Coros Vertix 2 review: Ultra-long battery life and impressive features

Coros is relatively new to the world of fitness trackers and sport watches. They launched their first GPS watch in 2018. Despite being the new kid on the block, they've introduced a handful of competitive fitness wearables since their launch. I had the opportunity to test and review Coros Pace 2 earlier this year and was blown away by its feather light weight and impressive battery life. Coros Vertix 2 was introduced mid-August 2021 and hosts a plethora of impressive features including ultra-long battery life, advanced navigation, global offline mapping, and internal storage. Naturally, I was eager to take it for a spin. If you love running or adventuring outside, this watch is for you.

Coros Vertix 2: Price and availability

Coros Vertix 2 is in-stock and available on Amazon and the Coros site for $699. It comes with a durable carrying case, quick start guide, and charging cable.

Coros Vertix 2: Navigation, battery, features

Coros Vertix 2 is the perfect adventure watch. On top of having everything you need for the basics — i.e. all-day activity and sleep tracking — it offers advanced navigation, offline mapping, internal storage, camera control, and premium health features like heart rate variability and blood oxygen monitoring. There's a lot to unpack here; let's take a deep dive into all this watch has to offer.

The Coros app is easy to use and intuitive. It has paired seamlessly with both Coros Vertix 2 and Coros Pace 2 and conveniently stores all your health and fitness data via any Coros wearable in one place. The app is where you'll view your daily activity: active energy, exercise time, steps, heart rate, sleep, and HRV index. It's also where you'll fully customize your wearable so you can download maps and media, change watch faces, and create training plans.

Vertix 2 is outfitted with an extra-large, easy to read display measuring 1.4-inches. It can support up to eight data fields on a single page delivering key stats with a quick glance. A display protected by diamond-like sapphire glass and a titanium bezel make it extremely durable. It's dustproof and water-resistant up to 10ATM.

When it comes to worldwide navigation, Vertix 2 can talk to all five major satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and Beidou) at the same time. I write about a lot of fitness wearables, and I haven't found one other than Vertix 2 that communicates with all five satellites. It even offers dual frequency satellite communication. This makes for pinpoint accuracy no matter the location. It can track between tall buildings, deep forests, or alongside rock walls. I live in Southern California and Vertix 2 has found my exact location and accurately mapped my routes without fail.

Unlike its predecessor, Coros Vertix, Coros Vertix 2 offers global offline mapping. It can operate in landscape, TOPO, or hybrid mode. It comes with a full global landscape map out of the box, and you can download TOPO maps by region for free on the Coros site. You can zoom in and out of maps with the digital-dial, or finger drag around the map with the touchscreen.

My favorite thing about Coros Vertix 2 is the ultra-long battery life. It offers 140 hours in full GPS mode and 60 days in basic watch mode. I am by no means a rugged outdoorswoman, but I can see the value for triathletes, backpackers, and rural travelers. Essentially, this is a coveted feature for anyone, but especially those that don't have access to power for days on end. I love it because I hate constantly charging my electronics. I've been using this watch for over two months. I've only needed to charge it once, and not because the battery was at zero, but because I wanted to get it to 100% before a trip.

Vertix 2 introduces 32GB of internal storage, meaning you can download and play your favorite music, podcasts, or audio books. It easily pairs with any Bluetooth headphones. Keep in mind that you'll need a Mac or PC to download media. Oddly, it does come with some pre-loaded music, but only three random tracks.

Compared to Coros Pace 2, Vertix 2 is stacked with outdoor workout profiles. It's particularly suited for runners with several running-specific profiles like run, indoor run, trail run, and track run. Additionally, it has indoor bike, mountain climb, hike, bike, pool swim, open water, speedsurfing, windsurfing, rowing, indoor rower, whitewater, flatwater, triathlon, strength, gym cardio, GPS cardio, ski, snowboard, cross-country ski, ski touring, multisport, multi-pitch, and walk.

Features like HRV, Sp02, and camera control make Vertix 2 a serious contender in the battle of adventure watches. It measures heart rate variability (HRV) in a one-minute test. Coros advises you sit still in a relaxed position for the best measurement. All you do is place the opposite hand on the bezel. It rates your measurements on an HRV index ranging from 1-100. The higher the value, the more relaxed or "ready" your body and nervous system are compared to your personal average.

How do you apply these readings in daily life? Well, from a training standpoint, if you wake up and your HRV measures on the lower end, that's an indication that your body is fatigued and stressed, meaning you might want to take a recovery day. If you see a stable decline over a stretch of a few days, it might be a sign that you are overreaching in training, or that you're under heavy stress, and need to scale back. A decline is an indicator of important changes to your health that you'll want to monitor and address.

You can measure your Sp02 levels anytime, anywhere with Vertix 2. Find and select Sp02 in your toolbox for quick and easy measurements. Monitoring your Sp02 can help optimize your health, sleep, and fitness. It's also an indicator of important changes to your health. For instance, low Sp02 levels could be a sign of COVID-19 or other serious illnesses or health conditions.

If you have an action camera like GoPro 9, GoPro 10, Insta360 One X2, or Insta 360 One R, you can now control it with Coros Vertix 2. This means you can also place your camera out of arm's reach to obtain the perfect shot. There's a lot to love about this watch, making it an ideal adventure partner.

Coros Vertix 2: Heavy, bulky, low calorie count

In general, I'm into wearing something much more low-profile on my wrist. I find Coros Vertix 2 to be heavy, bulky, and cumbersome. It weighs 3.17 ounces. It can track sleep, but it's not comfortable to wear to bed. I did wear it overnight a few times for sleep tracking purposes, but I move around quite a bit in my sleep, and don't like wearing a watch snugly on my wrist while I snooze. It got caught on my sheets and pulled out of position, and my sleep stats were skewed because of it.

The Vertix 2 offers a lot of advanced features, creating a steep learning curve for those just getting to know it. This especially applies to anyone that may not be tech-savvy. Be patient and take the time to really get to know this watch. Once you get the hang of things, they become second nature, but it took me a few weeks to get attuned.

It's awesome that this watch has 32GB of internal storage for music, podcasts, or audio books, however it does not offer music streaming of any kind. This could be a deal breaker for some as most of us have switched from downloading music to streaming platforms. However, as this is an adventure watch, downloading all your content enables you to listen anytime, anywhere — no wifi required.

I addressed this in my review of Coros Pace 2, so it seems to be consistent in Coros wearables across the board. I find my active calorie burn to be low. Whenever I record a workout, the Vertix 2 always gives me a lower overall calorie burn than my other fitness equipment and heart rate monitors. This is odd to me because my heart rate is the same across all devices, but the Coros calorie burn is always lower.

For example, Coros told me I burned 148 calories during a 24:47 minute indoor bike ride, while both my Polar OH1 heart rate monitor and MYX fitness bike told me I burned 223 calories in the same ride. I've compared calorie burn multiple times with different devices and Coros always gives me a substantially lower overall active calorie burn.

Coros Vertix 2: Competition

Garmin Fenix 6X Pro

Garmin Fenix 6X Pro is a worthy adversary and boasts some similar features like a 1.4-inch display, Pulse Ox, PacePro for grade-adjusted pace guidance, and VO2 max. It offers preloaded TOPO maps, plus ski maps for over 2,000 worldwide ski resorts. It communicates with GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo which is excellent, but doesn't come close to Vertix 2's five-satellite navigation system. When it comes to battery life, Coros Vertix 2 cannot be beat. Fenix 6X Pro offers 21 days of battery in smart watch mode, and 15 hours in GPS mode, while Vertix 2 provides 140 hours in GPS mode, and 60 days in basic watch mode.

Suunto 9 Baro & Peak

This durable multisport GPS watch reigns supreme when it comes to sport profiles as it offers 80. It's durable and like Vertix 2, water resistant up to 100 meters. It keeps tabs on altitude and heart rate and provides impressive battery life, but Vertix 2 still comes out ahead. Suunto 9 delivers 120 hours of continuous exercise tracking, while Vertix 2 offers 140 hours.

Coros Vertix 2: Should you buy it?

• You love the outdoors
• You want advanced navigation
• You need extra-long battery life

• You're not an outdoors person
• You just want a basic fitness tracker
• You're on a budget

You should buy this if you love the outdoors. It has the sport profiles to track all of your favorite outdoor activities and offers five-satellite navigation to track and map in the most challenging environments. It delivers ultra-long battery life of 140 hours in full GPS mode, and 60 days in basic watch mode. You should not buy this if you're not an outdoors person and just want a basic fitness tracker. This watch is designed for the outdoor adventurer and comes fully outfitted with tons of bells and whistles. It's not basic in any way and it's very pricey. Why pay for all those extra features if you're not going to use them?

If you love adventuring outside, Coros Vertix 2 is your perfect companion. Features like five-satellite navigation, offline mapping, ultra-long battery life, internal storage, and advanced health and fitness features earn this wearable's title of adventure watch. It is large and bulky, but extremely durable. It holds its own in the elements. There's no music streaming, and it will take you a while to master operation, but overall, this is a highly competitive adventure watch with loads of impressive features to help optimize your fitness, health, and overall wellbeing.