Coros unleashes new features in update

By Henry Howard

I recently bought my second Coros watch, the Apex Pro. It offered enough improvements from the original Apex to justify a new purchase. And my timing appears to be perfect as Coros just issued a significant firmware update.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to test several major watch brands for an independent website. The incredible battery life, simplicity of use and ease of syncing were among the features that endeared Coros to me. And they are regularly upgrading their products with users’ needs in mind, as CEO Lewis Wu told me in an interview earlier this year.

The updates for the Apex Pro and Vertix were made available to the public on Nov. 22. I was able to test out some of them beforehand and like what I see.

According to Coros, the updates include:

• Topo and landscape map functionality.

• Walk mode.

• Galileo support.

• ANT+ power meters calibration.

• Insta360 ONE X2, ONE R, camera control.

• Light key shortcut.

• New language: Italian.

• Workouts in multisport mode increasing from three to five.

• Allow distance option in the Workouts rest lap.

• Komoot route sync.

Here are some details on some of the more interesting new or improved features:

• Walk mode: The new activity helps the user count steps during a walk, rather than mileage. It defaults to one lap at 1,000 steps. The reason steps is the preferred data field is because GPS technology does not work well with walking activities especially in the urban environment.

Walk mode can be used in both indoor and outdoor environments. In indoor conditions, the watch can estimate distance based on cadence and stride data.

To use walk mode, select the digital dial to open the activity list and select "Walk." From here you will have the option to specify whether your walk will be indoor or outdoor, and if you want to set specific activity alerts for your walk such as: pace, heart rate, cadence or steps.

• Using a GoPro: The new firmware for the watch appears to work well with a GoPro camera, taking stills or videos. DC Rainmaker offers a good overview in this short video.

• Follow the map: There is additional functionality with topo and landscape maps. Load your map, roll the dial to zoom in and out, and use your finger to drag the map.

• Galileo support: This update enables your watch to communicate with the Galileo satellite system in addition to the GPS/QZSS, GLONASS and Beidou networks already supported. Do note that using Galileo may have a small negative impact on battery life.

• AnT+ power meter calibration: Beyond completing an indoor rowing workout with your watch, now you can auto-calibrate connected power meters via ANT+.