Ahead of the Apple Watch Pro launch, four ‘alternate’ smartwatches designed for athletes and hikers
Apple is gearing up for a mega product launch event on September 7, but one device that many insiders and trade pundits believe could be the star of the show will be a high-end Apple Watch aimed at athletes and fitness enthusiasts. The Apple Watch is already loaded with health and fitness features, but a new ‘Pro-branded’ model would feature extra durability, sturdier design and longer battery life. No wonder Apple might want to charge more for the Apple Watch Pro, which will compete head-to-head with ‘speciality’ smartwatches from Garmin, Suunto and Polar.
With the new Apple Watch Pro coming as soon as this week, we take a look at four such smartwatches that are designed for adventurers and runners.
Garmin Enduro 2
Price: From $1,099
Garmin makes some of the best wearables for professional athletes and mountaineers — even if its smartwatches are priced on a premium side. The Enduro 2, which starts at $1000, is expensive for a connected watch but when you add that the case and bezels are made of tough titanium and a battery that lasts 34 days (46 days with solar) on a smartwatch mode, you know it’s worth that price. It has all the features you expect from a Garmin smartwatch that will appeal to performance runners and hikers, besides a 1.4-inch touchscreen display that supports solar charging, multi-GNSS tracking and a SatIQ mode that automatically switches between GPS modes, TOPO mapping, and NextFork, which is a feature that counts down the dance to forks in the trail to help stop you going wrong.
Polar Grit X Pro
Price: From €499
The Finnish brand Polar is another big name in high-end smartwatches aimed at hikers and runners. The Grit X Pro is an outdoor adventure watch that offers detailed activity metrics, performance tests, sleep tracking with a focus on recovery, and turn–turn navigation. It also adds a sapphire glass lens for extra durability and two new dashboards for the always-on display. Being an Outdoors watches, it gets 40 hours of full GPS tracking that can be extended to 100 hours using power-saving mode. If you are a multi-sport athlete, an ultra-runner or an outdoor adventurer, the Polar Grit X Pro is the smartwatch you want to buy.
Suunto 9 Baro Black
Price: From €499
Suunto watches may not sit at the top of the outdoor adventure smartwatch segment, but they do have a sizable fan following. The Suunto 9 Baro Black is a multisport GPS watch with a waterproof design of up to 100 metres and has a military standard tested design. It can track over 80 sports modes and the battery life is anywhere between 25 to 170 hours. The watch supports five key satellite systems and has an optical heart rate monitor. The company also includes its new FusedAlti technology that combines GPS and barometric data to improve the accuracy of altitude data.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro
Price: From $450
Samsung is a new player in the outdoor smartwatch category, and its Galaxy Watch 5 Pro is its first attempt at cracking the market. The Watch 5 Pro uses the Sapphire Crystal Display and its durable titanium casing offers more durability. The Watch 5 Pro comes with a D-buckle sport band that’s more durable than the silicone band on the Watch 5. The watch is larger and therefore has a battery that lasts roughly two full days. The Pro also adds GPX, meaning you can easily download hiking and cycling routes to the watch. It also touts more advanced GPS tracking. More than a true outdoor smartwatch, the Watch 5 Pro appears to be rather a “mainstream version” of what Garmin offers with its watches but Samsung’s version is more affordable. Still, it’s a good pick for people who do lots of biking or hiking.
