COROS Nomad Watch Review
An off-the-grid adventure watch with mapping, navigation, and exceptional battery life
August 19th, 2025
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Our Verdict
The COROS Nomad is designed for off-grid adventures, including hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and angling. The Nomad has a comprehensive suite of activity profiles, performance metrics, and training programs to track your progress and provide motivation. The watch’s exceptional battery life makes the Nomad an excellent option for endurance athletes, such as thru-hikers and ultramarathon runners.
With the Nomad watch, COROS is leaning into the idea of adventure journaling to make it easy to document an activity beyond the basic metrics, such as time and distance, to capture sounds, visuals, and emotions of an activity. The adventure journaling feature makes it easier to share with friends, family, and social media.
The Nomad also has excellent mapping and route creation tools. You can create routes within the COROS app or upload routes created from third-party apps such as Strava, Ride With GPS, or Gaia. The Nomad provides turn-by-turn directions along the route. The Nomad features an upgraded processor, enabling maps with street names and points of interest, while significantly reducing lag time when zooming in on or panning across maps.
I have had the opportunity to use the COROS Nomad for several weeks on hikes, walks, rides, and as my daily activity tracker. I have been impressed with the Nomad’s suite of features, customizability, and the ease of use of the COROS app. I think it is an excellent ultra-endurance watch and an exceptional value.
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Specs
Display: Memory in Pixel (always on)
Display size: 1.3”
Touchscreen: Yes
Weight: 61g
Solar charging: No
Battery life: 50 hours (all satellite systems) / 22 days (daily use)
GPS: Yes
Altimeter: Yes
Compass: Yes
Barometer: Yes
Navigation: Yes
Mapping: Yes
Water resistance: 5 ATM
Charging cable: COROS proprietary adapter with a USB-C cable
Smartphone compatibility: iPhone and Android
Warranty: 2 years
What We Liked
Adventure journaling. The Nomad makes it very easy to add waypoints (e.g., water sources, camping sites, turns), voice notes, photos, and videos to an activity. In the app, the notes and photos are shown on your route at the precise location where you took the note or photo. You can easily share your activity – even if they don’t have the COROS app. There is also an option to view a 3D flyover of your route.
I look forward to using this “adventure journaling” feature on my next thru-hike or bikepacking trip.
Battery life. COROS watches are renowned for their excellent battery life, and the Nomad is no exception. The watch can navigate a multi-day backpacking trip without needing to be charged.
COROS app. The COROS app makes it easy to customize watch faces, data fields, button functionality, and alerts.
Charging system. COROS utilizes a proprietary A2 adapter that connects to a USB-C cable (not included, but COROS will provide a complimentary USB-C cable upon request). COROS has designed the A2 adapter to provide a crisper, more secure fit with the watch. This addresses the issue of poor charging connections I’ve had with COROS and Garmin watches.
What Could Be Better
Music. COROS watches, including the Nomad, feature music storage and playback; however, they do not support streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. MP3 files must be uploaded to the phone. This means that many folks will not be able to use the watch for music or podcast storage and playback.
Navigation features. COROS only offers a limited number of navigation data fields and screens. Turn-by-turn navigation is available, but distance remaining and ETA can not be added to customized data screens. There is a simple “distance and ascent remaining” data screen when navigating a route. But I would like to add these fields to a multi-field data screen with other metrics, which isn’t currently possible.
COROS lacks a detailed view of each climb on a route. Garmin offers a detailed view of each climb, including length and grade. During the climb, you can see your progress. Garmin’s ClimbPro is one of my favorite features. I wish COROS offered something similar.
Turn-by-turn directions issues. During my testing, I have had issues with turn-by-turn directions. Routes imported from Ride With GPS lack turn-by-turn directions. Routes imported from Gaia GPS or created in the COROS app occasionally display “phantom turns.” The watch tells me to turn when a turn does not exist or to turn in the wrong direction. The actual route line is accurate, however.
The turn by turn directions show an upcoming right turn when the route goes left.
Comparison Table
The COROS Nomad is poised to challenge the Garmin Instinct 3 in the rugged ultra-endurance watch category. The Nomad and Instinct 3 both provide the full complement of activity tracking and smartwatch features. However, the Nomad has mapping, which is not available on the Instinct 3.
The table below compares the COROS Nomad with the Garmin Instinct 3 (Solar and AMOLED versions). Additionally, we include the COROS Pace Pro and Apex 2 for comparison purposes.
| Features | COROS Nomad | Garmin Instinct 3 Solar 50mm | Garmin Instinct 3 AMOLED 50mm | COROS Pace Pro | COROS Apex 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $349 | $400 | $500 | $349 | $349 |
| Lens Material | Mineral Glass | Power Glass | Chemically Strengthened Glass | Mineral Glass | Sapphire Glass |
| Display | Memory In Pixel (MIP) | Memory In Pixel (MIP) | AMOLED | AMOLED | LCD Memory |
| Display Size | 1.3" | 1.1" | 1.3" | 1.3" | 1.2" |
| Resolution | 260 x 260 pixels | 176 x 176 pixels | 390 x 390 pixels | 416 x 416 pixels | 240 x 240 pixels |
| Watch Mode | COROS Nomad | Garmin Instinct 3 Solar 50mm1 | Garmin Instinct 3 AMOLED 50mm2 | COROS Pace Pro2 | COROS Apex 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smartwatch Mode (Daily Use) | Up to 22 days | Up to 40 days (unlimited with solar) | Up to 24 days | Up to 20 days | Up to 13 days |
| All Satellite Systems GPS | Up to 50 hours | Up to 40 hours/80 hours with solar | Up to 32 hours | Up to 38 hours | Up to 25 days |
| All Satellite Systems + Dual Frequency* | Up to 34 hours | Up to 34 hours/60 hours with solar | Up to 30 hours | Up to 31 hours | NA |
Features
The COROS Nomad is a fully functional adventure watch with GPS navigation, activity and health tracking, and all the smartwatch features one expects in their everyday watch.
Activity Tracking
The Nomad includes activity profiles for over 50 activities, from hiking to frisbee. There are profiles for indoor activities, such as strength training and Pilates, as well as water-based activities like whitewater rafting and speed surfing. There is even a triathlon activity profile.
The specific data fields within each activity profile can be customized. You can also have multiple data fields for each activity. It is easy to swipe between data fields during any activity.
You can also set up alerts within an activity, such as speed, cadence, heart rate, or when to eat/drink.
Health Tracking
The COROS Nomad has a full complement of health tracking features, including the following:
Optical heart rate
SpO2 (Blood Oxygen) monitor
Electrocardiogram sensor
Sleep tracking
Optical pulse oximeter
Heart rate variability (HRV) tracking
Smartwatch Features
The Nomad has all the features one would expect from a smartwatch. Below is a partial list of smartwatch features:
Notifications
Stopwatch
Timer
Find my watch
Find my phone
Alarm
Daily alerts (active calories, storm warning, etc.)
MP3 music storage (note: COROS does not support streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music. MP3 files must be uploaded to the watch from your computer.)
Mapping and Navigation
The COROS Nomad provides the essential ABC (altimeter, barometer, and compass) features necessary for an adventure, especially for a hiking watch. In addition, the Nomad has all system satellites (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS). All system uses more than one system at once to improve accuracy. The Nomad also features dual frequency and all system, providing even greater accuracy in deep canyons or dense urban environments.
Note: All system is the default setting on the Nomad. Dual-frequency + all system uses more battery. It’s not possible to use only one system, such as GPS only.
COROS provides free global mapping. The COROS app features a Map Manager that allows you to easily download maps for your specific region. The Nomad is the first COROS watch to provide street names and points of interest (POI) and differentiate between roads and trails on the maps. This addresses a significant flaw in mapping on other COROS watches.
The more detailed maps will also be rolled out to the COROS Pace Pro, which also has the upgraded processor. We assume that, as other COROS watches get the improved processor, they will also have the more detailed maps.
The Nomad provides turn-by-turn directions and alerts you if you depart from the route.The watch’s digital dial makes it easy to zoom in and out on the map.
When navigating a route there is a data field showing the remaining distance and ascent.
Routes are easy to create and edit within the COROS app. Additionally, you can import routes from third-party apps, such as Strava, Ride With GPS, or Gaia GPS. The watch provides turn-by-turn directions. I was impressed with the ease of zooming or panning the map on the watch while navigating.
Extender
The extender is a feature that allows you to view your route in the COROS app during an activity. You can easily pan or zoom on the map on your phone. There is also a button to open your phone’s camera or leave a pin. The route shows the photo’s location.
Environment
The Nomad offers real-time environmental data, such as weather, wind, air pressure, and moon/sun movements, as activity data fields. Currently, COROS only offers the Environment feature on the Nomad.
Angler-Specific Features
COROS is seeking to make the Nomad an essential tool for anglers. The Nomad has six different fishing modes (shore, boat, surf, off/inshore, kayak, and fly). You can add environmental data fields such as tides, moon phases, temperatures, and forecasts to help improve your fishing performance. The watch enables you to log your catches, determine the optimal fishing times, mark your favorite locations, and alert you if you drift from your preferred fishing spot.
Adventure Journaling
COROS is leaning into the concept of adventure journaling with the Nomad and the COROS app. The idea is to enable the user to easily add photos and pins (waypoints) to an activity.
Photos and videos. The COROS app shows all the photos and videos taken during an activity. You can choose which photos you want to sync to the route. These photos will then appear along the route.
Pins (Waypoints). The “action button” can be configured to add a pin when pressed during an activity. This enables you to add a voice note or waypoint along the route. The voice memo translates keywords into specific waypoints. For example, if you say “water source,” a water waypoint will appear on the route.
Activity sharing. After an activity, it is easy to share the activity with friends and family, including all photos and pins, even if they don’t have the COROS app.
I have been impressed with the adventure journaling features. I will use these features on my next thru-hike.
COROS App
COROS has a phone app for tracking activities and health metrics. The app can also be used to configure the Nomad’s watch face and customize activity data fields.
I found it easy to create and edit routes in the app. You can also upload routes created in Strava, Ride With GPS, AllTrails, and Gaia GPS.
Who Should Buy the Coros Nomad?
The COROS Nomad is designed for outdoor enthusiasts and endurance athletes seeking a rugged watch with exceptional battery life. The all system and dual-frequency GPS enable accurate activity tracking and navigation. I think the Nomad is particularly well suited for backpackers and thru-hikers, especially given the ease with which routes can be imported from Gaia GPS and AllTrails.
The Nomad is also uniquely suited for anglers. It is the first watch we have tested with a full suite of fishing-focused activity modes and metrics.
About the Author / Why You Should Trust Us
Mike Unger left his high-stress corporate job to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail in 2006. That experience forever changed him, and he purposefully re-arranged his life to allow for as much adventuring as possible.
Today, he’s closing in on 28,000 miles on North American long trails. He is one of a handful of people who is a Double Triple Crowner, having hiked the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail each—twice. He’s also hiked more obscure routes like the Ouachita Trail, Oregon Desert Trail and was part of the group that set the First Known Time on the Blue Mountains Trail.
He’s also picked up another passion along the way: long-distance bicycle touring, including the 2,700-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and 1,850-mile Pacific Coast route. When he’s not hiking or biking, he’s probably planning his next trip and/or researching gear.
You can read all articles by Mike Unger here.
