Is the Coros Nomad actually an journey watch?

Coros’ Nomad is marketed as a “go-anywhere, do-anything” journey watch. It’s bought GPS and offline maps and can observe numerous actions, from yoga to bouldering. There’s an “Journey Journal,” which the advertising copy guarantees will provide help to document “each step, catch, and summit.” Whereas it doesn’t have a number of the bells and whistles of a costlier competitor like Garmin, it’s a product seemingly aimed toward campers, backpackers, and different outdoorsy sorts who aren’t glad with one thing all-purpose like an Apple Watch. So when my colleague Victoria Tune flagged the Nomad to me, I took Coros at its phrase — and, as The Verge’s resident dirtbag, took the Nomad on the Tahoe Rim Path.

Out of doors recreation is a rising market. Notably, the market can afford smartwatches — the variety of members who make greater than $100,000 a yr is rising, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. Climbing is the preferred exercise.

And backpackers, particularly weight-obsessed thru-hikers, are completely deranged gearheads. Gear was the commonest topic of dialogue amongst hikers after I was on the Appalachian Path earlier this yr. Go to any backpacker discussion board and also you’ll see the identical factor. A very well-designed gadget isn’t going to wish a lot advertising — phrase of mouth was sufficient to get me to check out the Haribo Mini Power Bank, the lightest 20,000mAh battery in the marketplace and probably additionally the cutest. There’s additionally numerous room to beat the worth of Garmin smartwatches — the high-end fashions value greater than a grand. The Intuition 3, a comparable Garmin watch, is $399 at the absolute cheapest, regardless that you may’t obtain maps for navigation on that watch like you may with the Nomad. I haven’t owned a Garmin watch in about 10 years, largely as a result of I simply didn’t discover the watches to be well worth the price ticket.

I used the Coros Nomad, which prices $349, on my hike and for a month of coaching beforehand. I’m about to determine a bunch of limitations for my particular very open air sports activities, however earlier than I try this, I wish to be clear: this can be a good watch at an ideal value. However I bought the sense it was designed by and for weekend warriors (or possibly simply suburban distance runners?).

There’s a world the place somebody delivers every part the Nomad guarantees — however the Nomad itself doesn’t. This can be a failure of promoting, clearly, however it bought me pondering. Why aren’t hikers and path runners demanding extra from these merchandise? Even probably the most “outdoorsy” ones are nonetheless primarily meant for street runners.

Let’s simply get it out of the best way: the battery life kicks ass, particularly compared to my Apple Watch Sequence 6. (Not like a few of our critiques staff, I’m a know-how regular and use issues till they break, just about.) The Tahoe Rim Path is officially 165 miles, although the FarOut map I used for navigation put it at 174. I created — and largely caught to — an 11-day itinerary. I charged the Coros Nomad earlier than I left, then wore it nonstop for the whole lot of the hike. It ran out of battery as soon as, close to the top of day 6, at mile 19 of 25, after greater than 40 hours of actively monitoring my hikes. After a recharge, I didn’t must cost it once more for the remainder of the hike. Not dangerous.

However my first clue that the Nomad hadn’t actually been designed for me occurred as quickly as I opened the Coros app. The defaults on that app provide you with a way of who it’s for, and the third part down, after the “At this time” information and the coaching calendar, is a immediate for creating a personalised marathon plan. Coros’ shows are admirably customizable, so eradicating the marathon plan part was straightforward, however I had nothing comparable to exchange it with. In truth, whereas the watch has numerous options for street and observe runners, they don’t are likely to generalize to individuals who hike, backpack, and even do path operating — a serious missed alternative.

The app had a immediate for a operating health check, however it solely works in “run” or “observe run” mode, suggesting it’s probably not geared towards path runners. Highway and observe operating are primarily about tempo. Path operating typically includes dodging obstacles, coping with uneven or free floor, and longer, steeper climbs. That makes tempo much less of a precedence, partly due to the will increase in agility, stability, and energy calls for. My guess, based mostly on the truth that path operating, as a particular exercise, is excluded from operating health assessments, is that Coros is aware of the “health check” received’t be correct for path runners. That’s irritating in an “open air” watch — it means the outdoorsiest runners aren’t getting the identical varieties of coaching insights as their street runner brethren.

Likewise, whereas there may be an “auto pause” characteristic out there for runners, it doesn’t work for climbing and strolling — which is bizarre. My Apple Watch doesn’t have an issue noticing after I’m not shifting. (There’s a “resume later” mode if you wish to observe multiday actions in a single observe; I didn’t use it as a result of breaking my hike into segments by day made extra sense to me.)

I additionally discovered myself pissed off by the coaching calendar. Whereas I may enter my energy routine and my path runs, I couldn’t add hikes. The upside of the coaching calendar was that I may summon a particular exercise on the Nomad as I did it — so if I used to be doing an interval run, the watch would notify me when every interval was over. For street and observe runners, there are even preloaded exercises you may add, reasonably than painstakingly programming your personal. Sadly, there wasn’t something comparable for path runners.

The watch did nicely at monitoring walks and runs, in fact. Each the gap and the altimeter appeared correct after I examined them in opposition to my Apple Watch — I bought roughly the identical readings. However the default watch show on climbing was 5 screens of knowledge. On the primary web page, it gave distance and pace, with the period of time spent doing the hike in a bar close to the underside. The second web page contained my coronary heart charge and the time of day. The third web page was Coros metrics — coaching load, in addition to how environment friendly it felt my cardio and anaerobic coaching was. The fourth web page was lap (which on this case simply meant mile) time, how far I’d gone till the following mile, and my pace. The ultimate display was the grade, my elevation acquire and loss.

That is nonsense. I’m merely not going to scroll although that many screens on a hike. That Coros’ made-up metrics take priority over elevation and pace looks as if an important error of judgment.

On any given day I’m on path, I must know roughly what my general per-mile tempo is, what my present tempo is, what number of miles I’ve traveled, and when the solar goes to go down. (It’s good however not essential to know my general elevation acquire — when mixed with info from mapping apps, it could actually inform me how shut I’m to being achieved with climbing for the day with out me pulling out my cellphone.) So I consolidated the screens of knowledge to 2 helpful ones. However the tradeoff for simply changeable widgets is that the watch isn’t designed to be readable at a look. Perhaps it’s simply my middle-aged eyes, however the mixture of the show and the comparatively small fonts meant I used to be squinting on the watch extra typically than I ought to have been — particularly on condition that it was taking on a lot actual property on my wrist. A much less modular show may need created room for extra readable design.

However maybe probably the most damning factor concerning the Nomad and the Coros app is how a lot they depend on being linked to the web. The most important failure is that the Nomad advertising copy advertises security alerts that enable the watch proprietor to ship an SOS — however with out mobile information, they don’t work. If the watch can’t contact a satellite tv for pc by itself, it’s no good within the wilderness as an SOS gadget. (Most watches can’t join on to satellites, although some new fashions will.) My downside right here is the advertising: in case you are promising that the watch is for going wherever, the protection alert characteristic you’re promoting had higher go wherever, too.

Within the Sierras, there are sometimes afternoon thunderstorms, and whereas I used to be on the Tahoe Rim Path, I had 5 straight days of them. (On the primary one, I even bought hailed on.) I had a 25-mile day not as a result of I meant to stroll 25 miles, however as a result of I’d gotten many of the manner as much as the very best level on the path, Relay Peak, when a thunderstorm started. I seemed round at timber close to me that had clearly been struck by lightning sooner or later up to now, determined that discretion was the higher a part of valor, and started heading again down.

I’d gotten many of the manner down when the thunderstorm handed, after which I had a call to make: was I going to attempt to recover from the mountain once more? This wasn’t actually a call the Nomad may assist me with. My Garmin InReach Mini 2 had helpfully knowledgeable me that there was, certainly, one other thunderstorm on the best way — it’ll work so long as it has a view of the sky, although a climate report will value you certainly one of your costly textual content messages. The Nomad, alternatively, pulls most of its information from Apple’s Weatherkit API, which suggests it solely works in case your cell phone has service, so in case you’ve put your cellphone in airplane mode to preserve battery otherwise you don’t have service in any respect, you’re out of luck. So in case you’re making an attempt to remain protected by planning for the climate, the Nomad doesn’t actually minimize it within the backcountry.

I did make it up and over Relay Peak earlier than the following storm started, a deluge that soaked me to the pores and skin regardless of my rain gear. However I had loads of time on the down slope to marvel, soggily, if it could have been useful to have gotten a storm alert earlier than the primary thunderstorm began. I discovered after I bought again to civilization that it was, in actual fact, doable to get a storm alert — the Nomad has a built-in barometer. Sadly, it was buried in a menu I hadn’t explored, and the storm alert defaulted to off.

I don’t anticipate Coros to completely retool its app to prioritize backpackers. However it may need been useful to get a few of these particulars in a one-sheet with the Nomad quick-start information: the right way to activate climate alerts, the right way to check for altitude acclimation, that the SOS service and climate require mobile information. I do know that lots of people get pleasure from playing around with each menu and setting on their devices, however personally, I’d reasonably hike. Pointing me at what is perhaps helpful would assist me with that aim.

If the corporate needed to take a position extra in coaching plans for path runners, hikers, and backpackers — or, at minimal, enable individuals so as to add deliberate hikes to their exercise calendar — that will be nice. However there are different methods the Nomad fails the outside athlete.

As I used to be preparing for the path, I introduced the watch to all my exercises, which is uncommon. Typically I reserve exercise monitoring for cardio exercise, as a result of watches are fairly good at monitoring that, and fairly dangerous at most every part else. However with its coaching load metrics, its restoration timer, and its sleep focus, the Coros app suggests the corporate’s gadgets can be utilized to foresee an individual’s wants doing pretty difficult actions.

Sadly, these actions are fairly idiosyncratic.

The Coros app is considerably profitable at estimating coaching load for cardio, however the limitations round the way it handles different actions make the “insights” suspect. The coaching load relies on duration and heart rate — which suggests for non-cardio actions, it’ll skew low. This information is then used to set a restoration timer, which is meant to inform you how lengthy it’ll take earlier than you’re again at one hundred pc. As a result of the coaching load isn’t based mostly on dependable information for non-cardio actions, the restoration timer isn’t reliable both.

These issues aren’t distinctive to the Nomad; the Apple Watch (and just about each wearable health tracker) sucks at monitoring these items, too. However it doesn’t attempt to give me restoration metrics or in-depth coaching insights.

Like most sports activities watches, the Nomad wasn’t excellent at dealing with my energy coaching or yoga. The bouldering settings struck me as extra helpful. The watch will cue you to deal with your first downside; while you’re completed, you click on certainly one of its buttons, and might then enter the way you tackled the climb, utilizing the game’s specialised jargon. Afterward, you may see your complete ascent, how lengthy you rested between issues, and the grade you climbed at — in addition to some much less helpful information, like coronary heart charge. However with all three sports activities, the watch had bother telling how a lot I’d exerted myself.

On path, the Coros restoration timer wasn’t significantly better. After the primary day, in line with the watch, I used to be fatigued and wanted to relaxation. The restoration timer stayed there all through the length of the journey. There have been days I awakened feeling recent and able to go, after which glanced on the Coros app, which instructed me I used to be at 0 p.c of my capability. That felt foolish, particularly after I’d then knock out 15 miles.

And regardless of all of the exercise modes the Nomad supplied, there was an essential one lacking: rucking, or strolling with weight. That’s the important thing characteristic of backpacking. The Apple Watch doesn’t provide rucking, both. Whoop additionally has a rucking mode, however doesn’t track weight. Coros’ direct competitor Garmin introduced a rucking mode earlier this yr, permitting customers to trace their pack weight, and whereas its options depart some issues to be desired, it’s a begin.

It’s bizarre that rucking is so totally ignored. Bro influencers, from Andrew Huberman to Peter Attia, have been singing its praises; GQ named it “the workout of 2024.” Axios notes it’s on the rise among women, too; Girls’s Well being highlighted its helpful effects on bone density. Even Tom’s Information has referred to as it a “game changer.” Look, I think about myself a backpacker reasonably than a rucker, however no matter you name it, that is an underserved market.

The promised personalised coaching applications Coros’ app presents merely don’t match something I’m doing. To coach for a thru-hike, I sometimes do path runs and rucks utilizing my precise backpack. On most workdays, I’m not going to have the ability to get in even a 10-mile hike, so operating is essential for my cardio capability. As for rucking, that’s partly to get my toes used to the calls for of the additional weight. The aim is to ruck with both my most pack weight or extra for the month earlier than my hike.

I’ll spare you the small print of hiker math, however right here’s the naked define: I knew my gear alone can be 16.2 kilos; that I’d want to hold about 5 liters, or about 10 kilos, of water at most; and that water carry can be after I was additionally carrying 4 days’ value of meals, or about 8 kilos. My pack, at its absolute heaviest, would weigh about 32 kilos.

That meant after I did coaching hikes, I loaded up my backpack till it weighed 35 kilos. These hikes had been largely vibe-based — I normally climbed a minimal of two,000 toes over 10 miles as rapidly as I may. However whereas I used to be coaching, I had loads of time to fantasize about how a backpacker-oriented health watch may make my life simpler. Right here’s what I got here up with:

Certain, there are a restricted variety of thru-hikers who’re going to be doing this explicit model of coaching — however it’ll additionally profit the a lot bigger quantity of people that ruck for health. And who is aware of? If a smartwatch got here up with a very good couch-to-thru-hike app, it would catch on identical to couch-to-5K.

On each the Nomad and the Apple Watch, I tracked my hikes as “walks” and my hikes with weight as “hikes.” That helped me separate the actions at a look. However there have been nonetheless some annoyances. On the Apple Watch, each my hikes and walks counted towards my estimated VO2 max, which is an indicator of cardio health that’s significantly essential to endurance athletes — and whereas the precise worth is sort of a bullshit metric that can fluctuate fairly wildly between watches, the development line is what I’m watching. Once I’m climbing with weight in preparation for a backpacking journey or on the journey itself, my VO2 max takes a success. Once I cease climbing with weight after the journey, my VO2 max shoots up. Garmin will get round this downside by disabling the VO2 max when its watches are in rucking mode.

The Nomad’s VO2 max is buried within the “Operating Health” menu, a characteristic I didn’t click on on for a really very long time as a result of, nicely, it turns on the market’s no information out there for me since I’m not a street or observe runner. Neither walks nor hikes depend towards that rating — and neither do path runs.

I perceive the Nomad added offline avenue names to its GPS navigating capabilities, which was principally meaningless to me — there aren’t numerous streets the place I’m going. The watch’s display wasn’t large enough to be my major supply of navigation; FarOut is fairly powerful to beat, not least as a result of it could actually do issues like inform you if a water supply remains to be operating even in case you don’t have service. It’s additionally troublesome to get misplaced on the Tahoe Rim Path, which is nicely groomed and clearly signed. Maybe if I had made camp and gone for a day hike, it could have been extra helpful in retracing my steps again to camp. Nonetheless, I didn’t see any apparent flaws utilizing it, and I used to be impressed by the dearth of lag.

The map the Nomad generates can be utilized because the spine of its Journey Journal operate. That is the distinguishing characteristic of the Nomad, which helps you to add pictures and voice notes made on the Nomad watch — it’s bought a built-in microphone — to your recorded exercise.

Sadly, it, too, doesn’t work until you might be linked to the web. This limits its on-trail usefulness.

For ultralight sorts, holding notes in your cellphone is nice sufficient. I carry a pocket book and pen — luxurious gadgets, however pretty versatile ones. I preserve a path journal on the times I don’t instantly go to sleep as quickly as I lie down in my tent. (It’s a pleasant option to wind down.) I additionally use it to sketch out my supposed route, make buying lists for my resupply runs, and, in a pinch, depart a word on the dashboard of my automobile saying after I anticipate to be again from my journey. For the sort of hiker who doesn’t wish to carry a pen (0.3oz) and pocket book (5.4oz), it would function an improve over making an attempt to kind on a cellphone.

Writing in my journal is a behavior; making voice notes isn’t. So whereas I used to be climbing the TRT, I didn’t use the microphone, as a result of it merely didn’t happen to me. To be trustworthy, I’m unsure what notes I’d make on a thru-hike that must be coordinated to a particular level on path. The voice notes characteristic might be most helpful for individuals who hunt and fish, or birdwatchers. Like many different Coros options, it’s not precisely straightforward to search out the voice word operate from the exercise display — however as soon as I situated it, it labored nicely sufficient.

The photograph characteristic was extra intuitive. You’ll be able to take pictures within the Coros app, although I didn’t; I discover it simpler to take pictures with out unlocking my cellphone. As a result of I went so lengthy with out an web connection, I used to be dreading coping with the backlog, however importing the photographs to my actions was pretty easy — and after I despatched a few of my travelogue to my buddy Rusty, he didn’t have any bother seeing each my route and my pictures.

The true query across the Journey Journal was how a lot it locks your notes into the Coros system, and the reply is: no less than somewhat. I used to be capable of export the info from my final day, after which add a GPX of the hike to CalTopo, certainly one of my favourite mapping applications. Although the info included my pins — the spots the place I’d taken photos — the photographs themselves weren’t included.

I agree with a lot of simple hardware reviews concerning the Coros Nomad — the battery life is incredible, the watch itself is comparatively gentle and might take a beating, the offline navigation works very nicely (for a watch — display limitations are at all times going to matter), and it’s appealingly low cost. It’s an incredible improve over my present watch in these respects. Whereas a flashlight or photo voltaic charging can be good, they’re not requirements. No, it’s the software program I’ve beef with.

So far as I do know, there hasn’t but been a very nice backpacker watch, and the Nomad positively isn’t it. The Journey Journal is a neat toy, however not way more. The software program fixes that might get the Nomad over the road may embody coaching applications for path runners and backpackers, a rucking mode (ideally with higher assist for rucking than the comparatively paltry choices by its rivals), and a extra thought-about restoration program. Even less complicated fixes — highlighting the capabilities that the Nomad does have however are buried in a non-intuitive menu, an easier-to-read design in exercise modes, an app that does extra when it’s offline — can be enhancements.

However let’s dream for a minute, as a result of the Nomad actually bought me desirous about what a perfect out of doors watch may do. Clearly, the battery life and GPS navigation are nonnegotiable. However the one {hardware} modification that might actually change the sport is satellite tv for pc connectivity. I do know it’s doable to hook up with a satellite tv for pc through a watch as a result of the Apple Watch Extremely 3 presents it — however that watch solely has an estimated 72 hours of battery life in low-power mode, and it’s $800. The brand new Garmin Fenix 8 Pro additionally presents it together with roughly 27 days of battery life, however it requires a subscription on prime of its absurd beginning value of $1,200.

A watch that lets me drop the Garmin InReach Mini (3.5oz) has advantages past the burden financial savings and letting me cancel an costly subscription: I’m much less prone to lose my watch in a fall than I’m to lose the Garmin gadget, even when it’s clipped to my belt loop. A watch that lets customers ship an actual SOS — in addition to check-in notifications — goes to be way more of a sport changer than photo voltaic charging, flashlights, music, or wallets. Add alerts for extreme climate, and also you’ve bought a winner. That’s security gear, and nobody of their proper thoughts skimps on that within the backcountry. Persons are going to purchase Garmin’s Fenix 8 Professional, regardless of the eye-watering value and subscription, for precisely this cause. Shit, I is perhaps certainly one of them after I want to exchange my InReach — regardless that the Fenix 8 Professional is full of options I don’t need or want, like audio system, a voice assistant, preloaded golf course maps, and dive performance. I’d love a greater, cheaper different.

When I’m on a solo hike, individuals are constantly shocked that I — I’m brazenly feminine — really feel protected sufficient to hike alone. Through-hiking is fairly male-dominated, and a lot of effort goes into assuring women that we are fairly safe outdoors. I’m wondering what number of different ladies may attempt their first solo hike in the event that they knew they might simply summon assist by urgent a button on their watch. Most likely lots! And I wager there are numerous ladies street runners on the market, particularly in rural areas, who would profit from realizing they’ll summon assist with out cell service too.

That is possibly a major instance of how designing gear for probably the most intense customers additionally expands the market. That’s the norm for this sport. Ray Jardine pretty much revolutionized backpacking by chopping weight and kicked off the ultralight motion. Ultralight gear made the game extra accessible to ladies, older individuals, and other people with accidents, rising backpacking’s recognition. Eager about thru-hikers and path runners — particularly ones who’re coaching for the extra maniacal races, akin to 100Ks — is like making basketball sneakers for LeBron James. Splendid gear will matter extra to LeBron, however the common highschool participant stands to profit too.

So: is the Nomad a very good watch? Sure, in some methods, in case you’re evaluating it to present choices from Apple or Garmin — particularly in its value vary. However it doesn’t dwell as much as its advertising marketing campaign of letting you go wherever and do something. The moderately reasonably priced watch that can try this for the world’s most deranged gearheads doesn’t exist. No less than, not but.