Coros Pace 2

£179.99, uk.coros.com

The COROS Pace 2 isn’t the prettiest, smartest or even most fully-featured watch, but for under £200 you won’t find a training partner that offers as much bang for fitness buck. Its 30-hour GPS battery life extends up to 60 in low-power mode and at this price it offers unrivalled training time on a single charge.

Waterproof to 50m, it also packs a bigger suite of sensors than you usually find at this level, including optical heart rate, barometric altimeter, compass and thermometer. It also tracks everything from indoor bike sessions to open-water swimming, and it even has a triathlon mode – something other brands often reserve for pricier models.

For lifters and gym-goers, the Pace 2’s strength training coach automatically detects your moves with a degree of reliability, and there are ready-made expert training programmes and more than 200 pre-programmed drills. Postbeasting, a handy muscle heatmap shows you where the DOMS is likely to hit hardest, while recovery time recommendations help you decide when and how hard to go again.

At 29g, it’s light on the wrist while still packing a decent 240 x 240 pixel colour display. The nylon strap option is infinitely more comfortable and ideal for the all-day wear required to unlock the health, sleep and heart rate tracking smarts that underpin an effective training approach.

Design ★★★★★ Insights ★★★★★ OVERALL ★★★★★