GPS Running Watches / COROS
COROS APEX 4 (42mm)
Free offline topo maps and a titanium bezel for $429 — with a screen you fight in low light.
Overall score 7.9/10
Pros
- + Free global offline topo maps with street and trail names at $429 — Garmin charges $749.99 before you get maps
- + Titanium bezel and sapphire glass at a price where rivals use aluminium and Gorilla Glass
- + MIP means the 41 h all-systems figure is what you get, with no always-on display tax
- + Two years of warranty and zero subscriptions anywhere in the platform
Cons
- − COROS does not publish a dual-frequency battery figure for the 42 mm, and dual-frequency is where accuracy actually lives
- − DC Rainmaker measured a real GPS accuracy drop when a route is loaded and navigation is active
- − MIP display is dim indoors and at night compared with every AMOLED rival here
- − No ANT+, no NFC payments and no LED flashlight
- − The depth gauge has no certification and cannot record dives to the app, and there are no dive sport profiles
COROS APEX 4 (42mm) review: what the specs say
Free offline topo maps and a titanium bezel for $429 — with a screen you fight in low light. At $429, COROS's 2025 model sits in the middle of the range — the GPS Running Watches we compare run from $249 to $1,199.99. It scores 7.9/10 overall, calculated from published specifications across 8 categories rather than from a subjective impression.
Its strongest showing is Battery Honesty at 8.8/10 — how much of the headline battery claim survives the mode you would actually train in: all-systems plus multiband, always-on display, music playing. The number on the box is almost always the slowest, least accurate mode.. The weakest is Display at 6.2/10, which is the trade-off to weigh before buying: if that is the specification you care about most, one of the alternatives below will serve you better.
Worth knowing before you buy: COROS does not publish a dual-frequency battery figure for the 42 mm, and dual-frequency is where accuracy actually lives; and DC Rainmaker measured a real GPS accuracy drop when a route is loaded and navigation is active. Every specification on this page comes from COROS's own documentation or a verified retail listing — where a figure is not published, the table says so rather than estimating it.
Specifications and price last verified . Report an error
Full Specifications
| Display | 1.2-in 240x240 3rd-gen transflective MIP, always-on, no AMOLED battery penalty — but DC Rainmaker and Tom's Guide both call it dim indoors and in low light |
| Smartwatch Battery | 15 days |
| Always-On Display Cost | No always-on penalty — the MIP screen is permanently on. (The 46 mm version is rated 24 days smartwatch and 65 h all-systems GPS if you want the bigger numbers.) |
| Battery, Single-Band GPS | 41 h |
| Battery, Multiband GPS | Not published by COROS for the 42 mm in any source reviewed here. For reference the 46 mm is rated 65 h all-systems vs 41 h dual-frequency — expect a similar ~35-40% drop. h |
| GNSS Bands | Dual-frequency L1+L5 chipset covering GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS. DC Rainmaker warns GPS accuracy degrades noticeably when route navigation is running. |
| Onboard Maps | Free global offline topographic and landscape maps with street/trail names and POIs, downloaded through the COROS app, plus turn-by-turn on preloaded routes. No ClimbPro equivalent and no automatic rerouting. |
| Music Storage | MP3 files only, sideloaded. No streaming services and no phone-music control. |
| Training Platform & Subscription | COROS app and EvoLab analytics are entirely free, no subscription tier. COROS' own metrics, not Firstbeat. |
| External Sensor Support | Bluetooth only — no ANT+ at all, which rules out ANT+-only power meters |
| Data Export | Free .FIT/GPX export plus auto-sync to Strava, TrainingPeaks, Apple Health and Health Connect |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth, Wi-Fi |
| Material | Grade 5 titanium bezel, sapphire glass, composite backplate; 44 g with nylon band (42 mm) |
| Warranty | 24 months |
Compare COROS APEX 4 (42mm) With
Cheaper Alternative
Garmin Instinct 3 Solar (45mm) — $399.99
Premium Alternative
Suunto Race 2 (stainless steel) — $499.00