Fitness watches, by definition, turn you into a statistic. Heart rate, altitude, VO2 max, step count – all very helpful when you're in the throes of ultramarathon training, but none of it really captures the joy of standing at the top of a mountain with a soggy sandwich and decent view. The new COROS NOMAD, however, is trying to do things differently. Yes, it has the ruggedness and navigation tech you’d expect from an alternative from the likes of Garmin, but it also wants to play scrapbook too.
Alongside dual-frequency GPS, weather alerts, and a display bright enough to be seen in the cruel midday sun, NOMAD introduces something called Adventure Journaling. This allows you to log voice notes, tag locations, and even attach photos or videos directly to an activity. In practice, that means you can record the moment you found yourself hopelessly lost in Snowdonia, or document your mate’s insistence that the “shortcut” is definitely, absolutely a real path. Later, you can scroll through your COROS app and relive the memories – both heroic and humiliating – with more detail than a line on a map.
It’s also a serious bit of kit. The dual-layer aluminium and polymer bezel is designed to take a beating, the new high-contrast Memory-In-Pixel display is readable in bright light and low light alike, and it’ll handle 50 metres of water if your adventure takes you into, say, a Scottish loch. Battery life is generous too: up to 50 hours in full GPS mode and 22 days of normal use, which is about 21 days longer than most of us can go without charging a phone.
COROS NOMAD: Fisherman's Friend
There are some neat specialist touches too. Anglers get eight dedicated fishing modes, complete with catch-logging, environmental data, and moon/tide phases for when you want to sound like you know what you’re doing. Hikers, climbers, and weekend wanderers get detailed global maps with street names, waypoints, and save functions. Everyone gets the option of Green, Brown, or Dark Grey – all of which will still look the part back in the city, even if your biggest adventure that week is the walk to Pret.
At £319, it’s not cheap, but it’s not wildly expensive either. And given COROS’ reputation for making tough, athlete-approved watches, NOMAD feels like a wearable for anyone who wants technology that documents the outdoors rather than just measures it. Think of it as the difference between a photo album and a spreadsheet – sometimes it’s the story, not the stats, that stick with you.
Next up: How to chose the best Garmin watch for you.
