The Best GPS Watch 2022

The Best GPS Watch

Lightweight and comfortable, the Venu 2S stands out for its many features that make it as suitable for sport as it is for health or everyday life. Highly compatible, versatile and motivating, she acts like a real sports coach while ensuring your safety. Aside from its lackluster autonomy, we particularly appreciated its good screen quality and good overall performance, like its reliable GPS and precise heart rate. In addition, it can store music.

We wore each watch for several days to assess comfort and design.

We also checked the tightness by immersing them in a glass of water.

By browsing the menus of each watch and each application, we were able to see the possibilities of settings and pairing.

After that, we dwelled on the features.

During our running sessions, we were able to determine the capture and accuracy of the GPS signal despite the potential obstacles.

We finished our tests with the autonomy analysis.

During our tests, we were satisfied with its quality / price ratio. Its strengths undeniably lie in its excellent screen quality, its number of sports modes and the features offered, its great autonomy and its ease of use (both on the watch and in the application). In addition, it has a very practical magnetic charger. Even if it is quite bulky and sometimes imprecise (especially in terms of heart rate), it is perfect for an amateur athlete who touches all sports.

This watch is perfect for hiking, cycling and general outdoor activities. It really takes the form of a sports coach. Its comfort is superior to the other models in its range and its autonomy is convincing. It includes a bright screen with a pleasant interface, and several reliable connection options. In addition, it is waterproof. Beyond its basic modes, it calculates your oxygen consumption and altitude, makes payments and plays music.

Ultra-durable, light and comfortable to wear, it offers cool training plans with additional sensors for a complete activity report. Whether in terms of design or functionality, it is a typically sporty watch and very reliable in its measurements. In our eyes, this is undeniably a go-to model for running and triathlon enthusiasts, but following our test, we found it to be more limited in some health and connected features, and it lacks a bit of power. ergonomics. In addition, it does not have SOS functions and does not support routes.

our selection

Our Pick, Best Mid-Range	Best cheap	Best high end	Mid-range alternative
Garmin Venu 2S	Xiaomi Mi Watch	Garmin Forerunner 945	Choirs Pace 2
It is a complete and versatile watch that convinces as much for health as for sport or everyday life. Its sensors are precise, its ergonomics are neat and its design is as comfortable as it is elegant.	Its display quality and record endurance are its main selling points. Beside that, it offers 117 types of training and its operation is mainly focused on simplicity.	Intended for high level athletes, it is a real physical trainer. Equipped with good battery life, a quality screen and a reliable connection, it also incorporates more advanced features.	This watch is pleasant to wear (thanks to its lightness), fairly enduring and displays good precision in terms of its sensors: these are three essential elements for a regular athlete.
CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE

Honorable mentions

Huawei Watch GT2 ( see the test ) (119 € at the time of publication): Beautiful design but limited autonomy. Largely accentuated on sport, this GPS watch seduces both by its functionality and its elegant appearance. Among its main advantages, our tests highlighted its beautiful screen quality, its numerous graphics and data directly available on the wrist, the precision of its routes, its mp3 player and its compatibility with headphones. We recommend it to a jack-of-all-trades athlete who is not afraid to perform recurring recharges.

Garmin Instinct ( see the test ) (235.44 € at the time of publication): Ideal for mountain activities but very bulky. With its very solid design and advanced functions, this watch is definitely the ally of demanding athletes, hikers and fans of adventurous or altitude sports. It even withstands extreme conditions. It is certainly not the most comfortable, the most ergonomic and the most enduring with GPS, but it ensures your safety, while offering a large number of possibilities for route tracking in particular, which is why its quality / price ratio is also good.

Garmin Forerunner 245 ( see the test ) (245.98 € at the time of publication): Designed for running, but not for trail or triathlon. With a beautiful ergonomic design, it is not only easy to use but fairly well packed in features. It is above all a real companion for regular runners because it accompanies them with convincing precision (like reliable GPS) and takes care of their recovery. In addition, it acts as a sports coach and has security features. Despite everything, the lack of an altimeter and a multisport profile makes it unsuitable for trail runners or triathletes.

How did we test?

To begin with, we wore each watch for several days to assess them on the basis of actual daily use. Thanks to this, we have already been able to judge the comfort and design under several conditions (night, sports sessions, at work, etc.).

We thus checked the tightness by immersing them in a glass of water, as well as the flexibility, the attachment system, the size and the lightness on the scale. The screen quality was examined in direct sunlight and in a dark room in order to estimate visibility under various lighting.

By browsing the menus of each watch and each application, we were able to see the possibilities of settings and pairing, and also better understand the ease of use . In the same way, we observed the reactivity of the interface as well as the range of the connection by moving as far as possible from the smartphone.

After that, we dwelled on the features . To begin with, we wore the watch for two consecutive nights to oversee the sleep assessment. If it was appropriate, we also tested the nap mode.

Of course, we played the game for each function (stress monitoring, breathing exercise, SPO2…) and compared with our general physical state to distinguish the proper functioning of each mode. For the step count, we ourselves counted at the same time as the watch.

Regarding sports functions , we practiced certain disciplines such as free exercises by doing sports sessions such as Hiit or even running, the stationary bike and the elliptical trainer.

During our running sessions, we passed through places filled with trees and wooded areas to determine the capture and accuracy of the GPS signal despite the potential obstacles.

To verify the calculation of heart rate and calories, we compared the results with other well-known and reliable smartwatches or with heart rate sensors from fitness equipment.

To further analyze the autonomy and resistance of the battery, we have made sure to alternate periods of inactivity and more active moments with the use of the GPS sensor, the variation of brightness and the activation or the deactivation of continuous measurements for example.

Finally, for the sake of objectivity, several people of all kinds and shapes have worn each model.

How to choose your GPS watch?

More complete than the connected bracelet and more specific than the classic smartwatch , the GPS watch is the essential tool for athletes. However, there are a plethora of models at different price points that offer unique features for each athlete. They can still be suitable also for those who do not have the soul of an athlete.

Thus, to help you in your future purchase, we have established a list of criteria on which you must be attentive:

• The accuracy of the GPS : this is the essential criterion of the watch. The quality of the tracker depends on its response time but also on its geolocation system. Some models benefit from a multisatellite which offers more effective position marks, because there are three of them.
• Autonomy : most GPS watches are powered by lithium-ion batteries. They therefore carry enough power to last between 10 and 12 hours before being recharged. Certain factors such as the backlight of the screen or the activation of the GPS greatly affect battery life. With the GPS activated, the battery can weaken between 5 and 12 times faster.
• Resistance : for this, you must identify the use for which the watch is intended. If you practice a sport, you must check its certification index because it determines its waterproofness. Thus, for swimmers, it is advisable to opt for immersion in water up to 50 meters, 100 meters minimum for diving (with warnings provided by vibrations) while for a jogger, resistance to rain and bad weather is enough.
• Data Synchronization : Most GPS watches can download your training data to your computer, either via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or ANT +. Some even offer automatic synchronization. The software on which your data is stored differs depending on the brand. In general, each manufacturer has its own application which has its own functionalities and which can tolerate personal key settings.
• Memory : all GPS watches are equipped with a memory that records your personal results (heart rate, duration of the effort, distance covered, calories burned, etc.). If internal memory allows recording at more regular intervals, the data takes up more space and you need more storage capacity.
• The functionalities : there is a heart rate monitor that measures your heart rate during an activity. A Pulse OS sensor meanwhile, calculates your blood oxygen level and is useful for high altitude trails. Finally, most models send you notifications, let you listen to music or make payments, act as a compass, and more. These are options that should not be overlooked and the use of which depends on your objectives.
• Comfort : this criterion is linked to weight, volume and the strap of the watch. The lighter it is, the more bearable it is on the wrist. To cause no discomfort, the dial should not exceed the size of your wrist. Finally, the bracelet is supposed to benefit from a certain flexibility, particularly for sports. For this, plastic and silicone seem to be the most suitable. Likewise, a touch screen has the advantage of making navigation more fluid.
• Aesthetics : for this element, you must pay attention to the quality of the screen (OLED is often the best). For smaller wrists, we appreciate the finesse and the pretty finishes. For thicker wrists, it’s the other way around. But what matters most is that you like the model in terms of color and layout. That said, this remains a subjective characteristic and specific to each.

NB: if in your eyes the GPS function takes precedence over the rest, our selection of the best hiking GPS may also be of interest to you.

Sources

1. Digital, Which connected watch to choose? September 2021 , September 2, 2021
2. T3, Best running watch 2021: the best GPS multisport watches for running and workouts, 2 septembre 2021
3. Tech radar, The best running watch 2021: GPS watches to track your workouts, 2 septembre 2021
4. Tom’s guide, Best sports watches in 2021, 2 septembre 2021
5. Wirecutter, The Best GPS Running Watches, 2 septembre 2021