Pace Hare

Pick a watch for your goal

Say what you train for and what you need. You get three products, each with the reason it's there.

Your goal
What you do
Built-in GPS
Heart rate from
Battery in a long session
Budget

Picks for a first triathlon

Bars show GPS battery in hours, on one scale, as a manufacturer claim.

  1. Coros Pace 4

    £229 on coros.com

    41 hmanufacturer claim
    • The lowest price of these three.
    • The longest claimed GPS battery of these three.
    • The lightest of these three, at 40 g.
    • Best for: Runners after a light AMOLED.
    • It has modes for swimming, cycling and running.

  2. Polar Vantage M3

    £279.20 on polar.com

    30 hmanufacturer claim
    • Best for: Compact triathlon watch with maps.
    • It has modes for swimming, cycling and running.
    • It has built-in multi-band GPS.
    • The maker claims 30 h with GPS on, against the 12 h you asked for.
    • The maker lists open-water swimming.

  3. Garmin Instinct 3 AMOLED

    £299.99 on garmin.com

    32 hmanufacturer claim
    • Best for: Runners wanting a rugged colour screen.
    • It has modes for swimming, cycling and running.
    • It has built-in multi-band GPS.
    • The maker claims 32 h with GPS on, against the 12 h you asked for.
    • The maker lists open-water swimming.
What this assumes
  • Products must be listed for your goal by their maker's features. That's my judgement from their published specs, not a test.
  • GPS battery is the maker's standard GPS figure, not a measured one. Real use usually falls short, and it depends on settings, music and maps.
  • A battery minimum rules out any product with no published figure.
  • With a budget set, a product with no verified price can't count as fitting. It appears on its own line under the picks.
  • Prices are UK prices read on the store named, on the date on each product page. They change.
  • Among equal matches the lower price goes first. No store pays for a place, and a commission doesn't change the order.