The best running watches for women in 2024

If you’re looking to fine-tune your performance and get your finish time down, a good running watch is your best friend. They’re useful tools, helping you plan your training and optimise your routine.

But running watches today are not just about tracking your run time and heart rate. Many are able to feed back key statistics about your run, allowing you to pour over the data, analyse your training readiness and identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Every running watch needs a good GPS, allowing you to track your runs, but they can provide data on resting heart rate and sleep, as well as helping you manage stress levels with mindfulness exercises.

There’s a lot to look out for, depending on just how much depth you want.

Tried and tested: Best running watches for women at a glance

• Best for overall performance: Polar Vantage V2 | Buy now from Polar
• Highly rated:  Garmin Fenix Solar 7S | Buy now from Garmin
• Best running watch for battery life: Coros Pace 3 | Buy now from ebay

Best running watches for women

Coros Pace 3

Price: £219 / $288

Coros also again blows the competition away in the battery life stakes, with 38hrs in GPS activity mode and 30 days in normal tracking mode. Ultra triathletes take note.

The 30g weight (the equivalent of two compact discs) and small 4.19cm size (1.2” display) is barely noticeable on the wrist.

The LCD screen is adequate in terms of display and brightness, but there’s an array of fun faces you can choose from on the app, including doughnut-themed backdrops. Custom data screens are available, too.

The Pace 3 lacks maps on the watch screen, but it’ll offer turn-by-turn instructions and breadcrumb navigation if you have your smartphone with you.

There are now 20 sport profiles, again including triathlon and swim, bike and run sessions both indoor and out, although sadly there’s still no MTB option.

Have a look at our full, in-depth review of the Coros Pace 3

Garmin Forerunner 165

Price: £429.99 / $565

One thing we’re not short of as triathletes is choice when it comes to Garmins. In recent years it seems they’ve been breeding like (small, very technical) rabbits and at a quick search on the brand’s website today there are now 18 versions to choose from in the Forerunner category alone. So where does the latest, the 165, fit in?

Coming in around £180 less than the next Forerunner with this tech (the 265) it’s an attractive option if the ultra-bright, clear screen and the ability to display things like photos on your screen matters to you.

Triathlon is where you hit a snag with the 165, though. The list of activity profiles here includes running, trail running and ultra
running, and you also get biking, indoor biking, pool swimming and open water swimming… But no multisport profiles. So to use it for triathlon, you’d have to stop your activity after each leg and restart in a new profile.

Read the full Garmin Forerunner 165 review

Garmin Forerunner 255S GPS

Price: £300 / $395

This watch from industry-giant Garmin packs an array of features into a small package, notching in at a feathery 39g.

This smaller version of the Forerunner 255 is capable of holding its charge for up to 12 days of battery life in smartwatch mode and up to 26 hours in GPS mode (though you’ll get more from the larger version).

It gives you access to a full suite of Garmin’s advanced metrics and training tools, including everything from running power and dynamics to visual race predictors.

It can help you plan your strategy with workouts suggested daily, and there’s also a built-in triathlon-specific activity profile.

It can also double as a smartwatch for everyday life, allowing you to make contactless payments, check smartphone notifications and download widgets for a fully-customisable watch face.

Have a look at our full, in-depth review of the Garmin Forerunner 255s.

Garmin Fenix 7S

Price: £599.99 / $790 (without solar), £689.99 / $908 (with solar)

The Fenix 7s is a smaller version of one of Garmin’s latest models, the Fenix 7.

It provides GPS tracking for up to 37 hours, allowing you to track even the longest of routes. There’s also a navigation system to help you find your way.

It comes equipped with all of Garmin’s latest training features. Mentioning them all would constitute a full-blown essay, but a few standouts are a training readiness measurement and real-time stamina feedback to avoid overexerting yourself while training or competing.

You can even download music directly to the watch, so you don’t need to worry about bringing your phone with you when running.

Have a look at our full, in-depth review of the Garmin Fenix Solar 7S

Coros Pace 2

Price: £249.99 / $329

If you’re looking for a watch that doesn’t feel too bulky on your wrist, this super-lightweight watch from Coros weighs in at just 29g.

The battery is said to offer 20 days of standard use while you’ll get a claimed 30 hours of battery life in GPS mode.

As well as your standard heart rate and GPS tracking, you’ll also get data metrics such as cadence, stride length, pace and more.

Plus, Coros includes a personal training system with over 200 exercises, tracking calories burned throughout the movement and a heatmap of the muscle groups most active.

Track run mode also includes an algorithm to closely track your running history, whether around a track or cross-country.

See our Coros Pace 2 review for more.

Polar Vantage V2

Price: £449 / $590

Polar’s Vantage V2 features a battery life spanning seven days in smartwatch mode and up to 40 hours in GPS mode and comes with the full gamut of features.

For example, the GPS features a hill splitter to track uphill and downhill running with precision, providing an altitude profile to analyse your performance.

There are several advanced training metrics, including running and cycling performance tests, as well as a leg recovery test to ensure your legs are ready for training.

This is part of Polar’s focus on maintaining a balance between recovery and training – the training load and recovery metrics help see how sessions are causing strain and how you can tweak your routine to produce optimal performance and general quality of life.

The FitSpark training guide provides exercises and guidance daily, using data collected from your training history and fitness level.

There are also music controls, weather updates and phone notifications to keep you in touch through everyday life.

See our full Polar Vantage V2 review here.

Garmin Forerunner 55

Price: £129 / $169

Another Forerunner to add to the pack, the 55 offers myriad features aimed at analysing and driving on your performance, including above average GPS and optical heart rate; daily suggested workouts based on your training and fitness; and GPS-based pace guidance.

We like the recovery advisor, which recommends rest periods after each workout. Although the 55 is heavily engineered toward the run leg, it’s also good for cycling and pool swim tracking, delivering a host of handy metrics including stroke count and swim efficiency.

However, there’s no multisport mode to allow you to track an entire race as one activity.

Battery life’s moderate, offering up to 20 hours in full-GPS mode.

Fitbit Versa 3

Price: £199.99 / $263

Fitbit’s Versa 3 is a delicious-looking gadget that now includes accurate built-in GPS, optical heart-rate sensor, dubbed the ‘PurePulse 2.0’, and oxygen-saturation measurement.

However, it is hard to vouch for accuracy and we certainly wouldn’t rely on it to verify clinical problems.

Arguably more useful is the ability to control music from your watch, though this links to your phone which adds bulk. While the touchscreen’s reassuringly reliable, the button’s poor. Change, please.

In terms of triathlon abilities, it’s sadly quite erratic. There’s no tri feature and like a couple others on test, the swim’s pool only. Run tracking, however, is good.

More women’s running watches to consider…

Garmin Forerunner 265

Price: £429.99 / $449.99

This is a svelte watch that’ll suit those who like that barely-there feel, which has up to 15 days’ use in smartwatch mode and 14 hours with full multi-band GPS.

The training and health monitoring functions are all you would expect from Garmin, with heart rate monitoring (including variability, resting and weekly average), stress and sleep monitoring and training load combining to give useful feedback on training readiness.

Suggested workouts and training plans are a nice feature. Plus you have race-adaptive training plans to prepare for your next run race, be it a 5km or marathon.

The Women’s Health Tracking feature will help you track and log your menstrual cycle – useful when pencilling in harder or easier workouts.

Polar Ignite 2