COROS Apex 4 Review: Cycling, Running & Adventures

For me, a GPS sports watch needs to offer versatility. I don’t want one that’s only focused on running or cycling — for that, I have a Wahoo or Hammerhead. The COROS Apex 4 was launched in late 2025 and I’ve had it in testing since that time as my primary watch and activity tracker. There’s a ton of features that I could cover, but we’ll dig into the ones that stood out.

COROS Apex 4 GPS Adventure Watch Features:

• Grade 5 Titanium Bezel for strength and durability
• Scratch-Resistant Sapphire Glass for protection
• Up to 65 hours of All Systems GPS (46mm) or 41 hours (42mm) of battery life
• Dual-range barometer for sharper elevation and weather data
• Dual-frequency vertical GPS tracking
• Precision ECG heart rate sensor and oximeter
• 3rd-generation always-on MIP (Memory-in-Pixel) display with deeper colors and higher contrast
• Real-time map engine with global landscape and topo maps, turn-by-turn guidance, trail names, and POI’s
• Built-in microphone and speaker for hands-free calls, Voice Pins, activity alerts and actions
• Weight: 51g (46mm – tested) and 44g (42mm) with nylon band
• MSRP: $479 (46mm – tested) and $429 (42mm)

A COROS for every adventure

The Apex 4 is an absolute beast in every aspect. With it, you get everything you could ever ask for in a GPS smart watch — long battery life, tons of activity options, metrics galore and superb durability. No joke, I’ve put it on since October and have only taken it off to charge it (occasionally). Day and night, the Apex 4 has been a trusted adventure tracker for everything from walking the dog to KOM attempts on my local routes.

Need more evidence of the versatility of the COROS Apex 4? Look no further than COROS Ambassador and epic adventurer, Jimmy Chin (read his athlete story). I mean, Jimmy is an absolute legend and spends his days summiting peaks, chasing waves and skiing on some of the most iconic mountains. While we can’t all be Jimmy Chin, we can all appreciate the COROS platform in our little corner of the planet.

My corner of the planet consists of the following adventures:

• Indoor cycling and training
• Walking the dog
• Hiking in the Wasatch mountains
• Exploring Utah’s deserts
• Road and gravel cycling throughout Utah
• Mountain biking in the backyard
• Trail running in Utah and anywhere I travel

With every one of those activities, the COROS Apex 4 has me covered. I can select from one of the endless activities and re-order them for easy access. Then, dialing in my screens is a breeze so I can see just the right information throughout my run, ride or hike. I haven’t found a single activity that I do that isn’t covered. I even used the skiing activity tracker to measure speed on the zip line and tube rides at the Utah Olympic Park where I hit 47 mph!

Let’s dive into the areas where I’ve found the Apex 4 to excel and fall short of my expectations.

Solid heart rate accuracy and data

Wrist-based heart rate tracking can be problematic. Some watches do it well and others struggle. The Apex 4 is one of the few that excels at it. Due to an odd issue with Wahoo syncing (see below), I wore a heart rate strap while cycling and every single time I checked, the heart rate on the Apex 4 matched the heart rate strap — a stellar achievement for a wrist-based unit.

No matter the activity, the heart rate has been as accurate and reliable as it gets on a watch. After hundreds of activities in the books with it, I can only recall a single time when things went haywire and my heart rate went through the roof on a running descent. Compared to other watches I’ve tested, that’s forgivable. Of course, every activity type allows heart rate tracking and the screens can be configured to your liking. As I pushed myself trail running, it was always good to know where my ticker was pacing.

It’s also worth noting that the optical ECG (electrocardiogram) sensor allows for excellent heart rate measurements, but it also facilitates oximeter tracking that helps with all other health metrics that the Apex 4 provides.

Broadcasting heart rate

One of my favorite features of any GPS training watch is the ability to share my heart rate to a cycling head unit or my computer when training on Zwift or Rouvy. Surprisingly, many watches lack that valuable feature and I use it every time I train indoors and when cycling. Throughout my testing, I either experienced a glitch or user error (or both) where I couldn’t get the heart rate data to display on any Wahoo head unit (ROAM 2 or ROAM 3). It was baffling because the same procedure worked fine with the COROS Pace Pro and Pace 4.

After thorough testing just after posting this review, I’m now able to successfully broadcast to all Wahoo units. **FACEPALM** It’s entirely plausible that there was a glitch, but it now seems to be resolved. I’ll continue testing to see if I can get it into that funky state, but for now, it’s working. I’ve also paired it successfully with the latest Hammerhead Karoo.

Run tracking

I’m a trail runner, but that doesn’t stop me from tracking my running power, cadence and step length. To see that data, you’ll need to use the COROS app, but the Strava app does show power and cadence. For some reason, Strava on the web doesn’t (not sure why). Keeping on top of my running pace, power and form has been a great way to monitor my ongoing fitness. With everything centralized into Strava, I can track my overall fitness improvements over time. This is a blended score between both the Apex 4 and cycling head units, but it’s awesome to see my fitness levels increase from late-winter into summer — and the Apex 4 is a key part of tracking that trend.

Daily stress and sleep

Sleep is the ultimate secret weapon and admittedly, I don’t get enough of it. However, using the Apex 4 for sleep tracking has actually made me not as bent-out-of-shape due to my lack of proper time sleeping. I have averaged 6.5 hours per night so far this year (not great and I know I need more). However, both my recovery and sleep quality continues to be excellent. All this does make me want to get into even better sleep habits for more strenuous summer training.

In addition to sleep tracking, the Apex 4 captures stress load and allows me to understand when I’m under significant stress. I’ll be the first to admit that the past 6 years have been anything but mentally calming. The emotions of a global pandemic, raising children and holding down a steady job in the middle of unprecedented times can take its toll. For me, tracking my activity and also seeing my daily stress levels (outside of workouts), does tell me that I need to chill more often. Noted.

Durability and wearability

I love that the Apex 4 has a titanium bezel (versus the plastic one on the PACE Pro). Not only does it look classy, but it offers unprecedented protection. The Sapphire Glass has proven to be wicked-durable, but the titanium surrounding it plays a part in that achievement. I’ve smacked the watch on so many things that I’ve lost count. And, after 10 months of continuous use, this watch remains scratch and scuff-free. Granted, I do remove it when I’m wrenching the car, but that’s about it.

The strap is been both good and bad. I appreciate that it doesn’t use a strap loop to keep the end of the strap in place. Because of that, the end of the strap sits flush against my desk as I type and any other instances when my left wrist is resting on something. However, various wrist angles will cause the metal insert to pop out of place and flap free. Sometimes it gets caught on something, but other times, it’s just a funky wrist angle that pops it out. (Apparently, there is an updated strap that fixes this.) Overall comfort is superb and this strap has allowed me to wear it 24/7 for almost a year.

Route finding and back to start

While I haven’t taken the Apex 4 on totally unknown routes, I have synced several routes and tested what happens when I go off the route. I also followed the on-device instructions to get me back home. It’s pretty slick, with directional arrows showing where to go and where to turn. It also notifies you if you’re off course. When navigating new terrain, it’s also a great way to get back to the start. Because the battery lasts FOREVER (41-65 hours, depending on mode), you can rest assured that the watch will guide you back to the beginning should you need it.

Something else worth noting here is that the Apex 4 offers a massive upgrade in its internal processor, which results in rendering that’s 30x faster and panning and zooming into the maps is instant and zippy. Granted, you’re still looking at a small screen, but it’s honestly been very impressive as I’ve used it.

Voice and speaker

This is the first COROS watch with voice control and voice commands. You can take calls from your phone (theoretically), record voice memos and now you can ask it to perform basic tasks. What tasks? I’ve found it useful when starting an activity. I just long-press the Action button and say “start trail run” and it gets it ready for me to start. I’ve used it to “find my phone” as well and it will ping it. Other common requests can be to show the weather or set an alarm without fiddling your way though various menus.

If your running pace is important for training, you can have it dictate your pace as well. At the end of an activity, you can record voice notes, which may also be helpful for training logs. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to reliably figure out how to take calls from the Apex 4. It’s not something I’m anxious to use, but in 10 months of phone calls, I’ve only seen a call come across the screen once and I couldn’t figure out how to take the call there. In theory, you have to have the app open when the call comes in. Your mileage may vary, but it’s not that big of a feature for me — especially compared to the new voice commands, which I have found very useful.

Display and screen

The always-on MIP display is very impressive in the fact that it’s always on (duh) and it allows such incredible battery life. After coming from the PACE Pro, I was a little disappointed with the screen brightness. It’s notably less bright and can be more difficult to read (especially for my 50-something year-old eyes). Passive mode remains visible and is the secret to the battery life on this watch. Once you flick your wrist, it does brighten enough to make it clearly visible.

After switching to the PACE 4 and PACE Pro, I really do appreciate the always-on MIP display here. Flipping your wrist hard enough to wake the screen does get annoying versus the always-on screen of the Apex 4.

Of course, you can customize your watch face to suit your needs. I always prefer the digital standard face, but if you’re adventurous, there are endless options. Clearly, the MIP display is optimized for long battery life and it absolutely nails it in that regard. Again, it’s not a smart phone screen, nor is it a full smart watch, but for adventures, it covers all the bases.

COROS sends regular firmware updates which are frequent and usually easy to apply — with some caveats. While at home on my T-Mobile Internet, I can’t update via WiFi and have to use Bluetooth (maybe a security setting?). At my office, WiFi updates work great. If you run into these same challenges, maybe give Bluetooth a try. I do appreciate that COROS invests in continuous improvement and the regular updates attest to that.

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