In the sports watch sector, the main brands such as Garmin, Suunto and Coros, have their star products and their precise orientations. Some of these devices are designed for long asphalt races due to their performance and weight, while others point directly to the mountain. This is the case of the Coros Vertix 2.
From its sapphire crystal and titanium bezel, it is obvious that we are looking at a watch that was designed to withstand extreme conditions. In fact, it works between -30ºC and 50ºC and its blood oxygen evaluation is triggered automatically when we exceed 2,500 meters above sea level.
The battery is one of the great assets of the Coros Vertix 2: up to 60 days of daily use, it lasts 50 hours with all GPS systems and included music and 140 hours with the GPS mode active, i.e. 5 days (with UltraMax GPS mode it reaches 10 days). AND charges in less than 2 hours. In fact, what seems so good can be a “problem”: having to charge it so little we forget where the charger is. It's good to always have a spare one just in case somewhere near the helmets we use for running, for example.
The 1.4-inch screen is one of the brightest on the market and the information, as in most Choirs, can be seen clearly and even customized to decide what we want to view in detail, the time, the route, the distance… And here we enter one of the fundamental aspects of the watch: the weight . With 89 grams it is a “gravity” device, especially if we compare it with the Coros Pace 3, which does not reach 40 grams. This does not mean that it is uncomfortable or annoying, but in long-distance races on asphalt it adds weight to the wrist and many of its qualities are relegated.
As for GPS, the Vertix 2 has almost all navigation systems: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and Beidou even with double frequency. All of them are at our disposal. This gives you a very high and very fast geopositioning capacity in almost the entire globe thanks to the dual or double frequency system that confirms where we are through two of the systems.
If we add to this the ease of using the different programs and the use of the crown that we turn, it is a very easy watch to operate while racing. In fact, and this is very useful, we can choose the orientation of the screen to decide in which hand we want to carry it.
The Coros app works very efficiently by loading the maps and allowing us to quickly bring the information to the watch, a process that lasts just a few seconds. To make it even easier to use, we can use offline topographic maps. AND without worrying about memory thanks to 32 GB with which it counts. It's also compatible with Zwift, for virtual race training.And obviously it has all the possible options (or almost) for sports, from running, to hiking, mountaineering, cycling, swimming (in a pool or open water), triathlon, gym, skiing in its different modalities, even windsurfing.
It has an optical pulse oximeter, heart rate and electrocardiogram sensor, altimeter, accelerometer, compass, thermometer… It is a very complete watch… perhaps too much so. That is, if we want it for 10 km or half marathon races, The reality is that he is overqualified for the position.. It is true that it will help us see the progress of the training, schedule them by sessions, analyze our rhythms and the variation in frequency over time, but many of its qualities remain in the background and will not be used as much.
Verdict: The Coros Vertix 2 is one of the most advanced watches on the market for athletes, especially those who practice some highly demanding discipline and in challenging environments. Its price is around €650. For this figure there are cheaper watches for those who only intend to use it in asphalt races. On the other hand, if the objective is trail, mountain, or navigation, the Vertix 2 is the tool of choice.