What you need to know
- The latest COROS update enables turn-by-turn navigation for Routes, but you must sign up for the limited beta to receive it.
- This update also adds custom watch faces, a stats summary page, trail running workouts, exporting running notes to Strava, and other perks.
- COROS' update rolls out to the VERTIX 2 and APEX 2 / 2 Pro on the 21st, then the PACE 2, VERTIX, and APEX Pro on the 28th.
Most running watches let you download or follow offline maps, but it's up to you to keep an eye on the route yourself. An upcoming COROS update changes that, adding turn-by-turn navigation to most of its recent watches. But you'll need to act fast to get access.
Starting out as beta software, COROS' turn-by-turn navigation will only be available to about 500 users to limit the workload for the support and product teams. The testing period starts in October and will last 3–6 months before getting pushed to global users, so if you're interested and don't want to wait until winter or spring 2024 to receive it, we suggest applying at this link ASAP.
It's available across Android and iOS, so long as you own the COROS APEX 2, APEX 2 Pro, APEX Pro, PACE 2, or VERTIX 2 / 1. Once enabled, it'll work by default once you start any workout that supports Routes, such as Trail Runs.
COROS also announced a laundry list of more immediate features rolling out on Monday, including custom watch faces for the first time. You'll be able to create one using your own photos or a preset collection of images, all within the COROS app. Unlike another popular fitness brand (*cough* Garmin *cough*), you won't need a separate app to manage watch faces.
Another much-needed update is a new Statistics Summary page, which lets you "choose a date range, filter by activity type, and quickly view your Threshold Heart Rate Zone Distribution to ensure your training was where you intended it."
In other words, you'll be able to properly judge how much of your training load is spent in different heart rate zones, encouraging you to target neglected areas to improve your VO2 Max.
While you wait for turn-by-turn navigation, COROS added an option to save favorite locations — so you can easily start or finish a newly created route at a usual spot like your local park or home — and then share a route with someone else over text messages or social media. Plus, you can now merge the start and end points of a custom route if you're running in a loop.
If you export your COROS data to Strava, you can now automatically send workout data to each activity's notes field that the app doesn't have equivalent categories for, such as training load and adjusted pace.
Other new feature updates and fixes include the following:
- Trail running workouts
- Option to export an image with your workout data superimposed to share on social media
- Improved Wi-Fi speeds
- COROS watches will now say "Navigation Failure" when you start a route but aren't physically near it, rather than maintaining a "GPS searching" mode and wasting battery
- You can now record activities that are up to 1,200 hours long (!), up from 200 hours.
The COROS August update rolls out to the VERTIX 2, APEX 2, and APEX 2 Pro on Monday, August 21. Next week, the update will come to the PACE 2, VERTIX, and APEX Pro on the 28th.
One of our favorite running watches, the APEX 2 offers All-Systems GNSS tracking, a 17-day battery life, a titanium bezel and Sapphire Glass, music storage, and COROS' EvoLab and Training Hub to guide your workouts.
