Track your training, race stronger and recover quicker with expert run-tester Kieran Alger’s pick of the best running watches
A good running watch is a powerful tool. The coaching elements can help fine-tune your training, measure your performance and progress, and boost motivation. Even the cheaper options now cover the basics, with reliable GPS, wrist-based heart rate tracking and loads of training, coaching and recovery insights to help you hit any goal.
What is the best running watch?
The Garmin Forerunner 965 (buy now) is the best running watch I’ve tested. The ultra-crisp AMOLED touchscreen adds some user-friendly smartwatch style to Garmin’s market-leading training, performance and recovery insights. Accuracy across the board is generally impressive, and the week-long battery life caters for just about every level of runner.
Other running watch recommendations
| Best running watch on a budget | With the Coros Pace 3 (buy now), Coros has added things we love to see like longer battery life, better GPS accuracy and some navigation smarts. For me, the Pace 3 builds on the bang-for-buck strength of the Pace 2 and I’d definitely recommend this highly for new runners, those on a budget or people looking for an unfussy watch that ticks the basic boxes – and goes a bit further to boot. |
| Best Polar running watch | The Polar Vantage V3 (buy now) delivers a bright, smartwatch-style AMOLED display, multiband GPS with an upgraded chip, plus Polar’s new Gen 4 heart rate sensor setup that promises to boost the optical accuracy. The result is Polar’s best ever running watch. |
| Best AMOLED watch on a budget | The Suunto Race (buy now) is an excellent watch for the price. The AMOLED screen is crisp; the breadth of training, navigation and health features is good; battery life is competitive; and GPS accuracy is largely on point |
| Best running smartwatch | The Apple Watch Ultra 2 (buy now) sets the benchmark for smartwatches with running credentials. The native running experience now offers quite a lot of the training insights you’ll find on Garmin and if you’re willing to beef that up with third party apps it’ll do almost everything your Garmin, Polar or Suunto can do – just not in the same integrated fashion. |
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The best running watches you can buy today
1. Garmin Forerunner 965
Men’s Fitness verdict
The ultra-crisp AMOLED touchscreen adds some user-friendly smartwatch style to Garmin’s market-leading training, performance and recovery insights. Accuracy and battery life are also impressive.- Large, stunning, bright display
- Multiband GPS
- Week-long battery life
- Screen prone to scratching (as shown in image above…)
- Price hike on the Forerunner 955
- Larger screen might not suit all wrists
| Display | AMOLED (optional always-on mode) |
| Display resolution | 454 x 454 pixels |
| Display size | 35.4mm (diameter) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+, WiFi |
| Weight | 52g |
Garmin has been top of the running watch tree for a little while, and for my money it stays there with the Forerunner 965 – the best running watch I had the pleasure of testing. It may be £100 more that its predecessor but the host of upgrades make that extra outlay well worth it.
The large AMOLED touchscreen display looks great and makes the interface experience a dream. That’s partnered with big battery life, accurate GPS and a host of performance metrics that can genuinely enhance your running.
- Read more: Garmin Forerunner 965 review
2. Coros Pace 3
Men’s Fitness verdict
The Pace 3 builds on the bang-for-buck strength of the Pace 2. I’d highly recommend it for new runners, those on a budget or people looking for an unfussy watch that ticks the basic boxes.- Brilliant all-round value
- Reliable multi-band GPS
- Great battery life
- Design is a bit plastic and basic
- Patchy heart rate measurements
| Display | Touch screen always-on memory LCD |
| Display resolution | 240 x 240 pixels |
| Display size | 1.2 inches (diameter) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, WiFi |
| Weight | 39g with silicon band; 30g with nylon band |
It doesn’t boast the crystal-clear AMOLED display of the other running watches featured in this guide, but the COROS Pace 3 is more budget-friendly for it. And what it lacks in crispness it more than makes up for with a suite of run-boosting features. There aren’t many sub-£300 running watches where you’ll find features like blood oxygen level monitoring or a barometric altimeter.
Building on the impressive foundations of the COROS Pace 2, the Pace 3 brings in bigger batter life – I got 15.5 hours of GPS training out of it on a single charge – and accurate GPS in Dual Frequency Mode.
- Read more: Coros Pace 3 review
3. Polar Vantage V3
Men’s Fitness verdict
A bright smartwatch-style AMOLED display, multiband GPS with an upgraded chip, plus Polar’s new Gen 4 heart rate sensor makes for Polar’s best ever running watch.- Excellent, bright AMOLED display
- Reliable multiband GPS
- Free Komoot and Strava subscriptions
- Phone pairing and syncing is buggy
- Raise to wake is sometimes laggy
- No Spotify/Deezer playback
| Display | AMOLED |
| Display resolution | 454 x 454 pixels |
| Display size | 1.39 inches (diameter) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, ANT+ |
| Weight | 57g |
Polar is back with a bang with the Vantage V3, a great-looking running watch that does the basics very well, and introduces a few useful extras. Free Strava and Komoot subscriptions aren’t to be sniffed at either.
Wrist-based heart rate tracking still has a way to go, but I found the Vantage V3 provided one of the most reliably accurate heart rate measurements of any of the running watches I tested. The AMOLED display is big and bright, and the interface intuitive; while battery life is an improvement on previous models.
- Read more: Polar Vantage V3 review
5. Apple Watch Ultra 2
Men’s Fitness verdict
If you want a brilliant smartwatch – the best in the business – that also has good running credentials, this is it. But if you want the best running watch, you can get more for your money.- Best smartwatch battery life
- Stunning, rugged design
- Accurate heart rate and GPS
- Very expensive
- Battery life still short for a running watch
| Display | Retina LTPO OLED, 3000 nits (peak) |
| Display resolution | 502 x 410 pixels |
| Display size | 1.92 inches (diameter) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, WiFi |
| Weight | 61.4g |
If you want a smartwatch you can do a bit of running with, and have a big budget to play with, look no further than the Apple Watch Ultra 2. For day-to-day tracking and smartwatch features, Apple continues to be well out in front.
However, there are better – and cheaper – watches available if you want to go deep diving into your running metrics. And not many people buy Apple Watches for their battery life. But for smartwatch features and the best screen in the business, Apple still takes some beating.
- Read more: Apple Watch Ultra 2 review
6. Garmin Forerunner 165 Music
Men’s Fitness verdict
The offline music, sleek design and AMOLED display make this Forerunner a sound proposition, but there’s no escaping that lower-than-average battery life.- Excellent bright display
- Comfortable, compact design
- Offline music
- Battery life not class leading
- Missing some training insights
| Display | Colour AMOLED touchscreen |
| Display resolution | 390 x 390 pixels |
| Display size | 1.2 inches (diameter) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, WiFi |
| Weight | 39g |
With the Forerunner 165 Music, Garmin looks to be setting a new benchmarks for budget running watches. For under $300 / £300 you still get most of the significant training insights found on its pricier watches, as well a bright, crisp 1.2-inch AMOLED screen – not to mention the ability to play music offline.
The one concession is a rather average battery life, which you might need to manage, especially if you plan on playing music on most of your runs. But if your running routine can cope with that, you’re getting a great value running watch with plenty of high-end features.
- Read more: Garmin Forerunner 165 Music review
What makes a good running watch?
The best running watches get the basics right, with accurate heart rate, fast satellite link-up and reliable GPS tracking for pace and distance. Along with good runtime GPS battery life, these are the non-negotiables. The good news: you can now find these essentials in even the cheapest running watches.
A good running watch boasts a bright, clear, crisp screen that’s easy to read in all light conditions, particularly on the move. There’s a big trend for AMOLED screens, with all the major brands, Polar, Suunto and Garmin adding these Apple-esque super-sharp displays to their mid-to-premium watches. Though you might sacrifice the longest battery life for that pleasure.
Customisation of your mid-run stats and post-run watch faces is also very handy. And the best watches offer zippy interfaces and responsive controls and touchscreen. You don’t want to be jabbing at unreactive buttons when you’re trying to take your splits.
When it comes to training insights, the best watches now track a huge array of metrics and offer up a broad sweep of feedback. That ranges from post-run training effect, the build-up of fatigue and recovery time recommendations, to heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, daily stress, sleep and even ECG.
You might look for lifestyle health tools like sleep tracking and training readiness scores, but be warned: almost all of the sleep trackers lack accuracy, and the readiness scores that often rely on sleep data are fallible, too.
If you’re heading off grid onto the trails, or you plan to run an ultra, the bigger, rugged adventure running watches like the Garmin Fenix 7 and COROS Vertix 2 offer more robust design, longer battery life and more powerful navigation tools.
If navigation is a priority, route planning with breadcrumb navigation is a given. But more capable watches offer turn-by-turn navigation, offline topographical maps and clever features like back-to-start, elevation profile and waypoint marking.
Smartwatch skills are improving and most watches now let you read notifications, text and call alerts. If music is important, some let you control your smartphone music players, but the better watches offer offline music storage, and play nice with streaming services like Spotify and Deezer.
The app and web training tools are also important, and Polar Flow differs greatly from Garmin Connect or the COROS and Suunto apps. If you’re a first-timer with these, it’s smart to download them first (they’re free) and have a play with them before you buy the watch. These partner training tools can be a big part of the overall experience so it’s worth the time invested.
