Competition for the best running watches is as hot as last year's London Marathon – which, for reference, hit highs of 24 degrees.
Maybe you do park runs just for fun, or maybe you're entering 2019 with a serious goal of upping your speed or distance a little.
Maybe you have a trusty old Garmin or you might be a sworn Suunto user. Or maybe you're baffled by the world of running watches altogether.
To help, we've reviewed the best options out there to help you get on track.
6 BEST RUNNING WATCHES TO TRY
1. Fitbit Ionic
Made For: New runners
USP: It's large waterproof watch face looks like it'll be easy to use and, furthermore, the Fitbit Ionic promises an in-built auto pause function, so you won't have to fiddle around with buttons every time you hit a red light.
Features You'll Want To Try: Phone-free music. The Ionic has the ability to store your music offline for you, meaning you can listen via Bluetooth headphones.
Plus, it promises multi-day battery life, heart rate monitoring, and also boasts an in-built coach app to guide you through expert running workouts and training plans. Ideal.
Smart Watch Functions: The Fitbit Ionic receives incoming calls, texts, social media notifications and mobile payments.
Price & Where To Buy: £249.99, argos.com
2. Samsung Gear Sport
Made for: Runners aiming for a PB
USP: This isn't the most obvious choice for a best running watches round-up, but the Samsung Gear Sport is a great watch for runners looking for a simplistic design to track their pacing.
Why? Well, it has a rotating bezel to control the touchscreen, which although at first glance may seem old-fashioned, we're sure will come in handy when you're sweat-tastic at mile 10 and struggling to work a touchscreen.
Features You'll Want To Try: Optical heart rate sensor and GPS.
Smart Watch Functions: Offline music but no calls or text notifications, as of yet.
Price & Where To Buy: £220, amazon.co.uk
3. Apple Watch Series 4
Made for: A seamless smartwatch experience
USP: It automatically detects you're working out, even if you forget to start the app – neat – and the all new pace alerts are sure to make the Apple Watch Series 4 a serious contender on the running watches playing field.
Features You'll Want To Try: As above, the pace alerts look set to be essential for pacing and knocking those few minutes off a PB, and then there's the cadence feature, which tells you your steps per minute and is essentially your secret weapon to moving efficiently over longer distances – an essential for injury avoiding.
Smart Watch Functions: The Apple Watch Series 4 receives calls, texts, emails and social media notifications, shows calendar events, lets you make mobile payments and even gives alerts for incoming traffic delays or bad weather.
Price & Where To Buy: £249, apple.com/uk
4. Garmin Fenix 5 Plus
Made For: Explorers
USP: All the tech with a work-clothes friendly design.
Features You'll Want To Try: Garmin is known for its GPS prowess, so make the most of the Maps function whenever you're trying out a new route or seeing a new city on the move.
Smart Watch Functions: Garmin Pay is available but sadly most UK banks are yet to support the watch functionality. This will no doubt change in the future. A recent update has made this the only Garmin with Spotify integration... The jury's out on whether Apple Music will ever play along.
Price & Where To Buy: £599.99, buy.garmin.com
5. Polar M430
Made for: Those who would rather be lifting weights
USP: This nifty smart watch is great for beginners because it's fuss-free and offers 30 hours' battery life. Not bad.
Features You'll Want To Try: The in-built heart rate monitor is great if you're trying zone training for the first time or looking to up your fitness progress.
Smart Watch Functions: Sleep tracking, calls, texts and social media notifications.
Price & Where To Buy: £112.99, amazon.co.uk
6. Suunto 9
Made for: Trail runners
USP: It's battery life. The new Suunto 9 promises up to 120 hours' battery life so you can explore new terrains and track your running route smarter than ever before.
Features You'll Want To Try: You name it, the Suunto offers it – alongside the impressive battery promise, there are sleep and activity tracking and performance tracking in 80 individual sport modes, including running, trail running, cycling, mountain biking, pool and open water swimming, triathlon, obstacle racing), GPS altitude, training load and recovery time recommendations and optical heart rate.
It's a rugged watch promising fast GPS pick-up and designed for off-road trail running.
Smart Watch Functions: Sleep tracking, steps and calls, texts, emails and social media notifications.
Price & Where To Buy: £435.00, suunto.com
