Garmin has been the dominant manufacturer of the best sports watches for several years, and this is particularly true when it comes to the most expensive devices on the market.
With feature-packed watches like the Garmin Fenix 7, Garmin Epix Pro and Garmin Enduro 2 in its range, it’s hard for other brands to challenge at the highest price point.
The Coros Vertix 2S is one of the top alternatives to the Garmin Fenix and Enduro 2 watches, offering excellent sports tracking plus extras like maps and music storage in a very durable design.
The key feature Coros offers, however, is battery life, with all of the watches in its range lasting a long time on a charge, and the top-of-the-line Vertix is the most long-lasting of all.
This is despite the fact the new Coros Vertix 2S actually offers slightly less battery life than its predecessor the Coros Vertix 2. That's because of the new, improved heart rate sensor on the Vertix 2S, which is more power intensive.
I was keen to see if the Coros Vertix 2S could outlast the Garmin Enduro 2, which offers the longest battery life in Garmin’s range (aside from maybe the Instinct 2X Solar, which can last indefinitely in sunny conditions), so I charged both watches to 100% and wore them 24/7, tracking all of my training as well as daily activity and sleep.
How I tested the battery life
My testing involved heavy use of both watches at the same time, with notifications turned on for both, along with 24/7 heart rate tracking (this is not turned on by default with the Coros, so I had to turn it on in the settings).
I ran every day but one during my testing, averaging around an hour for each run, along with doing other workouts like indoor strength and yoga sessions. For all outdoor activities I used the most accurate, and power-intensive, multi-band GPS tracking mode.
What is the listed battery life of the watches?
Before diving into my real-world results, here are the listed battery stats from Garmin and Coros. The Garmin Enduro 2 has solar panels that run around the outside of the watch which can increase its battery life dramatically if you spend enough time outdoors in sunny conditions.
On paper the watches look a close match and the Enduro 2 seems to excel in the multi-band GPS mode in particular.
However, I’m not entirely sure where the 68-hour stat comes from — when I charged the watch to 100% the battery estimate on the watch itself when I started a run in multi-band mode was 45 hours, which is more in line with my experience in cloudy conditions.
Coros Vertix 2 vs Garmin Enduro: battery life test
After 17 days of my test only one watch was left standing, and that was the Coros Vertix 2S, which actually still had 32% of its battery life remaining when I had to charge the Garmin Enduro 2.
In total, the Coros Vertix 2S lasted me 22 days before it needed charging, during which time I did 24 hours of activity, 20 of which was outdoors using the multi-band GPS setting. I reached 17 hours of GPS tracking with the Garmin Enduro 2, and 19 hours of activity in total.
I also noted how much battery each watch burned during one 90-minute run in multi-band mode, and once again the Coros came out on top, dropping 3% compared with 4% for the Garmin Enduro 2.
The main reason the Coros Vertix 2S lasted longer was how little battery it used in between activities. The screen is a little duller than the one on the Garmin Enduro 2, which helps, and the Coros offers a little less in terms of daily activity tracking.
The Enduro 2 has Garmin’s training readiness stat and more detailed sleep tracking, which might be using more power. It’s also worth noting that I did not use the watches in very sunny conditions, testing them in spring in the UK.
To make the most of the Garmin Enduro 2’s solar panels you need to be outside for several hours a day in the sun, with the watch face directed to the sun. If you’re a big hiker, for example, then you can expect the Enduro 2 to last a lot longer than it did for me.
Verdict
If it’s battery life you value most of all, the Coros Vertix 2S wins the day. It’s also cheaper than the Garmin Enduro 2, and uses the same high-quality materials with a titanium bezel and back, and a sapphire crystal screen.
The Garmin Enduro 2 can fight back on battery life if you’re in sunny conditions, and does offer many more features than the Coros, with extras including a built-in flashlight, better maps and navigation tools, contactless payments, and the ability to link with streaming services like Spotify to transfer music to the watch.
