The Coros Pace 4 Pro is brilliant, but is it the right running watch for you?

My first-ever running watch was the Coros Pace 2. I had just graduated college, the world had just shut down, and I found myself returning to a hobby I'd ditched after high school. I bought that watch with my own money on the recommendation of a Baltimore-based running site, the very Believe in the Run that you're reading right now.

For years, that Pace 2 remained my go-to running companion. I loved its simplicity, its accuracy, and the fact that it basically disappeared on my wrist. In my mind, nothing would beat a running watch that weighed as little as 29g when paired with a nylon watchband.

The Coros Pace 2 achieved budget-friendly perfection for new runners and seasoned ones alike.

And yet, I knew something would have to beat it. As a cheap watch, the Pace 2 was never going to stay Coros's top option. It was joined, and quickly surpassed, by the Vertix, the Apex, and the Nomad. But, through it all, Coros kept coming back to the Pace.

Over the years, I've run in every subsequent iteration of the watch, and I've always felt like it was the best option from Coros. Its battery life has improved, its materials have gotten tougher, and its tracking has become more accurate. And yes, it's stayed just as light as it was all those years ago (or at least within a few grams).

Now, though, there's a new Pace in town. The Coros Pace 4 Pro kicks everything up at least one notch, and it's been glued to my wrist for a few weeks. Let's talk about why.

Bigger, brighter, better

In between all of my Coros Pace partying, I've worn a lot of other GPS watches. I've explored the Garmin Forerunner and Fenix lines, tested the Suunto Run 2, and dabbled in designs from Huawei and Amazfit. This constant change has given me hands-on experience with some of the best displays ever to grace GPS watches.

I've used bright, crisp AMOLED panels for navigation and stretched classic Memory-in-Pixel (MiP) displays for weeks on end. And, while they both have their benefits, I think the Coros Pace 4 Pro strikes the perfect balance of size, brightness, and longevity.

The Pace 4 Pro is clean, crisp, and lasts forever on my wrist.

See, it won't last nearly as long as Garmin's Fenix 9 Pro, a watch that I can push for a full month between charges. Between Garmin's MiP panel and solar charging ring, it's just tough to battle that battery beast. However, the Pace 4 Pro is rated for 60 hours of GPS tracking and up to 21 days of daily use outside of always-on mode.

So far, I'd say I've come pretty close to that mark. I can't reserve my watch for one use case or the other, so I'd say it's been closer to about 40 hours of tracking and about two weeks between charges, but I'm in the middle of a marathon training cycle, so my usage is higher than normal.

More importantly, the Pace 4 Pro's 1.47-inch sapphire glass display is simply brilliant. It's so easy to glance down at my wrist for turn-by-turn navigation, and the oversized interface while running means I'm never hunting for my pace, distance, or heart rate.

Then, there's brightness, and let me tell you, this watch is bright. For reference, your TV probably tops out at around 1,500 nits of brightness, and your phone might hit closer to 2,000 or 2,500 nits. The Coros Pace 4 Pro, however, packs 3,500 nits of brightness into its 1.47-inch display. It's like a small, portable sun strapped to your wrist.

I never once looked down and struggled to check my metrics, nor did I feel like the Pace 4 Pro was leading me astray. I may as well have carried my iPhone running Apple Maps directions for how clear it was. 

Also, if the Pace 4 Pro seems too big or bold on your wrist, may I recommend the Glow Dial watch face? It brings back the green glow you might remember from watches you grew up with, just way, way sharper than before.

Extra button, extra action

When I picked up the Coros Pace 2 all those years ago, it had two buttons: A rotating crown to navigate the menus and a back button for, well, everything else. That button managed laps, exited menus, and jumped out of notifications when you were done reading them. It was a simple setup, but it worked.

Now, the Pace 4 Pro has a third button, like the Pace 4 and Apex 4 before it. It's called the Action Button — of course it is — and it does everything that the back button couldn't. I'll admit it took me a run or two to realize just how important the Action Button would be, but now I can't live without it.

For example, when I've run with a Garmin watch on my wrist, I've run into an issue: The map is so hard to find. It sits at the very bottom of the interface, forcing me to cycle through four or five other data screens to find it. And yet, I'd gotten used to that method, so I spent a few runs panicking that I couldn't actually see the map on my Pace 4 Pro.

Then I tried the Action Button just to see what would happen. Like magic, I had my map in front of me — who knew pressing the new button would work so well? Anyway, I pressed the Action Button once more to see what would happen, and it cycled to my music controls and then back to the main interface. And honestly, I'll take a three-press menu cycle over a five-press cycle any day.

Also, when you're not running, you can press and hold the Action Button to access voice controls. These aren't quite the same as accessing Siri or Google Assistant, but you can use your watch to check the weather, ask about your training status, or start a targeted run.

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The performance breakdown

The sleek new design of the Coros Pace 4 Pro is great — really, it is — but everything comes down to how well the watch actually tracks activities. And, on that front, I have to say I'm impressed. I've taken my watch for everything from a four-mile jaunt to a 15-mile long run, and it's held up just fine all the way.

For data's sake, though, I want to take a look at an 8-mile workout that consisted of two three-mile threshold repeats. In real time, I felt like my watch kept pretty much perfect pace, easily picking up my reps and my float mile in the middle, but I was curious whether or not the in-app breakdown would match. So, let's take a quick glance at a few of my data fields.

On the left, you can see a quick look at my course map and an overview of my average paces and so on. Overall, I think everything there looks great. I didn't pick out any parts of the map that looked like I was in the harbor, and my turnaround points are spot-on. Also, if you're just getting into the Coros ecosystem, I highly recommend learning more about its efficiency and training load metrics, as they'll be vital to some of your training.

As for the other data fields, including my pace in each interval and my training impact, I think they're accurate enough. I don't love that the last 0.01 mile after I finished my cooldown was logged at a 20-minute pace, but I don't think it weighed down my overall average too much.

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What about the Pace 4? Or the Pace Pro?

While I can comfortably say I've enjoyed every single run in my Coros Pace 4 Pro, I had one feeling I couldn't shake during testing: This doesn't feel like a Coros Pace. It's not really priced like one, either. If you look up and down the rest of the Coros lineup, the Pace 4 Pro now costs $200 more than the base Pace 4, $100 more than the previous Pace Pro, and $20 more than the Coros Apex 4.

So, although it's an easy watch to love, it's not the type of watch I can sit here and recommend to the same runners as I would the Coros Pace 4. It's not really an introductory running watch, though it's a watch you could pick up now and keep for years, much like I did with the Pace 2.

Instead, I see the Coros Pace 4 Pro as more of an upgrade in the GPS watch game. If you've already spent a few years running, and you feel like you're ready to move on from your first watch (whether it's a Coros Pace or an entry level Garmin Forerunner), this is the watch for you.

Yes, it's about 10g heavier than the Pace 4 and 2g heavier than the Pace Pro, but it packs a bigger display, a smoother LTPO AMOLED face, a titanium bezel, and up to 20 extra hours of activity tracking. Add the speaker for hands-free phone calls and activity chimes, and the Pace 4 Pro is as complete of a wearable as Coros has ever made.

You can pick up the Coros Pace 4 Pro for $449 from Running Warehouse using the button below.

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