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Runners were some of the first people to embrace smartwatches. I remember back when a “running watch” was a brick-like GPS device strapped to your wrist, and it was a game-changer when those bricks started tracking heart rate as well.
These days, every smartwatch can track your heart rate, not to mention your location and potentially a half-dozen other things. For a running watch to be special, it needs tons of extra fitness-centric features—and some critical small details, like physical buttons. Read on for my picks.
What to look for in a running watch
It’s easy to get lost in spec sheets and marketing claims, but at the end of the day, what matters in a watch is whether it can do what you want a watch to do. Think of it like hiring an employee: you don’t want the person who can do the most things, you want the person who can do the job that you need done.
So here are some things to think about when crafting the “job description” for your running watch. Some might be critical to you; some might be irrelevant.
Does it have physical buttons?
This is the first question that separates running watches (and other serious fitness watches) from general-purpose smartwatches like the Apple Watch.
For most everyday functions, it may not matter if you’re clicking a physical button or booping an icon on a screen. But when you’re running laps at the track, your shaky, sweaty fingers are going to have a hard time with a touchscreen. For that reason, runners often prefer a watch with real buttons. All of my picks below have physical buttons.
How good is the GPS?
All running smartwatches track your location with GPS—that’s the main reason they exist. (To be pedantic about it, GPS is just one type of global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, which is what we really mean when we talk about location tracking.)
But some location systems are more accurate than others. The least accurate watches are the ones that rely on your phone’s GPS rather than having their own built in. (Whoop and some Fitbits, for example.) The most accurate smartwatches use multiple bands per satellite, and work in more parts of the world by supporting multiple networks like GLONASS and Galileo.
Watches that feature “dual-band GPS” are the most accurate among city buildings or under heavy tree cover. Most watches allow you to switch between higher accuracy modes that use more battery and lower accuracy modes that save battery life.
All of my picks below use multiple satellite systems (with one obvious exception, as you’ll see). It’s worth noting that GNSS keeps getting better over the years, so newer models outperform older ones as a general rule.
What is the battery life?
While phone-based smartwatches like the Apple Watch usually need to be charged every day, running and fitness watches typically have a battery life that will last at least a few days between charges. Many will last a week or more, and some Garmins can make it a whole month.
But if you do very long runs—you’re training for a marathon, perhaps—you’ll also want to know how long you can run. Playing music and tracking your location use more power than just wearing a watch in its regular timekeeping mode, so check how many hours of active use the watch provides. I’ll note battery life for my picks below.
Does it help you navigate, or just track where you’ve been?
Some running watches contain a full navigation system, with pre-loaded maps and turn-by-turn directions. Others can lay a trail of digital breadcrumbs for you, letting you see the path you’ve taken and retrace your steps, but without any extra information or help about where exactly you are in the world. All running watches can track your route in a way that lets you see a map when you get home. I’ll note which watches include maps.
Does it tell you what to do, or just track what you’ve done?
Fancier running watches can track your fatigue and readiness, suggest workouts for you, and even guide you along a customized training plan. Meanwhile, the more basic watches will trust that you’re planning your own training; their job is just to be a tool to track what you’ve done.
Do you want a running watch, or a general purpose smartwatch?
Before we get into the specs of the best running watches, an important question to ask yourself is whether you want a running-specific watch with general features, or a general watch that you can bring on a run.
The models below are for running first, everyday life second. Check out my guide on trackers for general health and fitness if you want something that’s more of a “smartwatch I can run with.”
With those features in mind, I have picks for a variety of budgets and needs.
The best overall: Garmin Forerunner 970
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Garmin watches for running, specifically the Forerunner line. Currently the newest and best watch in that line is the Forerunner 970. I reviewed its mid-range counterpart, the 570, in detail here. The 970 (like the 570) is a solid running watch with excellent location accuracy and heart rate accuracy. Both watches have tons of training metrics, like heat acclimation, and they feature a speaker and microphone, which earlier Forerunners did not have.
The 970 has a few advantages over the 570. The biggest one is that it can display full-color maps while you’re navigating, a feature that’s incredibly handy if you like to download route files to follow new trails or find your way around when traveling. The other nifty feature is an LED flashlight, which may have originally been meant for outdoor adventures, but which Garmin owners constantly praise for helping them to navigate their house at night without waking a sleeping child or partner.
The best budget pick: Suunto Run
The low end of the running watch market is having a really nice moment. Besides the 255, which I mentioned above, there are a bunch of great lower end watches that you can buy brand-new.
While the Forerunner 55 is probably the cheapest new watch out there, it’s missing a lot of features, like dual-band GPS and resting HRV status. The Forerunner 165 has most of what the 55 is missing, including a nice sharp AMOLED screen, but still no dual-band GPS. One of my favorites in this space at the moment is the Pace 3, by Garmin Competitor Coros.
Instead, take a look at the Suunto Run. I really enjoyed it while I was reviewing it. Besides performing well on everything that matters, it has a bright and clear display, it’s probably the lightest-weight watch I’ve reviewed, and it displays its navigation more clearly than most. It’s $249 normally but often goes on sale—it’s $199 as I’m writing this.
The oldie but goodie: Garmin Forerunner 255
The 2xx line of Forerunner has been the most popular for years. Strava’s end-of-year reports have consistently found four- and five-year-old Forerunners among the most popular devices for serious runners. I personally run with a Forerunner 265S, which since I bought it has been replaced with a newer model (the Forerunner 570).
But there’s a well-kept secret here: the model before the 265 is the 255, and it’s still available for sale. The 255 (and its fuller-featured sibling, the 955) have a reflective MIP screen, nearly all of the training features of the 265 and 570, and pretty much all of the tech that matters, like dual-band GPS. I’ve written more here about why the 255 is such a good buy, even though it’s been a few years since it first launched.
When you buy it, pay attention to whether you’re getting the 255 or 255S (larger or smaller size), and whether or not it’s the “music” version, which can download and play music files without your phone. I carry my phone in my pocket, so this doesn’t matter to me—but it might for you.
The best-kept secret: Coros Pace Pro
Garmin has long been the unquestionable leader in the running watch biz, but I’m seeing more and more runners move to Coros watches. They may not be as common, but their owners love them, citing the lower price for similar features compared to a Garmin. The Pace 3 model is a lightweight MIP screen device that I found couldn’t quite beat out the Garmin on features, but put up a heck of a fight in my head-to-head comparison.
The watch I’d like to spotlight here, though, is the newer Coros Pace Pro. It has an AMOLED screen and features onboard maps, making it pretty comparable to a Forerunner 965 for hundreds of dollars less. When it comes to personal favorites, I still prefer the Garmin ecosystem and the smaller sizes that are available in Garmin watches (the Pace Pro is only available in a 46 millimeter size). But I can’t deny that, when it comes to features and price, the Coros Pace Pro outperforms the Garmin Forerunner 265. For more on the difference between the two brands, check out what happened when I swapped my Garmin for a Coros this summer.
The fancy watch for fancy runners: Garmin Fenix 8 Solar Sapphire
If you’ve got a generous budget for a running watch and you want the best one out there, it’s hard to go wrong with the Fenix line. This one comes in three sizes and several different feature sets, but I’d like to highlight this one. It has a sapphire screen, meaning it’s literally made of sapphire mineral for scratch resistance. It also features solar charging, so you can extend your battery life outdoors without needing to stop to charge on long outings.
Garmin also introduced an AMOLED screen on the Fenix 8, but AMOLED and solar charging don’t go together, so you’ll have to choose one or the other.
Fenix watches, generally, have all of Garmin’s best bells and whistles, with an incredible battery life. In smartwatch mode you’re looking at a couple of weeks, not days (four weeks with solar charging is the official estimate), and the watch will last 13 hours of active use with all-systems GPS and music playing.
The barebones option that elite runners use: Timex Ironman
Yes, this is a “dumb” watch. No, I’m not including it as a joke. A lot of runners—including, and I might say, especially the pros—find the fancy features of smartwatches to be more of a distraction than a help.
The Timex Ironman is a watch with physical buttons, a stopwatch, and a backlight that you can turn on when needed, and it retails for $60. It can remember your split times for a whole workout, and your average and best splits for past workouts.
