A better
battery life, improved performance insights and smarter design, are some of the things we’ve come to demand each year as we sift
through the latest offerings from the likes of Garmin, Polar and Suunto
in search of the
best running watch. We still want highly accurate GPS, idiot-grade usability for when our running brains get tired and excellent partner apps to help us learn from our stats and stay motivated.
We're only just into 2018 but we've already seen a new crop of running partners that haven’t disappointed, with a few familiar (watch) faces getting a welcome overhaul and the odd newcomer joining the fight for that space on our wrist.
‘But what’s the best?, from the perfect partner for trail running through to the ideal watch for marathons, this a selection of the best devices for every running need.
Running
watch makers are finally realising people would rather not have to mess
with their phones when they're out clocking up miles. As such the
Garmin Forerunner 645 is a step forward and the first in the Garmin running watch range to offer music storage. It has room for up to 500 songs, either downloaded or through offline playlist transfer.
The
multi-sport GPS watch also has a built-in heart rate sensor and
advanced features like anaerobic training effect. If you’re using it
without GPS, you’ll get 7 days of battery life, but just five hours with
the GPS active.
The Forerunner 645 is also the best-looking Forerunner to date thanks to its stainless steel bezels and always-in colour display. It’s also compatible with the new Garmin Pay contactless payments platform so you can also leave your cashcard at home or avoid having to hand over soggy notes.
This is a tool for serious runners and triathletes.
In addition to the reliable GPS you’d expect, there’s a huge range of advanced running metrics including cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation, VO2 max, recovery time guidance and more.
The emphasis here is on using your run data to adapt your training, make alterations to your form like shortening your stride, and keep an eye on your overall training load in the build-up to your next big challenge.
You also get up to 50 hours of UltraTrac GPS training on a full charge, smart notifications from a connected phone, plus the option to customize your watch’s features by adding to it from the many apps on Garmin’s IQ Connect software.
The addition of built-in GPS letting you track runs minus your phone was a big step forward for the second-generation Apple Watch’s running credentials. Now that we’ve finally got LTE, so you can make calls without your phone, it’s getting painfully close to being a watch that lets you run unburdened by keys, cash and phone.
The
Series 3 heart rate skills are vastly improved, no longer just counting
beats per minute, but also recording your daily resting heart rate,
heart rate variability, your workout ranges and your pulse while
walking, all to give you a chart of whether it's improving or not.
There's also rapid GPS fix and excellent accuracy, on-board storage for up to 250 songs, wireless pairing with treadmills and Apple Pay here.
The Nike+ version adds custom watch faces and the ability to quick launch the Nike+ app from the home screen. And since this also tracks daily activity and multiple sports, the options are enough to keep you busy and entertained while training for longer than most.
Is it genuine competition for the expanding training capability of the Polars and Garmins on this list? The short answer is not quite yet but when it comes to casual running for fitness there’s plenty here to excite.
With its rugged off-road looks, excellent navigation and huge wealth of features, the Suunto Ambit 3 Run is a great trail-running watch for athletes who care about the literal highs and lows of running.
On board, there's an altimeter, barometer, compass, GPS and a thermometer to track all of your outdoor exploits in exhaustive detail. It is also suitable for the city, but there are probably better road-running options out there.
The watch also features limited smartphone notifications (including caller ID and email support) thanks to Bluetooth pairing. It may only have a monochrome display, but that pays dividends in battery life, which will last multiple days even with regular GPS usage. One downside, if you want heart rate readings you’ll need an additional strap.
The
rotating bezel to control the user-interface can come in handy when
you’re sweating, a big bugbear with many touchscreen-only watches. The
1.2-inch AMOLED display is as good as you’ll find in a fitness watch and
can easily pass as a smart everyday digital timepiece.
Unlike the Gear S3 sister device, there’s no 4G LTE here, which has helped Samsung to create a lighter wearable more suited to running. It runs on Tizen, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it does include offline Spotify support so you can soundtrack your runs without the need to carry your phone.
For those who like to take their wearables for a dip, or running through torrential rain, it's waterproof to 50m too.
There's
multi-day battery life, continuous heart-rate tracking, GPS,
personalised voice coaching, sleep stage tracking and the ability to
store music for offline listening via Bluetooth headphones. And for
those who like it, there's auto pause to automatically spot when you've
come to a stop at traffic lights.
Fitbit has gone all out to make the Ionic a useful training tool too. With the Fitbit Coach App you can access a range of expert-led running audio workouts for the treadmill and outdoor runs, designed to improve endurance, speed, and form.
While it doesn’t have the range of third party apps you'll find on the App Store or Google Play Store, you can access a smaller range of popular apps through the Fitbit OS, while all of your stats are synced back to the all-conquering Fitbit app.
The bright, hi-res, Gorilla Glass coated touchscreen is also water resistant to 50m, making it rugged enough for hitting the trails and swim-proof for when you decide to rest those legs.
As
you can probably imagine it’s got all the Garmin smarts, meaning GPS
and heart rate tracking, multi-sport support and even Garmin Pay, which
allows you to make contactless payments even without your phone.
All that and battery life lasts a hefty seven days of normal use or 13 hours of GPS training. On the design side of things this features a stainless steel bezel and comfy rubberized strap that can be swapped out to suit the occasion.
A huge selection of watch faces and app options are available on Garmin Connect, which is open to developers, meaning more cool new additions all the time.
It also means you get wrist-based continuous heart rate and Garmin's many apps for things like custom watch faces or marathon-specific training apps. You can enjoy smartphone notifications, audio prompts, live tracking and of course the Garmin Connect app for an in-depth analysis of your efforts.
While out on a run you can use information like aerobic Training Effect to ensure you don’t push yourself too far and hinder training, all while powering through heart rate zones to ensure progress - and following that, monitoring your VO2 Max will show how you're getting fitter (although pay no heed to the utterly inaccurate race time predictors).
Another nice feature: if you ever get lost you can use the Back To Start feature to be guided right back to where you came from.
Thankfully with the new Polar M430 they’ve heeded the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke’ and kept most of what made the M400 a favorite but added some useful new skills.
Still easy to use, with a durable, if unremarkable design, the biggest upgrade is that the M430 now comes with built-in heart rate (HR) monitoring for zone training and continuous HR tracking off the wrist, so you can monitor your resting heart rate and your fitness progress.
There’s also sleep tracking and smart notifications and the benefit of the ever-improving Polar Flow app, which allows you to add smart coaching to your wrist for training that’s tailored to your abilities and goals, as well as providing one of the best 'see your day' views of everything you've done.
Somehow the wizards at Polar have squeezed in these extra smarts while still offering a decent battery life of up to 30 hours of training tracking. While it lacks some of the deeper running dynamics you’ll find on the Polar V800 or Garmin Forerunner 935, this is a very accomplished running watch at a very reasonable price.
best running watch. We still want highly accurate GPS, idiot-grade usability for when our running brains get tired and excellent partner apps to help us learn from our stats and stay motivated.
We're only just into 2018 but we've already seen a new crop of running partners that haven’t disappointed, with a few familiar (watch) faces getting a welcome overhaul and the odd newcomer joining the fight for that space on our wrist.
‘But what’s the best?, from the perfect partner for trail running through to the ideal watch for marathons, this a selection of the best devices for every running need.
10. Garmin Forerunner 645
- A talented running watch with music skills
- Phone-free music playback
- Superb range of running dynamics tracked
- Battery life could be longer
Advertisement
The Forerunner 645 is also the best-looking Forerunner to date thanks to its stainless steel bezels and always-in colour display. It’s also compatible with the new Garmin Pay contactless payments platform so you can also leave your cashcard at home or avoid having to hand over soggy notes.
9. Garmin Forerunner 935
- A Advanced tracking tool for goal-chasing amateurs and serious athletes
- Detailed running stats
- Long battery life
- No music playback
- Pricey
Advertisement
In addition to the reliable GPS you’d expect, there’s a huge range of advanced running metrics including cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation, VO2 max, recovery time guidance and more.
The emphasis here is on using your run data to adapt your training, make alterations to your form like shortening your stride, and keep an eye on your overall training load in the build-up to your next big challenge.
You also get up to 50 hours of UltraTrac GPS training on a full charge, smart notifications from a connected phone, plus the option to customize your watch’s features by adding to it from the many apps on Garmin’s IQ Connect software.
8. Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro
- A Hill-loving heart rate tracker best suited to the trails
- 10-hour battery life
- Excellent elevation tracking
- A bit bulky
- Movescount App needs improvement
7. Apple Watch 3
- For casual runners who like a bit of style
- Run phone and cash-free
- Good smartwatch battery life
- Workout app still lacks detail
- Only iPhone compatible
The addition of built-in GPS letting you track runs minus your phone was a big step forward for the second-generation Apple Watch’s running credentials. Now that we’ve finally got LTE, so you can make calls without your phone, it’s getting painfully close to being a watch that lets you run unburdened by keys, cash and phone.
Advertisement
There's also rapid GPS fix and excellent accuracy, on-board storage for up to 250 songs, wireless pairing with treadmills and Apple Pay here.
The Nike+ version adds custom watch faces and the ability to quick launch the Nike+ app from the home screen. And since this also tracks daily activity and multiple sports, the options are enough to keep you busy and entertained while training for longer than most.
Is it genuine competition for the expanding training capability of the Polars and Garmins on this list? The short answer is not quite yet but when it comes to casual running for fitness there’s plenty here to excite.
6. Suunto Ambit3 Vertical
- Rugged running watch idea for hitting the trails
- Excellent suite of off-road sensors
- Good battery life
- No optical heart rate
- Quite bulky
With its rugged off-road looks, excellent navigation and huge wealth of features, the Suunto Ambit 3 Run is a great trail-running watch for athletes who care about the literal highs and lows of running.
On board, there's an altimeter, barometer, compass, GPS and a thermometer to track all of your outdoor exploits in exhaustive detail. It is also suitable for the city, but there are probably better road-running options out there.
The watch also features limited smartphone notifications (including caller ID and email support) thanks to Bluetooth pairing. It may only have a monochrome display, but that pays dividends in battery life, which will last multiple days even with regular GPS usage. One downside, if you want heart rate readings you’ll need an additional strap.
5. Samsung Gear Sport
- Smart fitness watch with running skills
- Accurate GPS
- Offline Spotify support
- Lacks deeper run analytics
- Runs on Tizen
Advertisement
Unlike the Gear S3 sister device, there’s no 4G LTE here, which has helped Samsung to create a lighter wearable more suited to running. It runs on Tizen, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it does include offline Spotify support so you can soundtrack your runs without the need to carry your phone.
For those who like to take their wearables for a dip, or running through torrential rain, it's waterproof to 50m too.
4. Fitbit Ionic
- The first ever Fitbit smartwatch with fitness at its heart
- Multi-day battery life
- Phone-free music
- Shortage of apps
- Aged design
Advertisement
Fitbit has gone all out to make the Ionic a useful training tool too. With the Fitbit Coach App you can access a range of expert-led running audio workouts for the treadmill and outdoor runs, designed to improve endurance, speed, and form.
While it doesn’t have the range of third party apps you'll find on the App Store or Google Play Store, you can access a smaller range of popular apps through the Fitbit OS, while all of your stats are synced back to the all-conquering Fitbit app.
The bright, hi-res, Gorilla Glass coated touchscreen is also water resistant to 50m, making it rugged enough for hitting the trails and swim-proof for when you decide to rest those legs.
3. Garmin Vivoactive 3
- Garmin’s most stylish smart running watch activity tracker yet
- Tracks a range of activities
- Garmin Pay for cashless transactions
- Not as feature-rich as flagship Forerunners
- Can't choose which apps get alerts
Advertisement
All that and battery life lasts a hefty seven days of normal use or 13 hours of GPS training. On the design side of things this features a stainless steel bezel and comfy rubberized strap that can be swapped out to suit the occasion.
A huge selection of watch faces and app options are available on Garmin Connect, which is open to developers, meaning more cool new additions all the time.
2. Garmin Forerunner 235
- Brilliant for serious runners on a budget
- Resting heart rate insights
- Sharp looks, lightweight design
- Intermittent sync issues
- A bit plastic
It also means you get wrist-based continuous heart rate and Garmin's many apps for things like custom watch faces or marathon-specific training apps. You can enjoy smartphone notifications, audio prompts, live tracking and of course the Garmin Connect app for an in-depth analysis of your efforts.
While out on a run you can use information like aerobic Training Effect to ensure you don’t push yourself too far and hinder training, all while powering through heart rate zones to ensure progress - and following that, monitoring your VO2 Max will show how you're getting fitter (although pay no heed to the utterly inaccurate race time predictors).
Another nice feature: if you ever get lost you can use the Back To Start feature to be guided right back to where you came from.
1. Polar M430
- Polar’s best-selling tracker with a HR upgrade
- Good battery life
- Easy to use
- Annoying charging lead
- Not the best looking
Thankfully with the new Polar M430 they’ve heeded the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke’ and kept most of what made the M400 a favorite but added some useful new skills.
Still easy to use, with a durable, if unremarkable design, the biggest upgrade is that the M430 now comes with built-in heart rate (HR) monitoring for zone training and continuous HR tracking off the wrist, so you can monitor your resting heart rate and your fitness progress.
There’s also sleep tracking and smart notifications and the benefit of the ever-improving Polar Flow app, which allows you to add smart coaching to your wrist for training that’s tailored to your abilities and goals, as well as providing one of the best 'see your day' views of everything you've done.
Somehow the wizards at Polar have squeezed in these extra smarts while still offering a decent battery life of up to 30 hours of training tracking. While it lacks some of the deeper running dynamics you’ll find on the Polar V800 or Garmin Forerunner 935, this is a very accomplished running watch at a very reasonable price.
Comments
Post a Comment