2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

54 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

SPECIFICATIONS

BREAKINGINTOTHEmultisportwatch

marketisn’t easy,with Garminand Polar the

dominantforces. However,Coros looks eager

to have acrack with its promisingnew

mid-rangewearable,the Apex.

Admittedly,the list of activitiesit supports

is limited, with only running,cycling and

swimmingmodes included.It also has no

structuredworkoutsbeyond basic intervals,

and althoughCoros intends to add these

features with future updates, there’s no set

timelineforthem.

Nevertheless,the Apex is avery well-

designedwearable.Iteschewsthe standard

three- or five-button design commonon

multisportdevices in favour of just two

buttons, with one of those also being a

twirlingcrown that you use to scroll through

menus and data screensduring activities.

We had reservations about how fiddly this

would be on the move,but in practiceit’s no

less effective than traditionalbuttons.

Both the 42mm and 46mm modelslook

good enoughto wear anywhere,and come

equippedwith sapphireglass screens:a1.1in,

218x218mmdisplayonthe 42mm variant and

aslightly larger 1.2in, 240x240displayonthe

46mm model. Neitherscreen really wowed

on brightness:althoughthis mayhelp to

improve battery life, the dim screen can

sometimesbe alittle difficultto read,

especiallyat aglance during activity.

Still, both sizes are light and comfortable

to wear,even at night. Even better is battery

life: the 42mm is rated for25hours of

GPS-enableduse,while the 46mm

model is rated at 35 hours. These

figures line up with our own

experience,which included

wearingboth the 46mm model

and aGarmin Fenix 5Plus at

the same time.When the

latter ran out of juice,the

Apex would still

have between50%

and 60% of its

charge remaining.

ROUTE CAUSE

Apost-release

updatehas added

breadcrumb

navigation,allowing

you to follow abasic

trail on amap shown

on the display. It works

well, and thoughit can’t

COROSApex

★★★★★

£270•From http://www.newrunninggear.com

VERDICT

Aneasy-to-usesportswatchwithbreadcrumb

navigation,buttrackingcanbeunreliable

FITNESSTRACKER

comparewith the

full maps you get

on the much pricier

GarminFenix 5Plus,

it’s easy to stayon

track most of the time.

What’sreally good

about the Apex’s

navigationtool is how easy

it is to add routes from the

web.For example,you can open

aGPX file from any web-based

routecreator,and the Coros mobile

app will import it and synchroniseit to

the watch in amatter of seconds.

Coros has also aimed to bring some of

the advanced traininginsightsfound on

Garminand Polar watches to the Apex,

providing infoabout the trainingeffect of

your activitiesas well as stats such as your

VO2max and lactatethreshold.This is

displayed in apleasantlysimple manner,

thoughsome features –such as astamina bar

that tracks your recovery –are only available

during runs, not swimmingor cycle sessions.

WRONGNUMBER

Anotherissue is that accuracyoften seems

off.Metrics such as VO2max, lactate

thresholdand thresholdpace are trickyfor

any watch to estimate, since truly accurate

measurementsrequireblood tests, masks and

trainedprofessionalscheckingyour data in a

laboratory setting.However,the Apex’s

estimates, which are based on heart-ratedata

and pace,are particularlybad

becausetheyjump aroundalot

with seeminglyno reason behind

the leaps. On one occasion,the

Apex gave our lactatethreshold

pace –apace you should be

able to hold foranhour –as

2:48/km,which would be

tough to keep up for

five minutes.

GPS readings

were alot more

reliable,sothe Apex

is fine fortracking

runningand cycling

distances,but things

weren’t so good

with the optical

heart-ratesensor.

It’s extremelysensitive

to cold weather,giving

fartoo high readings

when in adverseweathercomparedto indoor

use or warmerdays. This is aknown issue

with optical sensors,albeit one that isn’t

normallyso obvious.

Also,despitegood distance-tracking

performanceelsewhere,the Apex can be

finickyinthe pool. It’s fine when swimming

continuously,but pausingforabreathercan

cause lengthsto simply not be recorded.

At least it deliversarespectablerange of

swim-specificdata in the app afterwards,with

charts foryour pace,strokes, SWOLF and

stroke rate. It also gives abreakdownof the

stroke you used foreach length, which it

mostly identifiedcorrectlyforus.

WORTHAWATCH

Everydayactivity tracking,it should be said, is

also generallypainless.Steps, active energy,

exercisetime and heart rateare all monitored

throughoutthe day, with only night-time sleep

trackingthrowingup inconsistencies: the

resultingdata would claim we were awake

forsubstantialperiodswhen we couldn’t

recollectstirringfrom slumber.

There are some areas where the Apex falls

short comparedto its competition,but it still

offers adecent packageto anyoneseekinga

multisportwatch forunder £300 –particularly

one with long battery life. Breadcrumb

navigationand high ease of use are also

attractivequalities,althoughthe Polar

Advantage M(Shopper375) has it beat for

price,all-roundquality and trackingaccuracy.

NickHarris-Fry

PEDOMETERYes•HEART-RATEMONITORYes•DISPLAY

SIZE1.1in•RESOLUTION218x218•OSSUPPORTAndroid,

iOS•BATTERYLIFE25hours•WARRANTYOneyearRTB

• DETAILSwww.coros.com•PARTCODEApex42mm