Overdue for a refresh — no successor announced yet. Prices should be at their lowest
Best for: Serious runners on a budget who want multi-band GPS accuracy, long battery life, and a training-focused analytics platform (EvoLab) without paying Garmin flagship prices. Also a strong choice for anyone who wants a lightweight race watch with full-featured training data.
Full details →Overdue for a refresh — no successor announced yet. Prices should be at their lowest
Best for: Garmin users and health-focused individuals who want Body Battery, HRV, and advanced sleep analytics in a slim, discreet wristband rather than a sports watch. Compatible with both iPhone and Android via Garmin Connect.
Full details →| COROS Pace | Garmin vivosmart 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | Sports GPS | Fitness Tracker |
| Platform | iOS & Android | iOS & Android |
| Battery | 38 days | 7 days |
| Always-on display | ❌ | ❌ |
| GPS | ✅ | ❌ |
| Cellular | ❌ | ❌ |
| Health sensors | hr, spo2, hrv, training load | hr, spo2, hrv, stress, body battery, pulse ox |
| Released | Sep 1, 2023 | Apr 26, 2022 |
| Cycle length | 700 days | 700 days |
| Cycle advice | bad | bad |
| Deals advice | good | good |
| Next model | — | — |
At 30 grams, the Pace 3 is among the lightest GPS watches available — yet delivers 38 days typical use and 17 hours continuous GPS.
Dual-frequency L1+L5 GPS typically found on $400+ watches — available on the Pace 3 at $229.
Running power, training load, base fitness, threshold metrics, and race predictor — a serious analytics suite that rivals Garmin at a lower cost.
Body Battery energy monitoring — the feature Garmin is known for — in a wristband that's thinner than most fitness trackers.
Continuous heart rate variability monitoring and all-day stress tracking give a more complete picture of recovery and readiness than step counts alone.
All data syncs to Garmin Connect, compatible with thousands of third-party apps, coaches, and integrations across the Garmin platform.