Coros Pace 4 Pro review: a Garmin Forerunner 970 killer?

Tom's Guide Verdict The Coros Pace Pro is my favorite Coros watch yet and a strong contender to be the best all-round sports watch on the market for runners and triathletes. It offers accurate tracking, impressive battery life and offline maps in a sleek, attractive design, and comes in considerably cheaper than the Garmin Forerunner 970, which has been my go-to pick for the past year. Pros +Slim case with large, bright AMOLED display +Accurate GPS and HR tracking +Offline maps +Long battery life Cons -No built-in flashlight -Limited smart features Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate. Jump To: Price Specs Design Sports tracking GPS & HR accuracy Battery life Maps Smart features Should you buy? The Coros Pace 4 is one of the best sports watches on the market, packing all the features runners and triathletes need into its small, lightweight design. I used it for six months to train for the London Marathon, and found very little to fault about it.One area where the Pace 4 did leave room for an upgrade was its design, and that’s where the Coros Pace 4 Pro steps in. It’s a more attractive watch with a larger, brighter display and longer battery life than the Pace 4, and the best Coros watch yet in my opinion.I’ve been using the Pace 4 Pro for the past week and a half ahead of its launch, and I’ve loved it. It’s proved accurate during my workouts so far, and crucially the design retains the slim, lightweight feel you expect from a Coros Pace watch.Latest Videos FromTom's GuideIn my full Coros Pace 4 Pro review I’ll cover why it’s impressed me so much, and why I think it’s a serious rival to what has been my go-to sports watch, the Garmin Forerunner 970.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: price and availability (Image credit: Future)The Coros Pace 4 Pro launched on 22 September 2026 and costs $449 in the U.S. and £389 in the U.K. It’s a big step up in price from the Coros Pace 4, which is $249/£229 for the standard watch and $279/£249 for the aluminum model.It does come in cheaper than its main rivals from Garmin: the Forerunner 570 ($549/£459) and the Forerunner 970 ($749.99/£629.99), and though both of those watches are often now in sales, the 970 is still usually $200 more, while the Forerunner 570 only drops to the same price as the Pace 4 Pro.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: specs compared Swipe to scroll horizontally Coros Pace 4 Pro vs Coros Pace 4 vs Garmin Forerunner 970 Header Cell - Column 0 Coros Pace 4 Pro Coros Pace 4 Garmin Forerunner 970 Price $449/£389 $249/£229;$279/£249 (aluminum) $749/£629 Size 47.6 x 11.8mm 43.4 x 11.8mm 47 x 12.9mm Display 1.47in 466 x 466 AMOLED 1.2in 390 x 390 AMOLED 1.4in 454 x 454 AMOLED Bezel Titanium Plastic or aluminum Titanium Screen Sapphire crystal Glass Sapphire crystal Weight 51g 40g 56g Water resistance 5 ATM 50m 5 ATM Battery life (watch mode) Up to 21 days Up to 20 days Up to 15 days Battery life (multi- band GPS) 30 hours 24 hours 21 hours Navigation Offline maps Breadcrumb Offline maps NFC payments No No Yes Mic/speaker Mic & speaker Mic Mic & speaker Storage 32GB 4GB 32GB Coros Pace 4 Pro review: design and display (Image credit: Future)The Coros Pace line has always been focused on road runners who want a lightweight, slim watch, and the Pace 4 Pro sticks to those ideals even with its large, 1.47in display.Tom's Guide: Direct to Your InboxGet instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.It’s exceptionally thin and sits snugly on even my slim wrists, and while it’s not as small and light as the Pace 4, I still found it a comfortable watch to wear 24/7, and it doesn’t snag on jackets.The new display is notably brighter than on past Coros watches and I found it easy to read the time and other stats off my watch face even when the display wasn’t fully on.During runs and other activities, you can see your data clearly in all conditions, even with the wild Multi-Data screen that shows 13 stats at once (this is too many stats, but still fun). (Image credit: Future)Other upgrades on other Pace models include a titanium bezel and sapphire crystal display, and the processor is also faster with 64GB of RAM — I found it’s a very snappy watch when navigating through menus or panning around maps.Like other Coros watches, the Pace 4 Pro has a three-button design, one of which is a digital dial. I find it’s a little easier to accidentally set off dials in general than fixed buttons, but it’s not a major problem.The Pace 4 Pro has a 5ATM water resistance rating, Coros’ latest optical heart rate sensor, and offers multi-band GPS tracking. You can connect external sensors via Bluetooth, and it has 32GB of storage, which you can use for music and maps. (Image credit: Future)It has a mic and speaker, and you can use the latter to take voice notes and drop pins during activities if you spot something useful like a water fountain or restroom. I use the voice note feature after runs as a quick way to record feedback on my training and any shoes or tech I’m testing, and my notes are automatically-transcribed in the Coros app.Overall the design of the Pace 4 Pro is a significant upgrade on what we’ve seen from the brand in the past. It’s a great-looking watch and as a slender-wristed gentleman I also appreciate the focus Coros puts on keeping its watches slim and light.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: sports tracking and training analysis (Image credit: Future)The Pace 4 Pro doesn’t bring any new sports features to the table compared with other Coros watches, but does have customizable modes for pretty much every activity, and useful training analysis including VO2 max estimates, training load analysis and race time predictions.This training analysis data is presented well on the watch and in the partner app, and there are training plans for a wide variety of running events and time goals in the app, along with some cycling and triathlon training plans. If you set one of these up, it will send the workouts to the watch to follow. (Image credit: Future)The training analysis is not as extensive as that of Garmin’s top watches, and the Pace 4 Pro doesn’t offer a readiness score — though it does measure overnight heart rate variability which you can use to a similar end — but it does a good job of providing all the data you really need in a clear and engaging way.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: GPS and heart rate accuracy (Image credit: Future)The Coros Pace 4 Pro uses multi-band GPS in its most accurate mode, which I had on throughout testing, and has Coros’ latest optical heart rate sensor. I checked the HR readings on the watch against a chest strap during testing, and looked at the GPS tracks to see if any errors cropped up.On both fronts, I saw very few errors. The GPS performance was right in line with top Garmin watches like the Forerunner 970 and Fenix 9 Pro, and aside from the occasional short, erroneous spike in HR, the readings from the Pace 4 Pro were right in line with the chest strap, especially during runs and bike rides.Strength workouts provide more of a challenge to optical heart rate sensors and I did see more errors during those while wearing the Coros Pace 4 Pro, but it was never too far from the chest strap's readings. (Image credit: Future)I’ll continue to test the accuracy on the watch but having run every day with it for 11 days, along with doing bike rides and strength workouts, I’ve not noticed any concerning errors from the Pace 4 Pro.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: battery life (Image credit: Future)The Pace 4 Pro sports the largest, brightest display Coros has ever put on a watch, but it still maintains the long battery life that has become a hallmark of the brand’s devices.It’s listed as lasting up to 21 days in watch mode, or seven days with the screen always-on, and offers 30 hours of GPS tracking in its most accurate mode.Normally the watch mode stats given by brands are a best-case scenario, but the Pace 4 Pro actually lasted me over seven days on its first charge, even though I had the screen always-on and ran outside each day using the most power-intensive battery mode.I also had the heart rate tracking outside workouts set to real-time, rather than taking readings every 10 minutes, which is the default setting.For comparison, the Garmin Forerunner 970 lasts me four to five days on a charge with the same use, as does the Coros Pace 4. Some AMOLED watches do last longer, like the 51mm Garmin Fenix 9 Pro, but they’re a lot bulkier than the Pace 4 Pro, which punches above its lightweight when it comes to battery life.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: maps and navigation (Image credit: Future)Coros recently added maps to the Pace 4 via a software update, which means that all of its current line-up have the feature, and the maps look particularly good on the Pace 4 Pro’s big display.They aren’t routable maps, which you get on Garmin watches, but still suffice in keeping you on track when following routes or trying to find your way back to your starting point, and when following routes you also get an elevation plot and Hill Alerts, which notify you of upcoming climbs and descents.You can create routes easily in the Coros app and sync them to the watch, and get turn-by-turn notifications.Garmin still leads the way with its routable maps, which allow you to create routes on the fly, but the navigation tools on the Pace 4 Pro are very handy and easy to use, and the maps load rapidly when panning and zooming.During activities, you can also share a live tracking link so others can follow your progress on a map, and you can also send SOS alerts if you get into trouble. You can also create scheduled live tracking events so a link goes live automatically at the set time.Coros Pace 4 Pro review: smart features (Image credit: Future)Smarts is one area where Coros watches are lacking, and while I don’t think that’s necessarily a dealbreaker in a sports watch, you do get better smart features if you opt for one of the best Garmins, let alone a true smartwatch like the Apple Watch Ultra 4.You can store music on the Pace 4 Pro, but it only supports MP3 files and can’t link up with streaming services like Spotify. It also doesn’t offer NFC payments, there’s no app store and while there are a lot of watch faces available in the Coros app, they’re not as customizable as on other sports watches.If smart features are a must for you on a watch, then the Pace 4 Pro isn’t the best pick, and a Garmin device or a smartwatch would suit you better.Should you buy the Coros Pace 4 Pro? (Image credit: Future)The Coros Pace 4 Pro ticks all the boxes I’m looking for as a keen runner, and the upgraded design makes it the best option in the Coros line-up, with the bonus that if you’re not that fussed about the looks, the Pace 4 is a great cheaper alternative with the same software features.It’s the strongest competitor to the Garmin Forerunner 970, which I do rate as the best sports watch on the market, unless you want the connectivity features of the Fenix 9 Pro. (Image credit: Future)The Pace 4 Pro is cheaper than the Forerunner 970, outperforms it on battery life, matches it for accuracy based on my testing, and I prefer its design — it’s thinner and lighter and has a bigger screen.It's also actually cheaper than the previous-gen Garmin Forerunner 965 tends to drop to in sales, which is important as often Garmin's older models are the best option for those seeking value.There are certainly reasons to upgrade to the Forerunner 970, though, which has more smart features, better maps, more extensive training analysis including readiness, and a built-in flashlight, to name some of the biggest ones.The Coros Pace 4 Pro nails the essentials for less, though, and does it while looking great. It’s a watch that’ll stay on my wrist to track my marathon training. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Nick Harris-Fry is an experienced health and fitness journalist, writing professionally since 2012. He spent nine years working on the Coach magazine and website before moving to the fitness team at Tom’s Guide in 2024. Nick is a keen runner and also the founder of YouTube channel The Run Testers, which specialises in reviewing running shoes, watches, headphones and other gear.Nick ran his first marathon in 2016 and became obsessed with the sport. He now has PBs of 2hr 25min for the marathon and 15min 30sec for 5K. Nick is also a qualified Run Leader in the UK.Nick is an established expert in the fitness area and along with writing for many publications, including Live Science, Expert Reviews, Wareable, Coach and Get Sweat Go, he has been quoted on The Guardian and The Independent. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.