Sports Watch & Bike Computer Update – November 2022

V2.403 – 14 Nov 2022

This frequently refreshed & super-detailed post shows which GPS Run, Bike and Triathlon sports devices are rumoured to be pending release, available NOW, discontinued or which are due to be superseded.

Elsewhere on the site, there are LOTS of detailed hands-on reviews on virtually all of the key run/tri watches and bike computers that you can BUY NOW.

If you are here for the first time and interested in ‘future sports devices & feature sports tech developments‘ then this entire post and another discussing the future of individual features (also linked at the end) will be of interest. Note that most info here is based on high-quality leaks, dual-sourced rumours and the extrapolation of past product release cycles, wider technological changes & their availability. Almost all of these new product ‘predictions’ will happen but the precise timing will differ.

Recent Highlights and the INBOUND Queue

2022 has been great and there is more to come. Fenix 7, Epix 2 and the Forerunner 955 have sold like hotcakes and we’ve already had new Polar and Suunto sports watches and new Stages cycling computers. There is still some sports watch excitement to come later in 2022 but Garmin has finished most of their launches – as usual, after the summer it’s the smartwatches we can look forward to.

Key Trend: Most manufacturers release a new model that genuinely often has significantly improved hardware bits inside and out. Maybe the features haven’t changed too much sometimes but the watch or bike computer genuinely has. So try not to give the makers too much of a hard time as you may often find separate releases of key features that either weren’t quite ready or simply a separate PR buzz was planned for them to occur later. Apple, Garmin and many more all do this.

The full table of everything, past & future is towards the end of this post.

Here are headlines from recent months and likely headlines for the months to come:

• LEAKED: Garmin Forerunner 265 AMOLED (a 965 is also equivalent also highly likely)
• EXPECTED: Edge 540 and 840 are now likely for 2023
• IMMINENT 2022: Moto Watch 200 and 200s
• LAUNCHED: Polar Ignite 3
• LAUNCHED: Coros Apex Pro Gen 2
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Instinct Crossover
• LAUNCHED: Oppo Watch 3  Pro
• LAUNCHED: Suunto 9 Peak Pro
• LAUNCHED: Wahoo ROAM 2
• LAUNCHED: Google Pixel Watch
• LAUNCHED: Garmin MARQ 2
• LAUNCHED: Apple Watch 8, SE (2022) & ULTRA
• LAUNCHED: Venu SQ 2 Sep 2022 (Music, maybe LTE option too)
• LAUNCHED: Fitbit Versa 4 and Sense 2 with LTE options (Inspire 3 as well)
• LAUNCHED: Samsung Watch5
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Enduro 2
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Explore 2 and Explore 2 Power Bundle
• LAUNCHED: Forerunner 255 & 255s plus music options. Expected Wed 1st June 2022
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Forerunner 955 and 955 Solar
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Epix (Fenix 7X with lights!)
• LAUNCHED: Fenix 7 series (January 18, 2022)
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Tactix 7 (Tactical, soldier)
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Quatix 7 (Water, yachts)
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Instinct 2 and 2s
• LAUNCHED Garmin D2 Air X10
• LAUNCHED: Garmin D2 Mach 1
• LAUNCHED: Tag Heuer Calibre E4
• LAUNCHED: Skagen Falster Gen 6 (Fossil, Wear OS)
• LAUNCHED: Polar Pacer and Pacer Pro
• LAUNCHED: Suunto 5 Peak
• LAUNCHED: Stages Cycling M200 and L200 next-gen bike computers
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Venu 2 Plus
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Varia RTL715
• LAUNCHED: Garmin Edge 1040 with solar option

Monthly Commentary

Q1/Q2.2022 was a nice start to the year as we saw lots from Garmin, Pacer Pro from Polar and the 5 Peak from Suunto not to mention Stages M200/L200 cycling computers that I’m enjoying very much. Coros officially said something was coming from them but for later in the year. So as of NOW it’s really more Garmin products that we are waiting on with the mish-mash of wellness/smart products much more likely to hit later in the year with the run-up to Christmas.

We are currently seeing every Garmin CIQ 5-capable device getting that update

Personally speaking, I’ll be excited to see the next generation of Garmin MARQ althought I won’t be paying for that premium shell.

Edge 1040 Solar and 1040 were also interesting additions but not too exciting on the new features front.

Apart from that, I have no intel on Wahoo but am looking forward to ANYTHING new from them. Be that a revamped RIVAL or new ELEMNT bike computer. Logic would say that a next-gen ROAM is next (no intel) but I can’t see RIVAL being superseded this year with another tri-watch, maybe something else?

Garmin Running & Triathlon Tech for 2022

If you analyse previous release cycles, a LOT of Garmin products were due for a refresh in 2021. Covid got in the way and 2022 is when most surfaced. So if it hasn’t been iterated it WILL be…soon. Exceptions being the 265, 965 and Edge 840/540.

The new move for high-end running tech in 2022 will, for sure, be AMOLED. We saw with the Epix2 but there will be more of a material impact as Solar is rolled out to a wider range of products although it will certainly still remain a premium option. LTE remains a mystery; I strongly suspect that it’s not as popular as the industry hoped, especially Garmin. Garmin seems only to be able to use LTE for emergency or positional updates to 3rd parties when really the vast majority of the market wants it for making calls and streaming music…Garmins can’t do that (yet).

As predicted, the Forerunner 955 is now with us.

For all new higher-end iterations from Garmin in 2022 expect to eventually see LTE as an option, perhaps eventually in the high-end bike computer formats.

Garmin has just about refreshed all their accessories to include BLE and ANT+ support. The most glaring omission is the footpod and that appears unlikely, especially now that Garmin has finally made running gpower proprietary.

Garmin’s approach to the smart tech and wellness tech aspect of the market is again at a turning point as 2022 continues. It’s not clear to me how the likes of Vivoactive 4/5 perform in the market. Reasonably well, I’m sure, but I suspect they are becoming less of the money-earners they once were. WearOS 3 and Watch OS9 will cause Garmin ever-increasing problems as more competent competitors emerge and strengthen their positions.

Suunto, Polar, Wahoo, Coros & Other Sport-focussed GPS Watches

I don’t expect anything excitingly new here in the entirety of 2022 unless either Suunto or Polar goes deeper with Wear OS, which is unlikely in the latter’s case.

Coros iterated the Apex/Apex Pro which is a well-made Venu/Vivoactive competitor but lacking in smarts and trying to compete as a finely made and more sporty version in a crowded part of the market. Just as Garmin might find issues in that space then so might Coros. Still, Coros is MUCH smaller so growth might be easier there for it at present.

Polar has iterated almost all their range except the Unite. That one next but then what? Back to Vantage 3 in 2023?

For Suunto, the next ‘obvious’ new watch is the Suunto 7 gen 2 (Wear OS) which would be the only possibility of a game-changer. Suunto has just iterated Suunto 5 to the 5 Peak. We also saw with Suunto 9 PEAK and 9 PEAK Pro that Suunto is also considering a variety of case/screen sizes as well as new quality case materials to augment their usual approach that lets buyers customise their watch. My bet (no intel) is that Suunto will iterate a larger Suunto 9 with the new tech on the S9Peak and S5Peak and then iterate a larger Suunto 5 in 2023 rather than any new play with Wear OS.

The Wahoo Rival competes against the V2/935/945 as a true sports watch. I could possibly see a refreshed Gen 2 model in late 2022 but far more likely is a continuous improvement in the features of the existing RIVAL and ‘something else’ in Spring 2023.

The sporty-smart-fitness watches then sit as uneasy bedfellows at the low/mid-price points, all trying to differentiate themselves from the out-and-out smartwatches made by the smartphone manufacturers (Samsung, Apple, etc). The main differentiator of these products seems to be their claimed sportiness/healthiness for the price points they occupy. Ultimately an app or two on an Apple Watch will do the same job(s) and therein lies the long-term fate of companies like Polar & Garmin.

Apple’s Watch ULTRA is a decent triathlon-ready watch that also has running dynamics & native running power…yes, really butthe rumoured outdoors competitor to the Fenix was simply a MASSIVE over-exaggeration of the addition of a few mini-navigation and running features.

2022 once again sees these brands & products at an interesting juncture.

• Polar has thrown the PACER Pro/Vantage M2 refresh dice for 2022. Where next? A move to Wear OS, a revamped web platform? Newer sensors or just a same-old, same-old round of new refreshes? Interestingly the Pacer/Pacer marketing material seems to suggest that Polar admits to itself that it can’t compete in triathlon and that might signal a refocussing on only running – a lack of track mode is a glaring omission.
• Suunto has more scope to refresh its product line further. However, it is smaller than Polar and we must not forget that its Chinese owners will be looking to massively boost the brand’s fortunes in the Far East. So this could be the start of geographic growth for Suunto it’s just that we won’t see much of it in the West. Suunto focuses on the outdoors and yet fails to have maps on their watches albeit compensated by good maps on the partner app – Coros manages maps, why can’t Suunto?
• Coros is likely to iterate rather than release new models. They have a conundrum though, the app needs significant work and, with the exception of the Pace 2, Coros must realise that their company strengths are “quality materials” and “number of sports features” – its products definitely sell well when they get the price right – Pace 2, but less so the rest. If the Apex 2 was $200/£150 cheaper, then it would be a game-changer. At the current price levels, it’s just tickling the toes of the Garmin Venu rather than giving it a stern push.
• Wahoo might not release another watch in the foreseeable future but as a company, they have a huge range of options open for their progress. I last moves were an iterated Kickr’22 and a new Roam Gen 2. The earlier acquisition of Wahoo  RGT and a round of redundancies (source:dcr), so they still have platform integration work to do.
• Smaller companies like Sigma, Mio Labs, Bryton and one or two others may well treat us to more good-value and focussed products in 2022.

From all that, what I personally would class as interesting are a Suunto 7 gen 2 (2022 would fit past product lifecycles but mid-2023 is more likely); a feature-full & revamped Coros data platform (which apparently will happen); and many more Wahoo RIVAL features like an expansion of running power. 

Smart Fitness, Wear OS, WatchOS & Similar Smarts

The game is set to be: Apple’s watchOS vs Google/Fitbit/Samsung’s Wear OS vs Domination of low prices by Asian brands. I’ve been saying that for years and have no reason to change my belief. Apple’s annouinced changes to watchOS 9 indicate that to be true.

Proprietary sports platforms like Garmin, Polar, Suunto will still be here in 3 year’s time. But…

I would bet money that this year will bring: high-end Fitbits/Pixel, Apple Watch 8, Apple Watch SE Gen 2 and Samsung Galaxy Watch5. Sadly I will get very poor odds on that bet!

The Wear OS bounce has started and will be more obvious by End-Of-Year-2022, as we see the impact of:

• Next generation of Fitbit Versa/Sense on FitOS
• Re-purposed high-end Fitbit devices for Wear OS
• and Google Pixel Watch for Wear OS (a pixel watch was literally left in a coffee store in April so a release before October 2022 is a certainty).
• Accelerated take-up of the new SnapDragon 4100/4100+ processors (eg by Fossil) and next-gen 5xxxx processors are already talked about.
• New strategic movers into Wear OS like Oppo, although at least one Oppo watch will skip Wear OS.
• Samsung has at least partly committed to Wear OS. It’s likely they will go all-in.
• Casio released their first Wear OS watch on G-Shock (Protrek too), there could be a revamped PRO TREK in 2022, though Casio needs to produce something much better than before to do well here.
• Further, Wear OS platform updates which are now accelerating

Interestingly, Samsung appears to have exclusive access to Wear OS 3 on its Galaxy Watch4 models, at least for a while. The future of Wear OS appears to be a Google/Fitbit and Samsung duopoly perhaps with Fossil hanging on in the periphery. That could be a pattern that continues for years – ie Samsung/Google giving themselves exclusive access to the latest version of Wear OS for significant periods.

Also interestingly, the image above shows two of 10 new watch faces for the as-yet-unreleased Google Pixel Watch that will run Wear OS 3. Notice the Fitbit logo? Kinda gives a slam dunk to prove that Fitbit will run Wear OS 3, yet there are other concrete rumours to the contrary so let’s wait and see.

Huami (Amazfit/Zepp), Huawei, Realme, Redmi, TicWatch and others will continue in the battle of the budget smartwatches. Several of these have significant sales figures in some Far Eastern markets and some of the products might even be described as increasingly competent. Indeed what we are perhaps seeing right now are the Chinese companies building up significant competencies and sales volumes in their domestic markets before using that strength in other geographic markets. Most of them lack the ability to be cross-sold with a top smartphone from the same brand.

There will be an Apple Watch 8 in Sep 2022, preceded by watchOS 9 in August.

Bike Computers – Hope or Hopeless?

Garmin is clearly dominant in this sector and Wahoo is clearly the main challenger brand. The jury is firmly OUT on the potential longterm impact of SRAM/Hammerhead Karoo 2 but it is ‘one of the great hopes’ with a realistic chance of success

Other than an occasionally misplaced FCC filing, Wahoo is very good at keeping quiet, so don’t expect any leaks…just hope quietly for something exciting. But Wahoo already has a medium-format and large-format performance satnav. Those models cover most of the commercial bases so, other than an iterative model strategy, what gaps are there in the bike computer market for a significant number of profitable sales?

Apple, Google and maybe “China” will eventually clean out the watch markets but Garmin holds a dominant position with bike computers. Many challengers exist to Garmin’s Edge Series but only Wahoo/SRAM-Hammerhead(Android) seem to be coherent challengers and they are lagging behind if the number of features is how you judge bike computers. Will Bolt 3/Roam 2 be able to withstand an onslaught from Edge 540/840? It’s an interesting market position to debate as Garmin Edge will NOT pull further ahead either in terms of features or market share as their tech is already well-advanced and their market position too dominant. Catching up in each of those respects is MUCH easier than Garmin pulling further ahead. Interestingly the next Edge we see will be the Edge 1040 (leak first reported here), alongside a new Edge Explore and that will be followed by the 140/840/540 in 2023. The Edge 1040 bringsSolar, predictive ClimbPro and a new GNSS chipset but no NFC payments.

How difficult is it for smaller companies to catch or even beat Garmin at cycling? Read this: How to Beat a Garmin Edge. The answer is ‘VERY‘. If there is ever a new product to beat Garmin it will likely be another device based on Android. Why?… Answer: “apps” and a shorter, easier product development cycle, which sounds a bit like the Karoo!! Go figure. That said, Stages seem to be interested in playing this game with the L200/M200.

I suspect that Garmin doesn’t care too much about lower price points, so Bryton, Sigma, Lezyne, CatEye, Polar and other smaller bike computer companies can fight out the price-per-feature battle in that very messy and less profitable arena. One hopeful rumour even suggested that Polar might release a bike computer but I think that ship has sailed especially considering Polar’s reluctance to support ANT+ on their watches (their newer chest straps DO support ANT+)

There are good, well-featured bike computers like Stages M200/L200, Sigma ROX 12 and the high-end Bryton models but all of them, in my opinion, lack that certain ‘je ne sais quoi‘ that could propel them to the same levels as Wahoo. But remember that the ever-successful Wahoo BOLT Gen 1 prospered even past its 4th birthday, so you have to conclude that it’s not high technology that bike riders necessarily want. Maybe it’s the ‘just works’ factor or the platform or the brand image. [Manufacturers, if you are reading that, re-read it and take action before you make a slightly better ClimbPro that no one really needs. Just make your devices super slick and never, ever crash or lose a ride]

Garmin also doesn’t seem to care too much about MTB, gravel or e-bike-specific models. Maybe they know something that we don’t? (A: probably!). Maybe the SPD Rally pedals are the first indication that Garmin will take off-road/gravel more seriously. (Don’t forget, cargo biking, electric bikes and many other bike markets are growing and might eventually be attractive distractions to Garmin)

Lists of All GPS Sports Watches & Bike Computers

This is my opinion of current & future devices across the GPS running/cycling market. Updates to this will be issued as and when information emerges which may include rumours, although please note that any information provided to me under NDA by manufacturers will *NOT* appear here and I won’t talk about it as I always honour agreements I make either written or verbal. So there will be a few more surprises over and above all of this 😉

Garmin – Current and Rumoured Models

? = Discontinued or effectively discontinued and replaced

? = Expected Future Model or ‘very recent’.

Polar, Suunto, Wahoo, Fitbit, Apple, etc – Current and Rumoured Models

Category Links to either a review, opinion article or your local AmazonLinkComments

Notes

• There are many other low-priced brands, several of which are visual rip-offs of the main brands’ models.
• Some low-priced brands include PARNERME, UWEAR, GoLife, GooPhone, Reabeam, FitCare, iGPSport, Xoss
• There are probably also some Kickstarter and Indegogo-type new models planned. My broad opinion is that if this is the first sports watch from a company with no track record then you will lose your money or receive a pile of junk. Spend a little bit extra and instead get a real product now.
• If you’ve found a brand that I’ve not listed above and the price looks too good to be true…there’s probably a reason. Just go for the brands above…eg Lezyne & Bryton offer cheap and perfectly good bike computers that support complex usage.

What have I missed? Are there others?

Note: information that has become available about accessories is NOT included here as there are too many of them to keep up-to-date with. There are also too many Power Meter variants for me to keep track of. I have more than a passing interest in PMs for triathlon disciplines but I don’t keep an eye on the whole market – the document I keep up-to-date on PM is my guide to the best power meter. I’m generally going to exclude wristbands from the lists above, like the Vivokids v2, although some bands have sneaked in there already.

Lists of all Firmware Updates

• Suunto Spartan is here: link to Suunto.com
• Suunto 5 is here: link to Suunto.com
• Suunto 7: is here: link to Suunto.com
• Suunto 9 is here: link to Suunto.com
• Suunto 3 is here: link to Suunto.com
• Polar updates are here: link to Polar.com
• Garmin updates are here: link to gpsinformation.net
• Elemnt Updates are here: link to wahoofitness.com and here
• Fitbit updates are here: link to Fitbit.com
• Hammerhead Karoo is here: link to Hammerhead.io
• Lezyne is here: link to Lezyne.com
• WatchOS 5 is here: link to Apple.com
• WatchOS 6 is here: link to Apple.com
• WatchOS 7 is here: link to Apple.com
• WatchOS 8 is here: link to apple.com
• WatchOS 9 preview is here: https://www.apple.com/uk/watchos/watchos-preview/
• Stages DASH is here: stagesdash.com
• Sigma Rox 12 here: sigmasport.com
• Mio Cyclo: mio.com
• Coros: link to Coros
• Bryton: Facebook page for announcements

Please let me know of any I’ve missed

Also useful for checking compatibility and new ANT+ devices. VERY occasionally you might see a special ‘leak’ appear here first by accident.

• thisisant.com
• ANT+ Specification updates here: thisisant.com

Subscriber-Only Content

This link covers a discussion of the trends in emerging technology and new technology – for example covering payments, GPS, OHR, Safety, Mapping and much more.

Recommended Reading: Endurance Technology Trends

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