Disclaimer: I received COROS™ PACE to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro(ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews! As a BibRave Pro, I was given the opportunity to test out the COROS™ PACE Multisport Watch and have been testing it for the past several weeks.
Features
The COROS™ PACE is built to track performance metrics for indoor swimming, open-water swimming, outdoor cycling, indoor running, and outdoor running. It has a barometer, compass, notifications. The main screen has time, date, steps overall calories and last exercise activity minutes.
The watch comes in the most beautiful black box and includes a charger, band tool, and instruction manual. Before you can get started with the watch set up you need to download the app to your phone to pair the watch to your device. This took only a few minutes to complete. The watch is very lightweight and has a band that can fit any wrist size. The band is so comfortable I sleep with the watch nightly and hardly notice it is on my wrist. The watch face comes preset to light up when you turn it. This feature is great when you are running early or late at night or need to see the time when it is dark. You can disable this feature if you would like to sleep in the watch like I do (I like my resting overnight heart rate date) but not be woken by the light.
Workouts
The watch faces can be adjusted to your preference on the app. This is nice since you don’t have to toggle between screens to figure this out. You can change this in under a second. One item to note is if you would like to track your runs in miles vs. kilometers you need to set this up on the watch itself under the run function. This took me less than one minute to complete. I do wish this could have been completed from the app as well. You can set the watch to auto scroll the screens if you do not want to have to worry about buttons. I like to stay on one screen (since they created it with heart rate and pace I don’t need more).
Runs
I love the custom faces for my runs. I can easily watch my heart rate while seeing my pace and time. That is a function that previously would have been over multiple screens with buttons. The vibration and audible alert helps me when I have mileage based goals or pace per mile goals. The accuracy for routes that I travel regularly is spot on. The indoor run feature was very accurate compared to my treadmill. My pace was even while running indoors and this watch did not have the speed fluctuations with my arm swing that can happen with multifunctional watches.
Bike
I did not get a chance to test the outdoor bike feature as I was traveling and when I was at home there were crazy storms. My other BibRavePro friends who have tried it like Kim T at milesofsunshine.com had no issues with outdoor biking function found them accurate.
Swim
I was fortunate to try both indoor and outdoor swims. My outdoor swim initially worked very well I was able to swim in multiple directions and the GPS appeared accurate for the initial portion of my swim. I was however swimming during tropical storm Alberto so the GPS lost me but it was raining and blowing wind so I would say that was more the factor of the storm vs. the watch as it was accurate until the storm picked up.
Pool swims have been a dream in this watch. I have not had to forcefully tap my arm at the wall or swim 25m and realize my watch never picked up my last lap. No missed laps! I also really love that the rest interval stays on the watch when you stop it (this is also true with the run function). You can also personally set the screen for lap time, distance and pace as well as overall time on one screen. My favorite part about the screen is the clock time at the top. Now I don’t have to worry about if I am running late or trying to read the small pool clock it is there. I would love if they would add that feature to the run screen as well. The watch’s sensor works well even in the water so now I have heart rate data while I am swimming without a strap (one less place to chafe one less piece of equipment to buy)
Everyday Use
While the COROS™ PACE is a multi-sport watch, it also functions as a tracker. The information you can look at daily is steps, average HR, calories burned and exercise time. You can also set alarms on your watch do go off at particular times.
Overall Experience
The biggest perk of the COROS™ PACE is the long lasting battery! The battery is said to last 30 days in standard mode and up to 25 hours in GPS mode. I was actively using the watch with GPS 5-7 days a week and was unable to test standard mode. I did get 2 weeks off each charge I did while using GPS during those 5-7 days a week of activities, sometimes multiple times per day. I also am in awe of the quick upload speed. I never spent any time trying to get the workout to upload to the app it was done in under 30 seconds each upload.
This watch also has stolen my heart for indoor swimming. It has allowed me to focus on the laps and strokes and I can rely on my watch working as it should so I can work on my performance.
Finally, I have really enjoyed the information the app provides after the COROS™ PACE syncs up with the COROS app. I have more information that I can use to analyze my performance. Also the addition of badges (you have swam 1km or you have run 100km) is motivating and encouraging. It would be nice to have the social connection through their app but it is not necessary.
Upcoming Features
The COROS™ PACE is a brand new multi-sport watch – released in May. The team at Coros is striving to make the PACE better with each update. Upcoming updates will include ANT+ and BLE accessories connections, interval training, power meter compatibility, and additional training app support [MapMyRide, TrainingPeaks, MapMyRun, etc.]. I am looking forward to these updates so I can log my indoor bike rides and communicate better with my coach. (These updates are tentatively happening this month). The watch retails for $299 and is available through Amazon.
Check out COROS on their social handles to get the first look at the new PACE watch : Instagram Facebook Twitter
Join us tomorrow for BibRave’s BibChat on Twitter at 8pm central to learn more about the Coros Pace.
