Review: Coros Pace 3 - A Watch that Helps You Run More for Less Money

I am used to using and training mainly with smartwatches from Garmin and Samsung (and a bit of Xiaomi and Amazfit), so Coros’ approach somewhat deterred me. This is a Chinese company founded in 2014 that focuses mainly on sports watches. These watches are targeted towards professional athletes rather than hobbyists like myself, so the product and its capabilities are tailored to the demands of this audience. Additionally, unlike Garmin or other manufacturers that also attribute importance to non-sport-related features, it doesn't seem like Coros has decided to pay too much attention to this aspect. While there is the ability to receive notifications in Hebrew from the smartphone, you won't be able to respond to messages, not even with a predefined generic reply, and there is also no option to install external apps or make payments with the watch.

Design, Screen, and Interface: Lightweight with a sporty look

The Coros 3 comes in two versions of straps: nylon or silicone. The nylon strap feels like fabric and is pleasant to the touch, but it takes a long time to dry after getting wet, so those planning to monitor swimming workouts with the watch should choose the silicone strap. The version I tested had a nylon strap and weighed 30 grams, while the silicone version weighs a bit more - 39 grams.

The watch has two physical buttons, one of which also serves as a bezel, allowing control of the device mainly in situations where it is difficult to operate the touch screen, for example, during swimming training, when hands are wet and the touch screen is not useful at all. The colorful touch screen comes in 1.2 inches and is seen wonderfully in strong sunlight and is of course water-resistant up to a depth of 50 meters.

The default Watch Face that comes with the watch looks good, I stayed with it during the review period and it is also possible to make adjustments to the data you want to see at a glance. It is also possible to download other designs through the smartphone app.

The main screen of the watch is revealed when scrolling the screen up or down. It is a scrollable menu that includes many widgets displaying information about the calories burned during the day, the number of steps, the number of floors climbed, active minutes, Coros’ running fitness rating, information in percentages whether the body has managed to recover from the activity, sleep data, and also a display of whether I was stressed (pressure) that day and when. It is a respectable amount of data that allows understanding of physical fitness.

The main menu appears with a short press on the bezel, so you can choose the type of training you want to start, training history, and settings. It is not a complex interface, but it is a shame that it does not come with menus in Hebrew. It does come with support for Hebrew fonts, so you can read notifications from the smartphone. In general, it is an easy-to-operate interface that I did not find myself struggling with too much.

The watch supports downloading music files to it (for those who still have such and do not use streaming services), so you can store music in it and listen through Bluetooth headphones. There is no support for streaming services like Spotify or YouTube Music.

Sports and health: Hardware upgrades and adjustments

One of the added features to the Pace 3 is Dual GPS. This technology allows the watch to better handle location detection through communication of two channels with the satellite. This technology is designed for location detection in urban areas where there may be disruptions to GPS. For some reason, it is not activated by default, so you need to look for it in the menus in order to enable it to get accurate tracking during runs.

Another upgrade is a new optical heart rate sensor, which took some time at the beginning of the workout to lock onto my heart rate, even though I set the watch to monitor heart rate constantly.

Another feature here, popular in watches even before the COVID-19 pandemic, is measuring blood oxygen levels (SpO2).

I tested the Pace 3 in running and swimming workouts. In pool swim workouts in a semi-Olympic-size pool, the watch was accurate most of the time in counting the number of laps I did, unlike other watches I have tested that easily missed counting laps.

I checked the watch several times also on the treadmill, its result was not close, but at the end of the run the watch offers to adjust the distance to that shown on the running device, so that's not really a problem.

The Pace 3 includes a variety of fitness workouts, such as: weights, skiing, snowboarding, cycling, sea swimming, rope jumping, and triathlon. The main option for most users is probably running. After the watch identifies the location and locks onto the pulse, you can hit the road. The screen before running also includes a notification about the number of hours remaining on the battery, so it won't run out during the workout. By default, the main screen during the run includes prominent notifications of pulse, distance, pace, and elapsed time. The subsequent screens include more details, with adjustments that can be made as needed. Pressing the bezel will pause the workout, and on the screen that appears afterward, you can finish the run after a 3-second press, then details about the same workout will also immediately appear.

You can also find workout displays on the watch, after defining them from the app, workout plans, and checking fitness level after a 10 km run.

There is a feature called a general check of the health status, which performs a short check of several indicators and provides a display on one screen in the app and on the watch about heart rate, stress, blood oxygen, breathing rate, and heart rate variability (HRV). The watch also offers sleep monitoring, but I haven't had a chance to check it, as it's not comfortable for me to sleep with a watch on my wrist.

Battery: Over two weeks of use

The watch offers a long battery life for workouts. When using Dual GPS mode, you get 15 hours of use, and when connected to a variety of satellite types (such as GPS, Glonass, Galileo, and more) you get 25 hours. In normal use mode (not during a workout, but standby), the watch lasts for 17 days and drops to 15 days if stress monitoring is activated. Charging time is two hours and like other sports watches, it also requires a unique charger for charging.

Price: 1,400 shekels (official importer: YouSport)

In conclusion, if you are considering a watch mainly dedicated to sports activities and invest more in runs of 10 km or more rather than short runs, the Pace 3 is tailored for you. It includes many capabilities, comfortable design that also looks good, long battery life for long workouts, and a convenient budget. On the other hand, besides displaying notifications in Hebrew, it does not include a Hebrew interface and there is no option to use streaming applications to download podcasts or playlists (such as Spotify or YouTube Music) for running without a smartphone.