Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: Which is the best Coros watch for you?

Ever since I tested the original Coros Pace in 2018 I’ve been impressed with the line of watches, which have all offered great value to runners and triathletes as lightweight, accurate trackers.

The Coros Pace 4 is the latest addition to the line-up, and sits in between the Coros Pace 3 and Coros Pace Pro on price. The three watches all offer similar sports tracking and training analysis features, but there are some key differences on design and navigation features to consider, as well as price.

I’ve used all three watches extensively and tested them directly against one another. I consider them among the best sports watches you can get, but there are some key differences to help you pick between them, which I've picked out below.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: price and availability

The Coros Pace 3 came out in August 2023 is the oldest and cheapest model in the current Coros line-up. It originally cost $229 / £219, but it will be reduced to $199 / £199 from 14 November after the arrival of the Pace 4.

Just over a year later in October 2024, Coros launched the Pace Pro, its first AMOLED sports watch. It cost $349 / £349 at launch, but will be reduced to $299 / £299 from 14 November.

The Coros Pace 4 launched on 10 November 2025 and costs $249 / £229 to sit neatly in between the other Pace options. Following the arrival of the Pace 4 Coros plans to phase the Pace 3 and Pace Pro out of its line-up, so those watches might not be available for more than a few months.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: specs

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: design and display

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All three watches have lightweight, slim designs, and they’re all made from plastic and have glass screens. The Pace Pro is the largest watch, and has a 1.3in display compared to 1.2in on the Pace 3 and Pace 4.

The Pace 4 and Pace Pro both have AMOLED displays, which are much brighter than the MIP display on the Pace 3. The Pace 3 is still easy to read when outdoors, especially in sunlight, but the Pace 4 and Pace Pro are clearer in all conditions and especially when indoors.

Another design difference is that the Pace 4 has an extra ‘Action’ button on its left side, which you can use as a shortcut button during activities, either to switch between a navigation page and your stats, or to drop a pin.

The Pace 4 also has a mic, which you don’t get on the older watches. You can use this to take voice notes during and after activities, either to mark a POI or to give your thoughts on your workout for a training log.

All three watches have a barometer and offer multi-band GPS tracking, and they all have a 5ATM waterproof rating. The Pace 3 is charged directly with a cable, whereas the Pace Pro and Pace 4 both come with an adaptor you can attach to any USB-C cable and store in a handy keychain attachment.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: sports tracking

More sports modes are available on the Pace 4 and Pace Pro, including a range of racket sports like tennis and pickleball, whereas on the Pace 3 you might have to use the generic ‘Cardio’ modes a little more often.

All of the watches have a multisport mode as well as a track run mode, as well as the standard running, cycling and swimming options, with indoor and outdoor options. They all also offer the same training analysis, which provides useful insights into your training load as well as a recovery advisor and predicted race times.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: GPS & heart rate accuracy

I have done a lot of running with all three watches, along with bike rides, strength workouts and yoga sessions. I’ve pored over the GPS tracks produced by all of them, and found them all to be reliably accurate watches for pace and distance, especially when using the multi-band mode.

To check the heart rate accuracy I compared each to a chest strap during my runs and other workouts, and while none of the trio has been infallible, with occasional spikes and lags in the heart rate readings, I’d say all are accurate enough to use to judge your effort in training.

More importantly for this comparison, I wouldn’t say that any of the three has been notably more or less accurate than the others for heart rate and GPS accuracy. I even did one run wearing all three alongside the Garmin Forerunner 970 linked to a chest strap, and all of the watches produced very similar distance, pace, and heart rate stats.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: battery life

Despite the Pace 4 and Pace Pro being AMOLED watches they actually offer longer GPS battery life than the Pace 3, and can outlast it in watch mode too if you turn the screens to raise-to-wake outside of activities.

For my testing I used the most accurate multi-band GPS mode on all three watches, and had the screens always-on. I found that the Pace Pro and Pace 3 usually lasted me five or six days on a charge, whereas the Pace 4 needed charging every four or five days.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: maps and navigation

All three watches offer the same basic smart features, with music storage for MP3 files, notification support and a weather widget. The Pace Pro has a big advantage when it comes to navigation, however, because it has offline maps whereas the Pace 4 and Pace 3 only offer breadcrumb navigation.

These maps are bright and easy to use to follow routes on the watch, and while breadcrumb navigation is generally fine to get you where you want to go, it’s probably the main reason to consider upgrading to the Pace Pro in my opinion.

Another edge the Pace Pro has is that it offers 32GB of storage, compared to 4GB on the Pace 3 and Pace 4. This is because it needs the extra room for maps, but it also creates more room for storing music on the watch.

Coros Pace 4 vs Coros Pace 3 vs Coros Pace Pro: verdict

This is a touch choice, because all three watches are strong options. If you don’t mind an MIP display, the Pace 3 is the best value of the trio, but I personally think the AMOLED display is well worth the extra you pay for it. It’s brighter and more engaging.

That leaves the choice of the Pace Pro and Pace 4. The extra button on the Pace 4 is useful and it’s more affordable, so if you don’t think you need maps then I’d get it over the Pace 4.

I didn’t mind the slightly smaller display on the Pace 4, and it’s a little lighter and smaller than the Pace Pro in general, which suits my small wrists.

Maps can be very handy at times though, and even as someone who would use them rarely, I’d be tempted to pay the extra $50 to have them on my watch just in case.

One final thing to consider is that with the Pace 3 and Pace Pro being phased out, you might get longer-term support with updates for the Pace 4. However, Coros has an admirable record to date of updating its older watches, so this is not a huge concern in my opinion.

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