It is a assessment of the Coros Vertix 2 in 2022. Particularly, this can be a assessment of how this watch performs when climbing, backpacking, path operating, and extremely operating.
For longer than anybody can keep in mind the most important difficulty with watches used for climbing and backpacking has been the battery life, or ought to we are saying the shortage of it. Enter the Coros Vertix 2 with a battery life that backpackers and hikers on multiday journeys will respect. However is that sufficient so that you can purchase this watch? How good are the options? Are the maps and GPS correct? Is it straightforward to make use of?
I examined this watch over a interval of months on backpacking journeys, path runs, and in cities with restricted capability for the GPS watch to be correct. And the outcomes left me impressed. Preserve studying to seek out out extra in regards to the Coros Vertix 2. Discover out if this needs to be the watch is the Finest GPS climbing watch. Is that this the perfect watch so that you can use for climbing, backpacking, path operating, and ultra-marathons?
In-Depth Assessment: Coros Vertix 2
Coros Vertix 2
Weight: 3.14 oz / 89 grams
Execs:
> 60-day battery life for regular use and 140 hours with GPS
> Giant watch face
>100-meter water resistance
> Good offline colour maps
Cons:
>Not low cost
>Not everybody will just like the very massive watch face
It wasn’t that way back {that a} GPS watch may hardly have sufficient battery for most individuals to complete operating a marathon with out the battery operating out. Through the years, issues improved as they at all times do. And now we now have GPS watches which are considerably higher than just a few years in the past.
Coros went all in with the battery life on the Coros Vertix 2. It looks as if they positioned the characteristic of battery life above every thing else on this watch.
In comparison with the competitors from Garmin and Suunto there may be nothing that may compete for battery life and GPS accuracy. For that motive, it’s attainable to go on a week-long backpacking journey and use all of the features together with GPS and monitoring and are available dwelling with out having to recharge the battery. Nothing in need of extraordinary.
With battery life being the perfect in school by far, there should be one thing stopping this watch from being worn by each runner, hiker, backpacker, bicycle owner, and path runner on this planet. The key motive is value. It isn’t low cost.
Preserve studying to be taught extra in regards to the good and dangerous issues about this watch. Trace, I prefer it a lot I now use this watch in favor of all of the others available on the market.
Options
On the subject of options let me say one factor proper from the beginning. This has the perfect battery lifetime of any climbing watch available on the market in the intervening time. And secondly, it’s not low cost. Contemplating the worth there could be an expectation that this watch needs to be full of options, and it’s.
Battery
Unsure what number of instances I’ve talked about how good the battery is on this watch, so I’ll point out it once more. It’s the greatest in school by far. If you would like a climbing watch that has every thing and won’t depart you harassed about having to cost the battery midway by means of a hike or ultra-marathon then this watch is for you.
Even when utilizing all of the features on the watch together with the extremely correct GPS and monitoring features you possibly can simply go for a week-long backpacking journey and nonetheless not use all of the battery.
One other cool factor in regards to the battery is the truth that it prices in a short time.
GPS and Accuracy
After battery life, the subsequent greatest characteristic of this watch is the accuracy of the GPS. The GPS accuracy is best than some other watch available on the market. Solely handheld GPS models can come shut. When testing this unit I discovered I used to be capable of decide up GPS sign whereas inside my home!
With the GPS in use, you possibly can rise up to 140 hours of use with the battery when utilizing the GOS and QZSS programs.
The Coros Vertix 2 additionally makes use of the next GPS programs: GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, and QZSS. When utilizing all these extremely correct satellite tv for pc programs it gives you 90 hours of battery life.
When utilizing duel frequency mode which is essentially the most correct GPS system obtainable, you’ll get 50 hours of battery life. Primarily that implies that the watch can use two GPS frequencies on the identical time for elevated accuracy. I’m unsure how they do it however this watch is extra correct than the Apple Extremely watch and something from Garmin, Polar, or Suunto.
So, best-in-class Battery life and GPS accuracy.
Altimeter, Barometer &Compass
All the perfect GPS watches have the ABC options of Altitude, Barometer, and Compass. There may be nothing particular about any of those options apart from they work as promised and are on demand while you want them.
The altitude characteristic has the power to trace your acclimatization to the altitude as you climb above 2500 meters / 8200 toes. On the time of writing, I’ve not had the possibility to check this characteristic, and can replace you when I’ve absolutely examined it. When utilizing this characteristic it hyperlinks in with the inbuilt blood oxygen saturation (SpO2)characteristic. I used it a number of instances to measure my oxygen saturation which was useful once I has Covid amongst different issues!
The barometer characteristic is correct and has the power to trace speedy drops in strain that are often related to an approaching storm. On the time of testing, there have been no storms in my space so I’ve not been capable of absolutely take a look at this characteristic.
The Compass is correct and in comparison with a magnetic compass it really works properly.
The Coros Vertix 2 has the power to navigate, use topo maps, save tracks and waypoints, use breadcrumbs, and all of the options you might have considered trying in a GPS watch. When utilizing the maps there’s a little bit of lag however it’s no completely different from some other GPS watch available on the market. However not as quick as a Handheld GPS or GPS app in your smartphone.
You possibly can load tracks onto the watch through the Coros smartphone app and use it to navigate when out on the paths. The 32 gigs of storage will maintain a variety of mapping information.
Whereas the maps are good I discovered that once I needed to make use of a mapping characteristic I might instinctually use my telephone as a substitute as it’s higher with regards to maps. However the smartphone will shortly use the battery if utilizing it for tracks which is the place the Coros Vertix 2 is so a lot better.
Compared to the competitors, it’s not fairly pretty much as good as Garmin within the mapping division. Having mentioned that, most individuals, myself included choose to make use of a smartphone or handheld GPS for superior mapping options.
Ease of Use
There’s a studying curve with all GPS watches as they every have their very own quirks that must be realized. The Coros Vertix 2 makes use of a big predominant button with a dial that may be locked to stop unintentional scrolling. Of word I discovered this method to work very properly and I didn’t by chance scroll by means of features by chance. When paired with the Coros App there are a number of watch faces that may be chosen. And a near-infinite variety of methods the information will be displayed on the display. Whether or not it’s mapping information, health information, or information that’s displayed when climbing, operating, biking or no matter type of exercise you’re doing.
When climbing I like to make use of the next features, altitude, altitude gained and misplaced, time to sundown, time of day (in fact!), coronary heart fee, battery life, and distance lined. Whereas there are numerous different issues I may add, I discovered this to offer me nearly something I wanted when on the path. All of the options are absolutely customizable and simple to alter.
Design
The Coros Vertix 2 is large and heavy compared to many different GPS watches. Not everybody will like that. For me, I didn’t actually discover the load and cherished the big measurement as my eyes are not so good as they was.
The Coros Vertix 2 is constituted of titanium alloy, has a Sapphire Glass watch face, and makes use of a silicon nylon watch band. The watch is constructed powerful for many abuse. Throughout testing, I took a fall on the highway whereas operating. Regardless of scratches on my arm and elbow, the watch remained unscratched regardless of hitting the bottom fairly arduous.
The watch face and band work collectively properly. However I did discover the watch band to be slightly annoying. I discovered I wanted to have the watch band a bit on the tight facet to make sure it didn’t slip round and supply inaccurate coronary heart fee information. However it’s no completely different from a Garmin GPS watch which additionally does the identical for me.
Music
The Coros Vertix 2 has the power to play music from the watch however I can’t see too many individuals utilizing this characteristic. Firstly, the music should be loaded onto the watch, similar to within the outdated days earlier than apps similar to Spotify. Talking of Spotify, the Coros Vertix 2 won’t sync with Spotify and as a result of design and inner {hardware}, it won’t sync at any time sooner or later.
I didn’t use the music characteristic and to be trustworthy I most likely by no means will. I’ll use Spotify linked to my telephone when out on the paths climbing or operating. General, a little bit of a ineffective characteristic that most individuals won’t use.
Coros App
The Coros App is the bridge that pairs the watch with the historical past of your runs, hikes, and extra. It updates the telephone and you may add and obtain routes. It additionally lets you customise the watch face and customise what options you need to see when operating climbing or biking. For instance, when climbing you may want altitude, time to sundown, distance lined, and extra. When operating you may need to see your present tempo, general tempo, distance, time, and extra. No matter you need, this watch can customise the show to your wants.
The Coros App works properly and like nearly every thing else it’s recurrently up to date with new options and updates for the present options.
Coros Vertix 2 Updates
Coros has been fairly energetic with regards to software program updates. So all of the options listed on the time of the discharge of the watch have modified quite a bit and in all chance will change quite a bit over the approaching months and years.
The record of updates in latest months may be very intensive. A number of the notable ones embrace time until dawn and sundown, improved sleep monitoring together with REM sleep, and discover my telephone/watch characteristic. All of that and fixed minor enhancements and bug fixes.
General, they’ve been very energetic with steady enchancment and with no signal of slowing down.
Coros Vertix 2 Vs the Relaxation
The Coros Vertix is a formidable little bit of package for anybody concerned about spending time open air and who desires a totally functioning GPS watch. No different watch can evaluate with battery life or GPS accuracy. For that motive, this can be a nice look ahead to climbing and backpacking. It’s forward of the present competitors for high quality, options, and accuracy. However it comes at a worth that’s fairly excessive. If this watch was a bit extra inexpensive I may see everybody utilizing this watch and making the change from no matter model they presently use. I lately made the change from Garmin to Coros as a result of higher battery life, higher GPS accuracy, massive display, and extra.
Conclusion
General, the Coros Vertix 2 is a formidable look ahead to the outside. In case you are searching for a climbing watch, backpacking watch, or a watch on your extremely marathon-type actions then there may be nothing else available on the market with a battery that may final so long as this.
The Coros Vertix 2 may very well be extra inexpensive to make it extra enticing. With the continual enchancment of the App and software program, this watch is already good and can get higher with time. General, that is the perfect look ahead to climbing and backpacking. And people which are into extremely marathons and multiday adventures will even discover this watch very enticing. I just like the watch a lot it’s the watch I presently use on all my adventures.
Incessantly Requested Questions
The Coros Vertix 2 is without doubt one of the greatest climbing and backpacking watches. It has the best-in-class battery life and essentially the most correct GPS on any watch available on the market. These two options alone make it a fantastic watch. Add to that high quality maps, altimeter, barometer, compass, and extra making it a fantastic look ahead to out of doors adventures.
BikeHikeSafari Gear Assessment Course of
The creator, Brad McCartney from BikeHikeSafari is a small impartial adventurer and out of doors gear tester who owns and runs BikeHikeSafari.com.
BikeHikeSafari is just not half of a big weblog community and is proudly impartial. All opinions on this web site are impartial and trustworthy gear opinions of out of doors merchandise by the creator.
The creator, Brad McCartney is a really skilled triple crown thru-hiker, adventurer, and bike tourer having spent 1000s of nights sleeping in a tent and sleeping bag (Learn extra). He was a supervisor of an out of doors retail retailer and may be very skilled in what’s necessary when utilizing and testing gear for opinions like this.
BikeHikeSafari won’t ever obtain any cash for opinions and they don’t settle for sponsored opinions on this web site. All of the feedback in regards to the gear opinions are from the creator based mostly on his years of expertise. Hope this impartial assessment was useful for you.