Coros, the sports technology company best known in triathlon circles for their smartwatches and heart rate monitors, has made a move into the cycling market today with the launch of a brand new GPS head unit that looks set to take on the best cycling computers.
Called the Dura, it measures a similar size to the Wahoo Elemnt Roam and mounts with a Garmin-style quarter-turn mount, but it does things a little differently than we’ve come to expect.
Instead of filling the available space with as large a screen as possible, Coros intentionally used a smaller screen — 2.7 inches from corner to corner — and filled the top third of the top surface with highly efficient solar panels. The result, Coros says, is battery life that can last 120 hours of continuous driving.
In fact, under the right conditions, it could finish the ride with more charge than 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 color touchscreen with adaptive backlighting. It features fully customizable fields with all the data you’d expect from a top-of-the-line GPS cycling computer, such as speed, distance, time, power, heart rate, routing features and hundreds of advanced metrics.
Visually, it is a striking unit with an aerodynamically shaped black plastic case, which is narrower and shallower at the leading edge. It measures 3.92 inches x 2.39 inches x 0.62 inches and weighs 97 grams. The USB-C charging port is located on the rear edge under a weather-sealed cover.
Its biggest aesthetic difference compared to the competition is the large digital watch face on the right side, which mimics the functionality of similar watch faces found on the brand’s range of smartwatches. This also acts as an ‘ok’ button and is connected to the ‘back/lap’ button just below it.
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It accesses GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou and OZSS satellite systems to determine location, and built-in algorithms turn on and off the necessary features to optimize battery life. It runs both the original L1 and the latest L5 GPS signals for a balance between reliability and accuracy in dense coverage or built-up areas.
Other features include a built-in bike alarm and crash detection function, an overview of upcoming climbs and smart re-routing mid-ride with Google Maps (via a phone connection) using up-to-the-minute 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 built-in Training Hub that, when paired with a Coros smartwatch, links your rides to larger health data, including sleep, HRV and recovery.
Price and availability
The Coros Dura is priced at £249.00 / $249.00 / €289.00 / $449.00. This puts it in line with the smaller Wahoo Element Bolt, cheaper than the Roam. It also means it’s cheaper than Garmin’s non-touch Edge 540, as well as the Hammerhead Karoo.
Orders can be placed immediately after launch, but units will not start shipping until July 15th.
At such a competitive price, with a broad feature list and strong battery life, the Dura looks highly competitive in this space. It’s the cheapest touchscreen bike computer around. We’ve taken it for one ride so far and early signs are positive.
Coros is still rolling out regular firmware updates as it transitions from beta to a fully functional consumer product, so a thorough review is pointless at this stage as the feature list will continue to grow and battery life will be tweaked slightly. Therefore, we will bring our readers a full review once the firmware update slows down and the product better reflects the finished product.