ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Coros Nomad is obtainable now in Inexperienced, Brown, and Darkish Gray for $349.
- It is constructed to face up to the weather with detailed metrics and targeted journal utilities for fishing.
- There isn’t a speaker to playback voice notes, no photo voltaic charging, and no LED flashlight to see in the dead of night.
Comply with ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
I’ve had the chance to check loads of smartwatches, nevertheless it’s nonetheless robust to seek out one watch that covers all of the bases. I discover myself all the time seeking to the following one to fill the gaps.
With each new mannequin, manufacturers shoot for distinctive options to assist them stand out from the pack. Properly, it appears to be like like rugged model Coros has been following my adventures in fly fishing over the previous seven years with the Coros Nomad, a classy gadget with some distinctive options for individuals who prefer to fish.
Additionally: I tested the best sports watches in 2025: Here are the latest and greatest watches, no matter your budget
Just like the Garmin Instinct line of watches, the Coros Nomad takes some design cues from Casio’s G-Shock with a chunky plastic physique and enormous exterior buttons. It significantly resembles the Garmin Instinct 3 Solar that is $100 extra and helps photo voltaic charging, however its monochrome show pales compared to the upper decision colour display screen on the Coros Nomad.
The Coros Nomad is a sturdy watch that may deal with the weather whereas weighing solely 49 grams. It has a water-proof ranking as much as 50 meters, hardened mineral glass show, working temperature from -4 to 122 levels Fahrenheit, and twin microphones for voice notes that convert to textual content within the Coros app.
The Nomad gives an enhanced expertise that is conducive to documenting your adventures with voice notes, footage, movies, and route particulars. The brand new Journey Journal function is especially interesting for my fly fishing outings as a result of I prefer to doc the place within the rivers I land the fish, what time of 12 months I used to be profitable, and be capable of share these experiences with household and pals.
My most important motivation for fly fishing is to flee from the workplace and spend time standing in chilly river water as I swing my dry fly from side to side. I usually seize images of the fish I land earlier than releasing them again into the water and love the problem of studying the river and discovering sizzling spots for fish. With the Journey Journal function, I can now see the images synced to my outing with the power to simply share the information.
For example of the optimization Coros gives for a few of these distinctive actions, let’s take a better have a look at the fly fishing exercise. Coros added a brand new {hardware} button to the Nomad known as the Motion button, positioned on the decrease left of the watch. That is programmable inside actions and isn’t at present useful at another time whereas utilizing the watch. You’ll be able to choose so as to add a brand new pin or swap from the map web page to a different exercise information web page.
A few of the customizable information fields for Shore Fly Fishing embody casts and catches so you possibly can preserve observe of what number of occasions you swing your fly rod and launch the road into the river. With a straightforward press of the highest proper button you possibly can log a catch after touchdown your fish.
Additionally: The best training watch I’ve ever tried is the first Coros with a modern display
Personally, I’d like to see a hands-free approach to log a catch since I’m usually fairly busy dealing with my rod, the web, the fish, and my digicam. It’s good to have the power to log a catch after the discharge although, and helps plot out the outing for sharing and future planning. All the different typical metrics for actions are supported, together with coronary heart price, distance coated, climate circumstances, and extra.
Whereas fishing is a spotlight for the Coros Nomad, it is also an entire sports activities watch with full assist for correct GPS monitoring of your working, mountaineering, climbing, swimming, and extra. It gives offline maps for phone-free navigation, and even consists of avenue names, factors of curiosity, and alerts you when you wander away of the route. The MIP colour show helps with navigation via colour differentiation of roads, trails, and highways.
Additionally: Could a tablet survive a real hike? This Samsung Galaxy model did – and I’d bring it again
Much like Garmin watches, Coros gives you with the choice to pick from a broad vary of widgets that may be accessed by swiping down from the primary watch face. Particulars inside every widget can be found once you scroll down after which choose the widget utilizing the digital dial button or your finger on the touchscreen.
The toolbox menu will also be extraordinarily helpful since it may be accessed at any time by lengthy urgent the again/lap button on the decrease proper aspect of the Nomad. The power to launch management of an Insta360 or GoPro digicam could be very useful when you find yourself fishing or performing one other exercise and wish fast entry to your digicam.
One critique I’ve is the shortage of an LED gentle on the watch. An out of doors journey watch like it is a good platform for such a function, and I hope to see it on a future Nomad or Vertix watch from Coros.
For now, I’ll proceed to make use of the Nomad for fly fishing and hope to land some giant cutthroat trout on the Yakima this fall so I can share 3D flyovers, voice notes, footage, movies, and my route with pals. My hope is that this type of storytelling could encourage others to check out all these outside adventures.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
I’ve used the Fish exercise on Garmin watches previously, and it has been helpful for logging catches and site tagging the catch, however that is the place the expertise ends. Now, with the Coros Nomad and Journey Journal operate I can create an entire story of my outside actions to simply share with pals in an attractive manner.
The Coros Nomad is a snug, reasonably priced, and dependable sports activities watch I extremely advocate to anybody who likes to fish, nevertheless it’s additionally a stable smartwatch for athletes and anybody who needs entry to health metrics.
