The best running watches worth wearing

The Garmin Forerunner 945 is designed to meet the needs of elite endurance sport athletes, which makes it a favorite in the running community. With the additional LTE feature, it becomes a personal safety device that allows you to run without your phone and still send your location to designated contacts or the Garmin emergency response center should an emergency arise.

The LiveTrack feature lets your contacts follow your real-time location and send audio and text messages to you. The 945 also has daily suggested workouts, free training plans, VO2 Max indicator, a recovery time advisor, a cycling power function, and more — much more. The lens is made from Corning Gorilla Glass and the bezel is constructed from a fiber reinforced polymer. The 945 offers full color mapping, turn-by-turn navigation, round trip routing, and works off of multiple satellite systems. It will also store 1,000 of your favorite songs. If you don’t need all this functionality, check out the Garmin 245 Music.

Simply put, the Garmin Forerunner 945 LTE is the top-of-the-line premium runner’s watch. It impressed the heck out of us and leads the pack in almost every other “best of” reviews we could find.

When you pick up the Coros Pace 2, it’s so light at 29 grams that you might wonder if there are any parts in it, but rest assured, it is packed with features. If you run, bike, and/or swim, this is an ideal watch for people who are looking for essential functions in a low profile 42mm x 13mm package.

We had a tough time picking between the Garmin Forerunner 245 and the Coros Pace 2 for our best value running watch. They both had many similar features and received high marks from other reviewers. When we compared prices, though, Coros Pace 2 came in about $100 less than the Garmin 245.

We were also amazed that the Pace 2 had the same software as higher-end watches at such a low price — a 1.5 times increase in processing power, five times more RAM, and four times more storage over the Pace 1. We also liked the Coros Pace 2’s one-touch scroll wheel for navigating the watch’s different features. It also has amazing battery life at up to 30 hours with GPS running, and we loved that it has over 200 exercises built in covering upper and lower body and core work. Crossfit fanatics will appreciate the muscle heatmap function showing which areas of the body were most worked. Of note, the Pace 2 outperforms most other similarly priced watches in tracking elevation since it has a barometric altimeter, so it will track indoor stair climbing where GPS reliant watches can’t. Lastly Coros offers a two-year warranty, which is two times longer than Garmin’s.

When compared to its competitors, the Coros Pace 2 blew their doors off delivering most of the features of premium watches for hundreds of dollars less. If price is a concern, dollar for dollar this is the best running watch out there.

Garmin continues to produce outstanding watches, and if you’re looking for a watch rugged enough for the backcountry with all the bells and whistles of the Garmin Forerunner 945, this is the watch for you. Whether you’re running the Leadville 100 trail ultramarathon or guiding Mount Rainier, the Fenix 6 has everything you need, but it also comes at a premium price.

The Fenix 6x Pro is the largest of the Fenix line with a 51mm bezel, although it also comes in 47mm and 42mm sizes with slightly different features. Within the sizable case is a wrist heart rate monitor with fitness tracking, GPS tracking with preloaded maps, preloaded activity profiles for trail and track running, swimming, biking, hiking, rowing, skiing, and golfing, music storage, sleep tracking, hydration tracking, blood oxygen monitoring, altitude acclimatization monitoring, an emergency beacon, and crazy long battery life. There’s also a solar-powered option as well. The 6X also has a cool battery power manager that allows you to determine how the use of different functions impacts battery life. This watch literally does everything. It has backcountry ski, cross country ski, mountain bike, surfing, and even golf functions (access to 41,000 golf course maps).

The GPS system can access multiple global satellite systems to include GLONASS and Galileo and has integrated ABC sensors to include an altimeter, barometer, and three-axis electronic compass. The 6X can store topographical maps and comes with maps for more than 2,000 worldwide ski resorts. It will also support round-trip routing and turn-by- turn navigation. The Fenix 6X Pro can also receive emails, texts, and alerts when paired with a compatible device and can store up to 2,000 songs to power you down the trail.

The Garmin Fenix 6X Pro is the Cadillac of outdoor running watches. Chock full of functions, it will do everything you need it to do, and then some. Most importantly, it has a superb sensor to track all your physiological data, an outstanding navigation system, and exceptional battery life — all in a ruggedized package.

We had a tough time picking between the Garmin Forerunner 245 Music and the Coros Pace 2 for our best value running watch. They both had many similar features and received high marks from other reviewers. Both have similar display sizes, long battery life, workout performance tracking features, accurate GPS, and solid heart rate sensors. So what do you get by shelling out around $150 more for the Garmin 245? Well, for one, music — up to 500 songs on your wrist via Amazon Music, Spotify, or Deezer.

For those who love activity data, the 245 has a PacePro that helps you pace your race while accounting for elevation and target time. It also tracks your yoga workouts, stair stepper (boring!), elliptical workouts (also boring!), cardio, and trail running. For the latter, the 245 also has breadcrumb navigation to keep you on your pre-planned track. The Forerunner 245 Music also enables you to adjust your screen brightness, track menstrual cycle, monitor your body’s energy levels, check your blood oxygen saturation levels, monitor stress, and also track your running shoe mileage so you know when to replace them. If you want all the functionality of the Coros Pace 2 and then some, the Garmin Forerunner 245 is worth a look.

Hands down, the Garmin Forerunner 245 is a crowd favorite in the running and triathlon world. If music is important to you during workouts, this is a solid choice. We also liked the increased functionality the 245 offers over the Coros Pace 2.

If you’re looking for a reasonably priced multisport watch with many premium functions, the Polar Vantage M2 might be the watch for you. Polar designed the Vantage M2 specifically to support multisport (swim/bike/run) athletes. In fact, it has more than 130 sport modes built within.

New for 2021 is a fueling option that reminds you to eat and hydrate during those long distance efforts. The M2 will also provide you post-workout reads on what energy you used during your effort in terms of total calories with carbohydrate, protein, and fat breakdowns. Polar also improved the weekly training summary dashboard featuring total time, distance, number of workouts, calories expended, and heart rate zones. They’ve also improved the battery saver mode which allows you to extend battery life by reducing GPS usage from every second to every minute or every two minutes (which will also degrade workout data quality), turn off the wrist-based heart rate sensor, and adjust the screen saver.

One of the things we also liked about the M2 is it’s weather forecast function and its capability to customize watch face dashboard views. Of note, unlike the Garmin Forerunner 245 Music, the Polar Vantage M2 has no music storage capability, but you can control your phone’s music settings from the watch.

The Polar Vantage M2 is purpose-built for people who are looking for a capable multisport watch at an affordable price. If you are a workout data junky and need something that will connect to all your sensors and support activities beyond traditional run/bike/swim activities, give this watch a serious look.

If you’re not looking for advanced features and just want a basic running watch that will accurately track your pace and distance, monitor your heart rate, track your sleep, and has some basic notification capabilities, you can snap up a Garmin Forerunner 45 for about $129. Keep in mind, the Forerunner 45 has a shorter battery life, doesn’t have an altimeter, and doesn’t come with Pulse Ox to track blood oxygen saturation.

It also doesn’t have music or Garmin Pay. Also, the model is a few years old. If you’re willing to pay another $70, we recommend the Coros Pace 2 over the Garmin Forerunner 55. Both are about $200, but the Coros Pace 2 blows the doors off the Forerunner 55. This is a basic watch: We don’t love it, but if you are looking for a bargain basement option to get you started, this is a good pick.