Coros, the sports tech company known best in triathlon circles for its smartwatches and heart rate monitors, has today taken a step into the cycling market, with the launch of an all-new GPS head unit that looks set to challenge the best bike computers.
Called the Dura, it measures a similar size to the Wahoo Elemnt Roam and mounts using a Garmin-style quarter-turn mount, but it does things a little differently to what we’ve come to expect.
Rather than fill the available space with as big a screen as possible, Coros has intentionally used a smaller screen – at 2.7in corner to corner – and filled the top third of the upper face with highly efficient solar panels. The result, Coros says, is a battery life that will last 120 hours of consecutive riding.
In fact, in the right conditions, it could feasibly finish a ride with more charge than when it started, as the solar panels generate up to two hours of battery life for every hour of direct sunlight.
The screen itself is a Memory-in-Pixel colour touchscreen with an adaptive backlight. It features fully customisable fields with all the data you expect to see in a top-end GPS bike computer, such as speed, distance, time, power, heart rate, routing functions and hundreds of advanced metrics.
Visually, it is a striking unit with an aerodynamically shaped black plastic housing that is narrower and shallower at the leading edge. It measures 3.92in x 2.39in x 0.62in and weighs 97g. A USB-C charge port sits on the trailing edge beneath a weather-sealed flap.
Its biggest point of aesthetic difference compared to the competition is the large Digital Dial on the right-hand side, which mimics the functionality of the similar dials found on the brand’s range of smartwatches. This also doubles as an ‘ok’ button, and it’s joined by a ‘back/lap’ button just beneath it.
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It can access GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou and OZSS satellite systems to get a fix on location, and inbuilt algorithms will switch on and off the necessary functions to optimise battery life. It runs both the original L1 and the latest L5 GPS signals for a balance of reliability and accuracy in dense cover or built-up areas.
Additional features include an in-built bike alarm and crash detection functionality, an overview of upcoming climbs, and smart mid-ride rerouting using Google Maps (via phone connection), leveraging live data such as traffic and road closures.
It can connect to the usual apps, including TrainingPeaks, Strava, Komoot and RideWithGPS to download routes or workouts and then upload rides.
As expected, it also pairs with the Coros app, which allows users to configure the device and perform firmware updates. The Coros app also has a free-to-use inbuilt Training Hub, which when paired with a Coros smartwatch, connects your rides to the bigger-picture health data, including sleep, HRV and recovery.
Pricing and availability
The Coros Dura is priced at £249.00 / US$249.00 / €289.00 / AU$449.00. This puts it in line with the smaller Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, cheaper than the Roam. It also means it’s cheaper than the non-touchscreen Edge 540 from Garmin, as well as the Hammerhead Karoo.
Orders can be placed immediately at launch, but units won’t begin shipping until July 15th.
At such a competitive price, with its broad feature list and strong battery life, the Dura looks highly competitive in this space. It’s the cheapest touchscreen bike computer around. We have so far taken it for one ride, and early signs are positive.
Coros is still rolling out regular firmware updates as it transitions from beta to a fully functional consumer-facing product, so there’s little value in a thorough review at this stage, as the feature list will continually broaden and the battery life will adjust slightly. Therefore we’ll be sure to bring our readers a full review once the firmware updates have slowed and the product is a better reflection of the finished product.
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