Bottom line: The Garmin Forerunner 165 is $199 and the COROS PACE 4 is $249. For $50 the COROS adds dual-frequency GPS the Garmin does not have and roughly double the battery. The Garmin adds Garmin Connect, the deepest training platform in the category and the reason most people should probably still buy it. This is the closest call in the sub-$300 class, and it comes down to whether you run somewhere GPS struggles. Prices checked 8 September 2026.
Check Forerunner 165 Price → Check COROS PACE 4 Price →
The Numbers
| Forerunner 165 | PACE 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $199 | $249 |
| Display | AMOLED, 43mm | AMOLED, 41mm |
| Dual-frequency GPS | No | Yes |
| Continuous GPS | Around 19 hours | 41 hours |
| Daily battery | Up to 11 days | Up to 19 days |
| Weight | 39g | 32g |
| Platform | Garmin Connect | COROS Training Hub |
| Subscription | None | None |
The COROS wins five of the seven specification rows and costs $50 more. The Garmin wins the row that is not a specification at all, and for a lot of runners that single row outweighs the rest.
The GPS Question Decides This
Everything else is close. This is not.
The PACE 4 receives two satellite frequency bands. The Forerunner 165 receives one. When a signal bounces off glass or concrete before reaching your wrist, the two bands distort differently, so a dual-frequency watch can identify the reflection and discard it. A single-band watch cannot tell a bounced signal from a clean one, so it averages the error into your track.
In practice that shows up in exactly two places: streets with tall buildings on both sides, and trails under heavy tree cover. On open roads, parks and tracks you will never see the difference, and the Garmin’s positioning is perfectly good there. This is not a case of one watch being accurate and the other not.
There is a free way to find out which camp you are in. Run your usual route with any GPS device you already own, including your phone, then look at the map afterwards. If the line follows the road, single-band is fine for where you run and you can stop reading this section. If it cuts through buildings and wanders into the river, you have found a concrete reason to spend the extra $50. We used the same test in our Forerunner 165 versus 265 comparison, where the same specification separates two Garmins.
What Garmin Connect Actually Buys
This is the strongest argument for the cheaper watch, which is an unusual sentence to write.
Garmin Connect is free, and it is the most complete training platform any watch maker runs. Garmin Coach builds adaptive plans that adjust after each run. Daily suggested workouts respond to your recent training. The integration web reaches nearly every app and device in the category, so if your coach writes plans in Connect, your bike computer is a Garmin, or your gym app expects a Garmin feed, that gravity is real and it is worth money.
COROS Training Hub is genuinely capable and considerably smaller. Fewer third-party integrations, a smaller community, and less depth in guided training. For a runner who just wants accurate data on their wrist, that gap barely registers. For someone who wants a platform to structure their training around, it is the whole decision.
Worth adding one point that applies to both: neither charges a subscription. That sounds obvious until you compare it with the recovery devices in our three-year cost breakdown, where an apparently cheaper device carries an annual fee that dwarfs the hardware price.
Battery, and Why the Gap Is Bigger Than It Looks
41 hours of continuous GPS against roughly 19. On paper that is a marathon runner’s non-issue, since neither watch is at risk over four hours.
Where it matters is charging frequency, and the daily figures tell that story better. 19 days against 11 means the PACE 4 gets charged roughly monthly while the Forerunner 165 wants charging every week and a half. Over a year that is around 20 charges versus 35, which is the kind of small friction that decides whether you keep wearing a watch to bed for sleep tracking.
The COROS also achieves this in a 32 gram watch against 39 grams, so you are not trading bulk for endurance, which is the usual bargain in this category. For overnight wear that seven gram difference is more noticeable than it sounds.
If you are running ultras or multi-day events, the 41 hour figure moves from convenient to decisive. For everyone else it is a quality-of-life difference rather than a capability one.
Where Both Watches Hit the Same Wall
Wrist optical heart rate is good at rest and during steady efforts and degrades as intensity rises, identically on both, because it is the same underlying technology reading blood flow through a moving wrist.
In the Stanford validation of seven wearables (Journal of Personalized Medicine, 2017), no device met the researchers’ five percent accuracy threshold for energy expenditure, with the most accurate off by more than 27 percent. Heart rate held up considerably better than calories, but the pattern of degradation at high intensity is consistent across manufacturers.
The practical consequence is the same whichever you buy. Use the trend rather than the absolute number, and if you train by heart rate zones, pair either watch with a chest strap. That is the real accuracy upgrade at this price point and it costs about $100, which is more than the difference between these two watches. Our guide to the validation research goes study by study and our heart rate monitor roundup covers the fix.
How We Evaluate
We do not train with either watch and we will not imply we do. Specifications and prices come from COROS’s and Garmin’s own Amazon listings, checked on 8 September 2026, including the PACE 4’s 41-hour continuous GPS, 19-day daily battery, 32 gram weight and dual-frequency reception, and the Forerunner 165’s AMOLED display, Garmin Coach and daily suggested workouts. Both prices were read live on the same date and both brands discount frequently, which our Garmin buying timing guide covers. The explanation of how dual-frequency positioning works reflects established physics rather than marketing copy. Accuracy figures come from the named Stanford study, linked above. Recommendations are our judgment, labelled as such.
Who Should Buy Which
Buy the Forerunner 165 at $199 if you run on open roads, parks or a track, and you want the better training platform. Garmin Connect, Garmin Coach and the integration ecosystem are worth more to most runners than a GPS feature they will never see the benefit of. This is our pick for the majority.
Buy the COROS PACE 4 at $249 if your GPS test came back messy, if you run trails under canopy or in a city centre, if you want a lighter watch for overnight wear, or if charging monthly instead of weekly appeals. The extra $50 buys real hardware rather than brand.
Look at the cheaper COROS if the AMOLED screen is not a priority. The PACE 3 has the same dual-frequency GPS and a longer daily battery for less, which we covered in our PACE 4 versus PACE 3 breakdown.
Look higher up if you want maps. Neither watch offers real onboard mapping. Our PACE 4 versus Forerunner 265 comparison, running watch roundup and sub-$200 guide cover the wider field.
Check Forerunner 165 Price → Check COROS PACE 4 Price →
FAQ
Is the COROS PACE 4 worth $50 more than the Forerunner 165?
Only if you need dual-frequency GPS or the longer battery. The PACE 4 wins most specification rows, but the Forerunner’s Garmin Connect platform is deeper and matters more to most runners than a GPS feature they will not notice on open roads.
Does the Garmin Forerunner 165 have dual-frequency GPS?
No. It uses single-band positioning, which is accurate on open roads and tracks but more prone to drift between tall buildings and under dense tree cover. The PACE 4 includes dual-frequency reception at $249.
Which has better battery life?
The PACE 4, by roughly double on GPS. COROS rates it at 41 hours continuous GPS and up to 19 days daily use, against roughly 19 hours and 11 days for the Forerunner 165.
Is Garmin Connect better than COROS Training Hub?
It is deeper and integrates far more widely. Garmin Coach builds adaptive plans, daily suggested workouts respond to recent training, and almost every third-party app supports Garmin. COROS Training Hub is capable but smaller. Both platforms are free.
Do either of these require a subscription?
No. Both COROS and Garmin provide their training platforms free, unlike recovery devices such as WHOOP that bundle hardware into an ongoing membership.