Best running watches 2025: Our top picks for every runner
We have tested some of the best running watches on the market — whether you are looking for something on a budget or a premium GPS smartwatch, we have a fitness tracker for you.

Investing in one of the best running watches can make a huge difference to your workout routine and exercise performance. These clever wearables can offer you tons of data and in-depth insights into your running routine, making them a perfect companion when you are out for your daily run. Whether it is the pricey Garmin Enduro 2 or the iconic all-rounder Apple Watch Series 8, they have everything you may need to hit your PBs. There is only one problem. Exactly which running watch should you choose?
Rest assured, you are not alone. Picking the best running watch is not an easy feat, and even some of the most experienced runners can get confused by the sheer multitude of models available on the market. It can take plenty of time and effort to find a running watch that ticks all your boxes. But do not worry, we have done the heavy lifting for you. Our expert fitness reviewers have tried and tested some of the best fitness trackers for runners to help you make the right decision. We have looked at their design, battery life, tracking accuracy and ease of use as well as smart features, connectivity and price. You can read more about our testing protocol in the How we test section down below.
New to running and unsure what to look for? Scroll down to the Running Watches FAQs section for more useful information and buying advice. Looking for something more affordable? Our guide to the best budget fitness trackers might help you out.
The quick list
Best overall
The premium Fenix 8, with its pin-sharp OLED screen, superb battery life and wealth of features, is the jewel in the Garmin crown. A real treat for every runner — but pricey.
Best under $600
This beautifully designed wearable delivers excellent tracking performance at a reasonable price, making it one of the best mid-range running watches.
Best on a budget
The Coros Pace 2 is sleek, lightweight and packed with features, all without compromising on battery life or tracking accuracy — and it costs only $199.
Best for beginners
Looking for a quality entry-level watch that does not cost the earth? The thoughtfully designed and feature-packed Forerunner 265 is your best shot.
Best all-rounder
With its superb tracking performance and countless apps, the flagship Apple smartwatch has everything you may need for your life outside of the running track.
Best for ultra-marathons
With exceptional battery life, durable build and top-notch performance, this sleek running watch is a great option for ultra-long distance runners.
The best running watches we recommend in 2025: Fully tested by our in-house running experts
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The best running watch overall
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want deep dive health and fitness stats: The Fenix 8 is a true rival to the wealth of stats offered by the Apple Watch Ultra
✅ You spend time in the water: It has 10ATM water resistance and is also dive-proof up to 40 metres
✅ You want a true smart watch: As well as fitness features, you can take calls, send messages and use its digital assistant
❌ Your budget is tight: This watch comes at a super premium price
❌ You aren't planning to use all its features: If you don't swim or dive and don't use all the stats, there are cheaper options available in the Garmin line up.
🔎 Garmin Fenix 8: If you want a deep dive into your fitness analytics, and are partial to a dive in the ocean too, then the new Garmin has it all. With new swim features, smart watch capabilities and superior tracking metrics, it's a superb watch — but it does come with a hefty price tag.
A new watch in the premium Garmin Fenix line-up is always noteworthy, and the new Fenix 8 is no exception. On the face of it, it doesn't look too dissimilar from its predecessor, the Fenix 7. However, there are quite a few upgrades and changes, including a pin-sharp OLED screen and a big upgrade in terms of its functionality under water. Whether or not these upgrades are worth the significantly increased price tag may be a question for your budget. What is not in question, however, is that this is a truly impressive top-end smartwatch for runners.
While OLED screens used to mean shorter battery life, the Fenix 8 can boast an impressive 16 days between charges, though as with all watches, this drops quicker the more you use GPS.
The Fenix 8 has Garmin's latest six LED optical heart rate sensor, which our reviewer found excellent when tracking running and cycling as well as for monitoring resting heart rate. For those who love to spend time in the ocean, the Fenix 8 now is not only waterproof to 10ATM but also dive-proof to 40m.
Our Garmin Fenix 8 reviewer was impressed by the stability of heart rate monitoring overall, though it did sometimes struggle with very short intervals during gym work. The dual-band GPS also sometimes took a little longer than expected to locate, however our reviewer also noted that this may be a software issue which will be fixed with an update.
The Garmin maps available on the watch (which remain free to download) are a hugely impressive feature for those who love outdoor adventures.
New 'true' smartwatch features include a speaker and a microphone to take calls, a digital assistant to whom you can delegate basic tasks, including starting timers.
The only real drawback of the Garmin Fenix 8 is the steep price. Those looking for premium product at a slightly less eye watering price should check out the still-brilliant Garmin Fenix 7 which may now be available with discounts, while runners will likely find that the excellent Forerunner 965 has all the features they need.
- Read our full Garmin Fenix 8 review
Best running watch under $600
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want advanced workout tracking features: Great for data-driven runners and semi-professional athletes.
✅ You run outdoors: It comes with on-watch maps and reliable GPS navigation.
❌ You are on a budget: It can cost as much as $700.
❌ You run in extreme outdoor conditions: It is not as durable as some of the more premium Garmin watches.
🔎 Garmin Forerunner 965: Packed with features, advanced tracking which is both accurate and reliable and with a classic Garmin Forerunner design, this is the perfect Garmin for serious runners. It's not the cheapest, however, and for the price you might expect less plastic and more metal.
If the Garmin Fenix 8 is (understandably) a little too pricey, the Forerunner 965 is an excellent alternative. You lose the metal back (the Forerunner 965 is mostly plastic), some water resistance and other features, but it is still a great running watch and arguably even better for newer runners.
The Garmin Forerunner 965 combines our favorite bits of traditional best Garmin watches, with the gloss of more smartwatch-style tech. It is a good combo. Our take on the design is that, despite the shift to a fancy bezel, this is pretty much classic Forerunner watch design. It is less rugged-feeling than either the Epix 2 or Fenix 7, with less of a built-up screen surround.
It also lacks a couple of the most shiny, smartwatch-like bits of the Garmin Venu 2 Plus. There is no support for Alexa here, or a built-in speaker beyond a little beeper. We do not miss either, although some might like the idea of a Garmin announcing their performance at each kilometer of a run, through a built-in speaker, as some Huawei and Amazfit watches do.
Still, it is well worth the investment — and we can vouch for it. During our Garmin Forerunner 965 review, we were impressed with the accuracy of its measurements and the sheer range of its available features.
- Read our full Garmin Forerunner 965 review
Runner-up
Best under $600: Runner-up
There is a lot to like about Suunto Race, from excellent health tracking features and accurate GPS to long battery life, and it is cheaper than the Forerunner 965 by around $150. However, it also has a big, chunky design and underwhelming display.
For
- - Long battery life
- - Detailed maps
- - Accurate health tracking
Against
- - Chunky design
- - Not intuitive to use
- - Underwhelming display
Best budget running watch
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You are a beginner: No extensive stats or confusing features.
✅ You want good battery life: It can last up to 20 days on a single charge.
❌ You want a touchscreen: It is controlled with buttons.
❌ You want advanced features: Not as versatile as Garmin watches.
🔎 Coros Pace 2: With accuracy, a simple lightweight design and a superior battery life, the Coros Pace 2 is an excellent running watch for those on a budget, whether you are a beginner or are an experienced runner. It may lack the deep dive analytics of top end Garmins, but you get more than your money's worth.
The Coros Pace 2 is a great running watch that focuses on a core set of features that will not trouble the most expensive players, but certainly offers plenty to consider.
For one, it is relatively affordable — it costs around $199. Secondly, the Coros Pace 2 offers 20 days of battery life, blowing the Apple Watch right out of the water. It still has a built-in GPS, which lasts up to 30 hours (making it suitable for marathon or ultra marathon runners) and it is lightweight too, with a comfortable nylon strap.
During our Coros Pace 2 review, we tested it alongside the Apple Watch Ultra we use daily, and found its heart rate and fitness data (including the likes of step count and calories burned) to be in line. That is impressive given it costs around a quarter of the price of Apple's premium watch.
Sadly, you can’t play audio directly from the device and information from the Coros app does not sync with health apps on Apple or Google. Still, it is a good-looking device, that's a great budget option for beginners.
- Read our full Coros Pace 2 review
Best running watch for beginners
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want a multisport watch: It tracks more than 100 activities.
✅ You are looking for a reliable mid-range running watch: It offers great performance at a reasonable price.
❌ You run in challenging outdoor conditions: It may not be as durable as some of the more premium Garmin watches.
❌ You want downloadable maps: It will not store the data.
🔎 Garmin Forerunner 265: With a lovely OLED screen, tracking in over 100 activities and excellent (and accurate) tracking metrics, the Forerunner 265 is the perfect mid-range running watch. However it is rather more plasticky in feel than the top of the range Garmins.
The Forerunner 265 is a Forerunner 255 with OLED. It is a Garmin Epix alternative that puts much less of a dent in your savings. Or it is a Garmin Venu 2 that trades in a little design gloss for some more advanced fitness features. We think it is a killer combo. If you are looking for your first-ever running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 265 has all the high-end features you may need without the unnecessary frills that inflate the price.
The model we tested in our Garmin Forerunner 265 was the smaller Forerunner 265S, but there were none of the usual battery life compromises common to smaller watches here — official figures suggest it actually lasts slightly longer than the larger Forerunner 265, making it one of the best fitness trackers on the market.
The screen is the main event here. It is a 1.1-inch 360 x 360 pixel OLED, or a 1.3-inch 416 x 416 pixel one in the Forerunner 265. While it does not fill out the front of the watch like the Apple Watch Series 8’s display, this little screen has everything we are looking for.
It is very sharp, super-colorful, and easily bright enough to work for outdoor exercise sessions on sunny days. This screen’s job is to make an argument for itself over the Forerunner 255’s transflective screen, and it is pretty persuasive, particularly when it is a touch display too. The Forerunner 255’s is not.
- Read our full Garmin Forerunner 265 review
Best all-rounder running watch
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want comprehensive health tracking features: It tracks a range of stats, including your menstrual cycle.
✅ You need a great all-rounder: It comes with plenty of apps and handy features.
❌ You want good battery life: This watch lasts around one day on a single charge.
❌ You do not have an iPhone: It is not compatible with Android devices.
🔎 Apple Watch Series 8: Apple lovers will certainly love the huge array of metrics and apps that only Apple can deliver. The Apple Watch also has reliable GPS and heart rate tracking, in addition to a whole new series of metrics like menstrual cycle tracking. But it does come with a steep price tag, and the battery life isn't the best.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is not only a great all-rounder for iPhone users, but also a reliable running watch — as long as you do not plan to run multi-day ultra marathons.
The Apple Watch Series 8 is not a huge upgrade on the Series 7, with temperature sensors to help with fertility tracking and crash detection functionality the only truly new features. Still, that is not necessarily a bad thing since the product line is far beyond the capabilities of its competitors.
With its own version of the App Store with hundreds of Apple Watch apps, and the option to use third-party running options like Strava, it is also got a large, bright display and an endless variety of strap options. During our Apple Watch Series 8 review, we were also impressed by its reliable GPS and accurate heart rate monitoring — and these two features can make or break a running watch.
However, the biggest issue is its battery life. While Apple has added a new low-power mode, you will tend to get between two and three days if you are not using it often or switch the “always-on” display off. That is some way short of the competitors on this list.
- Read our full Apple Watch Series 8 review