With a bright 1,500-nit display, impressive battery life and twice the computing power compared to the iconic Coros PACE 3, the new AMOLED Coros PACE Pro represents a notable hardware bump by the company.
COROS again focusses runners’ minds with its latest PACE Pro – a lightweight performance watch. The new GPS sports watch adds a 1,500-nit AMOLED screen for the first time – for those who don’t know all the techy words, it just means that this is a pretty awesome and colourful screen – as found on recently updated Apple Watches. Previously, such screens ate battery juice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Coros and the world have moved on, and now Pace Pro delivers an impressive 38-hour battery life when recording a GPS workout. That’s best-in-class battery performance for a screen that is as bright as anyone ever needs.
Serious runners will be impressed by the 37g weight. And yes, that DOES include the weight of the strap – the lightweight nylon one, but that DOES NOT COME as standard.
The PACE Pro claims excellent accuracy in cities or remote areas thanks to the improved satellite chipset with all-systems (constellations) and dual-frequency mode.
Key Facts:
Coros teased the watch earlier in the week, but the impressive details soon leaked from several sources, including Reddit (r/badcodelab), German and NZ retailers.
Over 30 hours of battery life in full GPS recording mode
Weight: 37g with nylon strap, 49g with silicone strap
1.3″ AMOLED screen with super-bright 1,500 nits. Reinforced mineral lens.
31 hours of battery life in GPS mode or 20 days in standard mode
Available in three colours: black, grey and blue
Comes with silicone strap as standard, nylon strap available separately
RRP: 399€, available now (31 Oct 2024) directly from Coros.
Coros Pace Pro vs Coros Pace 3 Comparison
The headline difference is that Pro is bigger and brighter with offline maps. However, almost every key hardware performance characteristic is improved to varying degrees.
Feature
PACE PRO
PACE 3
Case Size
46x46x14.15 mm
41.9x41.9×11.7 mm
Weight
With nylon band: 37g
With silicone band: 49g
With nylon band: 30g
With silicone band: 38g
Screen Size
1.3″
1.2″
Resolution
416x416px
240x240px
Screen Type
AMOLED Touch Screen
Memory in Pixel (MIP) Touch Screen
GNSS
GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS
Dual Frequency.
possibly updated chip model
GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS
Dual Frequency
Performance
Claimed 2x better CPU
performance than PACE 3
–
Wrist Circumference
Nylon: 140mm-210mm
Silicone: 130mm-215mm
Nylon: 135mm-205mm
Silicone: 130mm-220mm
Buttons
Digital Crown and Single Button
Digital Crown plus Single Button
Size Increase
>25% bigger than PACE 3
–
Bluetooth Headphones
Supports Bluetooth Music
32 GB Storage
Supports Bluetooth Music
4 GB Storage
All Systems GPS
38 Hours
25 Hours
Dual-Freq GPS
>30 Hours
15 Hours
Battery Capacity
345 mAh
236 mAh
Daily Battery Life
Without AOD Mode: 20 Days
With AOD Mode: 6 Days
Sleep and Daily Stress Recording On: 15 Days
Sleep or Daily Stress Recording Off: 17 Days
The move to update Pace 3 with an AMOLED screen is not unexpected. However, I’m surprised that the company has moved so quickly, and I was expecting this watch from them in 2025. So, Kudos to their development and production teams for giving your partner an easy choice for your Christmas present.
At 400€, this superficially appears priced sensibly against the superior Garmin Forerunner 265 at 500€. Still, you have to wonder if someone can afford 400€, so why not go for the 100€ bump and benefit from Garmin’s superior ecosystem and on-watch features? Even the Forerunner 165 Music has an AMOLED screen at 330€, and you also get support for music streaming (including Spotify) and tap-and-go NFC payments. Watch out for Garmin discounts soon on 165/265 to spoil the launch!
The older Coros Pace 3 came in at a respectable 249€, still a tad high for a challenger brand. The Pro’s 400€ price tag implies, once again, that a company thinks a product is probably better than it is. This might prove a costly mistake for Coros, but only time will tell; prices can be lowered easily enough through sales, but Coros rarely discounts heavily.
Coros General Pros
Solid watches and an ecosystem packed full of features
The digital crown is highly usable. In many respects, it is a much easier-to-use watch than the Garmin Forerunner Series.
The watch’s menu system is accessible and highly usable, unlike most Garmin watches.
Coros General Cons
The digital crown and appearance are a bit ugly to some (Apple seems to have done well with the crown 🙂 )
At this price, you want a watch you can wear all day. The watch faces are usually on display and need improvement and refinement.
The onboard interface has a slightly childish and old-fashioned appearance e.g. with the sports icons.
I’m sceptical of the Coros physiology metrics and wary of Garmin’s, but I trust the latter more.
I can’t see myself using a Coros as my daily driver. However, many people love Coros, which can be an excellent choice for some. If you’re happy in the ecosystem, this watch is worth considering when upgrading.
Seems to be similarry specced at first glance as Suunto’s Race S, which is priced lower at €349.
My vertex 1 is still doing well, but feel it’s nearing its end of life soon. Overall I am happy with the Coros ECO system, after moving away from Garmin several years ago. So this is likely a potential upgrade candidate for me as I prefer a smaller model over the Vertix and don’t fancy changing ECO systems again.
This will appeal to existing Coros supporters but unlikely to pull lots of people away from Garmin.
In the UK you can buy the FR265 for £390 or the Epix 2 for £325.
The you can save even more money and get the Epix 2 for £325
you can simply use the Dynamic Watch (dwMAP) ciq tool to bypass Garmin’s artificial restriction => https://dynamic.watch/
Same price as the new polar vantage m3, more expensive than suunto race s. As a previous coros apex user who had his watch die right after 2 years warranty period was up (couldn’t charge, otherwise still worked until battery ran out) and finding out there is no service centre to actually get it fixed, I’m keen on the specs but not the brand itself.
that is one good thing about Garmin, they often can offer something extra after the two year period.
Apple?…forget it.
I’ve not heard the resolutions of any similar stories to yours with Coros, so can’t really comment.
Why 399€ instead of 299€ ! 🙂
agreed, i think the pricing makes it a more complex sell to newcomers to the Coros ecosystem. If you are already a Coros owner…fill your boots, this will be a great upgrade.
Is it confirmed that it will in fact be thicker? That’s such a dealbreaker. The pace was about having the most lightweight running watch on your arm, not about being a Fenix wannabe.
Yes, 3mm is quite a bit thicker.
Whilst I had reservations about some aspects of the older Pace 3 experience, one of those reservations was NOT the thickness nor the weight. Pace 3 is/was a great almost-no-frill running watch for proper runners.
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I don’t think it will come with sapphire glass, what do you think?
no there is not sapphire glass
Is the HRM monitor the same as the current one?
HRM adds ECG.
So it is different to pace 3
Seems to be similarry specced at first glance as Suunto’s Race S, which is priced lower at €349.
My vertex 1 is still doing well, but feel it’s nearing its end of life soon. Overall I am happy with the Coros ECO system, after moving away from Garmin several years ago. So this is likely a potential upgrade candidate for me as I prefer a smaller model over the Vertix and don’t fancy changing ECO systems again.
Race is a beautiful watch, one of the very best. And suunto has its own 3rd party app staore, like Garmin.
changing ecosystems is a PITA for sure
This will appeal to existing Coros supporters but unlikely to pull lots of people away from Garmin.
In the UK you can buy the FR265 for £390 or the Epix 2 for £325.
yep.
FR265 has no offline maps. It’s an important feature for me and many others.
The you can save even more money and get the Epix 2 for £325
you can simply use the Dynamic Watch (dwMAP) ciq tool to bypass Garmin’s artificial restriction => https://dynamic.watch/
Same price as the new polar vantage m3, more expensive than suunto race s. As a previous coros apex user who had his watch die right after 2 years warranty period was up (couldn’t charge, otherwise still worked until battery ran out) and finding out there is no service centre to actually get it fixed, I’m keen on the specs but not the brand itself.
that is one good thing about Garmin, they often can offer something extra after the two year period.
Apple?…forget it.
I’ve not heard the resolutions of any similar stories to yours with Coros, so can’t really comment.
Why 399€ instead of 349€? Suunto Race S is a sharp knife and I think that those 50€ difference will make it a killer vs Pace Pro 3
Why 399€ instead of 299€ ! 🙂
agreed, i think the pricing makes it a more complex sell to newcomers to the Coros ecosystem. If you are already a Coros owner…fill your boots, this will be a great upgrade.
Is it confirmed that it will in fact be thicker? That’s such a dealbreaker. The pace was about having the most lightweight running watch on your arm, not about being a Fenix wannabe.
Yes, 3mm is quite a bit thicker.
Whilst I had reservations about some aspects of the older Pace 3 experience, one of those reservations was NOT the thickness nor the weight. Pace 3 is/was a great almost-no-frill running watch for proper runners.
What about the quality? Is it made out of plastic too?