If you own a Coros watch, you can expect some big changes over the coming days. The company is rolling out a major update for four of its best GPS watches: the Vertix, Vertix 2, Apex Pro, and Pace 2.
Garmin has just pushed out a raft of new tools and tweaks for its own adventure watches, but it’s got stiff competition. For example, all four Coros GPS watches now offer structured workouts for indoor running and cycling – not just outdoor activities. When you hit the treadmill, your watch will also automatically convert your pace (min/mile) to speed (mph) to make it easier to compare indoor and outdoor workouts like-for-like.
For runs on hilly terrain, your watch will also be able to show a new metric called ‘adjusted pace’ – an estimate of what your pace would be if you were running on flat ground, which again makes it easier to compare different workouts directly.
If you’re sticking to a planned workout or training plan, you’ll soon be able to enter your RPE (rate of perceived exertion) once you’ve finished. You can enter training notes too, helping build a better picture of the factors that affected your performance. Don’t want to keep the data from a particular activity? You can now delete it manually via the watch face.
Rest and relaxation
Like Garmin, Coros has also tweaked its sleep algorithm to give more accurate results in the morning. While Garmin has changed its weightings so a restless night results in a significantly lower score, Coros has increased the accuracy of its sleep detection so it can pinpoint more precisely exactly when you nod off at night and wake in the morning. Your watch should also be better at picking up occasions when you wake in the night.
Your Coros watch can now detect REM sleep as well. Each morning, you’ll be able to check how long you spent in deep sleep, light, and REM sleep in the Coros mobile app (plus how long you spent awake).
The rest of the app is getting some tweaks too, including a handy status indicator that shows whether or not your watch is connected, plus a training calendar view that lets you see which sessions you have coming up, and when.
The Vertix and Vertix 2 should begin receiving their firmware updates on May 16, while the Pace 2 and Apex Pro will get theirs on May 19.
It’s great to see companies supporting their devices with new features and updates long after their initial release. Not only is it good news for our wallets (there’s no need to upgrade to a new watch until your existing one has truly bitten the dust), it’s also better environmentally. Extracting lithium for the type of rechargeable batteries used in GPS watches uses a tremendous amount of water, and electronic waste is a huge problem. Hopefully the watch on your wrist now will keep ticking over for many months and years to come.
