Post #1641920

2026-04-22 21:46 UTC

I record my trail runs and hikes with #Strava on my phone (a Kyocera DuraForce Ultra 5G). For the most part, it works but there are issues. First, Strava hogs the battery. Second, sometimes doesn&#39;t always #record accurately or at all, which is disappointing to see after any kind of distance. For a few years now I&#39;ve been contemplating buying a #GPS #watch. I don&#39;t care too much for metrics like sleep, lap times, or the vast array of sports. I need: 1.) Year-round durability 2.) Excellent battery life 3.) *Accurate* GPS recording for trail running and hiking under canopy 4.) Ability to use with gloves 5.) $400 for a watch is too expensive 6.) Question on #maps: From what I&#39;ve seen #Garmin overlays on Google Maps, which does not display the trail system I use. but appear on #OpenStreetMap and Strava (which uses OSM). I don&#39;t know what maps #Suunto uses but this is a grey area because Garmin sells maps but I can&#39;t confirm whether the trails I run on are available. Also, I don&#39;t know how relevant this is if I am both exporting #GPX files and sync&#39;ing to Strava. The sheer volume of options available are overwhelming and prices can reach stratospheric levels quickly. Garmin has way too many overlapping models all with a barrage of features I will likely never need. Suunto looks great, has fewer bells and whistles, the build #quality looks outstanding, but some people have told me their GPS #recording isn&#39;t as accurate. I don&#39;t know anything about #Coros. My wife tells me to &quot;just get a Garmin and call it a day.&quot; Can anyone recommend a particular model? Are there reasons why I should buy a Garmin or Suunto? Or Coros? Your input is greatly appreciated. #trailrunning #hiking #woods #offroad #gps #gpswatch #tech

Replies (7)

@Platano_Isla@mastodon.social 2026-04-22 23:09

@peteorrall Hi Pete. As someone who uses running watches for more than a decade now, let me give my 2 cents here. 1. Regarding GPS accuracy. We have 2026 and I believe all of them are pretty accurate today. If some people say Suuntos are not accurate, yes they had some issues 5-6 years ago with some models and it still sticks with them. Current models work as good as other brands. The only thing running watches still fail today is accuracy in vertical. All of them, IMO.

Open ##1653665
@ericphelps@mastodon.social 2026-04-23 03:23

@peteorrall I use a Zepp (Amazfit) watch and am quite happy with it. It has all the features you don't want, but it also has nice GPS, good battery life, and great price. It'll go two weeks if you don't use the GPS, and my 5-hour day hikes only use about 20% of the watch battery. I run the Zepp app on my phone to download the GPX after a hike, then do whatever I want with the GPX. https://www.amazfit.com/

Open ##1653669
@linluk@mastodon.social 2026-04-23 05:04

@peteorrall I use a coros pace 3 and am very happy with it, (I know nothing about the new pace 4). battery life is good, after almost 2 years I can use the watch for ~8 days (incl. 10 to 15 hours of training with gps on). it has no map on the watch, only "breadcrumb navigation", but i almost never use this feature. you can turn the touch screen of and control everything with the buttons, thats great. I have all "smartphone features" turned of. last but not least I am very happy with the display.

Open ##1653672
@drdcarpenter@fosstodon.org 2026-04-23 05:47

@peteorrall I have a Coros Pace 3 I bought second hand about a year ago and I have been impressed. GPS is good, if I run up the road on one side and down on the other it tracks that well. Battery life is good, I can easily get a week of activity tracking between charges. As someone else said, altitude is rubbish. I have all the phone connectivity turned off as I don't need it. At half the price of new, this was a great buy.

Open ##1653673
@mcliquid@en.osm.town 2026-04-23 06:46

@peteorrall I’ve had various Garmin Forerunner models for about 10 years now and very happy with them. The watches are durable, customer support is good and accommodating, the battery life is excellent, all models still have buttons (some in addition to the touchscreen) and can be operated wearing gloves. It only stops at 400 $, at least at the new price. But you could snap up a 955 for around €300 on eBay. As far as I know, Garmin doesn’t use Google Maps at all? What makes you think that?

Open ##1653674
@simon@en.osm.town 2026-04-23 09:19

@peteorrall the truth is that watch, accuracy and canopy just don't go together. That doesn't even work well with expensive survey equipment, no way it will work with a watch with your body blocking half of the sky. I would recommend dcrainmaker.com for honest reviews. FWIW I use a Garmin.

Open ##1653677
@isazi@mountains.social 2026-04-23 12:07

@peteorrall Suunto uses maps derived from OpenStreetMap on both the app and the watches

Open ##1653685