What are the best fitness watches? We test the best 11 watches available today for running, training, and health tracking

Train more effectively, race stronger and recover quicker with our pick of the best fitness watches on the market.

A good fitness watch is a powerful tool. The coaching elements can help fine-tune your training, measure your performance and progress, and boost motivation. Even the cheaper options now cover the basics, with reliable GPS, wrist-based heart rate tracking and loads of training, coaching and recovery insights to help you hit any goal. Whether you’re a runner, swimmer, cyclist, rower, strength trainer, HIIT or Hyrox fanatic – or somewhere in between – you’ll be better able to understand and improve your performance and recovery with the insights you can glean from the best fitness watches.

We’re looking purely at fitness watches here, rather than fitness trackers like the Whoop Band or Garmin Vivosmart 5. While these devices can still provide plenty of health and fitness insights, they often do so with the help of a smartwatch screen or have a small screen with limited physical controls. The best fitness watches will have larger full color screens, with physical buttons to access multiple functions, and are often more robustly built with toughened glass displays, GPS capabilities and Bluetooth or ANT+ connectivity to allow you to link up to other fitness gear such as rowing machines and other exercise machines. In other words, designed to integrate better with a wider array of fitness activities.

Below we break down the pros and cons of the best fitness watches on the market in 2026 to help you choose one that’s right for you. One that will support you on your fitness journey, whether that’s breaking down your run splits, revealing your strain and recovery stats after dumbbell or kettlebell workouts, lifting the lid on the quality of your sleep or monitoring your heart rate variability. Read on to find out which watches are best for value, for battery life, for running, for the gym and much more. With the best fitness watch for you, you can use its smarts to take your game to the next level.

The best fitness watches of 2026

1. Garmin Forerunner 970

Garmin has been top of the running watch tree for a little while, and for my money it stays there with the Forerunner 970 – the best fitness watch I had the pleasure of testing. It may not have quite the battery life of its predecessor the 965 but the host of upgrades make that sacrifice well worth it.

The large AMOLED touchscreen display looks great and makes the interface experience a dream. Accurate GPS comes as standard with Garmin watches, as are a host of performance metrics that can genuinely enhance your workouts. New metrics for runners are particularly valuable in making sure you’re not overdoing it in a training block or on the comeback from injury.

• Read more: Garmin Forerunner 970 review

2. COROS Pace 4

Now with crystal-clear AMOLED display version 4 of the COROS Pace is more competitive than ever. Advanced tools like Running Fitness, Race Predictor, Virtual Pacer, and personalized marathon have no right to be in a watch this cheap. There aren’t many sub-£300 fitness watches where you’ll find features like blood oxygen level monitoring or a barometric altimeter either.

Building on the impressive foundations of the COROS Pace 3, the Pace 4 does all the simple things really well, and I’m a big fan of its new low-profile design, as well as the new mic for capturing training notes on the fly.

• Read more: COROS Pace 3 review

3. Polar Vantage V3

Polar is back with a bang with the Vantage V3, a great-looking running watch that does the basics very well, and introduces a few useful extras. Free Strava and Komoot subscriptions aren’t to be sniffed at either.

Wrist-based heart rate tracking still has a way to go, but I found the Vantage V3 provided one of the most reliably accurate heart rate measurements of any of the fitness watches I tested. The AMOLED display is big and bright, and the interface intuitive. Battery life is an improvement on previous models too.

• Read more: Polar Vantage V3 review

4. Suunto Race 2

The Suunto Race 2’s hero updates over the original Suunto Race are mainly about hardware, with a bigger, brighter display, better GPS battery life, faster processing and a new optical heart rate sensor aiming to flush out some accuracy gremlins. But there’s a smattering of feature updates, too, which should trickle down to its older stablemates. 

The Suunto Race 2 packs more than 100 sport modes with running, cycling, swimming and triathlon well covered.  The suite of training, recovery, health and daily activity tools is fairly comprehensive. Not quite as broad and deep as you’ll find on Garmin but more than enough for most.  

• Read more: Suunto Race 2 review

5. Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro

If you’re looking for a fitness-focused smartwatch, rather than a dedicated running or workout watch, we’re pretty sure you’ll have checked out the various Apple Watch models. But if you can’t stump up the list price, or aren’t invested in the Apple ecosystem, there are some extremely capable alternatives around – like this Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro. It boasts a 3000-nit Sapphire Glass-protected AMOLED display, 40m dive-grade water resistance and IXP7 dust resistance, with a tough titanium bezel and aluminium body.

If golf or diving are your thing, the Huawei has over 15,000 courses on your wrist and can track your dive depth in real time. Its Sunflower Positioning System provides accurate tracking, with voice alerts and vibrations, as well as offline mapping, to keep your training on track. There’s plenty of post-exercise analysis on the watch and via the Huawei Health app, with a 3-month free subscription to the more comprehensive Health+ service. Throw in detailed sleep health monitoring and accurate on-water workout tracking and we think the Fit 4 Pro is a well-rounded fitness smartwatch that’s worth every penny.

6. Garmin Venu 4

With an understated design, a good mix of fitness, health and wellness features and a wealth of strength training plans, the Venu 4 takes a more holistic view of your overall fitness than some of the more dedicated performance watches of this list. So if, like me, you’re more concerned with your overall functional fitness than, say, your split times on the track or in the pool, then this newest Venu should be on your shortlist.

With a dearth of physical buttons, this might not look like your typical Garmin. But it still has those dependable Garmin tracking smarts, so you won’t go AWOL on your wilder excursions. Like the Huawei, if you long for an Apple Watch but can’t justify the expense (or battery life), check out the Garmin Venu 4. Available in 45mm or 41mm case sizes.

• Read more: Garmin Venu 4 review

7. OnePlus Watch 3

The OnePlus 2 was one of the first WearOS watches to give us usable multi-day battery performance. Its successor, the new OnePlus 3, takes this even further, with a battery that now lasts up to five days. With trailblazing GPS precision, multi-sport tracking, a new 60-second health check-in feature, and built with a stainless steel case, sapphire crystal display and titanium alloy bezel, it offers excellent performance, durability and value for less than RRP: $350/£320.

• Read more: OnePlus Watch 3 review

8. Apple Watch Ultra 3

If you want a smartwatch you can track your fitness with, and have a big budget to play with, look no further than the Apple Watch Ultra 3. For day-to-day tracking and smartwatch features, Apple continues to be well out in front.

With the Ultra 3 Apple has significantly improved that old bugbear of its previous Watch range – battery life. And for smartwatch features and the best screen in the business, Apple still takes some beating. However, there are better – and cheaper – watches available if you want to go deep diving into your running metrics.

• Read more: Apple Watch Ultra 3 review

9. COROS Pace Pro

COROS’s newest running watch, the Pace Pro, is aptly named. Its advanced processor delivers twice the speed of the Pace 3 with a battery that will power 38 hours of continuous outdoor activity or up to 20 days of regular use.

With 1,500 nits, the slightly larger 1.3in screen is brighter than ever too, and I had no trouble scanning my stats in direct bright sunshine. Overall the COROS Pace Pro promises to be an ideal running companion, though you’ll need to spend significantly more than the Pace 3 to get it.

10. Garmin Forerunner 165 Music

With the Forerunner 165 Music, Garmin looks to be setting a new benchmarks for budget fitness watches. For under $300 you still get most of the significant training insights found on its pricier watches, as well a bright, crisp 1.2-inch AMOLED screen – not to mention the ability to play music offline.

The one concession is a rather average battery life, which you might need to manage, especially if you plan on playing music on most of your workouts. But if your routine can cope with that, you’re getting a great value running watch with plenty of high-end features.

• Read more: Garmin Forerunner 165 Music review

11. Polar Grit X2 Pro

The Polar Grit X2 Pro is Polar’s top-end, toughened, adventure-ready GPS sports watch. It’s built to handle all your training, racing and exploring endeavors on and off the grid. This latest upgrade adds a punchy AMOLED display, accuracy-enhancing dual frequency GPS, Polar’s latest biosensors and a snappier performance.

Throw in new navigation skills with offline maps, Strava route sync and breadcrumb navigation and improved battery life over the OG Grit and you’ve now got a strong rival to the like of the Garmin Fenix. 

• Read more: Polar Grit X2 Pro review

Best fitness watches compared

Frequently asked questions about fitness watches

How we tested the best fitness watches

Our team of professional product testers have thousands of hours of reviewing and testing experience between them, so they know how to put training tech through its paces. They trained with each of these watches for a minimum of four weeks, running across a range of distances as well as doing regular strength, mobility and aerobic sessions in the gym. They synced these watches with external hardware such as heart rate monitors and tried them out with relevant third-party apps to assess their versatility. They also put them through a range of charge cycles to assess battery performance.

• November 2025: Apple Watch Ultra 3 replaced for Ultra 2; how we test section expanded.
• December 2025: OnePlus Watch 3 added to summary box; prices, affiliates and availability updated.
• January 2026: Garmin Venu 4 added to the guide; affiliates and availability checked.
• March 2026: COROS Pace 3 replaced with Pace 4. New buyers guide structure implemented, including Schema tables, Q&A section, comparison table and summary table including every watch.
• May 2026: We updated our product links, expanded our FAQ section, and improved overall article formatting.