m not seeing anything that concerns me at any of the wattages I can ride. I simply can’t output 1,500w or other higher wattages, so I can’t replicate/test those (if you don’t know if you can hit those wattages, I promise you, you can’t). But at all the wattages I can test, the power is looking good accuracy-wise.

I’m looking forward to a bit more middle-ground on the ERG smoothing piece, which is something I’d thought I’d never say given how anti-smoothing it is. But the faster power update rate seen these days via WiFi especially, combined with the faster update rate of the SB200 itself (at 40x/second), means we are simply seeing far more human variability than we used to in the past.

(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy portions were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, running power, GPS tracks, and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons; more details here.)

Upcoming Accessories:

Just a super quick note that there are three upcoming near-term accessories for the Stage SB200 that I want to briefly mention. I don’t have any of these three accessories yet, but all three sound like they’re quite near-term (days/weeks to end of year at latest).

They are as follows:

Hydration Station (seen above): This is simply two extra water bottles off the front fork, kinda reminding me of the Peloton Bike setup. While they noted that many people might just have a table/etc. nearby, as with most accessories, there’s a market for potentially edge cases like this.

RigidRide: Don’t like all the movement (or the front-wheel-looking fork)? No problem, you can swap out the front faux-wheel and put a dual-pronged fork that you see below. This will reduce side-to-side movement and improve stability.

More Adjustable Seat Post: This seat post allows fore/after adjustability of the seat post assembly, rather than just the saddle adjustability of the stock unit. This is honestly one I feel probably should have been part of the base unit, given how common seat post adjustability is. There is not yet a photo available of this accessory.

Also of note is that there’s no pricing on any of these accessories at this point in time.

Wrap-Up:

I think the Stages SB200 is a very solid re-introduction into the marketplace for Stages. To begin with pricing, they managed to slice $400 off the previous 2020-era pricing, which is a very good start to things, especially given that the KICKR Bike Pro sits at $3,999 (though the KICKR BIKE SHIFT, which is probably a bit more comparable, sits at $1,999). Obviously, the dedicated smart bikes are more expensive than the recent trend of frames+trainers. But they also serve a slightly different, albeit partially overlapping market.

Looking at the previous SB20 unit, I think the SB200 is a massive upgrade over it, though. Starting off with the ‘form’ side of things, it’s just a much more consumer-friendly design, whether it be the weight/portability, or the styling/look, or aspects like the display and phone holders. I’m super happy with the vast majority of the hardware choices here. I also appreciate the inclusion of an app with a bunch of workouts built-in, and easy sync of other workouts into it (such as TrainingPeaks workouts). All for free, without a subscription.

The areas where I’m not as thrilled about would be the lack of seat movement fore/aft being included, the freehub sound when coasting, and some of the ERG mode smoothing pieces. Stages has promised a very near-term firmware update that will give users three options to sort the smoothing pieces out. So that should address that concern. The other two aren’t deal breakers for me though, so I don’t think most people need to overthink those too much.

Overall though, I’m keen to see where Stages takes this reincarnation, both on the tweaks/updates front, as well as potential future Stages SB200 accessories. And the same goes for firmware updates to the unit, giving the display more customization/control. All things fully within their capabilities via updates. And beyond that, I really appreciate Stages adopting the OpenBikeControl standard – hopefully that’s the start of a trend from more hardware players.

With that, thanks for reading!

The Apple Watch Series 12 arguably draws one of the biggest lines in the sand we’ve seen yet from Apple, within the core Apple Watch evolution. Not because it looks different from the outside (it doesn’t), or even because of the changed processor/chipset (moderately different). But instead, because of the changes in software features that Apple has tied to the new optical heart rate sensor package. As a result of that, there are a host of new features that are only available on the new Series 12 (and Ultra 4), which aren’t going back to previous Apple Watch Series owners.

Thus, for this review I’ll dive into all the nuances like I normally do – but I’m paying special attention to the new Readiness Score pieces, the heart rate accuracy of the much-touted new heart rate sensor, as well as ultimately whether or not this upgrade is worthwhile. And of course, within that, which people it makes the most sense for.

Note that as usual, there’s also the full video review above. There’s certainly some overlap, but also some pieces I cover within the video review that I don’t cover here, and vice versa.

With that – let’s get right into all the newness!

What’s New:

The Apple Watch Series 12 might look identical from the outside, but internally it’s got an entirely new processor, along with a boatload of new software features. Most of those features are lit up today from launch, but some of them won’t arrive until later on (a portion of the Audio Intelligence features). Further, all of the new Series 12 internals (processor-wise) are shared with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 that was launched the same day. Here’s how it differs from the Series 11:

Apple Watch Series 12 Hardware Updates/Changes:

– Gets new S11 chipset, which has features from the new A20 Pro chips of the iPhone 18 Pro
– Gets new secure audio processing exclave within that (for Audio Intelligence)
– Series 12 increased battery life to “over 2 days” (50 hours, technically)
– Series 12 adds revamped ‘Extended Battery’ (GPS) mode and new ‘Max Extended Mode’ (increasing workout GPS modes, though Apple doesn’t make battery claims on the Series 12)
– Boatloads of new bands for all of them, including new Nike bands
– New aluminum gold color
– New Hermes options as well

Apple Watch Heart Rate Sensing Hardware Update:

– New heart rate sensor with increased electrode surface area for better ECGs
– New photodiodes below it for better workout capture
– New LED array below that for better 24×7 HR readings
– New HR sensor is thinner (bump) than in the past
– Increased background (non-workout) HR readings to every 5 seconds (60x more than before)
– Increased HRV readings to every 5 minutes (24x more than before)
– Claim of Apple Watch Series 12/Ultra 4 “Most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable”
– Published their own white paper to support that claim, with competitor comparisons

New HRV Features:

– Added overnight HRV trending/recording within the Vitals app (as one of key metrics)
– Added new HRV into new ‘Daytime’ view in the Vitals app
– Requires 7 nights of initial data on a watch to get HRV trends in the Vitals app

New Readiness Score Feature:

– Each morning you’ll get a new score
– Score is based on a range of 0-10 (zero being worst, 10 being highest)
– Four core descriptors you can get: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, Go For It
– Can be viewed on the watch or the Fitness App
– Leverages your Sleep data, Vitals Metrics, Training Load, and recent Activity data
– Requires 7 nights of initial data for the HRV trends, before it can populate Readiness Scores

New Health App Redesign (on phone, coming later this year):

– Adds new AI summary and recommendations
– Adds Apple Intelligence guidance, including suggesting intervals
– Adds new Health Age: Based on Sleep, VO2Max, HRV, Heart Rate, Exercise Minutes, Steps, and optionally Labs
– Adds new longevity Tab, based on Nutrition, Metabolic, Overall Movement, Sleep, Hearing, Heart metrics, mental wellbeing
– Adds support for pulling in lab work
– Adds new VO2Max test (test can be done in living room in 6 minutes)
– Adds new other tests for flexibility, movement mechanics, strength, and more, which can be trended
– Health app coming later this year in beta in English

New Audio Intelligence features (on-device, some features later this year):

– Everything done on-device, without need for your phone (at least for immediate processing)
– [Available today] Adds Sound Recognition alerts for sirens, doorbells, baby crying, and more (shows up as text on watch)
– [Available today] Instant Shazam: Will instantly show you the name of songs when you raise your wrist
– [Available later 2026] Live Rewind: Double-tap the Digital Crown to get a text-only transcription of the last 15 seconds of spoken words
– [Available later 2026] Siri Recap: Will summarize conversations/spoken words heard around you into a recap that’s available on your phone.
– Can configure all features independently (enabled/disabled, plus further focus-mode-like controls for Siri Recap)

Got all that? Good, so let’s dive right into all the stuff you need to know when using the watch each day.

Daily Usage Basics:

In this section, I’m going to cover all the day-to-day basics of using the Apple Watch Series 12, mainly from the perspective of health, wellness, and sports/fitness. I’ll cover some of the other basics as well, but there’s plenty of other resources for things like playing back music, contactless payments, or 3rd party apps. None of which have changed in many years on the Apple Watch. So if you’re familiar with those from anytime in the last decade, it’s all the same as before. The key exception being the Audio Intelligence features, which I break out into their own section down below later in the review.

Of course, it’s worth noting that the Apple Watch Series 12 does indeed require an iPhone. It’s unable to be initially setup/configured without an iPhone, and you’ll need an iPhone 11 or newer that’s running iOS27 (the full list is here). Further, for the newer Audio Intelligence features, those need an iPhone capable of Apple Intelligence, which is essentially an iPhone 15 Pro, or any iPhone 16/17/18. That’s also true for the Apple Workout Buddy features too. Or really, anything depending on Apple Intelligence. But if you don’t care about those aspects, then just an iPhone 11 or newer will do fine.

With that set, on to the watch basics. The 2,000-nit display remains the same as last year, which is more than bright enough for even the sunniest of days. I live on a Mediterranean island, with plenty of bright, direct sun, and I’ve had zero issues seeing the display at any time. The screen size is the same as last year, which is almost identical to the Ultra 4. Both watches support minimum brightness down to 1-nit, which ensures it doesn’t blind you in the middle of the night. Here you can see the two screens side-by-side on a bright day in direct sun:

Next up, the interface basics. The Apple Watch Series 12 has essentially two buttons, though one of them also rotates and presses inwards. Plus, of course, the touchscreen itself. In the upper right, you’ve got the Digital Crown, which you can use to rotate through menus, and then also open the quick access menu to get to recently used apps (and Siri), like seen below.

Meanwhile, the lower right button opens up the controls dashboard to check battery, turn on the flashlight, set focus modes, and more. The focus modes will sync between your iPhone and watches instantly. Handy when you want to head to sleep early, simply toggle the bed icon on either watch or phone, and boom – all of your devices are instantly in sleep do-not-disturb mode.

Speaking of sleeping, it’s probably worth mentioning that one of my favorite new features of the Series 12 is the incredibly fast charging for topping off the battery. Just 5 minutes of charging is enough time to get 10 hours of sleeping time. This is achieved through both updated charging algorithms, as well as changes in the charging puck itself. Nonetheless, there have been countless times in the last 3 weeks where being able to throw it on the charger for those few minutes means I didn’t have to worry about it not tracking sleep data.

This fast charging also extends to more than just sleep times. You can charge the Series 12 to 80% in 30 minutes, and 100% in 60 minutes. When I did fully charge it, I got somewhat variable battery. The first week or so, battery life honestly wasn’t super great. I was barely making it 24 hours, and even that was iffy at times. This is with 1-2 hours of GPS activities, but sometimes none. However, over the last week, things have notably chilled out, and now I’m comfortably getting the usual 1-1.5 days I expect.

For example, one night a few days ago:

12:20AM: Charged to 100%
25 hours later (1:20AM): Down to 45%
37 hours later (7:30PM): Down to 10% (and then I charged it)

I’m quite happy with that.

Anyway, back to some quick basics. You can lightly customize the watch face by long-pressing it, which brings up watch faces you can choose, and then from within that you can select from a slate of complications. Still, Apple doesn’t allow/have 3rd-party watch faces like most other brands do, so you’re kinda stuck with what they have. Though, what they have is pretty darn nice. I tended to float between the ‘Nike Globe’ and Exactograph’ ones you see below:

Whereas my wife preferred the moving lava-lamp style ‘Flow’ watch face you see below:

Depending on the watch face, one of the complications you can see is your daily activity rings. You’ll often hear the term ‘closing your rings’, which refers to closing each of the three Apple rings each day.

These are pinkish for movement, greenish for exercise, and blue for standing (once per hour). Below is an example of my rings from today, where you can see it was a mostly quiet morning, and then I did an afternoon run. Later on I’ll jump on the indoor bike for a bit:

All of the above are accessed within the ‘Activity’ app on the watch, though they are mirrored to the ‘Fitness’ app on your phone (and also visible within the ‘Health’ app on your phone).

One of the next metrics is your sleep stats. These can be found within the Sleep app on the watch, which is often on the watch face as a little bed icon. These are tracked automatically and are critical to getting Readiness Scores.

From an accuracy standpoint, I focus primarily on the times I went to sleep and the times I woke up, which it nailed within ~5 minutes each night/morning. Note, however, that I don’t compare sleep phase/stage data (e.g., REM/Deep/etc.), because doing so would basically be fake science. The ‘best case’ scenario for accuracy of a pro-level ‘gold-standard’ device is only in the low 80% range, and we’d never use a comparison chest strap that was only 80% accurate to judge workout accuracy. So, I’m not going to mislead you here and do the same. Instead, I focus entirely on the sleep times, which I find is the majority of what you need to know in terms of whether or not you’re getting enough sleep.

Next, there’s a new Apple Health app coming later this year. It’s just started rolling out as a developer beta, so it’s not fully available yet. But the gist of the changes here are that it takes Apple Health from being a nightmare for regular people to navigate to a much more consumer-friendly app. Previously, Apple Health was really the app that developers dumped data into for HealthKit. So it wasn’t exactly meant to be a place my Mom would open up and try to use. But these days, Apple has started shifting more features into it, including a bunch of health and wellness tests you can do, data about your sleep, and plenty more.

I’ll dive into that in more detail down the road, but looking at it briefly, things are looking really good compared to before. The geekery from before is still all there if you need it, but now front and center, it’s much cleaner and more simplified for everyday usage. But again, more down the road

Finally, a few minor leftover hardware notes. First up is, of course, the new optical heart rate sensor on the back. I’m going to dive into all the heart rate accuracy pieces later in the heart rate accuracy section – so stay tuned for that. Likewise, in the next section I’m going to go into the new HRV pieces, as well as the dependent Readiness Score & Vitals pieces that leverage it. Still, here’s what it looks like:

The new sensor expands the electrode area for improved ECGs, plus a slate of changes I outlined earlier to improve/increase heart rate readings.

If your region supports ECG, the Apple Watch has medically certified ECG readings on it, as well as background AFib detection. To use these features, you’ll need to do a quick onboarding piece that explains (numerous times) that the Apple Watch doesn’t detect a heart attack. Again, it doesn’t detect a heart attack. Instead, it’ll record an ECG that you can send to a doctor. To do so, you’ll simply wear the watch and then place your finger on the Digital Crown:

Once that’s done, you’ll get an ECG summary that confirms if it detected an abnormal sinus rhythm (such as Atrial Fibrillation, or Afib), as well as the ability to add symptoms. Then from there you’ll get a PDF of the actual ECG itself that you can send to a doctor.

Meanwhile, last but not least are the bands/straps. The Apple Watch bands haven’t changed here, and you can continue using existing bands you might have, or buy others from Apple/Amazon/Aunt Band. These simply pop off by pressing the button under the watch edge, which releases the locking mechanism:

Then swap as you see fit. I’ve mostly been using the stock olive-colored band that came with the bronze unit. At first I was kinda ‘blah’ about it, but it’s grown on me. But for fancier date nights, I also used the Milanese loop band, which looks really nice with the bronze coloring on the watch:

Meanwhile, my wife simply used the white band that came with her watch. I didn’t have any other fancier shorter-watch straps for her. Sorry!

Readiness Score & Vitals (including HRV):

Next up, I want to dive into the new Readiness Score features, as well as the updated Vitals app – which now includes both nighttime and daytime HRV (Heart Rate Variability). In the future, this would normally just be wrapped into the ‘Daily Usage Basics’ section above like most of my reviews, but given it’s new here, I figured I’d pull it out into its own section and make it a bit more detailed. Plus, I’ve now got even more time on the Readiness Score piece than my Ultra 4 review a few weeks ago.

To quickly baseline, though, the new Readiness Score from Apple is more or less the same concept as other readiness scores we’ve seen from Google and Garmin, which are a bit more advanced than the basic recovery and strain scores you see from Whoop and Oura. Further, in the case of Whoop/Oura, those are one-time morning scores (recovery), whereas Garmin & Apple’s scores are dynamic throughout the day. Meaning, they show an initial value when you wake up, and then respond to different parts of the day, such as doing a hard workout (or two workouts), as well as even taking a nap.

Apple’s Readiness Score has two key components: A numerical value and a descriptor. The numerical value is from 0-10 (with zero being the worst, and 10 being the highest). And then within that, there are four descriptors you can get. Here’s an example of my score as I sit here mid-afternoon typing this at ‘7’ and ‘Ready’, with some icons below it indicating the supporting categories (Activity/Workouts, Vitals, Sleep):

You can see my score was a ‘7’, with a descriptor of ‘Ready’. Here’s a quick list of the descriptors available and their corresponding ranges

– 0-1: Recover
– 2-4: Pace Yourself
– 5-7: Ready
– 8-10: Go for it

These scores are in turn based on four core umbrella categories:

– Fitness: This is primarily your workouts, but can also include other activity
– Overnight Vitals: This includes your overnight resting heart rate, respiration rate, wrist temperature, and overnight HRV
– Daylight Vitals: This includes your resting heart rate during the day, and HRV during the day
– Sleep Score: This is your sleep score from last night, based on sleep times/durations/phases

Getting a readiness score requires some historical data, specifically 7 nights of sleep data, at least 4 hours of sleep per night. Further, that’s on a per-watch basis. In the unlikely event you change watches, you’ll need to ensure that you’ve also got wrist temperature and respiration rate data for some of those nights as well. But for most people, if you just sleep with it 7 nights, you’ll be totally good to go.

That said, as you might expect, the more data, the better. In my case, my initial 7 nights included an 11-hour red-eye flight across the ocean (with barely 4 hours of sleep), followed by days of yo-yo’ing jet lag sleep. So, my initial seeding sleep/HRV data was a hot mess. That said, it does pull in your historical activity data beyond that, which helped to normalize things a bit.

In any case, starting off with an example day, where I woke up with an ‘8’ in the morning, indicating to ‘Go For It’

And that stayed as-is till around 1PM, when I went out for a 2-hour road cycling ride with my wife:

This wasn’t a crazy hard ride or anything, just kinda medium intensity up the climbs, and chillax on the way back down out of the mountains. Still, once I finished the ride, the watch notified me that the readiness score had dropped down to a 5 (from 8 earlier), indicating I’m still Ready to take on more load.

That’s logical, given my ‘readiness’ to tackle another workout or some other training load was now lower than before. Now, in my case, I went about writing/editing for the next few hours. But had I instead taken a nap, perhaps I’d have improved that to ‘6’ during that timeframe.

In any case, fast-forward a few hours later, and we’d go do an evening track workout. This one was actually quite solid. Not ‘I want to die’ painful, but enough to rethink my few-hour ride earlier.

Once that was completed, the watch then dropped my values again, this time down to a 3, which is to ‘Pace Yourself’:

Again, that seemed logical to me, given the intensity of the workout. In fact, it’ll even note that below it, saying *why* it dropped your values:

What’s perhaps even more interesting is to fast-forward a week later, when I wasn’t feeling all that great – a bit under the weather. In this case, I had basically ceased daily workouts to mitigate things, but I still managed to drop down to a score of ‘1’ (almost as low as you can go, which is a ‘0’). In this case, it was clearly upset about life. Unfortunately, in my haze, I forgot to take a photo of this on my Apple Watch Series 12, but here it is on the other wrist with the Ultra 4:

Certainly, I wasn’t feeling well, though as evidenced by the handlebars in the background, I still do an hour-long bike commute to pick up some new products. Hey…gotta get the job done! Plus, it was an e-bike, so…yeah.

And you can see the reasons it gave as well, managing to trip both the low vitals and low sleep score triggers. My Fitness score was fine, mainly because I had already pulled way back on training.

If you have an outlier (as defined as a comparison to your personal historic baseline), then it’ll turn pink (as seen above). If you have multiple outliers, it’ll also push a notification to you to be aware of it. These outliers can and will also drag down your Readiness score. In fact, when it comes to ‘why’ your Readiness score is lower, you can see that both within the watch, as well as the ‘Readiness’ chunk in the Fitness app (and eventually the new Apple Health app).

Now, that said, the Readiness Score isn’t without its wonk. There have been countless times over the last few weeks where the values are just null for either a few seconds or even longer than a few seconds. That seems to have improved with a firmware update a couple of days ago, but still, it clearly wasn’t ready to launch when it did.

Setting that aside, one of the core pieces that the Readiness score depends on is the HRV values (heart rate variability), which include both your nightly and daytime scores. These values are seen within the updated Vitals app. Here you can see the new nightly HRV values each time you wake up, showing your value from last night and how that compares to your baseline:

Apple takes these values all night long, every 5 minutes, and simply averages them during asleep periods. This is similar to what other companies do. If I compare my values from last night, for example, here’s how that shakes out. Apple now uses RMSSD for their nightly/recovery HRV values (and all values shown in Vitals), letting you compare it with others (whereas in the past they used SDNN, which wasn’t easily comparable):

Last Night (Late night workout):

Apple Watch Series 12 (Wrist): 40ms

COROS Pace 4 Pro (Wrist): 42ms

Fitbit Air (Bicep): 35ms

Garmin Cirqa (Bicep): 42ms
Oura Ring Gen5 (Finger): 45ms
Whoop 5.0MG (Bicep): 47ms

 

Previous Night (Normal Night):

Apple Watch Series 12 (Wrist): 50ms

COROS Pace 4 Pro (Wrist): 56ms

Fitbit Air (Bicep): 42ms

Garmin Cirqa (Bicep): 58ms
Whoop 5.0MG (Bicep): 68ms

This is actually quite varied compared to what I tend to see as comparisons. Usually the values tend to be within 2-3ms across the board, though I do consistently find that the Fitbit Air is the outlier.

In addition to nighttime values, Apple now also takes daytime values.  It’s also worthwhile noting that only Huawei takes and surfaces these daytime HRV values, whereas other companies tend to consolidate them into other scores (e.g., stress scores). That’s likely because the daytime values are super variable, and only taken when at rest (not walking, nor workouts, etc.). You can see your daytime score by opening up vitals and tapping the little bed icon in the upper corner, which toggles it to a sun:

But here’s where things get pretty messy. Apple is actually comparing to your historical values for that given time slice of the day (e.g., comparing your 2PM values to your historical 2PM values). And those historical values exclude any periods of movement or workouts. In other words, for an active person it may take far longer to build up a daytime HRV baseline, because you’ll get very few (if any) daytime HRV data points. For example, take a look at my data points here, and focus on the ones roughly between 9AM and 11PM. And so earlier on I had zero values for a given hour time slice (e.g., 2-3PM), and thus this wouldn’t show at all. Point being, it can take way more than just 7 days to get values for all the hours of the day.

And even once you have those values, frankly, I’m not sure what value they are. I know a *LOT* about HRV and trending and the like, yet when it comes to daytime trending of HRV data, there’s a good reason most wearable companies don’t do it: It’s just not very useful. And certainly not super intuitive, given both the circadian rhythm aspects that Apple says drive their hourly time matching, as well as just the reality of differing/shifting schedules. Plus the fact that any movement periods are zeroed out.

As I said in my Ultra 4 review, I appreciate Apple going a bit geeky here, but equally, out of all the heart rate areas they could have gone more geeky (like proper Bluetooth heart rate broadcasting to 3rd party devices), this specific daytime HRV area seems uncharacteristically confusing and messy for Apple.

Meanwhile, one last area of note is that the Apple Watch Heart app has been revamped a bit. For example, you can now actually see those HRV values. Below you can see the gaps when I was moving around/active (since it doesn’t measure HRV then), as well as my workout times having gaps.

Especially when you simply compare it to my day’s HR plot:

Now, I’ll be doing a full comparison of Garmin/Whoop and other recovery/readiness scores in the near future. But I wanted some of my data to settle a bit, given both the newness, as well as the fact that my initial days were full of all sorts of shifting sands (like transatlantic flights). Whereas the other non-Apple devices have much more baseline data to pull from, to be able to separate out a few random nights impacting that baseline creation. Stay tuned for that!

Sports Tracking:

I think probably one of the most rarely stated but interesting things to know about the Apple Watch Series 12 is that it’s got the exact same sports profile features as the Apple Watch Ultra 4 does, in terms of general sport profiles, exercise features, and more. Really, the only Ultra series differences in the greater sport realm come in the form of deeper depth gauges/certification for diving, as well as the emergency siren. Albeit, we do have to mention the annoying lack of ‘Precision Start’ on the Series 12. But more on that in a second.

To start with a sports/fitness/workout activity, you’ll open the ‘Workout’ app. There are a number of ways you can get there, but you’re looking for the little runner-man icon, which brings you to this page:

This page is where you get to choose your sport mode (e.g., cycling, running, etc.), as well as customize various settings. The Series 12 supports all the same sport modes as the Ultra 4, and you can find the full list here. The general rule of thumb with Apple Watch sport modes is that while they have most sports covered, they won’t have separate modes for each variant within a sport (e.g., Trail Run vs Run, or Mountain Bike vs Road Bike). Instead, it’s all just ‘Outdoor Run’ or ‘Outdoor Cycle’.

Once you’ve selected a sports mode, you’ll see in the upper corners that there are four ways to get into additional settings/features (shown above):

Upper left: Workout Views (aka your data pages/settings)
Upper right: Workout goals & structured workouts (aka the different ways you can have the watch tell you to suffer), including the new Extended and Max Extended modes
Lower left: Music (all things music)
Lower right: Workout Buddy & Voice Alerts (thus, all things voice-over related)

For example, if you want to customize the data fields/pages you see during a given sport type, you tap that upper left ‘Workout Views’ icon and then tweak the data pages here. Like with the sport profiles, you don’t quite have as much customization or data field creativity as you might on a Garmin/COROS/Suunto watch, but you’ve got the main fields you’d probably want/need.

Meanwhile, the Apple Watch does support custom structured workouts. You can sync things from platforms like TrainingPeaks, Strava/Runna, etc., or you can create your own on either the watch or your phone. All of this works perfectly well, and was introduced over the past 1-2 years.

However, one new feature you’ll find this year with the Series 12 (and Ultra 4) is the new ‘Extended’ and ‘Max Extended’ battery modes within the workout pages.

Somewhat quirkily, while Apple defines the battery durations of these modes for the Ultra 4, they don’t do so for the Series 12. However, assuming the same rough math applies here as it does to the Ultra 4, you’re looking at about 25% longer battery life in ‘Extended’ mode, and about 2x longer for ‘Max Extended mode’. Again, that’s just a rough swag, since Apple doesn’t publish any battery numbers there. Here’s what gets turned off in each mode:

Extended mode: Retains everything but turns off always on display, and running form metrics turned off. Cellular operations gets batches a bit. Everything else remains on, this is effectively the previous ‘Low Power Mode’ renamed.

Max extended mode: Retains 1-second GPS update rate (with dual/multi-band satellites), HR data recorded at every 5 seconds like normal, but showing a 5 minute rolling average on screen instead of instant updates. No splits, no alerts, no custom workouts. Plus previously cellular batching, no running metrics, and display not always-on.

With all that covered, it’s time to start a workout. In the case of the Series 12 (and all non-Ultra Apple Watches before it), there’s a 3-second countdown when you press start. Then it goes off and finds GPS/satellites, and secures your heart rate lock. This is mildly annoying, especially for races, because while you can tap to skip the countdown, it’s only then that it starts looking for satellites. Thus, from a race start standpoint, you either choose to add extra time before the start line, or you get a delayed start after the start line. Both suck. And frankly, it’s ridiculous that you can’t just go into a pending state like every other GPS-connected watch over the last nearly 20 years. Yes, it’s actually been that long.

Once in a workout, you’ll see all the data pages you’ve configured, plus any leftover default/stock ones you left.

If you’ve left Workout Buddy enabled (which is Apple’s sporty AI assistant that encourages you to suffer longer), it’s actually aware of your Readiness scores, and will generally include tidbits about said score in your workouts (and whether it thinks it’s a good idea for you to be doing whatever it is that you’re doing). That said, as was the case when Apple introduced the feature last year, I still find it makes an astonishing number of errors, frequently hallucinating random data tidbits in nearly every workout. Most of the time they aren’t life-altering errors, but instead are weirdly phrased things, or just straight-up saying the wrong kilometer markers or such. Of course, you can still turn this off on a per-sport mode basis if you’d like.

Once your workout is done, you’ll get a slate of summary workout stats on the watch:

And then you can dive into slightly more detail in the Apple Fitness app:

Now speaking of diving into things, the Apple Watch Series 12 has a depth gauge that supports underwater depth information down to 6m/20ft. Unlike the Ultra 4’s depth gauge (which goes to 40m/131ft), this one isn’t certified for scuba usage. But for most people just snorkeling or playing around in the water, 6m/20ft tends to be roughly where you’ll probably bottom out.

On the watch, it’ll show your current depth information, as well as track individual ‘dives’, in much the same way it would in a workout. If you go beyond the 6m/20ft depth, it’ll tell you that it’s too deep to track the depth, and once you’re back within the 6m/20ft, it’ll continue showing depth information.

All of your ‘dives’ are displayed within the Fitness app, as shown below. The depth app will automatically engage when you submerge past 1m in depth. Though you can disable that if you want.

It’s a handy feature that I appreciate, and the 6m/20ft strikes a good balance without needing the additional certification/safety aspects that the deeper depth gauge would warrant.

Now, one of the metrics you’ll see after a workout is your Effort Rating. This is a score that it initially estimates, and you can tweak, about the intensity of the workout. In other words, how much did you suffer:

This score is the basis of Apple’s training load features. Unlike most other endurance-sports companies that estimate training load based on heart rate or power numbers, Apple uses your score in combination with the duration. That has pros and cons. The negative side is that you might underestimate the impact of a given workout, or it might be hard to assign meaningful scores to both short and much longer workouts (as they can be ‘hard’ in different ways – such as intensity vs. duration). On the flip side, Apple’s system is much better for really long-duration but somewhat low-intensity activities like an 8-10 hour hike. In that scenario, you can effectively force training load higher, whereas most endurance sports watches will give a training load amount equal to a 5KM run.

In any case, from there you can see your training load trending over time, and how it compares to your historical norms:

Still, if you’re quite into sports data, you might find this all a bit thin. The good news is there are tons of apps that can leverage the data Apple puts into Apple Health, to do more advanced analytics.

As I’ve said before, one of my favorites continues to be HealthFit, which I use for syncing data to numerous data platforms (including now the DCR Analyzer), but also tons of other platforms. And then beyond that, it has tons of ways to analyze your data.

I don’t have any skin in the game there; it’s just an app I’ve been using for more years than I can count. And I appreciate that there’s a real human developer dude behind the scenes, and it isn’t just another vibe-coded AI slop app. My inbox is full of those, sadly.

Further, another example I’ve started using on the mapping/route side is WristTopo. I’ll be doing a separate piece on this shortly, as this vastly beats what Apple has in their own super basic routing features. Further, the native Apple mapping/routing features are very limited in their coverage areas (mainly just US parks), and not super functional outside of that. Whereas WristTopo has global offline mapping options, route-creation tools, elevation profile charts, turn-by-turn navigation, and even custom data pages. Plus, all your data ends up back in the same Fitness app that you use normally.

Again, more to come on that front here shortly. In the meantime, let’s look at some of the accuracy pieces.

GPS & Heart Rate Accuracy:

The Apple Watch Series 12 has a new optical HR sensor, which includes both new hardware and new software features that I’ve outlined earlier (like the frequent HRV updates and now-5-second background HR update frequency). Here’s the quick recap on those features:

– New heart rate sensor with increased electrode surface area for better ECGs
– New photodiodes below it for better workout capture
– New LED array below that for better 24×7 HR readings
– New HR sensor is thinner (bump) than in the past
– Increased background (non-workout) HR readings to every 5 seconds (60x more than before)
– Increased HRV readings to every 5 minutes (24x more than before)
– Claim of Apple Watch Series 12/Ultra 4 “Most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable”
– Published their own white paper to support that claim, with competitor comparisons

But the better question is whether or not that accuracy paper/study represents the real-world testing I saw, and if not, why not?

I dive into this in the video quite a bit, and will probably expand it out into a separate post. But the key thing to understand is that the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Series 12 only have an update frequency during workouts of “on average” every 5 seconds within a workout. It can be every second, or every 3 seconds, or every 5 seconds…but it can also have gaps of 20 seconds. All of that depends on whether or not the HR sensor algorithm decides it has enough quality confidence to plot that data point. If not, it simply skips it.

Think of it like this illustration as a timeline (this is just something I quickly whipped up to show you how it works after multiple discussions with Apple):

From there, Apple will throw away anything that doesn’t meet its quality confidence level, thus leaving you with something like this:

Now remember that all other wearables simply always plot a data point every second, including every one of the competitors in Apple’s study. Further, in Apple’s study they “only compared the exact data timestamps from their file to the reference Polar H10 device”. Meaning, using the example above, they only compared the values for the green dots. Not all the missing timestamps.

And as you’ll see, Apple has a lot of missing timestamps, especially when it’s unsure. So, rather than give you the wrong answer, it simply gives you no answer at all. And from a study grading standpoint, it was designed such that “no answer” = “the correct answer”. Which…ummm…is very slanted towards Apple, to say the least.

But setting aside Apple’s lopsided study, let’s look at the actual accuracy of the data. Because, to be fair, it’s very good. Is it better than its best competitors? Probably not; it seems about the same. But again, it’s really good.

First up, a relatively steady trail run:

At a high level, this looks very, very good. No major concerns here. But of course, when we zoom in, we’ll find countless examples of sub-5-second gaps, and other gaps like this one here for 11 seconds. In this case, the Apple Watch is factually wrong – both with the gap and without the gap. Remember, in the study scenario, it wouldn’t have been docked points for this, because it didn’t plot a point.

Next, what about a Peloton bike ride, with some solid intervals in there? Again, at a high level, this looks really good:

And indeed, it is good. Except there’s still plenty of gaps here, like this 12-second one. And of course, on the watch itself, it’s also only opening the heart rate display every 5 seconds (regardless of data points). So any fast-moving intervals will be wrong 80% of the time on the display.

Perhaps some rowing is next? Again, at a high level things look really strong – save for that one moment we see around the 8-minute marker that the Ultra 4 hiccups, though the Series 12 holds on:

Still, there are numerous other gaps, such as this 8-second gap here. In this case the difference isn’t really that meaningful though, compared to the Ultra 4’s issue above.

And again, we can do this all day long. Here are some 10x400m running intervals, which look very strong at a high level

Zoomed in, it’s still strong, but also with a number of gaps in there, sometimes shorter here, but certainly present:

Or this track run (8x600m), which looks fairly reasonable at a high level:

But once we zoom in, we see numerous moments where there’s ‘normal’ ramp rate separation for optical heart rate sensors:

And finally, an outdoor ride of a few hours. Again, at a high level this looks really good. Like, really really good. Exceptionally good, in fact:

And had it not been for Apple’s study, I probably wouldn’t have overthought it. But with the claims there, it’s hard to ignore moments like this:

Or these:

And these:

Again – I think overall Apple is actually delivering on a world-class optical heart rate sensor. And I fully understand their thinking of ‘not recording data points that don’t have a good confidence level’. I’m OK with that. Really, I am. But it seems disingenuous to then judge everyone else on a full data set, while Apple gets to ignore the ‘hard parts’ it can’t be sure of.

In any case, as for GPS accuracy, let’s quickly look at a few workouts. This is one of the sets of intervals I did around and around and around, and indeed, the Series 12 and Ultra were very good here:

Looking at this trail run next, at a wide/high level, everything looks quite good.

Once in the trails, we can see that the Ultra 4 & Fenix 9 are very close to each other, though the Series 12 isn’t quite as accurate (probably because it lacks multiband):

Here we can see though, on this fairly open stretch of roadway, that the Series 12 is off in the trees somewhere:

Though later on, the Series 12 outperforms the Ultra 4 for a few seconds…before going back through some buildings/bushes.

Meanwhile, on road cycling up in the mountains, things were pretty good. Here’s the high-level map:

And then, zooming in to these switchbacks, you can see things look fairly close between them, with a little bit more perfection from the Ultra 4 over the Series 12:

Though zoomed in further to this switchback, it’s hard to decide which one is most correct. They’re all good enough here:

When it comes to openwater swimming, I had pretty good luck with the Series 12. In fact, it handled better than the Ultra 4 did. Though, as long-time readers know, when it comes to one-off openwater swim tests, almost any device can have a bad day in the water. I tend to do more openwater swim tests as part of my larger head-to-head openwater swim guides, which I’m going to be working on here shortly. So I’ll re-test the Ultra 4’s bad day there. In any case, as you can see below, the Series 12 was near perfect here:

Overall though, from a GPS standpoint, the lack of multiband GPS/GNSS support is a bit of a bummer on the Series 12. Not because I need multiband support, but because it’s simply noticeable in everyday running. As I’ve said before, some brands have good enough GPS chipsets/antenna/software to overcome a lack of multiband. But in this case, the lack of multiband on a $400 watch, without making up for it in other ways accuracy-wise, has become the odd-man out in the watch world. I’m hoping/expecting that next year with a Series 13 we’ll see improvements in this realm.

Wrap-Up:

One of the things that makes the Series 12 notable over many years of Apple Watch (specifically within the Apple Watch ‘Series’ lineup), is that this is the first time in a long time where Apple is clearly saying, “you should be upgrading”. Unlike past years, when the feature improvements were fairly minor year-to-year and/or nuanced in whether someone with last year’s model would even notice, this time, virtually every major feature is only available on the Series 12 (or Ultra 4).

If you have a 1-year-old Series 11, your watch doesn’t have the right sensor to gather enough HRV data to complete the overnight HRV trending. Nor the daytime HRV trending. And without that overnight HRV trending, you’re not populating that HRV data into the vitals app. And without that extra line item in the vitals app, you’re not getting a Readiness score. None of that goes to older watches. Likewise, all the other updated heart rate frequency bits, be it background readings or updated Heart app features. And even further support in the revamped Health App. And then going forward, as we look at the current and upcoming Audio Intelligence features, those are all only on this year’s watch

Certainly, existing watches get WatchOS27, but even that list seems more limited than usual, with Apple dropping WatchOS27 support for the Ultra 1 & SE 2 watches. Point is, Apple wants you to upgrade. On the bright side, at least they made the offering compelling.

My general upgrade line in the sand here would be anything older than a Series 9 for sure (which is also the line in the sand for WatchOS27). I think if you have a Series 9, you’d find notable benefits here. Whereas if you have a Series 10 or Series 11, I suspect you’d be better served waiting another year. Both have very accurate heart rate sensors already, and Readiness Score-like features can largely be found as a stopgap in other inexpensive apps. That’s just my two cents.

With that, thanks for reading!

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