Whether you are a marathon trainer, triathlete, casual runner, multi-sport enthusiast or an indoor runner looking to track personal data, there is a right GPR running watch for you.
Take a look at the best GPS running watch that can help you improve your training sessions, motivate you, track your daily activity as well as take care of all the facets of running physiology with advanced metrics.
Best GPS Running Watches – Buyer’s Guide
| Product Name | Price | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garmin Forerunner 235 | $$$$ | ||
| Polar V800 | $ | ||
| Garmin Vivoactive | $$$ | ||
| TomTom Spark Cardio + Music | $$$$ | ||
| Garmin Forerunner 630 | $$$$$ | ||
| TomTom Runner | $$ | ||
| Fitbit Surge | $$$$ |
1. Garmin Forerunner 235
The FR235 offers the best value for your money, if you are looking for complete GPS running watch as well as a fitness tracker.
Read more about this product here.
The Garmin Forerunner is an impressive running watch with lightweight yet solid design and loaded with features that both serious and casual runner can utilize to improve their run and train better.
24/7 Heart rate measurement using the Garmin Elevate wrist heart rate technology- GPS+Glonass enabled
- Advanced features like VO2 Max score, recovery advisor and race time predictor
- Auto-pause and auto-lap features
- Music controls on paired/connected smart device
- Smart notifications with vibration and audio alert
- Water resistant upto 5 ATM
- Big screen that is readable in the sun along with a backlight
Battery life- User interface could be improved
- No virtual pacer feature
2. Polar V800
If you training for a triathlon or are a pro runner, this state-of-the art watch provides tracking of speed, pace, distance, fat burn calories as well as heart monitoring.
It is loaded with features that can interest you if like post-run analysis including recovery time and much more than general fitness tracking.
This advanced multisport GPS watch has a sleek and lightweight design. It is user friendly with easy to use interface and screen that is superbly customizable.
VR800 is much more than a running watch that allows tracking your activities 24/7 and analyze your performance. If you are determined to improve your output, look no further.
- WiFi and Bluetooth enabled to upload data to connected smart device wirelessly.
- Vibrating alerts useful in interval training, inactivity alerts as well as alarm
- Route tracker to save and share your route on map with trackback mode.
- Provides activity reports
- Allows goal setting
- Can be paired with foot pod to determine your cadence, stride length and form.
- Waterproof upto 100 feet
- Compatible with iOS and Android
- Heart rate monitoring
- Long battery life of upto 50 hours in a low-power GPS mode or 13 hours with GPS and HRM.
- Provides motivating feedback
- Continuously monitors your body’s performance against training and determines performance to suggest training plan.
- Expensive
- VO2Max prediction is not accurate
3. Garmin Vivoactive
Garmin has created this sports watch keeping in mind the active lifestyle of athletes, blending fitness features with best-in-class notifications. It is not just a sports watch but also a hybrid smart watch that can truly be worn everyday.
This is a versatile watch with improved training metrics that allows you to run, bike, swim, play golf or ski.
It is highly customizable in terms of data fields, widgets as well as features smart notifications like call or email. If you are looking for all-in-one GPS smartwatch, this is the watch you have been waiting for.
- Excellent battery life that can even last upto 3 weeks in typical use.
- Sleek, lightweight design
- Sunlight readable, high resolution touchscreen
- Waterproof design of up to 5 ATM
- Notifications from iOS and Android
- 24/7 HRM
- Long battery life of upto 8 days in activity tracking mode
- Smart notifications can be received directly on the paired smartphone.
- Bluetooth enabled
- Heart Rate Monitoring requires chest strap and cannot be taken directly from wrist.
- Low-resolution screen with dull design
- Sleep tracking does not offer detailed report
4. TomTom Spark Cardio + Music
PThis is the all-in-one watch that you ever dreamt of, loaded with GPS, built-in music playback as well as heart rate monitoring. With these all-in-one features it is aimed at athletes who are tired of towing their phone along everywhere. Its water proof design makes it safe for swimmers. It performs the basic functions like tracking calories burnt, distance and steps with daily activity tracking and sports tracking. You can also set targets and progress to get motivated and achieve your fitness goals.
Read more about it here
With one of the most accurate heart rate system, it is one of the preferred choice for people who are looking for multi-sport watch that helps you become smartphone free without compromising on both playback music and GPS route maps available right on the watch. However, it does not pack any revolutionary design or cutting edge features
- Accurate HRM
- 3GB of music storage capacity without the need of smartphone while running
- GPS route maps all on your watch and precise mileage tracking
- Can pair with TomTom’s MySports fitness app
- Tracks multi activities like bicycling, sleeping, swimming along with running
- Battery life of 5 hours with GPS on.
- Bulky design that fits on smaller wrist sizes
- Uploading music to the watch is a little painful process
- Touchpad navigation is not easy while running
- GPS lock is a little slow.
5. Garmin Forerunner 630
If you are pro runner, looking for advanced wearable tech, Garmin Forerunner 630 has all the features of a high-end GPS running watch.
The sleek design, long battery life with tons of advanced features including run dynamics makes it the watch for advanced runners.
- Offers advanced running metrics like stride length, ground contact balance, vertical oscillation ration as well as physiological measurements.
- Daily activity tracking
- Advanced Heart Rate monitoring
- Long battery life
- Precise GPS+GLONASS
- Garmin Connect provides customized training and fitness plans
- Smart notifications allows you to send emails, text and more
- Download widgets, data fields and screens to personalize your watch
- Store and share your running stats by sync data to Garmin Connect.
- Impressive color touch screen
- Superb battery life of with 12 weeks in watch mode and 17 hours in training mode.
- Restricted to sports like swimming and cycling.
- Required to wear the HRM-run to utilize most of the advanced features.
6. TomTom Runner
TomTom Runner is a basic watch with built-in HRM that can track your performance both indoors and outdoors. The tracking data can be uploaded to the MySports website for further analysis. If you are on a budget and want to track your running with superb GPS and HRM, look no further.
This GPS watch is available under $100 and has all the basic features that any runner desires in a simple and easy to use interface and app.
- GPS lock is efficient and fast using the QuickGPSFix technology
- Built-in Heart Rate Monitor
- Lightweight, comfortable and waterproof design
- Virtual trainer to motivate you to strive for your goals.
- Indoor tracker to track treadmill and other activities
- User-friendly and easy to use.
- Syncs wirelessly over Bluetooth
- Compatible tool is very basic
- No built-in USB charging
7. Fitbit Surge
From the industry leaders Fitbit, this is a solid everyday fitness tracker with long battery life, constant heart rate monitoring and accurate step tracking. However, it has some weaknesses like lack of waterproof design and erratic heart rate design that pushes it to the bottom of our list.
Fitbit Surge is one of the most expensive Fitbit device, that is meant for casual runners who are looking for a feature packed design, but not meant for serious marathon or triathlon trainers. It offers built-in GPS, optical heart rate monitoring with music control on the go, making it a great device for runners, bikers and hikers.
- Continuous heart rate monitoring
- Tracks activities like hiking, weight lifting as well as yoga
- Superb app with easy syncing
- Supports smart notifications
- Music control for default music player on an iPhone or Android device
- Bluetooth and Wifi enabled
- Not waterproof
- Poor battery life
- Limited push notifications
- Heart rate tracking is not consistent when running
- Poor sleep tracking
Summary:
If you are looking for the right running companion, there are a number of aspects of the handy gadget that you need to keep in mind. Some of the essential features to look for beside your personal requirement include efficiency, overall performance, comfort and design, battery life, multi-sport tracking, user friendliness, app and metrics and of course the price.
THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.Rachel Skinner
Rachel Skinner is a Nashville-based dietitian & nutritionist, media personality, speaker, and consultant. She has been a health and fitness writer since 2006. Rachel Skinner is a huge advocate of healthy living and when she's not writing for her health blog, you will probably find her at the gym!
