Best running watches and GPS sports watches in 2026

If you exercise without tracking it, did you exercise at all? Don’t risk missing a session – strap one of the best sports watches or best running watches to your wrist and let it log every mile, rep and calorie while you train.

Whether you’re a dedicated runner, a weekend gym-goer or someone who dabbles in a bit of everything, today’s best sports smartwatches are built to track multiple sports and activities. From running, cycling and swimming to strength training, yoga and HIIT, the top options can analyse your workouts, deliver detailed training insights and help you chase a new PB – on the road, in the gym or even underwater.

Modern fitness watches do far more than count steps. The latest models can monitor heart rate and sleep quality, guide structured workouts, store your music and keep you on course with built-in GPS. Many also switch seamlessly between sports, so you don’t have to think about tracking when your training routine changes.

Not sure which one suits you best? From affordable running watches to premium multi-sport trackers, the guide below rounds up the best sports watches for every wrist and budget. You’ll also find some handy buying tips to help you pick the perfect training partner – then all that’s left to do is put it on and get moving.

Why you can trust Stuff: Our team of experts rigorously test each product and provide honest, unbiased reviews to help you make informed decisions. For more details, read how we test and rate products.

Quick list: what is the best sports watch?

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The best sports watches you can buy today:

1. Garmin Fenix 8

Garmin Fenix 8 specs
Display	51mm, 454 x 454 pixel, AMOLED
OS	Garmin OS
GPS	All Systems Dual Frequency
Waterproof	10ATM
Battery life	62-104 hours
Dimensions	51 x 51 x 14.7 mm
Weight	92-102g

The latest incarnation of Garmin’s do-it-all, rugged multisport and adventure watch is getting smarter. It now packs a killer-sharp, smartwatch-style AMOLED screen, longer battery life, and a new built-in mic and speaker to power some basic voice activation and memo tools.

That new firepower adds to Garmin’s premium hardware and latest sensors, to unlock the most comprehensive suite of tracking, training, recovery, health and smartwatch smarts that you’ll find in the Garmin sports watch line-up. Basically, if Garmin has a tool for it, it’s on this watch.

There’s a lot of watch here in every sense. The three sizes (43mm, 47mm and 51mm) all sit big on the wrist. This henchest Garmin is built to withstand the knocks and scrapes of wilder adventures with premium materials like a toughened sapphire glass display and a lightweight titanium and Diamond Like Carbon bezel and casing.

It goes large on navigation features, too with offline TOPO maps and the excellent ClimbPro feature that lets you preview the lumps and bumps up in your route ahead. The dive watch credentials have also improved with waterproofing that now lets you explore to 40m depths.

When you get back in from the wild, there are tools to help you balance training and life. Sleep tracking, Heart Rate Variability, Body Battery (a real time energy level estimate), and recovery time recommendations all come wrapped up in a handy daily Morning Report.

Smartwatch smarts are top-tier, too, with offline Spotify music, contactless payments and the new Garmin Messenger app.

Is it any good?

The Garmin Fenix has always been one of the best multisports watches, but this generation is a whole lot smarter. Not yet Apple Watch smart, but getting closer. 

It’s tough, talented, offers reliable GPS and heart rate accuracy, along with excellent battery life. The big, bright, colourful AMOLED display really punches up your stats, maps and the whole experience, without sacrificing too much battery endurance.

You won’t find a watch with better tracking, training, health or navigation tools. All the mission-critical training essentials are here, including training plans, adaptive coaching and workout recommendations, plus training effect, training load, and performance condition readouts. In fact, there’s probably more tracking insights here than most people really need.

We loved the new targeted strength training plans with helpful animations for each drill. The built-in flashlight is also a surprisingly handy tool we’ve come to rely on.

• Read more: Garmin Fenix 8 Pro review

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2. Apple Watch Ultra 3

Apple Watch Ultra 3 specs
Display	2.12in, 514 × 422 pixel, Always-On Retina display
OS	watchOS
GPS	Precision dual-frequency GPS
Waterproof	100 m
Battery life	Up to 42 hours typical use
Dimensions	49×44×12 mm
Weight	61.6 g

The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is Apple’s most capable sports watch yet, aimed squarely at runners, endurance athletes and anyone who wants serious multi-sport tracking in a rugged case. It looks almost identical to the Ultra 2, but the upgrades inside are meaningful.

The biggest change is the display. Apple has slimmed the bezels by 42%, allowing for a much larger 2.12in screen without increasing the case size. It’s brighter, sharper and easier to read mid-workout, especially when you’re running, cycling or swimming. It’s now the largest display on any Apple Watch, including the Series 11.

Performance gets a boost from the new S10 chipset, which brings a dedicated neural engine for Apple Intelligence features and more personalised fitness coaching. GPS accuracy has also been improved, and Apple claims it’s now among the best you’ll find on any sports watch – a big deal if you rely on precise pace and route data.

Battery life stretches to up to 42 hours in normal use, or around 20 hours with GPS and heart rate tracking during long workouts like marathons. Low Power Mode can push that to 72 hours, and faster charging means a quick top-up goes a long way.

New additions include emergency satellite messaging for off-grid adventures and blood pressure trend monitoring, alongside existing staples like heart rate, SpO2, sleep tracking and deep multi-sport support. Available in Black or Natural Titanium, the Ultra 3 is pricey, but if you want the most advanced Apple Watch for sport, it earns its place.

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3. Suunto Race S Titanium

Suunto Race S Titanium specs
Display	1.32-inch, 466 x 466 pixel, AMOLED
OS	Suunto OS
GPS	All Systems Dual Frequency
Waterproof	5ATM
Battery life	9 days smartwatch, 30-120h GPS
Dimensions	45 x 45 x 11.4mm
Weight	53g

Essentially a smaller, thinner, lighter version of the Suunto Race, the Race S is another AMOLED-toting, mid-priced sports watch that’s built to help you master a multitude of fitness endeavours.

This titanium edition is pricier than the regular Suunto Race S. But it uses a more premium-feeling titanium bezel to save weight and boost the cred for a slicker, more comfortable design. And still represents excellent bang for buck.

The Race S offers 95 sport modes with a real focus on run, bike and swim. You can beef up the tracking detail of activities with a growing selection of sport-specific, add-on apps and pre-made structured workouts. Serious athletes can build their own sessions in the neat, tidy and generally easy-to-use partner app.

The Race S Titanium ticks the big boxes with accuracy boosting dual frequency GPS, a competitive 30-hour max accuracy GPS battery life that extends to an ultra endurance-friendly 120 hours.

There’s plenty here to manage your training and recovery smartly, too. With Training Zone smart planning and guidance, AI coaching, plus training load feedback, Heart Rate Variability insights, recovery time recommendations and sleep tracking.

Suunto ramped up the adventure tools, too with offline maps. Though these aren’t routable so they won’t steer you back if you wander too far off track. We loved the Climb Guidance, which steels you for the elevation you’ve not yet conquered on lumpy routes, a bit like Garmin’s ClimbPro.

Is it any good?

The Race S is a stake in the ground, a signal that Suunto is getting back to its best. It’s well built, looks good and offers a well-rounded training and adventure-ready package that’s a worthy rival for similarly-priced sports watches.

The vibrant 1000-nits AMOLED display isn’t as bright on paper as your fully-fledged smartwatches but it’s still easy to read and a marked step up from regular MIP screens.

The dual frequency GPS is nicely accurate, the optical heart rate is solid, though not perfect. It sometimes lags during intervals – but then so do most wrist-sensors. The interface isn’t always the most intuitive but the faster processor snaps between apps and screens at a happy lick.

The lack of offline music and limited smartwatch smarts might put some people off. But when you weigh up the bang you get for your mid-range bucks, the Race S Titanium screams value. Oh, and if you like what you see but want to save yourself a few quid, the Race S regular model offers the same tracking performance for a bit less.

3. Polar Vantage M3

Polar Vantage M3 specs
Display	1.28-inch, 416 x 416, AMOLED
OS	Polar
GPS	Dual Frequency GPS
Waterproof	5ATM
Battery life	7 days smartwatch, 30-70 hours GPS
Dimensions	44.7 x 44.7 x 12.2 mm
Weight	53g

The striking, colour, smartwatch-style, 1.28” display is the hero on the Polar Vantage M3. It brings a nicely responsive AMOLED touchscreen to Polar’s mid-priced M models for the first time. But there’s more to the M3 than a new pretty face.

You get accuracy-boosting Dual Frequency GPS, plus the latest Polar Elixr Biosensing Tech which combines Polar’s Gen 4 optical heart rate sensors with wrist ECG. Plus a skin temperature sensor and SPO2 blood oxygen sensor. That all makes this sensor-loaded training partner one of the best tools for beating burnout and overbaking your training.

The M3 offers 150 sport modes including multisport mode and some of the best recovery tools in the business. Nightly Recharge tracks how well you bounce back from workouts (and life) and we loved the daily recovery-linked FitSpark workout recommendations and unique features like Fuelwise fuelling support that breaks down what you need to eat and drink to survive endurance challenges. Fitness benchmarking is excellent here, too, with at-rest fitness tests and performance testing for running, cycling and walking.

With full colour offline maps and Komoot-compatible routing, it’s as happy heading off-grid as helping you hit your reps on the gym floor. Battery life is also competitive, with 30 hours in max accuracy GPS mode, stretching to 70 hours in eco mode.

Is it any good?

One of the best Polar watches to date, the M3 is a good looking watch in a relatively compact and stylish package. It’s light, compact and comfortable on the wrist and beats the more plastic COROS Pace Pro on looks. Though we’d love Polar to offer a nylon strap.

The optical heart rate isn’t perfect but the dual frequency GPS accuracy is solid and there’s enough training tools here to cater for most sports and fitness pursuits. The AMOLED is bright and punchy and easy to read in all conditions. The touchscreen is snappy and responsive and the raise-to-wake is quick enough to respond that you can eke extra staying power by switching off the Always On display.

There are gaps. The smartwatch tools are still way behind Garmin and nowhere near sport-capable dedicated smartwatches like the Apple Watch Ultra 2. You’re limited to notifications from a connected phone and music controls. There’s no offline music storage or Spotify/Deezer support like you’ll find on the COROS Pace Pro. There’s also no NFC payments or app store.

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5. COROS Pace Pro

COROS Pace Pro specs
Display	1.3-inch, 416 x 416 pixel, AMOLED
OS	COROS
GPS	All Systems Dual Frequency
Waterproof	5ATM
Battery life	20 days smartwatch, 12 – 38 hours GPS
Dimensions	46 x 46 x 12.25mm
Weight	37g

COROS’ USP is excellent battery life. And while the Pace Pro is the first GPS fitness watch in its line-up to pack a power-hungry bright AMOLED display, you won’t sacrifice staying power. Even with the souped-up screen, the Pace Pro lasts longer than the Pace 3 with its regular Memory-in-Pixel display. That’s impressive.

It’s built light with a plastic-feeling fibre-reinforced polymer bezel and casing that could be called cheap and the 1,500 nit display isn’t the brightest AMOLED. But it’s still a looker.

The Pace Pro packs a comprehensive suite of training, performance, recovery, and health-tracking tools. All backed by new hardware with the latest heart rate sensor, a new GPS chipset and antenna, and the same sensors as the pricier Vertix and Apex series, including ECG, barometric altimeter and spO2 blood oxygen sensor.

When it comes to training and fitness insights, all the usual suspects are covered training effect, training status, training load, recovery, fatigue, virtual pacer, race time predictor, VO2 max estimates, threshold zones, training plans, and interval training.

Health smarts include ECG – so you can take timed and intentional Heart Rate Variability reads. Plus, there’s continuous HRV, activity, stress, and sleep tracking.

Running, cycling, swimming are well catered for. Runners get indoor, trail, and track modes, along with running power from the wrist. Swimmers have indoor and outdoor modes. Plus there’s triathlon mode to cater for the swim–bike-runners.

Off-grid adventurers will also enjoy the punched up navigation skills that now include offline TOPO maps.

Is it any good?

More adventurous types might feel the lack of outdoor sport modes like climbing and watersports but for most, this watch offers pretty much everything you need to train, race and recover across a huge range of sports including triathlon.

The battery life is impressive for an AMOLED watch, GPS and heart rate on par with rivals and though it uses cheaper materials, that keeps it light and easy to wear 24-7.

The excellent 1,500 nit display is easy to read in all lights and breathes life into your stats and maps. The faster processing makes for snappy taps and swipes and the increasingly slick-looking partner app adds depth to your daily training and health data.

It’s missing some smartwatch tools that you find on Garmin, like contactless payments and offline support for music services like Spotify and Deezer. And if you can forego the killer display, the Pace 3 offers largely the same performance for a chunk less. But if you want AMOLED with staying power, this is the one. 

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6. Amazfit Active 2

Amazfit Active 2 specs
Display	1.3-inch, 466 x 466 pixel, AMOLED
OS	Zepp OS
GPS	All Systems
Waterproof	5ATM
Battery life	10 days smartwatch, 21 hours GPS
Dimensions	44 x 44 x 10mm
Weight	25.9 – 31.7g

The Active 2 is the latest affordable addition to Amazfit’s huge fitness tracker ranks. The latest-gen swaps an Apple-esque square face for a classic circular design with a subtle stainless steel body and bezel that avoids looking too cheap. The old school style might not be everyone’s cup of Gatorade but behind the simple 1.32-inch AMOLED touchscreen, there’s a well-rounded fitness-cum-smartwatch that crams in a lot for the money.

The mix of health, fitness and smartwatch features is really comprehensive. There’s all the usual sport tracking with 164 different sport modes, including strength training with auto-rep counting and a HYROX Race mode. While a clever-ish AI-powered Zepp Coach workout companion creates customised training plans.

Training and recovery insights are powered by a suite of sensors you don’t often find on a watch at this price. That includes an Sp02 sensor, body temp sensor, and altimeter to unlock everything from daily Readiness scores to heart rate variability, sleep and activity tracking.

There are some inevitable compromises. There’s All Systems GPS but no dual frequency to boost the accuracy. Outside of training, the smartwatch skills are pretty extensive. With call, SMS and app notifications, music controls, NFC payments and an AI voice assistant – though you need your phone to use it.

Is it any good?

The Amazfit Active 2 isn’t perfect. Some of the tools on the impressively long feature list lack the finesse you’ll find on pricier rivals. It risks trying to be a jack of all trades. But when you weigh up what you get for the price – happily wrapped up in a super light design – the Active 2 is a top-value pick.

The lively display punches out 2000 nits – impressive for a budget friendly watch. The battery life is competitive. The GPS and heart rate performance were good but not infallible. You wouldn’t usually find offline maps with turn-by-turn on watches under £100. Though we found it fiddly to generate and get routes onto the watch. The mapping usefulness is also limited by no pinch and zoom. We’re also not fans of the tuck-under sports strap that’s a skin pincher.

However, all round this is a great entry-level smart sports watch at a cracking price.

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7. Huawei Watch Fit Pro 4

Huawei Watch Fit Pro 4 specs
Display	1.82-inch, AMOLED
OS	Harmony OS 5
GPS	All Systems Dual Frequency
Waterproof	5ATM
Battery life	7-10 days smartwatch mode, GPS not listed
Dimensions	45 x 40 x 9.3mm
Weight	30.4g

The Watch Fit Pro 4 is a fully-fledged, fitness-focussed smartwatch that also punches well above its price tag, plays nice with iPhone and Android phones, and gives rival smartwatches a run for their money in the value stakes.

At 30g, the Fit Pro 4 is brilliantly light with a slimline profile and still packs a big, bright, 3000-nit AMOLED display, protected by more-robust sapphire glass, a happily minimal titanium alloy bezel and an aluminium alloy case.

The sleek, square-faced design bears an uncanny resemblance to the Apple Watch. As does the interface and some of the fitness features, including an unashamed remake of Apple’s popular Activity Rings.

When it comes to tracking and training, the roster of more than 100 different sport modes now includes seven different watersports, diving (up to 40m), golf and trail running, along with all your regulars and even laser tag.

The Fit Pro 4’s TruSense suite of biosensors provides detailed intel on everything from workout performance to sleep and general health, including resting heart rate, body temperature, SpO2 level and medical-grade ECG. It’ll even attempt to measure your arterial stiffness.

Outdoor enthusiasts get barometric elevation tracking and decent nav skills with offline contour maps, Komoot-compatible route tracking, off-course alerts, backtracking and checkpoint navigation. While indoor trainers will appreciate that you can broadcast your heart rate to supported fitness equipment.

But battery life is what really separates the Fit Pro 4 from other smartwatches. It’ll go up to 10 days on a single charge and needs just 60 mins to fully refuel.

Is it any good?

The design might not be quite as slick as the Apple Watch but the Fit Pro 4 is well built with a slick finish and streamlined styling. It ships with a comfy silicone strap (though you can swap), feels light on the wrist and offers good screen real estate.

The AMOLED screen is crisp, bright and looks great even under direct sunlight. The interface was also responsive, slick and snappy to shuffle between apps and screens.

The setup and partner app could be simpler and slicker. We weren’t huge fans of having to give permission to each individual app the first time we used them. There’s also limited support for third party apps compared to WearOS and iOS smartwatches. Though more than you’ll get from Garmin, Suunto and Co.

But we loved the guided fitness animations that show you how to perform warm up stretches across seven different workouts including running. And the AI running plans for distances up to the marathon.

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If you’re looking for the best workout headphones, we’ve got a selection for you to check out, too.

How to choose the best running watch for you

The best sports watches get the basics right with accurate heart rate, fast satellite link-up, reliable GPS for logging speed, pace and distance, plus good battery life.

There’s a big shift to brighter AMOLED screens that look snazzy but can drain juice faster than old-school Memory-in-Pixel. So pay attention to staying power. A watch that spends less time on the charger – and more time on your wrist – unlocks more meaningful insights.

Size matters. Fitness trackers range from light and compact to hefty and hench. If you’re smashing up rocky mountains, a rugged watch with more durable materials, like toughened glass and titanium casings, gives you extra insurance. But they’re often not as comfy when it’s time to kip.

The best watches now track a huge array of training, fitness and health metrics, serving up a broad sweep of feedback. That ranges from post-run training effect, the build-up of fatigue and recovery time recommendations, to Heart Rate Variability, blood oxygen levels, daily stress, sleep and even ECG.  

If navigation is a priority, route planning with breadcrumb navigation is a given. But more capable watches offer turn-by-turn navigation, offline topographical maps and clever features like back-to-start, elevation profile and waypoint marking.

Fitness watch smartwatch skills are improving, but they still don’t match dedicated smartwatches for life-taming tools. Most trackers now let you read notifications, text and call alerts. Top watches offer NFC payments, messaging and voice activation.

If music is important – particularly phone-free soundtracking – look for a watch that offers offline music storage and plays nicely with streaming services like Spotify and Deezer.

When they’re done well, the partner apps and web training tools really boost the capability of the tech on your wrist. Polar Flow differs greatly from Garmin Connect or the COROS and Suunto apps. It’s smart to download them first (they’re free) and play with them before you invest.

GPS sports watches can log where you jog and track where you cycle. The accuracy and detail will normally depend on which of the standard satellite systems a watch supports; the best options will play nicely with several. Not sure which path to take? A number of the best sports watches also support offline maps and wrist-based navigation.

Most sports watches are built tough to some degree. That usually means waterproofing to at least 50m, plus a case sturdy enough to survive everyday bumps. If you’re a fan of particularly rugged pursuits, it’s worth choosing something more durable. The hardiest wristwear keeps ticking at 100m below the waves.

Heart-rate monitors feature on the majority of sports watches. But the measurement of other metrics depends on the model in question. The best tickers can track your blood oxygen levels, keep an eye on your heart rate variability and even take echocardiograms, to confirm your blood pump’s tickety-boo.

If you’re after a more generic smartwatch, check out our guides to the best smartwatches and best smart rings as well.