As reported by us earlier this month from Unbound Gravel, GPS sports activities watch producer COROS is coming into the biking market with its “Dura” Photo voltaic GPS biking pc, boasting an astonishing 120+ hour battery life.
Based in 2016, COROS is comparatively new to the sports activities know-how business however has shortly gained a devoted following amongst endurance athletes as a consequence of its high-performance options, strong coaching applications, and spectacular battery life.
“We’ve usually been requested once we would create a motorcycle pc. Whereas we’ve all the time been obsessed with biking, we did not wish to develop a brand new head unit with out creating one thing totally different,” the model states.
With the Dura, COROS goals to produce athletes with “the last word biking journey and coaching companion” and has particularly got down to serve gravel racers, FKT chasers, brevet riders, and ultra-long-distance adventurers.
“Simplicity is the guideline for the brand new bike pc. COROS has prioritized rider expertise by addressing a number of ache factors,” the model states. “From seemingly limitless battery life to utilizing Google Maps for navigation, to lightning-fast add speeds and way more.”
The unit’s most exceptional characteristic is its 120-hour battery life, which operates independently of its photo voltaic panels. Like Garmin’s Photo voltaic merchandise, the photo voltaic panels on this system prolong the battery life somewhat than recharge the battery. COROS claims that an hour of direct daylight can add as much as two hours of experience time.
Beneath the photo voltaic panels sits a 2.7-inch MIP color touchscreen. For individuals who favor tactile controls, the aspect of the system features a dial and button, permitting for straightforward interplay with the pc’s many customizable pages. This all is available in a smooth and compact bundle, weighing simply 97 grams and measuring 99.5 x 60.8 x 15.7 mm (3.92 x 2.39 x 0.62 inches).
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COROS guarantees to ship all of the options cyclists have come to count on from a GPS head unit, complemented by COROS’s strong coaching platform, which is accessible by way of the cell app and the desktop Coaching Hub and free for system customers. This service allows athletes to analyse efficiency metrics, talk with their coach, create personalised exercises and coaching plans, and extra. It is like having TrainingPeaks included along with your watch or biking pc buy.
“Our objective is to create merchandise that resolve issues for athletes—whether or not that is to assist them prepare, discover the world, or just deliver them nearer to the game they already love. COROS DURA is a transparent extension of this ethos and actually is the last word journey and coaching companion,” says Lewis Wu, COROS Co-Founder.
The all-new COROS Dura is obtainable for pre-order beginning June 17 for $249 / £249 and can start transport to clients on July 15.
Biking Weekly acquired a pre-release unit to check, so let’s take a more in-depth take a look at the Dura.
What’s has
(Picture credit score: COROS)
- Measurement: 99.5 x 60.8 x 15.7mm (3.92 x 2.39 x 0.62 inches)
- Weight: 97g head unit, 44g mount
- Smooth, aerodynamic design
- Wonderful worth level: $249 / £249 / EUR 289
- Battery dimension: 960 mAh battery
- Battery life: 120 hours excluding photo voltaic (70 GPS hours in Twin-Frequency mode)
- Photo voltaic add: 1 hour of direct daylight provides as much as 2 hours of additional experience time
- Battery fees totally in as little as 2 hours
- Display: 2.7 inch MIP colour contact display with 240 x 400 pixel decision
- Further operation by way of a dial on the aspect and Again/Lap button
- Onboard sensors: barometric altimeter, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, temperature sensor
- Storage capability: 32GB
- Working temp: -20 C (-4F) to 60C (140F)
- Adaptive backlight
- In-app route builder
- Sensible rerouting (by way of app)
- Normal quarter-turn interface*
- Bluetooth/ANT+/WiFi connectivity
- Twin-Frequency GPS (L1+L5)
- Auto GPS mode: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, Beidou, QZSS
- IP67 water resistance
- Crash detection
- Bike alarm
- Reside monitoring
- Notifications
- Third-party app syncing
- Free exercises and coaching plans out there in app and desktop platform
- Along with a COROS watch, the ecosystem provides a 24/7 profile of your health and coaching standing incl. Sleep, HRV and Day by day Stress knowledge
*be aware: we discovered that the unit match somewhat loosely in my stem-specific Ok-Edge mount, which COROS rep informed us was a identified concern. COROS has since elevated the dimensions of the tabs on the again of the DURA after the primary manufacturing run of items so they are going to match all Ok-Edge mounts extra tightly.
What it would not have (on the time of pre-release testing)
(Picture credit score: COROS)
- Avenue names or POI on system maps
- Flip-by-turn-navigation
- Integration with Journey with GPS
- On-device rerouting
- “Climb” characteristic
- Temperature, Climate, Wind knowledge
- Strava stay segments
- Lap Abstract Information
- Location on unit
What’s coming quickly
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
- Flip-by-turn navigation (Obtainable at launch)
- Journey with GPS integration (Obtainable beginning this week)
- Biking actions and full exercise builder assist on COROS Coaching Hub (Obtainable beginning this week)
- Outside Temperature readings (Obtainable from July 1)
- A “Climb” characteristic when following routes will probably be improved and can higher show lengthy climbs
- Strava Reside Segments
- Shorter sync time for sending Strava routes to the COROS app
- Media controls for playback on cellphone by way of Bluetooth
- Optimizations for Flip-by-Flip in order that its extra responsive at excessive speeds
“Like with all COROS merchandise, we’ll proceed to repeatedly replace the product with extra software program updates intermittently over the course of the yr and past,” Coros says.
First impressions:
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
We acquired our check items solely per week earlier than launch, and thus, our time with the Dura GPS biking pc has been temporary, however we’ll share our first impression now and a full-fledged assessment later this summer time.
Preliminary unboxing impressions have been that the unit is surprisingly smooth and light-weight, given its claimed battery life and host of capabilities. For comparability, the Dura is smaller than a Garmin Edge 1040 and extra just like the Hammerhead Karoo however thinner.
The Dura sports activities a decently-sized vibrant show –although missing in each dimension and graphics when in comparison with, say, the newest Hammerhead Karoo– and a photo voltaic panel that’s a lot bigger than what we have been seeing on Garmin’s Photo voltaic merchandise. The dial on the aspect of the unit is a nod to the model’s watch heritage. In wristwatches, this knob is known as a crown and historically had the important operate of setting the time and winding the watch. The ‘crown’ on the GPS biking pc lets you navigate the unit’s settings and pages.
The true star is, in fact, the battery life. After per week’s use, together with one eight-hour journey, the battery continues to be above 70%.
There may be all the time a studying curve when switching to a brand new ecosystem of merchandise, and I like to recommend customers take a while attending to know the Dura and the companion app, particularly. Plenty of the system’s settings and customizations are accessed by way of the app and cannot be accessed by way of the unit itself.
I skilled just a few hiccups in my admittedly few check rides that left me considerably underwhelmed. That is, nonetheless, largely as a result of many options being unavailable till public launch or ship time. These hiccups included the dearth of integration with Journey with GPS (which will probably be mounted by launch time), the slow-to-respond zoom out and in buttons on the contact display and navigation limitations.
The on-device map would not present any road or path names, nor does it point out any factors of curiosity. On the time of my scripting this, the turn-by-turn navigation did not work but, both. The route was there to observe as a line on a map with little else. COROS, nonetheless, states that detailed turn-by-turn navigation will totally operate on the time of launch.
As somebody who loves all-day, distant bike adventures, my major concern with Dura presently is its rerouting talents or somewhat, its limitations.
COROS claims, “If you happen to change your thoughts mid-ride, seek for new locations in your cellphone or draw a brand new route, COROS DURA will sync the up to date route in seconds.” This may work effectively in a metropolis, nevertheless it falls brief in distant backcountry settings the place there is no such thing as a mobile phone reception.
The Dura is likely one of the few computer systems in its class that does not sport on-device rerouting talents. As an alternative, it depends on the app and mobile connection or WiFi.
“The pondering right here is that *most* of the time whenever you want this type of rerouting help, you are in a extra dense city surroundings with a number of routes to the identical vacation spot (the place you are more likely to have mobile protection),” COROS tells Biking Weekly.
“Conversely, whenever you’re out within the backcountry or in additional rural areas the place you won’t have mobile protection, it is often fairly easy to seek out your means again on route by wanting on the map in case you make a fallacious flip.”
From expertise, I’ve to disagree with this logic. Greater than as soon as, I’ve discovered myself in a wooded space, far-off from any civilization, gazing 5 identical-looking gravel paths, questioning which was going to take me within the course I really wished to go. In these conditions, I’ve come to depend on on-device rerouting or my watch’s skill to route me to the closest POI to get me again on observe.
Moreover, the rerouting is powered by Google Maps, which does not usually counsel and even acknowledge gravel trails. It prioritises paved, identified roads. As such, I not too long ago discovered myself being rerouted to a closely trafficked freeway somewhat than the beautiful, quiet gravel roads my route was meant to take me on.
Fortunately, COROS revealed that it does plan on bringing a reroute performance to offline maps ASAP.
The Dura’s battery life is really astonishing, setting a brand new customary available in the market. Its worth is very aggressive as effectively. Different photo voltaic merchandise carry a price ticket of a minimum of $100 extra, typically as a lot as $500 extra just like the Garmin Edge 1040 Photo voltaic.
Garmin and Wahoo have lengthy dominated the GPS biking pc house, so the emergence of a robust competitor can be a welcome improvement. Nonetheless, spectacular battery life is of little use if the system’s navigation capabilities fall brief throughout long-distance, off-road adventures, the place rerouting, hike-a-bike conditions and spontaneous selections are inevitable.
It is vital to notice once more that these limitations stem from utilizing a pre-release unit. Shopper items will not ship till July 15. As such, I and our different testers will spend the summer time placing these items via its paces, and can report again with a full-length assessment.
