The COROS PACE Pro was released at the end of October 2024 and it might just be the best running watch on the market under $500 in my opinion. PLUS, we finally have a watch from COROS with a beautiful AMOLED display! Something I have been asking for quite a while! SO today we are going to take a deep dive and learn all about the COROS PACE Pro!  Let’s get to it!

First off we have to talk about the biggest change for COROS and that is this beautiful AMOLED display!  The display is 1.3” of reinforced mineral glass with 416 x 416 pixels, and 1500 nits of brightness, and man is it crisp and vibrant!  The display is easily seen in all situations, whether that's in the gym, at home on the couch, or under bright sun.  The crisp AMOLED display makes navigating with the maps so much clearer and easier to see.  But more on that in a bit!

Now the PACE Pro is just a bit bigger than the PACE 3, measuring 46 x 46 x 14.15 mm thick, and it weighs 49 grams with the silicone band, which is 11 grams heavier than the PACE 3.  BUT, it is still a light weight watch.  The watch gets a lot of that light weight from the materials.  The bezel and casing are made from a high strength polymer, so there really isn't any metal on this watch.  

The watch band is still a 22mm quick release, but the included silicone watch band is probably only con to this watch.  I have a 16cm circumference wrist, so not a large wrist, and the included band is hard plastic where it attaches to the watch, which keeps the watch from sitting on my wrist comfortably.  You will likely note I have swapped the PACE 3 band to the PACE Pro, and it is much more comfortable for me.  

The PACE Pro still features the digital dial, and the back/lap button, but now the back/lap button is 26% larger than on the PACE 3, making it easier to use with gloves on.  

Probably the biggest improvement though on the PACE Pro is in the hardware.  The PACE Pro has a brand new processor that COROS says is the fastest in class processor.  Now the PACE Pro has 2x better processor performance than the PACE 3, 3x faster map zoom, 3x more powerful RAM, and 4x faster map downloads.  You can really feel the better processor performance in everyday use.  Scrolling through the watch with the touchscreen is so responsive, honestly probably one of the most responsive I have tested.  When scrolling through the maps it is so much faster than any other COROS watch.  It is such a great improvement! 

On the back of the PACE Pro is the optical heart rate sensor with 5 LEDs and 4 photodetectors. COROS says the watch design has been changed to improve heart rate accuracy, and the watch also has a blood oxygen sensor and ECG.  As for the accuracy of the heart rate, let's take a look at trail run here in the SPrings.  YOu can see the COROS PACE Pro has a pretty nice smooth build up and no crazy spikes.  You can really see how smooth the HR was on this Elliptical activity.  It looks to be really accurate.  

Next let's talk about Battery life and GPS.  You might think battery life would be reduced with this nice AMOLED display, but COROS has stuck to their roots and given us really great battery life!  In the highest dual frequency GPS setting you can get upto 31 hours of battery life in an activity.  In All-systems on GPS you can get upto 38 hours of battery life, and you can get up to 20 days of daily use, or utpo 6 days with always on display.   In my testing that seems pretty accurate, with using it for an hour per day for an activity.  COROS did change the charging for the PACE Pro, and this is a very welcome improvement!  Now there is a USB Type-C adapter that plugs into the back of the watch, and it makes a really nice and solid click, which for you COROS users out there you will know it was often hard to know if the watch was connected to the charger.  Now it is very easy and connects much better!   

As for GPS accuracy, COROS says the PACE Pro has a new chipset and configuration to improve accuracy, and supports all the 5 major satellite systems.  In my testing I can say the GPS accuracy seems to be really really good. There are no crazy deviations, and you can see the track looks super clean.  Even on this loop which is basically in a canyon with high mountain walls on either side, the track looks very impressive.  

The PACE Pro also has offline global mapping!  YOu can download the maps you want, for me I downloaded the entire state of Colorado and it was 65.1 mbs, and downloaded very quickly I might add over WiFi.  The maps are very easy to see and use now with that upgraded processor!  There’s also turn by turn navigation and you can save waypoints.  THe maps have really come quite a long way from the first COROS with maps.  The COROS map builder is still my favorite out there, and it is so easy to use and send routes to your watch. 

The onboard storage is now 32gb’s, which is the same as COROS’s higher end watches, and you can store mp3’s for listening to music while running, and download plenty of maps too. 

The watch still connects to sensors via bluetooth, is waterproof down to 5 ATM’s, and has a working temperature of -20º C to 50 C.  

Plus with the newest firmware, the watch can now support live Strava Segments!  So go crown hunting lol.

So the COROS PACE Pro retails for $349 USD.  For that price, I cannot think of another watch that has all these features, AMOLED display, insane battery life and incredibly accurate GPS and heart rate.  If you are in the market for a GPS watch, then I HIGHLY recommend checking out the COROS PACE Pro. 

The PACE Pro has become my watch of choice for working out as I really like the lap button to use for my rest time between sets!  I also like the watch for every other activity as well.  

COROS PACE Pro (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3ZEi6LT