Best GPS Running Watches of 2024

If you’re looking into options for the best GPS running watch and feeling overwhelmed by all of the options and their price tags, you’re not alone. As runners, many of us are wildly committed to the sport, and some of us have a thirst for our personal data rivaling the overlords at Meta. Then others of us want a simple watch to keep time and maybe measure our heart rate. And then some runners choose to go with no technology at all. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, our testing of various GPS watches on the market will help you choose the best one for your needs and budget.

When testing watches, our team looked at battery life, screen size, features, and durability. This guide builds on years of testing, comparing the latest watches to their predecessors and identifying what stands out. Our team of runners of all types analyzed which watches worked best for different situations, runner needs, and budgets. We continually update this guide as new models of watches hit the market.

To learn more about the lingo associated with GPS watches, how we came up with our list of favorites, and things to consider when choosing yours, look at the how-to-choose, frequently asked questions, and research and testing methodology sections below our picks.

Best GPS Running Watches

• Best Overall GPS Running Watch: Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition
• Best Overall GPS Running Watch — Runner-Up: Suunto Race
• Best Smartwatch for Running: Apple Watch Ultra 2
• Best GPS Running Watch Update: Coros Apex 2/2 Pro
• Best Battery Life in a GPS Running Watch: Coros Vertix 2
• Best Budget GPS Running Watch: Coros Pace 2
• Best GPS Running Watch Design: Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium

Best Overall GPS Running Watch: Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition ($650)

Pros:

• It has the foremost feature set among all competitors, with everything from solar charging to Spotify streaming playback
• Good battery performance
• Hardy build quality with premium materials

Cons:

• Aesthetics are too rugged and sporty for work-life
• Optical sensors are inconsistent and inaccurate
• Very expensive

How do you improve on (near) perfection? Garmin has done it with the new Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition. This watch is an upgrade on the Garmin fēnix 6, our choice for the best overall GPS running watch in 2022. The reasons for loving this watch are simple: good battery life, rugged durability, class-leading map capabilities, a clear display, and unique app connectivity.

Let’s start with battery life. The watch has a high-performing battery — up to 57 hours using GPS only and 40 hours using all satellite systems. Other watches in this guide will boast long battery performance, but as one of our testers put it, battery life, at full sampling, becomes a silly stat line. Even an incredibly slow 100 miler, Barkley Marathons excluded, will probably have a cutoff time of less than the 57-hour battery life of this watch. In other words, this big battery is more than enough for most of us under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, if you endeavor to push the battery capabilities of the watch and need to charge it, you won’t be able to wear it while it’s charging.

This watch is quite durable. One of our testers has worn it exclusively for several years and often finds herself scrambling over abrasive rocks, and she reports that the watch is only slightly worse for wear. The “start” and “stop” activity button is isolated with textured metal encased in a red rectangle for visibility. The quick-release straps are easy to remove and prove handy if you’d rather “set it and forget it” by getting rid of the straps and throwing just the face of the watch in a pocket. This will give your wrist a break and help with that watch tan line you’ve worked on all summer.

We lauded the previous version of this watch for its outstanding mapping abilities and found it the best among any GPS watches designed for ultrarunners. With all of the same preloaded, offline-enabled mapping capabilities as its predecessor, you can rely on this watch for navigation. While it doesn’t have the touch-screen capabilities of some other Garmin watches, it’s still easy enough to navigate around a map.

Not only is this the best GPS running watch on the market right now, but it’s also an excellent option for any activity. Be sure to read our full Garmin fēnix 7—Solar Edition review. Although it has been discontinued, it is nearly the same watch, only with solar charging capabilities.

Shop the Garmin fēnix 7 - Standard Edition

Best Overall GPS Running Watch — Runner-Up: Suunto Race ($450)

Pros:

• Good battery life
• Beautiful display
• Reasonable price

Cons:

• Slower processing speed
• Lacks offline Spotify streaming
• Lower-than-average mapping

With the new Suunto Race, you get a sleek and stylish watch with all of the features you could possibly want in a GPS watch, all for a price point that is significantly less than some of the competitors. With a stylish design that can be worn comfortably in most settings, this watch ticks a lot of boxes.

While a few other watches use a high-definition display, referred to as an AMOLED display, this is the first of the trail-specific watches to do so. It is absolutely brilliant, though it does take a fair bit of battery to keep it on. There are several battery-saving modes that dim the screen to improve battery performance, but in many instances, it’s not needed because Suunto uses a battery that rivals some of the biggest on the market. The watch claims 40 hours of continuous use, but we found that we were able to get upwards of 45 hours of use without a charge. If you put the watch in the lowest power setting, with no heart rate measurement, sleep tracking, or mapping, it will last upwards of 26 days.

During activity, we did find that the watch was slightly too slow to switch out of battery-saver mode when we wanted to look at it. Having to wait for the dimmed screen to illuminate so that we could just check the time was tedious at times. But without a doubt, as battery performance improves, other watches will start to adopt high-definition displays. Suunto has held a reputation for having fast charging times, and this watch will go from dead to about 80% charge in about 25 minutes and to full charge in under an hour.

For navigating the features of the watch, there are two buttons and a dial. There is also a touchscreen that makes it easy to navigate maps. If you don’t like dials, the touchscreen is a welcome addition to the watch. This watch is available with either 16 GB or 32 GB of memory and has access to worldwide maps. Unfortunately, these maps aren’t labeled, making them less useful than the map sets that come with other watches, but they will still provide plenty of information. You can transfer the maps to the watch via a Wi-Fi network, and it will only take a few minutes.

We found the optical heart rate monitor on this watch to be the most accurate of all the watches tested. As with all watches, this one measures heart rate most accurately at rest, but it’s at higher exertion levels that this tracks the metric better than other options. Suunto also includes HRV tracking with this watch, and you can get an overnight HRV measurement in the morning to gauge your recovery and training status. There are also several other health and wellness features included, including nutrition alerts and other coaching components. The Suunto Race also supports Strava Live Segments and cadence and power measurements.

We appreciated the flashlight features of this watch that light up the screen completely. It’s not as handy as watches that have an actual light built into the side that can easily be pointed to where you want to go, this one can help you see things in a pinch.

The processor of Suunto watches has historically been sluggish compared to other watches, and unfortunately, this one still struggles somewhat. It gets the job done, but there’s a noticeable difference between this watch’s speed and that of top-end options.

Overall, this watch offers a great deal of features for the price, and the incredible display just adds to its value.

Read our in-depth Suunto Race review to learn more.

Shop the Suunto Race GPS Watch

Best Smartwatch for Running: Apple Watch Ultra 2 ($800)

Pros:

• Work and running blend perfectly in a single watch with excellent productivity features in tandem with athletic and health performance features
• Health activity monitoring and advanced safety features
• Excellent for those interested in general fitness or looking for a fitness tracker

Cons:

• Battery performance is weak compared to dedicated sports watches at this price point
• Must be paired with another Apple product to fully function; no Android compatibility
• Touch-first design is difficult to use with cold or wet fingers

The Apple Watch Ultra 2, at its core, is a productivity smartwatch aimed at endurance athletes who also want outstanding GPS capabilities. This watch isn’t a huge upgrade from its predecessor, which held the position of best smartwatch for running in this guide before this new release. Compared to the previous version, it has double the memory, a faster processor, and a brighter screen. While it may not be worth upgrading to this watch if you already own the original version, it’s worth getting this one if you’re in the market for a new smartwatch.

This watch can do it all: message, make calls, play music, use contactless payments, and use a host of other first—and third-party apps right on your wrist. It can also collect tons of health data and track daily movement. Where it differs from other Apple watches is its action button—a hardware shortcut that can be programmed to start a specific activity instead of scrolling through all the installed apps. I mapped my action button to “outdoor run” for easy access.

Full GPS battery life is advertised to last for an Ironman triathlon or about 17 hours. That is more than double the tracking available on other Apple watches. It also features a more durable titanium case with a sapphire crystal screen less prone to scratches and dings from impact. It is water resistant down to 100 meters and is more durable than other Apple watches. It also has built-in safety features. In addition to standard crash and fall detection, there is also an 86-decibel siren onboard to draw attention in emergencies. The screen is super bright and vivid and shows great details. It is responsive to interact with. Overall, it is a significant step up for the Apple Watch platform for those wanting a single device to do it all at work or play.

This watch does have limitations. First, it requires another Apple device to activate it. Next, the battery life for day-to-day use and GPS tracking still pales compared to the competition at the same and lower price points. This is a touch-first device, and it is a struggle to use when wet or wearing gloves. Routing seems to be the biggest miss for a device that prides itself on safety, as there is no native way to upload a route to follow. You can’t simply scroll to a breadcrumb screen and look back at where you may have gotten off course. There is a compass app that sits outside of the workout screens that can do a bit of this, but you have to remember to start it in addition to starting your activity. It is a lot of jumping back and forth between screens and can become frustrating, even more so if you’re wearing gloves or in wet weather due to the touch screen.

Overall, as an all-in-one device, it is a marvelous watch. Having the ability to leave the house on a known route with earbuds while listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks or receiving a call or text with an enabled cellular connection while not carrying a phone is pretty great. This is a step up if you are coming from a non-Ultra version of the Apple Watch. Those coming from medium- to high-end modern sports watches will immediately notice the frequent charging required and curious lack of mapping functions.

Check out our in-depth Apple Watch Ultra review, the predecessor to this watch, to get a good idea of the capabilities of this new edition.

Shop the Apple Watch Ultra 2

Best GPS Running Watch Update: Coros Apex 2/2 Pro ($450)

Pros:

• Touch screen-enabled with offline mapping is a huge improvement over previous Apex models
• Exceptional battery performance
• Full-time health monitoring data doesn’t affect battery as much as competitors’ watches
• Scrolling dial is more reliable and less finicky than in the past

Cons:

• Optical heart rate is incorrect at high output
• The pace function is slow to catch up to real-time performance

While many watches get upgrades over time, the Coros Apex 2/2 Pro made the biggest jump over its predecessor, the Coros Apex, which we named our best budget GPS watch in 2022. Unfortunately, in addition to an increase in features, there’s also been a price increase, though the price has come down from when it was first released.

The preloaded offline mapping is the single update that makes this watch much better. Combined with a vivid display, the Coros navigation takes a much-needed step up. The watch goes into touchscreen mode when navigating, making it super easy to get around the screen. The prior version didn’t have a touchscreen or preloaded maps, which was a deal breaker for many when shopping for a watch. While you still have to resort to the relatively old-school method of emailing yourself a GPX route and then sending it to the watch to be able to navigate it, at least the landscape and topographical base maps are already there.

The watch keeps its digital dial from the previous version, which is less prone to accidental starting and stopping than a button on the side of the watch that can be unintentionally pushed against a wrist bone or hit while putting a jacket on. Like all Coros devices, the battery life is exceptional and has better output than the original, offering around 30 days of regular use if you’re headed out to run for an hour or two each day. If you’ve never used a Coros watch before, you’ll be delighted at how infrequently you need to charge it.

We’re still not convinced that Coros’ implication that its use of an All-Satellite GNSS chipset is a huge value-add. Under normal running circumstances, we don’t see much of a difference in the five-satellite antenna’s GPS fidelity or accuracy compared to every other brand’s more common three-satellite antenna (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo). The only time the five-satellite system significantly outperformed the three-satellite antenna of other watches was in deep slot canyons of Utah with a very minimal sky view. In this instance, we were amazed at how accurate the Coros system was, while the other watch tested picked up more errant points than accurate ones. The wireless heart-rate monitoring of this watch also struggles to work accurately. It’s reasonable in lower heart rate zones, but as soon as you start working harder, the number stays well below what a more trustworthy heart-rate strap provides.

Of all GPS watches, Coros has the fastest processing. It takes less than ten seconds for an activity to synchronize with the Coros app and then another handful of seconds to upload it to a third-party app like Strava. This sounds somewhat trivial but is appreciated when you’ve thrown down and want to check your results quickly.

Shop the Coros Apex 2/2 Pro

Best Battery Life in a GPS Running Watch: Coros Vertix 2 ($700)

Pros:

• Touchscreen
• Excellent battery life
• Onboard mapping and detail
• Pairs with Bluetooth headphones
• Can store music or stream offline Spotify playlists
• Sport modes like paddling or climbing can be tracked with specific data for those activities
• Can be charged during an activity if the battery is low

Cons:

• Heavy and bulky on smaller wrists
• The volume of technology and features can be intimidating for some
• Average/below average charging speed from zero to 100%

When it comes to battery life, the Coros Vertix 2 still reigns supreme among all GPS watches. We’ve written before that this watch, for the money, is possibly overkill for the average ultrarunner, especially since it’s a bit weaker in many areas than other similarly priced GPS watches. But when you want a handful of awesome features plus the best battery in the class, you’ll be happy with this watch and the Coros ecosystem, including its app, firmware updates, training plans, and aesthetics.

Meghan Hicks of iRunFar tested the limits of the watch battery and its heavily touted GNSS, All-Satellite Dual-Frequency Chipset battery, during the multi-day 126-mile Snowman Race in Bhutan. This amounted to 51 hours of “running” over five days in the high-altitude Himalayan wilderness. She used the battery at its highest setting, where the watch connects to GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou in dual frequency. Coros claims the battery will last for 50 hours in this setting. Although Meghan wasn’t willing to risk running out of battery and ended up charging the watch on the fourth and final night of camping, after 43.5 hours of use over three and a half days, in hindsight, she felt there was probably enough battery power not to need a recharge.

Another standout feature is the “At a Glance” widgets. You can use the dial to scroll through data, including your day’s step count, sleep, average heart rate, recovery status, and more. This is very similar to the widgets on Garmin watches, but we use them more since scrolling on the Coros is a natural and fluid method rather than clicking with the Garmin. The Coros sleep tracking seems more accurate and detailed than we’ve experienced with other GPS watches.

You’ll probably never worry about damaging the watch’s face with its titanium bezel. After over two years of regularly using this watch, it still looks new except for the dirt in the strap. And on the topic of straps, if you’ve finally had it with hard plastic ones, Coros is earnestly moving towards offering soft nylon bands and silicone straps.

This watch’s weaknesses remain similar to past editions: the cost is just really high for a watch that lacks the most advanced features of its competitors, including integration with music providers like Spotify, live Strava segment information, a native route-building tool, and labeled maps and turn-by-turn directions.

Read our in-depth Coros Vertix 2 review to learn more.

Shop the Coros Vertix 2

Best Budget GPS Running Watch: Coros Pace 2 ($180)

Pros:

• Battery performance outperforms much more expensive watches
• Extremely lightweight; almost a forget-it’s-there feeling on the wrist
• Simple interface that is packed with advanced features when paired with the app

Cons:

• It is not as durable and rugged for trail and mountain environments compared to other watches
• No battery-saving modes to extend life for ultra events or endeavors

If battery life and GPS accuracy are the two features you care about the most but can’t stomach the price of a higher-end watch, there is no better option in this guide than the Coros Pace 2. While this watch lacks some of the features of other watches in this guide, it outperforms them in several ways.

While this watch has several road running and track-specific features, it also works for ultra and trail running. Unlike its more expensive siblings, this watch doesn’t offer several battery-saving modes, just a single “normal” mode that will last for about 20 days of gathering health-monitoring metrics or 30 hours of activity on a full charge. This is way above adequate for most situations and will provide the same sense of freedom from your charging cable that you get with many other watches.

The smartest technology in the watch favors road and track athletes with a track mode that will smooth out variances in distance and pace caused by switching lanes or deviating slightly between the starting line of the workout. The watch doesn’t have a specific sport mode for trail running, which will limit the on-screen data you might find useful, including elevation gain. The watch does have a barometric pressure altimeter to best measure elevation gain during a run.

The button and scrolling dial layout are consistent with other Coros watches, but there is no touchscreen. This isn’t really a problem since the touchscreen is best utilized for maps, which the watch doesn’t have anyhow.

At just 29 grams with the nylon strap, the watch is virtually unnoticeable on your wrist, something you can’t say about many other GPS watches on the market. That said, with such a lightweight footprint, you lose a little bit of the screen size you might want when trying to visualize your data during the depths of an ultra. Overnight adventurers or racers will appreciate the watch’s night mode, an always-on setting that doesn’t knock battery performance too much and automatically shuts off an hour after sunrise. This watch isn’t made of the same bomber materials as its more expensive siblings, and it will suffer abuse much easier.

It is only slightly simpler than some of the other watches in this guide, but with exquisite GPS accuracy, despite it only using a single-frequency GNSS chipset and outstanding battery life, this is a budget GPS watch by cost only.

Shop the Coros Pace 2

Best GPS Running Watch Design: Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium ($700)

Pros:

• Beautiful design is appropriate for wearing in all life scenarios
• Improved processing speed when scrolling through activity modes and features
• Much improved battery life compared to previous Suunto models

Cons:

• Processing performance still frustratingly lags behind competitors’ devices
• Very expensive without some key features offered by other brands

The appearance of many GPS watches turns many people off because of their size and aesthetic, but the Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium is a big step forward in the style department. When this watch first came out, Suunto’s tradition of watches with massive displays came to a screeching halt. Suunto may have become one of the key players in the watch category for ultrarunners over the past two decades, thanks to good battery performance and solid durability, but there were always glaring issues with their watches. They struggled with processing speed, app integration, and sometimes glitchy software. But if you’re willing to compromise a little bit on performance for the sake of style, this watch is a great option.

The super sleek and attractive design has a 1.2-inch screen and keeps the same bezel size as its predecessor in comparison to the screen. Unfortunately, the bezel takes up nearly a quarter inch of the face and hogs much of the screen’s real estate.

At only 55 grams, this watch is incredibly lightweight, and our titanium version is still noticeably clean and scratch-free after months of use. It’s the least sporty-looking watch in this guide, making it attractive for regular life, not just running.

Suunto’s aesthetic sense extends to the fonts and colors this watch uses. It’s a bit like the difference between Apple and Android. The world’s best consumer product designers, Apple, nail every corner of their product from fit to finish, and Suunto fits more into this mold than, say, Coros, whose aesthetics lean more towards the function-over-fashion appearance of Android. Scrolling activity modes and even the watch’s controls are clear, simple, and inviting to the eye, and everything feels clearer and more accurate.

And though this version’s looks are virtually the same as its predecessor, it packs a ton of notable upgrades. Chief among the improvements is battery life, particularly for a watch with such a small footprint. We regularly get up to 40 hours of use in the best GPS mode, which is usually about a month’s worth of daily activities. With its flawless speed, a new processor makes scrolling around the watch an absolute joy.

Like other Coros watches, the updated GPS chipset can access all five major GPS satellites, but it is not a dual-band or dual-frequency GPS. Despite functioning on the single-band frequency, the watch does a fantastic job with GPS accuracy, showing no real deviation compared to its dual-frequency competitors in most situations. We found that this watch will connect to GPS satellites and locate itself much faster than other watches we tested.

While some major features like offline mapping and streaming-music integration are missing, particularly for a watch in this price range, the Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium offers a fast charging time of about 50 minutes from dead to full and is easily the most aesthetically pleasing of all watches in this guide. Unfortunately, some of the other features of this watch are still lacking. The processing speed, while much improved, is still very slow compared to some of the other watches, and just like in the old days, the watch will flat-out freeze from time to time, requiring a hard reset. We haven’t had to deal with this in the other watches tested here.

Shop the Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium

Comparing the Best GPS Running Watches

WATCH	PRICE	AVG. BATTERY LIFE	DISPLAY SIZE
Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition	$650	57 hours (GPS mode)	1.3 inches
Apple Watch Ultra 2	$799	36 hours (GPS mode)	Not listed
Coros Apex 2/2 Pro	$449	75 hours (GPS mode)	1.3 inches
Coros Vertix 2	$700	140 hours (GPS mode)	1.4 inches
Coros Pace 2	$199	30 hours (GPS mode)	1.2 inches
Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium	$699	40 hours (GPS mode)	1.7 inches
Suunto Race	$450	40 hours (GPS mode)	1.4 inches

Glossary of GPS Running Watch Terms

• Barometric Altimeter: A measurement of altitude that uses barometric pressure. It is used to determine elevation changes and can also measure changes to atmospheric pressure caused by weather patterns.
• GPS: Global Positioning System is a United States military satellite system that allows a device to pinpoint its location on Earth. GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, and Beidou are the five main global positioning satellite systems.
• Chipset: This is the relay between the processor and the storage devices, the home of data, including maps and music, in a GPS watch. The quality and modernity of the chipset will affect the watch’s processing speed and the ability to navigate between screens and select functions.
• Bezel: A watch bezel holds the crystal covering the face of the watch in place. In GPS watches, the materials are typically very strong and durable and made of Titanium Grade 5.
• Illumination: The brightness of the GPS watch display. It can often be manipulated manually or automatically to be seen better in low light or bright sunlight.
• Water resistance: The watch’s ability to keep water out of the internal electronics. All GPS running watches are typically weatherproof and waterproof up to 100 meters deep.

How to Choose the Best GPS Running Watch

Accuracy

What we fundamentally want from the best GPS watch for running is to correctly measure a run’s distance, pace, and elevation change. Thanks to incredible innovation in satellite technology and specific algorithms designed for sport by watch manufacturers, we now have incredibly complex technology in a package small enough for your wrist. But when it comes to accuracy, we’re often perplexed when, after trail running with a friend, we compare distance and vertical gain and see different results. This is sometimes a function of different brands’ technology, but it is often a function of battery power-saving modes, the number of GPS readings per minute you’ve selected, or the default settings on your watch. Utilizing the maximum location measurement frequency will sap a watch battery, but while spacing out the readings is easier on the battery, it creates a less precise track. Obstructions in the sky, like trees or even clouds, can affect GPS coverage, and the industry suggests GPS accuracy is within one to three percent. Manufacturers recommend importing your data to a run-specific app, like Garmin Connect or the Suunto App, to corroborate your data with more sophisticated elevation models. We found that the most accurate GPS watch we tested was the Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium.

Battery Life

Battery life is arguably the most prized feature for ultrarunning in finding the best GPS watch. Fortunately, we are in something of a battery life golden age. Every major GPS watch company seeks to one-up their competitor to own the title of longest-lasting battery. This competition benefits the customer, as we’re not only getting batteries that can last up to 140 hours of normal GPS use, as with the Coros Vertix 2, but they also charge incredibly fast. When just a few years ago, companies would boast of 15 to 20 hours of battery life, and their watches might take three to five hours to charge from dead, we’re getting roughly a 160% increase in battery life and a 200% decrease in charging time. The Suunto Race can go from dead to fully charged in less than an hour and will then measure 40 hours’ worth of activity.

Companies’ claims about battery life represent use with standard GPS tracking alone, without the additional battery demands of using navigation, receiving notifications, or playing music. Rather than manually tuning your watch to the best or worst battery performance, many manufacturers have preset battery modes that allow you to select the performance level you require based on your activity or the remaining battery power on the watch.

Comfort

Years ago, GPS watches looked like tiny computers on your wrist, and even until this year, Suunto’s running watches had cases that would often dwarf the wrists of small or average-sized people. The size was partly due to improving the watch’s durability by using burlier materials and creating a screen big enough to see multiple data fields at once and be useful for navigation. With some exceptions, the size of GPS watches is getting more compact, and breakthroughs in technical performance are shrinking the package while adding new features.

Many brands offer different strap styles in addition to the normal silicone one, including nylon and other soft-style straps with elastic and hook-and-loop closures. These styles can add comfort and a more precise fit. General comfort on all watches here is good enough to wear all day, but the appropriateness of wearing a GPS watch to work or other life commitments varies depending on the user. Watches like the Suunto Race or the Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium are small and stylish enough to wear in everyday life.

Ease of Use

The incredible technology that the best GPS running watches offer today means there can be a learning curve to taking advantage of their full functionality. Not a single watch here is simple enough to pull out of the box and use all of the features immediately. You might be able to record a run — but what next? Do you use the watch’s corresponding app to synchronize it? Do you make adjustments in the watch itself or with the app? Is it a combination of both? These are questions you’ll need to sort out as you begin accessing features on your watch and learning its capabilities. With so many options and the amount of data that can be found, it even takes time to remember which buttons control selections and navigate forward or back. Some watches have a bold start/stop button distinct from the others. The watches in this guide use buttons, scrolling dials, touchscreens, or a combination of the three to navigate. Buttons are simple to use on the fly, but the dials, like on Coros Apex 2/2 Pro, can be tricky to use quickly. Buttons are generally big and responsive, with some performing much better than others. The watches in this guide with touchscreens generally work well even when the watch’s face is wet or in cold conditions.

Extra Features and App Compatibility

Each watch in this guide has a corresponding mobile app that can do everything from downloading your runs and sharing with a third party like Strava to designing and synchronizing routes. The apps can also control the colors and display of the watch face and synchronize firmware. Many watches have a coaching component that allows you to customize your workout or download workouts directly from professional athletes. The Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition has a suite of features, including everything from hydration tracking to menstrual cycle tracking as add-on features. Several watches in this guide can sync offline playlists from streaming services like Spotify or have built-in storage for music playback. Mobile Pay has also been added to several watches, including the Apple Watch Ultra 2.

Why You Should Trust Us

We at iRunFar are GPS running watch aficionados with a long history of testing watches. Many of our team members love pouring over running data, and we use our watches to collect accurate metrics of our runs and health metrics. We combined our 100-plus years of GPS running watch field testing with polls of the iRunFar community to see what everyone thought was the best GPS running watch on the market today. We selected nearly a dozen highly vetted watches for rigorous summer, fall, winter, and spring testing.

We tested these watches in climes from the densely forested northwestern United States to the cold, dry, and variable seasons of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. They were used in the rugged Sangre de Cristo mountain range, Rocky Mountain National Park, the San Juan mountains (home of the Hardrock 100 Run), the Indian Peaks Wilderness, and at home on local trails in Boulder. We took different GPS watches out in difficult terrain, like slot canyons in Utah, to see if there was a difference in accuracy in spaces where they didn’t get a clear view of the sky.

We evaluated the watches based on their features, price, comfort, processing speed, accuracy, navigation capabilities, battery life, and compatibility with third-party apps.

Frequently Asked Questions About GPS Running Watches

What is a GPS watch, and why is it so useful for ultrarunning?

Besides shorts and shoes, a GPS watch is a fundamental piece of ultrarunning gear for many runners. It lets you easily and accurately record your runs and see important data like pace and elevation gain while you’re out there. The data synchronizes with popular apps to let you compare or log your information securely. It’s a training log that doesn’t take up physical space. Moreover, the watches in this guide can be used for more than just running. They track tons of other sports, such as paddle boarding, yoga, and cycling, and collect the unique metrics associated with each activity. A watch like the Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition can significantly improve your understanding of your body and training.

This is not to suggest that trail or ultrarunning requires a GPS watch. For many, the invasion of more and more data in our lives is becoming burdensome and tiring. A pen-and-paper training journal combined with a simple stopwatch or using your smartphone with any number of free run-recording apps is much more inexpensive and simple. The watches in this guide are not exactly for “gearheads,” although they are quite sophisticated and, some would argue, justifiably expensive technology.

Which running watch has the best GPS?

Each watch tested in this guide does a fine job of tracking your run. Positioning in these watches is usually acquired through one or a combination of the five major satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and Beidou). Different satellite systems are more and less accurate in different areas of the world. Incremental differences appear between all of the watches, even on the same activity, yet none of the watches tested here has an outlying poor output. The Coros Vertix 2 has a feature that seeks to combat interference, whether it’s from a dense forest or a deep canyon, by utilizing all five satellite systems at once and using a new feature called Dual-Frequency GNSS, which is the most accurate signal available in consumer technology products today. Choosing a reputable GPS watch could almost be more a matter of what else it has beyond good GPS accuracy since there isn’t a poor performer among the bunch in this guide.

I want to race my first ultramarathon. Which GPS running watch should I use?

Many people will simply use their phone and the app of their choice, like Strava, for their first ultra. This is a low-cost and simple way to use a piece of hardware you already own and are probably going to carry regardless to track your run. The drawback is that your phone has a battery that probably won’t stand up to anything beyond 50k, as it wasn’t designed to monitor your positioning continuously. If you’re new to ultrarunning and simply looking for the best GPS running watch for reliability and affordability, the Coros Pace 2 is a great option. You won’t get a touch screen or other fancy features, but you’ll get 30 hours of run time at a very light 29 grams. The Suunto Race also packs in a lot of features at a reasonable price point. For ultrarunners who want to get the most technology, data, and performance out of their races and training, this guide has some truly exceptional options, namely the Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition and Coros Vertix 2.

What’s the difference between a fitness tracker and a running watch?

This is a question mainly regarding features. Fitness trackers have come a long way and are more affordable than any watches tested in this guide. But their downside is that they rely heavily on pairing with a phone to draw out similar features that are built directly into GPS watches. As GPS watches get even more advanced, another comparison might be: can a GPS watch be a suitable stand-in for a WHOOP, Oura Ring, blood glucose sensor, or power meter on a bicycle? This technology is already available or, we would expect, is forthcoming from these GPS watch manufacturers either as built-in firmware or separately sold compatible accessories. The health and sleep monitoring features of the Coros Vertix 2 and the Garmin fēnix 7 – Standard Edition can give you much of the information as provided by dedicated fitness trackers.

Which is the most accurate GPS watch?

When comparing all of the watches tested here on the same 25-kilometer run, not a single one had exact fidelity when the GPX track is compared to the trail marked on Mapbox, the commercial map provider for everything from Strava to the navigation system in your car. In some cases, the track showed a tester crossing an alpine lake, which they didn’t, or taking a very long detour around part of a forest. You might expect the same brand of watches to provide the same output, but that wasn’t the case. There was deviation between watches across the board, with the Coros Apex 2/2 Pro, Coros Vertix 2, and the Coros Pace 2 all providing slightly different numbers.

So, what is the most accurate? The industry says that most GPS watches are accurate within one to three percent, which would explain the deviation in watches, even if they’re tested simultaneously. A few watches have special features to improve their accuracy. Suunto employs its “Snap to Route,” where you could take a race route GPX file, load it into the watch, and then navigate that course while you run. This is a clever way to ensure that your run is as faithful to the intended route as possible, and it minimizes error due to satellite reception and other variables like clouds, buildings, or other obstructions.

We asked the Garmin product manager to explain the differences between measurements of different watches on the same course. They said, “There are numerous challenges in forming an elevation profile over a long trail run or ultramarathon, like effects of weather over longer periods and how the watch is worn (for example, if the barometer port is up against clothing). Because of these sources of error, we expect differences in the total ascent between runners, and these can add up over long-distance runs. On the distance side, GPS accuracy is the biggest thing. User settings, type of device, which arm the user is wearing the watch, running form, and environment (tree cover can affect the line of sight to satellites) can all affect accuracy.”

These watches are so expensive! What is the best budget running watch, and is it worth it?

You’ll have to spend some money to get the best GPS running watch for your needs, though there are major variations in the price points amongst the different options. The watches reviewed in this guide are expensive, and even our budget choice, the Coros Pace 2, comes in at $200! Chiefly, the ever-mind-blowing strength of their batteries is dictating the cost, plus a suite of other features that help you understand your physiology, including heart rate and blood oxygen saturation. A GPS watch can replace your phone as a podcast or music device, and they are incredibly durable with their titanium, steel, and sapphire materials. But ultimately, it’s the multi-week battery life that can last through an ultramarathon that makes a GPS watch a must for ultrarunners that dictates the cost.

What’s the best running watch for small wrists?

Many GPS watches indeed have big displays that look massive on even average-sized wrists. The large size makes it easier to see a lot of data and to navigate with offline maps. We found two watches, the Coros Apex 2/2 Pro and the Suunto 9 Peak Pro Titanium, that won’t swallow smaller wrists. These two are at opposite ends of the price spectrum, separated by about $300 while offering comparable performance. In the end, the best GPS running watch for you will be one that you’re comfortable wearing, so it’s worth considering fit when choosing one.

What GPS running watch best integrates with smart technology so I can stay connected while running?

All of the watches in this guide, including the least expensive, the Coros Pace 2, allow notifications from incoming calls, text messages, and emails to be displayed on the watch’s screen. The watch has to be connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth for this to work.

I am bad with technology. What running watch is the easiest to use?

If ultrarunning is your primary sport, many of these GPS watches are overbuilt for what you actually need in terms of features. The Coros Pace 2 is the most pared-down of these options, but it still has many of the features of other watches in this guide. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is also an excellent option for those who struggle with technology. Like most Apple products, it is set up to provide a great user experience, and the dedicated action button makes it easy to put it on your wrist and go. It will still interpret your daily data, including sleep, and can guide you on ways to improve without you needing to navigate many confusing features.

Call for Comments

• What is your favorite GPS watch? Do you tend to replace them as technology advances?
• What is the most important element in a GPS watch, and are there some elements you never use?

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