COROS has begun a social media teaser campaign for what they’re calling “a different kind of bike computer”. The teaser doesn’t say much, but obviously, I’ve got some thoughts. COROS e-mailed existing customers with a simple one-image graphic that says “COROS Dura – Coming June 2024”:
The alt-text on that e-mail says “A Different Kind of Bike Computer”
That e-mail links to a Dura homepage which in turn has a 17-second computer-generated video, where presumably the budget was too tight to hire a proper CGI lighting crew. Thus, you can’t see much. Along with that, there’s text below it which says:
“We have often been asked when we would create a bike computer.
While we have always been passionate about cycling, we didn’t want to develop a new head unit without creating something different.
We are proud to announce COROS DURA, the ultimate cycling adventure and training companion.”
Those be some big words there, namely the last sentence: “Ultimate cycling adventure and training companion” is definitely aiming high.
Now, like I said, the imagery is very very dark. But, I possess a magical power: Adobe Lightroom. Said power allows me to quickly brighten dark images. So, we can take that image at the top, via the YouTube video, and bring out the shadows:
The super-bright white light thing is simply some graphics that in the video scan down the unit’s front. I can’t remove that. However, we see that it appears the front is split into two chunks. First, is a lower chunk, taking up about 2/3rds of the front of the unit. I’d presume that’s the screen.
However, if we take another angle and brighten it up, there’s also a different area at the top right that’s seemingly not connected. This has the ‘DURA’ name in it, as well as being much smaller. You can see the very bottom edge of it, just in the lower right corner. This could be a secondary screen, a light, a solar panel, or perhaps just a place to stick gummy bears. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, in the lower rightish corner, you’ll see a round thingy. This pretty clearly looks like a Digital Crown. That makes sense, given all of COROS’s watches have digital crowns, so trying to translate software UI concepts would be much easier if they just kept that rolling wheel.
Beyond that though, we don’t know much, except June.
However, I’d suggest the following tidbits are worthwhile considering, in no particular order:
– The GPS bike computer landscape is surprisingly crowded, at numerous price points. You’ve got what I’d call the ‘Big Three’ (Garmin, Wahoo, Hammerhead) with the obvious and massive lead. Then you’ve got a slate of non-Western budget-focused companies (Bryton/Magene/iGPSSport/etc…) producing look-a-like products. Some of these are reasonably good, but most (all?) of them suffer from weird usually UI quirks or bugs that might or might not matter to some users. Finally, you’ve got a weird collection of has-been GPS brands out there too (e.g., the Cateye/Lezyne/etc). These companies have focused on other products (e.g. Lezyne makes lots of other great things), but have largely neglected their GPS lineup. Still, they influence the lower-end of the price sphere. Oh, and then there’s the Sigma Rox. They produce some really solid bike computer units, but are basically only catering to specific geographies (e.g. Germany).
– Competing in this landscape will require quite a bit of focus, and a very heavy-handed update cycle. If we focus just on the Big Three for a second, they have current and previous gen offerings that scale down to the mid-$250 range depending on various sales/deals. This includes things like the Garmin Edge 530/830, Wahoo BOLT V1, and Garmin Edge Explore series. These are still very solid units, especially when put up against any new entrant or budget competitor. They are heavily full-featured, well-established, battle-hardened, and do anything almost anyone would want them to do. Likewise, despite the quirks found in Bryton and other units, those next-tier units generally get the core functionality largely right. Of course, they sell at budget prices (many sub-$200) to account for lack of advanced functionality, brand name, and said quirks. Said another way: If they were better, consumers would be willing to pay more.
– Now getting to COROS. The company has established itself as a very legit player in the watch game, mainly focused on the running side (along with climbing). However, the cycling side has largely been an afterthought, until recently when they added a phone companion mode. Virtually all of the physiological type metrics cater to runners, not cyclists. Still, at its core, they’ve sorted out and dealt with things like sensor pairing, recording from power meters, FIT file stuff, uploads/download from TrainingPeaks, Strava & Komoot, and countless other things. These are all of the plumbing that bogs down new entrants. It’s death by a thousand cuts, but COROS has mostly gotten past those cuts because of their watch business.
(COROS Companion App Mode, indoors, also an outdoor versions)
– Where COROS really needs to focus is ensuring entirely seamless integration via their app, and with the rest of their watches. Said differently: COROS’s main pitch in 2024 should be “The bike computer for COROS watch users”. Ensuring super-seamless integration with their watches for things like training load, recovery, and more. And importantly, ensuring those metrics are cycling-focused and compatible.
– If they can do that, they’ll have a unique combination that Wahoo won’t be able to easily counter as the company continues to exit and discontinue the Wahoo RIVAL watch realm. Further, Wahoo (and Hammerhead for that matter), never focused on those training load type metrics. Though, Hammerhead does have their partnership with also-watch competitor Suunto, which does get your rides into the Suunto platform and counting towards training load type metrics.
– Above all, COROS needs to think very very carefully about price. As I’ve said countless times before “COROS is most deadly when they undercut others on price”, and that’s going to be even more critical here. I’d encourage them to really follow their original COROS Pace watch when it first came out: Undercut on price, offer good-enough features and a bug-free experience, and then follow through with a very strong update cycle. If they can do that, they’ll be in good shape.
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With that, I look forward to a busy June. I’ve been doing a heck of a lot of riding lately, and there’s plenty more to come. As always, stay tuned for plenty of cycling-focused full in-depth reviews of all sorts of things, whenever things happen. Thanks for reading!
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“Said differently: COROS’s main pitch in 2024 should be “The bike computer for COROS watch users”.”
I agree and this is me! I have had two COROS watches (Apex and Apex 2) which I really like and have been wanting the option for a COROS bike computer. Excited to see what it includes and hoping it’s quarter-turn compatible to make the swap easy.
Same here. I ‘ve been very happy with my APex 2 but have bee waiting for a better way to use Coros on a bike.
SOmething else that I would find very appealling is better integration of Coros with Zwift. Roight now I just broadcast my HR to Zwift, but I’d prefer to have my Zwift data automatically imported by Coros or some such.
New Fenix when?
What’s missing in the 7 Pro? I love mine (had 5 & 6), but I’d like LTE and real-time ECG, which I think is too much to ask for battery life. I’d have no problem wearing a smartwatch on the other wrist, but only if I find one with no problem running for more than a day.
I think I would like more colours in the MIP display for better vibrancy and higher resolution while not being oled.
new suunto Ocean and suunto Race S, when?
Are you going to test the Absolute Cycling One GPS unit? That one looks promising!
Not to mention years too late (it was promised by the end of 2020, AFAIK). But it would indeed be curious to see if it’s as accurate as the current high-end units.
It looks like (according to my e-mail), it’s been almost two years since I last year from them. It’s plausible they were at a DCR Open House event and I said Hi (since they’re from here), but my brain is mostly organized around e-mail.
If they are coming for the adventure market, their watches destroy most of the competition on battery life. If they can bring that feature over that will have a lot of appeal.
Maybe life for day to day usage but my pace 2 quit just after 2 year warranty ended. I see online that happened to quite a number of people. Even if it’s because people leave them on charge overnight (like me) it doesn’t seem to happen to the more expensive (but with eerily same features) watches like Garmin.
There a picture of a unit that seems to be Coros bike computer from one Freddy Ovett’s rides … who announced recently his partnership with Coros …
link to strava.com
here is a better pic:
link to strava.com
Oh, surely did not expect that, going all in on solar.Guess they are really aiming for completely taking over a niche instead of struggling as a jack of trades. Seems to have worked for them in watches, and a healthy awareness of niche nature could certainly help them getting expectations right (e.g. sizing manufacturing runs, keeping software deviation from watches small)
“COROS Wearables” huh…
If that’s a big solar panel, sure seems interesting – if I didn’t just change back to Garmin 6 months ago.
Absolutely love my Apex 2 for hiking. If they take the battery life, app integration, maps, and training load modules from the watch then they are on to a winner, particularly for adventure cycling and bike packing.
Looks like more competition on the “serious battery life” end of the market! That will be tough for Wahoo/HH/Sigma, their excuse “nobody can deliver a fresh UX without suffering from Android runtime, look at Garmin more they struggle moving ahead their software” blown away (would have already been blown away by Bryton/iGPSport/etc if anyone cared I guess?)
And maybe worse for Garmin, if they decided to burn their battery life supremacy for fancy screens thinking “if 15h is good enough for those Android devices, 15h can be good enough for an AMOLED Edge”
Digital crown is interesting: on one hand it feels like cutting corners, “look at how little effort they invested converting the watch UI!”, but on the other hand, why care about that impression, if it works? And it probably works really well, adding an instant unique twist (sorry) to their device. As long as it’s also touchscreen it will be fine. And it will also be touchscreen, all their current watches are and once the software is made with a touchscreen assumption it would be prohibitively expensive to adapt it to a product relying on buttons and crown alone, no way back.
Yup, COROS has always been about battery life first. On the wearables side, that was their leading unique value prop for a while. But of course, as they added more health-type features, that slowly ate into their battery life, and these days their top-end claims are basically in line with their competition (depending on how you do or don’t count solar, that does or doesn’t end up higher/lower).
But, looking at bike computers, they don’t really have to deal with all that optical HR sensor/related messiness. Of course, inversely, if they do proper routable TBT navigation, that’s an entirely different ball of wax that COROS hasn’t touched yet (their wearables can’t re-route on the fly). Generally speaking, for the first time a company transitions from non-routable to routable, it’s about a 2-year time period from that first device/software release hitting the market, to that feature being actually usable in the real-world (assuming Wahoo/Hammerhead/Sigma/etc are to be taken as data points). It’s arguably the hardest thing in sports tech today.
I would switch from Garmin ecosystem to Coros, but as I know, Coros does not have the training respiration rate, what is an extremly important metrics, accurate calculated by milliseconds difference at heart-rate variability at inhalation-exhalation.
(Measuring by Garmin watch or bike computer connected to a heartrate-belt, not optical sensor)
Why do you think the training respiration rate is an extremely important metrics?
I did not find any real high value for it . But I only have theoratical knowledge of this; I have read about, but don’t have a watch that can measure it. So I am interested in people with practical experience and found your remark therefore interesting.
Could be an ace
I see what you did there…
“Dura Ace” was the first association that popped into my head. Coincidence? Partnership? Infringement lawsuit?
To add to the speculation, I’m assuming Dura is just an abbreviated version of Durable, and that Strava pic looks to support the solar angle.
My guess is short for “endurance” to tie in with the solar ideas.
Here you can see the device in full at the start of Unbound..
link to cyclingweekly.com
You mentioned ָSigma; I live in the US and can purchase Sigma via Amazon or Modern Bike. Interested in the basics. Why not Rox 4? Is lack of US presence of Sigma a significant drawback ? Thanks
My wife is using Sigma ROX Evo 11.1. This bike computer has quite good quality, but unfortunately Sigma has a SW issue since the end of 2023. This results in activities with cut-off routes and data pushed to Strava. Sigma are pretending the issue is not on their side, but I’ve discovered that FIT file produced by the Sigma Rox contains invalid events, namely “stopAll” event at (probably) random point. Strava ignores all data from FIT file that occurred after the timestamp of this event.
Issue details:
link to communityhub.strava.com
The Rox 11.1 is a nice little computer however, it is plagued with issues. You cannot upgrade to the latest firmware due to bugs within it. That basically means, no radar support. I had to follow some other method to update as it cannot be done via the Sigma Ride app. I think their company is struggling with leadership issues.
Don’t buy sigma. We used their old digital computers. Nothing ever worked quite right. The speed sensor was off. Therefore, mileage was wrong. They never admit fault nor fix things.
A fellow said to me, “Buy a new one.”
Cycling weekly have an article up with a proper pic of it on someone’s bike. The enormous top bezel isn’t looking great.
link to cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net
link to cyclingweekly.com
Thanks for the picture and link. I’m sure the perspective doesn’t help and I understand why they use the big solar unit but that just looks terrible with the clean cockpit.
i’m not sure people will like the large solar panel nor the stretched rectangular shape.
One rider’s stats claims 90 hours without charge
The review before the review
Thanks Roman!
here´s a pic link to cyclingweekly.com
I did the crowdfunding of Absolute many years ago. Mine finally arrived in Australia this week, just setting it up. Haven’t ridden with it yet, but was hoping you had been testing it DCR so i can get a heads up on everything.
Hello ray, any study or project for this product that I just saw ttps://engoeyewear.com/??
Yeah, I played with one for a while actually. Never quite bubbled up to the final review, as I couldn’t get the fit to work well for me, and especially in running, it just bounced everywhere (this coming from a guy that generally can make due with even the worst of fits).
Ray,
If you scroll over to 17:45 you can see a guy using the Coros unit.
link to youtube.com
Looks interesting from that glimpse, weird also. Hopefully no embargo was violated in that clip!
Yeah, I don’t really understand the various embargoes here….
Now all this is total assumption, but it is interesting to me, that we are seeing live units in the wild like unbound, people like Ben Delaney are getting mini looks from athletes using the device, cycling weekly is definitely putting out information, and all the premier tech reviewers in this space like Ray, and Shane, etc have nothing? Did Coros purposely skip them? Or will we find out that they are just being held back by agreements and will have comprehensive reviews like normal on launch day?
At the moment, I’m adhering to the things I’m supposed to adhere to.
I wonder how many data fields you will have on the map, if it’s as many as Garmin (only 2), I’d prefer Wahoo, thank you. Wahoo has 6 fields of data on the map. This is currently available to me. The only thing I need is for Wahoo to be a bigger screen. Check on larger versions of wahoo.
CIQ Edge MapFields and map screen has 4 or even 8 (on large 1030/1040 devices) data fields.
The idea of a large solar panel is cool. The map looks poor. No data fields :(. the knob will probably be difficult to use while driving.
Targeting the adventure folks (and people who think they are going on an adventure) with extreme battery live might be a good idea… but i am not sure whether this niche might actually be too small.
Most of the “normale” users won’t consider a head unit with the massive solar panel.
And most Brevet folks already have a setup that works for them, i.e. a power bank and a smartphone (that can do much more then a headunit). And, to me, they do not appear as people to easily jump onto something else…
Сoros, кill this glitсhу Garmin with its crooked firmware and hand-аssеd programmers!
They’re already tired!
My thought is that if it is a bike computer for coros watch user, there won’t be any GPS chip in the bike computer. That could be a screen mirroring, like they’ve just done in the app. This way, and with a solar panel, the battery life could be huge.