By: Arthur Smith      September 20, 2021

Editor's Rating: 9/10

Pros

• Advanced metrics
• Interactive interface
• Smart design
• Long battery life

Con

• Screen darkness, especially when training indoors or a place with minimum lighting

Coros Apex is the best alternative if you can't afford premium running watches like Garmin Forerunner 945. Apart from extended battery life, the Apex has a good pool of data that can be relied upon by a newbie or professional runner, making it a multisport watch. The most standing feature it possesses is the long-lasting battery. It can take up to 24 days of regular use before the next charge.

With Coros Apex, you have everything at your fingertips. Checking weekly training load to tracking your running speed per mile is very easy from the colored screen. It has a toolbox that does many more things than you can imagine, with magnificent features for navigation. 

The COROs app allows a runner to download or individually create workout routines depending on the preferred exercise. The available options include running, strength training, swimming, and cycling, with an endless opportunity for downloading other third-party apps.

Navigation Tools

You can manually take the heart rate, turn the menu to Do Not Disturb, save battery, or change from a multifaceted interface to a skeleton phase with few selected options. Coros Apex comes with a 3D compass, a stopwatch, a timer, and a map. In case you have changed location, don't postpone running for fear of getting lost.

 Apex has an exciting navigation feature that allows you to preload a training route. You can confidently rely on its GPS and 3D compass for the direction and accelerometer (a motion sensor) and gyroscope (motion calculator) that provide accurate distance calculations.

Apex also has a barometric altimeter measuring altitude and an optimal heart rate monitor. Its GLONASS satellite connection guarantees real-time position and movement velocity. The heart rate widget indicates heartbeat per minute. It is paired with a graph that shows the last six hours minimum, maximum, and average heart rate.

An activity summary displays exercise period and distance covered, average stride length, max, and average cadence, best mile record time, total descent and ascent, and amount of burned calories after completing every run. A bar on the left side shows calories burning progress against the daily goal. Another one on the right shows exercising time. A confirm button provides a shortcut for viewing the last 24 hours' heart rate data. 

The activity is broken down in real-time. After a mile, the watch vibrates and submits your pace summary—subsequently, a comprehensive overview after the exercise, including the period required for complete recovery.

The fact that Coros Apex can gather and display a lot of data in real-time makes it a fantastic running watch. For instance, it records heart rate every second when exercising and at an interval of 10 minutes on a regular routine.

A mobile app forms the entire data hub setup, and it is not disappointing—the good thing with its setup is the several sports modes. Therefore, a runner can use the Apex to track indoor exercise routines like gym cardio, pool swims, and spinning and perform much better in outdoor activities like trail, road, speed, runs, and walking. The downside is the inability to track long-standing training trends.

Screen Type

Sorry touch screen lovers! Unfortunately, Coros Apex uses two physical buttons for interface navigation. The top acts as a navigation/confirmation knob, and the one below is a back button. Both are placed on the right side. Such a mechanism makes navigating through the interface quite time confusing, especially during the initial stages. However, once you understand how it works, things become more accessible and faster.

Screen Visibility

We tested the screen visibility, and it was pretty impressive. The screen appears sharp and does not go to sleep. You can easily look down and see the screen content. However, it is more visible when the sunlight is bright.

The indoor visibility assessment was quite disappointing. It was straining to look at the screen because of the minimum lighting. Unfortunately, you cannot brighten up the backlight because it is designed so that you only turn it on and off. So, sometimes, you will be forced to move the watch closer to read the data summary while in motion.

Still, visibility is not very degrading but within the acceptable standard for many runners.

Battery Life

Compared to other premium running watches like the Garmin models, Coros Apex towers above them regarding battery life. It lasts up to 24 days when set to regular use, 35 hours when using GPS, and 80 hours in UltraMax GPS mode, whereby the GPS switches on and off after every two minutes. The GPS stays on for just 30 seconds. The motion sensor constantly does the tracking when the GPS is off.

Protection

The Apex is a running watch for any weather and training conditions. It is held together by a stainless steel bezel and a sapphire glass with a titanium alloy finishing. It is built to last for a long time. It is also waterproof and suitable for swimming. With Coros Apex, you can train anytime, regardless of the environment.

Final Thoughts

Coros apex is a unique running watch. It is not the usual Smartwatch for onboard music storage and fancy touch screen. Instead, it is for an enduring athlete, a newbie, or a regular runner who wants a sports watch that offers advanced fitness metrics, including recommendations. The long battery life is remarkable. We consider Coros Apex a convincing option.