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We’ve been testing the best running watches for decades and runners have never had it better than they do now, with even the cheapest watches offering accurate tracking, training advice and basic smart features.
It’s a crowded marketplace, and a raft of excellent devices have been launched at all price points over the past few months. We’ve tested pretty much every running watch and smartwatch launched in recent years, and picked out the top options in a five categories below:
- Best beginner running watches
- Best running watches overall
- Best value running watches
- Best running watches for battery life
- Best running smartwatches
You’ll also find links to videos on our YouTube channel where we dive into each category in greater detail, if you want a fuller explanation of our top picks to help determine which one might be for you. We’ve also linked each watch to our full review video on YouTube, so click the name to get more detail on the one you’re considering. Just remember that the reviews were done when each watch was originally launched, so some info might now be out of date.
Who Are The Run Testers?
The Run Testers are a team of running journalists who have been testing and reviewing the best running watches, shoes and other kit for runners for decades. If you search for running reviews or advice across the internet, the odds are that at least one of us will pop up in your results. There’s more info on the core Run Tester team here, including some insights into their preferred kit and PBs.
All of our reviews, articles and videos are completely independent and impartial, and the range of products we’ve tested means we feel confident you’re getting the best advice on the internet when it comes to choosing running gear.
The Best Running Watches 2026
The best running watch for you will depend on your budget, fitness goals and the type of runner you are. Beginners might want a cheaper device that gives some training advice, while adventurous ultramarathoners hitting the trails might want a rugged device with offline maps.
We’ve broken our top watches into five categories — beginner, overall, value, battery life, and smartwatch. In our value category we’ve highlighted a couple of old watches that frequently drop to budget-friendly prices in sales, but there are other good value options within the best beginner and best overall watch categories too.
Check out the best Garmin running watches
Best Beginner Running Watches
For us, beginner watches should be fairly cheap, offer accurate tracking and easy to understand advice and training guidance that can help new runners get fitter safely. The watches we’ve picked in this category are not at all just for beginners of course, they’ll work for runners of all levels, but they stand out as great option for new runners in particular.
Coros Pace 4
Price: £229.99/$249.99 | Size: 43mm | Battery Life: 20 days (watch), 31 hours (multi-band GPS)
Our top pick overall for beginners is the Coros Pace 4, which is actually fantastic for runners of all levels — it’s a top pick in our value category as well. It offers long battery life, accurate tracking and extensive training analysis in a lightweight package with a bright AMOLED display.
Check out the best Coros running watches
The Pace 4 has a simple and intuitive user interface and provides detailed training analysis and all the stats you need as a runner. It doesn’t have loads of smart features — it can’t link up with music streaming services like the Forerunner 170 — but it’s an excellent running watch you can buy as a new runner confident it has everything you need for your future in the sport.
It’s also a watch that keeps getting better thanks to updates. There’s now a model with an aluminium bezel and more colour options than at launch, and Coros even added maps to the Pace 4 in its most recent round of software upgrades.
Read our full Coros Pace 4 review
Garmin Forerunner 70
Price: £219/$249 | Size: 42mm | Battery Life: 10 days (watch), 16 hours (all-systems GPS)
The Garmin Forerunner 70 and Garmin Forerunner 170 are the entry-level options in the Garmin line-up, and both are excellent running watches with lightweight designs and bright AMOLED displays.
Despite neither having multi-band GPS, we found the Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 170 highly accurate during our testing, and they have slick user interfaces and offer more lifestyle features than their rivals from Coros and Suunto.
Compared with the Forerunner 170, the Forerunner 70 lacks some useful sensors, including a compass, altimeter and barometer, and Garmin’s smart features, which include NFC payments and music storage. If you don’t need those features, the Forerunner 70 is better value than the Forerunner 170, and also has longer battery life.
Read our full Garmin Forerunner 70 review
Garmin Forerunner 170
Price: £259/$299 (standard); £299/$349 (music) | Size: 42mm | Battery Life: 10 days (watch), 14 hours (all-systems GPS)
The Garmin Forerunner 170 offers the best combination of sports and smart features you’ll find on an entry-level watch, with NFC payments and music storage including the ability to link up with streaming services like Spotify.
Those smarts build on its reliable sports tracking, which is highly accurate in our experience, and useful training analysis, which includes Garmin’s Training Readiness rating for insights into the current state of your body.
The Coros Pace 4 and Forerunner 70 are a little cheaper, so if you’re not fussed about the smart features on the Forerunner 170 one of those would be a better value buy, but the Forerunner 170 music feature in particular will be valuable to a lot of runners.
Read our full Garmin Forerunner 170 review
Apple Watch Series 12
Price: £369.99/$399.99 | Size: 42mm or 46mm | Battery Life: 24 hours (watch), 10 hours (all-systems GPS)
The Apple Watch 12 has some drawbacks for runners, such as not having a lap button and its short battery life, but it is still a solid running watches and an especially strong option for beginners. That’s largely because of the impressive App Store and the many excellent training apps you can find in there, which you can use to set up plans to follow from your wrist.
The Apple Watch 12 is also a lovely watch to wear even if you give up running straight away, which is less the case with sportier options from Garmin and Coros, and many will value its smartwatch features which are much more advanced than you find on sports watches.
Read our full Apple Watch Series 12 review
Best Value Running Watches
In general if you’re looking for value we don’t recommend buying a running watch at full price. There are certainly some watches that offer great value at full price, like the Coros Pace 4 and Coros Pace 4 Pro— we’ve covered them above and below but they are top options in this category too — but you can nearly always get the best deal if you wait for the next sale period to roll around.
As a result, the best value running watches for us are mostly old favourites that are likely to pop up in sales regularly. Despite being older models, we wouldn’t be afraid of buying them because most brands support them for years and they still pack in all the features you need.
Garmin Forerunner 265
Price: £429.99/$449.99 | Size: 42mm and 46mm | Battery Life (46mm): 13 days (watch), 14 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Garmin Forerunner 265 has been superseded by the Forerunner 570, but although the new watch has a more attractive design and a brighter screen, it didn’t really upgrade the core run tracking experience of the watch, so we’d definitely be happy to opt for the older Forerunner 265 for less.
It’s a fantastic AMOLED sports watch with accurate GPS and heart rate tracking, enough training analysis to keep even the keenest athletes on track, and some useful smarts like music storage and NFC payments. It also comes in two sizes to suit different wrists. You’ll likely be able to find the Forerunner 265 in sales for under £300, and the older Forerunner 255 is also a good value pick for those who prefer a MIP display.
Suunto Run
Price: £199.99/$249.99 | Size: 46mm | Battery Life: 12 days (watch), 20 hours (multi-band GPS)
The Suunto Run is a strong pick for beginners and those seeking value, coming in cheaper than its rivals (especially in the UK) even at full price, and now regularly dropping below that mark in sales.
For under £200 the Suunto Run offers dual-band GPS, a bright AMOLED screen, solid battery life and extensive training analysis. The Suunto user interface can be a little confusing, but you do get used to it, and the Suunto Run’s tracking was reliably accurate during our testing.
Garmin Forerunner 965
Price: From £599.99/$599.99 | Size: 47mm | Battery Life (47mm AMOLED): 23 days (watch), 19 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Forerunner 965 has almost all of Garmin’s top features, including offline maps and impeccable tracking and analysis tools, and costs a lot less than newer models like the Forerunner 970 and Fenix 8 in sales. You should be able to get it for less than £400 when discounted, and at that price it’s a hard watch to top.
Its design is not as durable as the Forerunner 970, which has a sapphire crystal display, and it lacks some other features on the newer watch like a built-in flashlight but the Forerunner 965 is a good-looking, lightweight watch that offers runners everything they need and more.
The Forerunner 965 is our overall best value pick for those seeking a top running watch in the sales, but it’s also worth looking out for deals on older Fenix/Epix models like the Epix Pro and Fenix 8. We’d also recommend the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro as a better value buy than the newer Fenix 9, for those who don’t need the latest model.
Best Running Watches Overall
If you have the budget for them, this category is where you’ll find the best running watches available. Along with getting every software feature the top brands offer, you get hardier watches made with titanium and sapphire crystal, and much longer battery life. You do also tend to get larger watches though, so those with thin wrists might still prefer a lighter mid-range watch.
Garmin Forerunner 970
Price: £629.99/$749.99 | Size: 47mm | Battery Life: 15 days (watch), 21 hours (dual-band GPS)
We test a lot of watches but the one that we all tend to go back to when not testing something new is the Garmin Forerunner 970, which is testament to just how good of a watch it is. It packs brilliant tracking and training analysis tools, plus offline maps, into a thin and lightweight watch that’s more comfortable to wear 24/7 than chunkier models like the Fenix 8 Pro.
Despite this, the Forerunner 970 is still a durable watch itself, with a titanium bezel and sapphire crystal display, and it also has a built-in flashlight and pretty impressive battery life for a lightweight AMOLED watch. Unless you need a more adventure-focused device like the Fenix, this is the best running watch you can get, in our view.
Read our full Garmin Forerunner 970 review
Coros Pace 4 Pro
Price: From £389/$449 | Size: 47mm | Battery Life: 21 days (watch), 30 hours (dual-band GPS)
Coros has always made good value running watches, but the Coros Pace 4 Pro is the first watch from the brand that has a legitimate claim to be the best overall pick for runners. That’s largely thanks to its gorgeous design – the bright 1.47in AMOLED display, titanium bezel and sapphire crystal screen make this the best-looking and most durable Pace watch yet, and it’s also a very thin and lightweight watch.
The Coros Pace 4 Pro is not as feature-packed as the Garmin Forerunner 970 – it can’t match Garmin’s training analysis or smart features and doesn’t have a flashlight – but it excels in the key areas required for runners and offers particularly impressive battery life of seven days even with the screen always-on, running every day.
It does all of this at a pretty great price too, that not only undercuts the Forerunner 970, but also the Forerunner 570 and Forerunner 965 in sales. It’s an excellent option for any runner.
Read our full Coros Pace 4 Pro review
Best Running Watches For Battery Life
If you’re planning on tackling some epic adventures on your runs, or just hate having to find a charger, you want a running watch with extra-long battery life. Our picks in this category will not only go weeks on a charge, but also have rugged designs that can withstand weeks in the great outdoors.
Garmin Fenix 9 Pro 51mm
Price: £1029.99 / $1,199.99 (£1,119.99 with InReach) | Size: 51mm | Battery Life: Up to 31 days / 45 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Garmin Enduro 4 (currently in testing) is the longest-lasting Garmin watch, but the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro 51mm gets the nod here for its incredible battery life in an AMOLED watch, which is what all of us on the team prefer to use these days.
Even in heavy training periods, running every day with the screen always-on, the Fenix 9 Pro 51mm would last us 10-11 days, and you can easily extend that battery life by using the raise-to-wake mode on the watch.
It’s also packed to the gills with features and could easily claim to be the best running watch overall if you prefer it’s more robust design to something like the Forerunner 970, especially the Fenix 9 Pro adds cellular and satellite connectivity to its extensive list of sports tracking, training analysis and navigation features. If you’re heading for adventure in the great outdoors, it’s the ideal running watch to have on your wrist, though extremely expensive (the Fenix 8 Pro 51mm is the better value option, in our view).
Read our Garmin Fenix 9 Pro review
Suunto Vertical 2
Price: £529 / $599 (steel); £629 / $699 (titanium)| Size: 49mm | Battery Life: 20 days (watch) 60 hour (dual-band GPS)
If you want a long-lasting AMOLED watch, you can’t beat the battery life on the Suunto Vertical 2, and it actually outlasts most MIP watches as well. Its bright display is easy to read in all conditions, and the design of the watch in general marries style and substance handsomely, with a durable metal case and sapphire crystal screen.
The Vertical 2 also offers offline maps and navigation tools, and its GPS tracking proved very accurate in our testing of the watch. Given the high-quality design and impressive feature set, the Vertical 2 is pretty good value as well, and it’s battery life is remarkable for an AMOLED watch, offering 60 hours of multi-band tracking with the screen always-on.
The Best Smartwatches For Runners
Smartwatches were originally pretty rubbish for running, but they have been steadily improving in recent years, while sports watches have also been getting smarter. No one device has managed to achieve the perfect balance of genuine smarts and top-notch sports tracking yet, but some have come closer than others, especially our overall top pick: the Apple Watch Ultra 4.
Apple Watch Ultra 4
Price: £749 / $799 | Size: 49mm | Battery Life: 50 hours (watch) 18 hours (dual-band GPS)
The Apple Watch Ultra 4 only works with iPhones, but if you have one of those in your pocket this is the best running smartwatch you can have on your wrist. It has some welcome updates on the Apple Watch Ultra 3, including improved heart rate tracking and more frequent HRV readings, which build into a readiness score, plus longer battery life.
We picked the Apple Watch Ultra 4 over the Apple Watch Series 12 in this category because of its hardware upgrades, which include a lap button, longer battery life, and dual-band GPS. It’s still not going to deliver the battery life and training analysis of the best sports watches, but the Ultra 4 is an excellent running watch that lasts longer than past models, and it’s obviously a great smartwatch too.
Overall we remain fairly unimpressed by the running performance of Wear OS smartwatches, though the Google Pixel Watch 5 is probably the best of them thanks to its sleek design.
The best running smartwatches for Android are probably watches that work with any platform, and in particular the Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro is one that we are enjoying testing at the moment. Garmin watches also offer more smarts than most sports devices, and something like the Garmin Venu X1 might appeal thanks to its ultra-thin design and smartwatch-style looks.
Read our full Apple Watch Ultra 4 review
Also Tested
We are testing new watches almost all the time, and while they won’t all make our list of the best available above, some are still worth knowing about because they might suit some runners well. You’ll find our multi-tester reviews of those watches below.
Suunto Run 2
Price: £265/$349 (4GB) or £299/$399 (64GB) | Size: 46.5mm | Battery Life: 10 days (watch) 18 hours (GPS)
The Suunto Run 2 is a considerable upgrade on the Suunto Run, which you’ll find listed above, with a brighter display, maps, longer battery life and a more attractive design. However, the price has jumped a lot to get these updates, and overall the Suunto Run 2 doesn’t offer as good value as its predecessor when compared to top rivals on the market, such as the Coros Pace 4 and Garmin Forerunner 170.
It’s a nice little watch though, and the Suunto Run 2 does offer better value than the Suunto Race 3S, another new Suunto watch for 2026 that arrived with a big price hike on its previous model.
Read our full Suunto Run 2 review
Amazfit Active Max
Price: £169.90/$169.99 | Size: 48.5mm | Battery Life: 25 days (watch) 64 hours (GPS)
The Amazfit Active Max is a feature-packed, budget-friendly smartwatch aimed at runners and everyday fitness users. It combines a bright AMOLED display, long battery life (up to around 10–25 days depending on usage), and a wide range of training tools, including GPS tracking, offline maps, and over 170 sports modes.
The watch delivers solid performance for its price, with useful health metrics like heart rate, sleep, and recovery insights, making it a strong option for those wanting detailed data without a premium price tag.
However, while it excels in value and battery life, the design is fairly basic and GPS accuracy can lag behind more expensive models. Smart features are also relatively simple compared to high-end competitors.
Overall, the Active Max offers excellent value for money and is a reliable all-rounder, particularly suited to casual athletes and runners seeking strong core features without overspending.
Huawei GT Runner 2
Price: £349 | Size: 43.5mm | Battery Life: 17/25 days (44mm/48mm watch); 26/38 hours (44mm/48mm dual-band GPS)
The Huawei GT Runner 2 has a great design with a titanium case and durable screen, and it’s a small and lightweight watch as well. It promises best-in-class GPS accuracy and customisable training plans and a specialist race mode, all display on a bright AMOLED display in a watch with pretty long battery life.
In the real world the watch disappointed us a little. The GPS accuracy isn’t as good as top Garmin and other watches in our testing, and the race plans were undermined by the fact they are fully reliant on the inaccurate predicted times given by the watch, which meant some of us couldn’t select a target time in line with our actual PBs.
The GT Runner 2 is still a decent running watch and if the training plans can be sorted out through updates it could be a good option for runners who were considering using an app like Runna. It’s also a good-looking watch for general use, but it didn’t hit the standards of our favourite running watches in testing.
Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro
Price: £349 | Size: 43.5mm | Battery Life: 17/25 days (44mm/48mm watch); 26/38 hours (44mm/48mm dual-band GPS)
The Amazfit T-Rex 3 Pro is a rugged adventure watch that offers a cheaper alternative to models like the Garmin Fenix 8 Pro or Suunto Vertical 2. It has a durable design, great battery life, solid run tracking with dual-band GPS and training analysis, and onboard maps for navigating in the great outdoors.
It doesn’t feel as premium as a top Garmin and lacks the detailed training analysis and on-the-go routing features you get from the Fenix 8 Pro, and we didn’t find the HR and GPS tracking quite as good as that of top Garmin and Coros watches.
While it is a good value option, you could perhaps look at older Garmin models like the Epix Pro or even Epix 2 to get a more capable watch for a similar price, or if you don’t mind a plastic design you could look at mid-range Garmin and Coros devices.