Coros massively undercuts the competition with its new cycling GPS
The new Coros Dura cycling computer has stats that on paper look hugely impressive, with claimed battery life of 70 hours using dual-frequency GPS or 120 hours with single-band GPS.
Coros is also claiming highly efficient solar charging for its new GPS, with one hour of riding said to generate up to two hours of additional ride time.
Despite the impressive stats, the Coros Dura is priced at only £249 / $249 / €289. We’ll examine, further down, how that compares to the best bike computers – and we’ll be posting a full review of the Dura soon.
Designed to go long
Coros, which has previously focused on smartwatches, says the Dura is designed for users who want a GPS bike computer with sufficient battery life for gravel riding, gravel racing and all-road riding. It incorporates a colour touchscreen that can be used to control most functions, while the top of the unit’s face is devoted to solar charging.
There’s a physical lap/return button, while other functions can be controlled using a dial on the side of the unit. Turning the dial navigates you through on-screen menus, while pressing it confirms a menu choice and stops or pauses an activity.
The claimed battery life is huge at 70 hours plus, even without solar charging. That compares very favourably to the Garmin Edge 540/840 Solar’s 32 hours, the Wahoo Elemnt Roam’s 17 hours and the updated Hammerhead Karoo’s 15 hours’ claimed runtime.
The range-topping Garmin Edge 1040 manages a claimed 45 hours with solar charging, although turn everything off and Garmin says it will run for up to 90 hours without solar charging, or 180 hours with solar.
The claimed solar charging efficiency of two hours per hour ridden appears very impressive. If accurate, that’s significantly greater than Garmin’s solar gain. Garmin claims up to 25 minutes of solar charge per hour for the Edge 540/840 Solar, although in UK conditions we’ve found a couple of minutes to be more typical, particularly in winter.
The Coros Dura can lock onto the complete range of GPS satellite constellations, including the Japanese QZSS, with dual-band reception. That’s in line with the latest updates from the competition. It will automatically choose the best GPS system for a robust position fix, while optimising battery life.
Coros Dura functionality
On-board functionality includes turn-by-turn navigation, off-course alerts and climb profiles. When connected to the Coros app, the Dura will use Google Maps for smart rerouting. There’s the typical range of safety and collaboration features, including a crash alert via the phone app, a bike alarm and group ride support.
If you want to use the Dura for training, there’s a range of workouts and training plans available, as well as FTP test protocols. The Dura will track your training load, recovery time and base fitness, as well as recommending your optimal training load. You can also set heart rate and power zone alerts.
Coros supports a wide range of third-party apps, to which the Dura interfaces, including Strava and Komoot, as well as RideWithGPS, TrainingPeaks and more. The unit can be linked up to SRAM and Shimano electronic shifting systems.
The Dura has six pre-configured activity modes; road, indoor, gravel, MTB, ebike and e-MTB. Most riders are likely to find those sufficient, although some other devices allow you to set up your own modes rather than having a pre-set menu.
You can link the Dura via both BLE and ANT+ to up to 12 simultaneous connections. Data sync is supported both via BLE to the Coros phone app and by WiFi directly over an internet connection. There’s a full range of onboard sensors including a barometric altimeter, an accelerometer and gyroscope, a compass and a temperature sensor.
The Dura integrates via the Coros app with Coros cycling watches, to give you other stats such as sleep and heart rate variability. Triathletes with a Coros smartwatch can use the Dura for the bike leg, transitioning back to the watch for the run.
Coros Dura size and price versus the competition
The Coros Dura GPS has a 2.7in colour touchscreen, the same size as the Wahoo Elemnt Roam, and a little larger than the Garmin Edge 540/840, which has a 2.6in screen, but smaller than the Hammerhead Karoo‘s 3.2in screen. There’s a memory-in-pixel display, which helps to keep power consumption low.
The Dura is always on, with automatic sleep when not in use, although you can still upload routes and edit data pages via the app.
The Coros Dura measures 99.5×60.8×15.7mm, slightly larger than the Garmin Edge 540/840 and Wahoo Elemnt Roam, but marginally smaller than the Hammerhead Karoo.
The claimed weight of the unit is 97g, while the reinforced polymer, aero Coros quarter-turn out-front mount adds another 44g. That compares to the Garmin Edge 540/840 at 85g, the Wahoo Elemnt Roam at 94g and the Hammerhead Karoo at 118g for the unit.
The Coros Dura is priced at £249 / $249 / €289. That significantly undercuts the competition; a Garmin Edge 840 with solar charging will set you back £520, although it’s currently discounted to £470. An Edge 1040 Solar costs £630 and is currently discounted to £580.
The latest Hammerhead Karoo costs £450, while the Wahoo Elemnt Roam is priced at £350, although that has neither a touchscreen nor solar charging.
The Coros Dura is available to purchase immediately, with shipping scheduled from 1 July. We’ve got a unit in for testing, so look out for BikeRadar’s full review.