Coros Vertix 2S review: big, bold and brilliant

Released in April 2024, the Coros Vertix 2S is the updated version of the Coros Vertix 2, itself released back in 2021. Rather than being a complete redesign, it's more of a mid-generation refresh, with a few improvements over the original model. This includes improved GPS accuracy and a redesigned heart rate sensor. But it retains much from its predecessor.

The Vertix 2S is the flagship model from the brand and competes with other premium outdoor watches such as the Garmin Fenix 7 (RRP £519) - itself now superseded by the Fenix 8 - and the Suunto Vertical (RRP £545). With its RRP of £599, the Vertix 2S is considerably more expensive than the excellent Coros Pace 3 (RRP £219), and around £150 pricier than the mid-range Coros Apex 2 Pro (RRP £449). But the premium adventure watch market is highly competitive. Does this watch do enough to make it a contender to be one of the best smartwatches?

We asked Senior Tech Writer and Reviewer Steven Shaw to try out the Vertix 2S, to see if it justifies the price tag. Read on, to see what he thought of it...

Design and setup

Let's start with the obvious. This is a big watch. And when I say big, I mean big. Measuring almost two inches in diameter, it isn't subtle.

But although it's a chunky timepiece, it's lighter than you might expect, weighing 70 grams with the nylon strap. That's actually a few grams lighter than the Withings ScanWatch 2 (77 grams). So, despite its size, weight isn't an issue. It's built for durability, with a scratch resistant sapphire glass screen, and a titanium bezel to help withstand whatever you throw at it.

The Vertix 2S comes with a choice of straps in the box – either a silicone band, or a nylon strap. I chose the nylon option and found it to be very comfortable. Not unlike the sportsband on the Apple Watch Series 10.

The watch has three buttons, one of which is a rotating crown that you can use to cycle through different options. The top button activates the backlight, the bottom button is the back button, and you can hold it down to access another menu. The display is also a touchscreen, which is reasonably responsive.

There are dozens of watch faces to choose from, ranging from simple to extremely busy. The screen is a memory-in-pixel (MIP) LCD display, so it isn't the brightest compared to devices that have AMOLED screens. You can't adjust the brightness either, so there were a few occasions where it was difficult to see the screen.

Setup is pleasingly simple – scan the QR code on the guide to download the Coros app. Create an account, then turn on the watch and pair it using a QR code displayed on the watch itself. You have plenty of settings you can customise, and then in my case I needed to complete a software update, that took around 15 minutes. It was a relatively painless process.

Packed with features

Coros styles this as an adventure watch, designed for the great outdoors. As you'd expect, there are plenty of features designed to support training and recovery.

All the essentials are there for any self-respecting fitness tracker: heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen, steps, sleep, stress and calories are all monitored. The Vertix 2S also estimates your training load, and how long it will take to recover from your exertions. You can track many popular forms of exercise, including running, swimming and cycling. There are plenty of outdoor options including climbing, bouldering, whitewater rafting, and skiing, to give a few examples. A wellness check feature records several metrics at once to give you an idea of your current health status.

This watch is laden with sensors to help record all these metrics. Coros has introduced an improved heart rate sensor over the Vertix 2, which I'll cover in more depth later. There's also an improved GPS antenna, that works with the five major satellite networks – GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou. You can download maps and benefit from turn-by-turn navigation, and in theory at least, should have the best chance of connecting to at least one satellite system no matter how difficult the terrain.

After a week of wearing it, the Vertix 2S gives you a training status score, which is based on your recent training load, the intensity of the exercise and the impact that training is having on your body. The longer you wear the watch, the more accurate this becomes.

It's similar to features you'll find on devices like the Garmin Forerunner 255 and Polar Vantage V3. You also get insights into how well your body has recovered from recent training sessions, to help you decide whether to take it easy, or push yourself.

Overall, it's a comprehensive package that will suit a wide range of sports focused users. I love digging into the data, and this watch tracks loads of metrics, and offers plenty of insight into training and recovery.

Peak performance

Performance-wise, I was impressed by the consistency and accuracy of this watch. I wore the Apple Watch Series 10 alongside the Coros Vertix 2S, to give me a point of reference. And the two devices were remarkably closely aligned across a range of metrics.

General activity

In terms of general activity tracking, the Apple Watch typically counted slightly more steps each day than the Coros. I attribute most of the difference to the fact the Apple Watch was on my dominant hand. Crucially, the differences were consistent, and typically no more than 10 per cent.

Active calorie estimates were similarly close. Coros only measures active calories, justifying this on the basis that everyone's basal metabolic rate will be different. As with step counts, the Apple Watch typically recorded a slightly higher calorie burn estimate, which is consistent with the higher step count it recorded. The largest difference was on days where I wasn't exercising. On days where I did work out, the difference was as little as 20 calories out of almost 1000. In other words, I felt there was much agreement between the two watches.

Exercise

Calorie estimates were even closer when tracking workouts. In four different cardio workouts, the largest difference in estimates was 15 calories, the smallest just two. Strength training was a little more varied, but still no more than about 30 calories. In percentage terms, that equates to a difference of less than five per cent for cardio, and around 10 per cent for strength training.

Heart rate tracking was similarly impressive. Average heart rates during exercise were typically within one or two beats per minute (BPM) of each other, and no more than five. Maximum heart rate measurements were fractionally more variable, with a difference of eight BPM on one workout, but generally between two and four BPM different. Once again, the level of consistency between the two devices makes me confident I was getting accurate readings.

GPS tracking

A redesigned antennae means that GPS should be better in the Vertix 2S than it was in its predecessor. My experience was that the GPS in this watch was excellent. It quickly found a GPS signal, and tracking was consistent.

Following my usual 5.5-km route, the Coros watch was almost always identical to the Apple Watch Series 10, which also has built-in GPS. Typically, any difference was no more than 10 metres – effectively a rounding error. Both watches also had very similar pace measurements – usually within one second of each other per kilometre. I felt this was extremely accurate.

Sleep

Sleep tracking is one area that, in my experience, can be hit and miss with even the best fitness trackers and smartwatches. One thing to note is that this is a big watch, and as such, many people might prefer not to wear it overnight. Personally, I found it relatively comfortable despite its size, particularly with the nylon strap. However, it was noticeable if I inadvertently rolled onto that arm during the night.

Like most modern devices, the Vertix 2S will track different sleep stages – light, deep, REM, and periods of being awake. You'll also get overnight heart-rate variability readings, which can show whether your body is under strain.

While I have never found a device that perfectly tracks my sleep, I felt the Vertix 2S was in the right ballpark most of the time. There was one night of poor sleep when the watch didn't detect that I was awake but lying still. Apart from that, light sleep stages were very closely in agreement with the Apple Watch.

Deep sleep and REM readings were more variable, but interestingly, when I added up those totals and compared them, they were pretty close. This suggests the two watches have different ways of identifying what was deep sleep or REM sleep. But overall, the total amount of sleep being measured was broadly similar.

Battery

Battery life has been a strength of Coros devices for a long time, and the Vertix 2S continues in that vein. Coros claims that this watch can last for up to 36 days with daily stress tracking turned on (or 40 days without). Across 10 days, the battery on my device went from 100 per cent to 70 per cent. That would suggest that, even with daily stress tracking turned on, lots of workouts and GPS tracking, the watch could comfortably last for a month.

This is significantly better than many traditional smartwatches, which often struggle to last more than 24 hours. Even many of the best Garmin watches – typically also excellent for battery life – won't last as long as this. If you're an ultramarathon runner, for example - where battery life is valuable - then this is a particularly compelling argument for the Coros Vertix 2S.

Coros App

While you can get most of your metrics on the watch itself, the Coros app is where you'll go for historic data, or more detailed insights into all your readings. It's also where you can go to customise settings on the device, download maps, and look through your training plans, among other things.

The main page you'll use is the "Progress" tab, which provides a snapshot of your daily metrics, including step counts, active calories, and time spent being active. Other metrics such as your training load, training status, and recovery status are also available here. Further down, you can find data on your heart rate, stress levels, sleep, and HRV. You can tap on any of these to open each metric and get further insights.

It's a clean app that's easy to navigate and understand. Coros hasn't tried to cram too much information onto the screen, and strikes a good balance in terms of how in-depth it goes on each metric. I didn't find it overwhelming, and while, in my view, it doesn't offer quite as comprehensive an experience as the Garmin Connect app, it's still very good.

Any downsides?

There's an awful lot that's great about this watch, so I struggled to immediately find any major negatives. But there are a few areas which might have been slightly better:

Bulky design

In case I haven't already mentioned, this is a big watch. It's been designed for outdoor adventures, where a larger screen is helpful for navigation.  Plus, that large bezel will likely help protect the screen and sensors from damage while, say, mountain climbing. But I generally spend most of my time not halfway up a cliff face, and for general day-to-day wear, this watch felt extremely chunky.

Dull display

As I said earlier, the Vertix 2S relies on an LCD MIP screen. This has benefits in terms of longer battery life, but it isn't the clearest or brightest, especially when compared with AMOLED displays that you'll find on other modern watches, such as the Garmin Fenix 8. Don't get me wrong – it's not a terrible screen. It's merely...ok.

Limited smartwatch features

This will be more or less of an issue depending on what you want from your watch, but this is not a true smartwatch. Instead, it offers a limited set of smart features. You can read notifications and share data with lots of popular apps including Strava and Apple Health. But there's no app store, limited music playback functionality (you'll have to load MP3 files onto the watch via a computer), and you can't use it for contactless payments.

If you want a more rounded smartwatch experience, other devices will suit you better.

Price and competition

The RRP of £599 makes the Coros Vertix 2S a premium product. But it's by no means overpriced. An Apple Watch Ultra 2, for example, starts at a price of £799, while the Polar Vantage V3 has an RRP of £519 (although we've seen it on sale for under £400). Other devices worth comparing it to include the Garmin Fenix 7 (RRP £519) and Forerunner 965 (RRP £599.99). The newer Garmin Fenix 8 starts from £949.99, and depending on what specs you choose, could cost you over £1000.

In other words, while the Vertix 2S isn't the cheapest among its peers, I still consider it fair value. You get an excellent watch that's built for the outdoors, with lots of metrics for tracking your health and fitness. It does, however, struggle to stand out from the crowd. If it were under £500, it would make a much stronger case for itself.

Part of the challenge is that some of the other devices I've mentioned, for example the Fenix 7, offer more metrics than this watch, for a lower price. If I were choosing between two excellent watches, the one that offers more for less is likely to get my vote. It's slightly strange, given what incredibly good value the Coros Pace 3 is, that this hasn't been priced more aggressively.

Who is it for?

This is described by Coros as an adventure watch, and it's really built for being out and about. Its size means it isn't necessarily ideal for all, but adventurous types who climb mountains, raft down rapids and generally live for the outdoors, will appreciate the durability and long battery life. Excellent GPS tracking and plenty of metrics for sporty types mean they will get a lot out of this watch.

Would we recommend it?

The Coros Vertix 2S is the best watch Coros currently offers. It covers all the essentials I'd expect to see in a good sports watch. It's highly accurate, consistent, and comfortable. Pricewise, you get decent value for money, although the Garmin Fenix 7 offers more features, and is often available for less than this watch. And, generally, Garmin offers a slightly more polished experience overall.

I really enjoyed wearing this watch, although as I've already mentioned, I personally prefer something a little smaller on my wrist. The Vertix 2S won't appeal to everyone. But for adventurous types, there really is a lot to like.

More items to consider

Who tested it?

The Coros Vertix 2S was tested by Senior Tech Writer and Reviewer Steven Shaw. Steven has years of experience wearing, testing and reviewing smartwatches and fitness trackers.

Steven also has a keen interest in health and fitness in general, so could easily integrate testing this device into his normal active lifestyle.

How the product was tested

I wore the Coros Vertix 2S every day for a couple of weeks, using it to track general activity, sleep, and a variety of exercise types. This included walking, yoga, high intensity cardio, and resistance training. Alongside the Vertix 2S, I wore an Apple Watch Series 10, allowing me to compare the two devices to gauge accuracy and consistency of performance.

I also made regular use of the Coros app to monitor my metrics and see how user-friendly the app was. I considered how the app was configured, how simple it was to navigate, and how clearly it presented and explained the data that was available.

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Steven Shaw is a Senior Tech Writer and Reviewer for What's the Best. Steven writes how-to guides, explainers, reviews and best-of listicles covering a wide range of topics. He has several years of experience writing about fitness tech, mobile phones, and gaming.

When Steven isn't writing, he's probably testing a new smartwatch or fitness tracker, putting it through its paces with a variety of strength training, HIIT, or yoga. He also loves putting on a podcast and going for a long walk.

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