The Galaxy Watch series has been here for a long time, and their diverse array of features helps users get the most out of their bucks. It looks stylish on the wrist and functions even better with their improved ability in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6.
The Coros Pace 3 is more of an athlete-specific watch with fewer features but excellent activity tracking capabilities. It doesn’t have a wide array of features like you get in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, but the features it has work well to cover all your needs.
With both devices offering excellent performance, we decided to take a quick ride with them to find them to have excellent capabilities compared to their competitive pricing.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 vs Coros Pace 3: Quick Glance
At first glance, you can spot a few differences, like that the Coros Pace 3 is slimmer, has a digital crown and a button on the right, with 5 LEDs, 4 photodetectors, a SpO2 sensor covered in protective glass, and a charging port on the back. It has a nylon and silicone strap clasp with velcro that has a good grip and won’t fall off during running.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a little bit bulkier, but it packs some serious health and fitness tracking capabilities. It has two buttons, a microphone on the right, and a speaker on the left side. There’s a SpO2, a heart rate sensor, and a charging port on the back. It has quick-release d-buckle bands that are easy to change with a good clasp.
Pricing
The Samsung Galaxy Watch comes in 40mm and 44mm versions, with both Bluetooth and LTE models. The 40mm version is priced at $399 for Bluetooth and $349 for LTE, while the 44mm version is priced at $329 for Bluetooth and $379 for LTE.
The Coros Pace 3, meanwhile, comes in a single size and is priced at $299. It is cheaper than the Galaxy Watch 6, but it doesn’t have LTE or a size choice either.
Let’s uncover the differences
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a little bulkier but packs a wide array of features inside. The 1.3- or 1.5-inch AMOLED screen is surrounded by an aluminium alloy casing with sapphire crystal on top and ceramic on the back. It has two buttons, with the top one to teleport you on the home screen and the bottom one for recent apps. It also has a built-in microphone on the right and a speaker on the left side of the watch.
Measuring at 42.8 x 44.4 x 9 mm and weighing 28.7g, the Galaxy Watch 6 comes in graphite, silver, and gold colorways with quick release, d-buckle silicone bands. You can also choose between fabric, eco-leather, sport, and milanese bands. The straps are 22mm in length.
For customising your watch experience, it has multiple watch faces and options to customise them. My personal favourite is the sleep coaching watch face; it merges sleep data from several nights to provide a sleep score and personalised guidance to improve your sleep.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 boasts a 300mAh battery capacity that can provide enough juice to survive for 40 hours and drops down to 30 hours with Always-On Display (AOD) enabled. If you want to track your good night sleep like me, the 30% battery life is enough, as it only takes 10–15% battery life to track Zs. It comes with a 10W charger, and charging for just 8 minutes can give your watch a whopping 8 hours of battery life.
The Coros Pace 3, meanwhile, is slimmer with an Apple Watch-like digital crown for navigation and a button for recent apps. The 1.2-inch, 240 x 240-pixel LCD screen is covered in mineral glass on top and a fiber-reinforced polymer casing. There’s one downside: its display brightness. Compared to the Samsung or Garmin watches, the watch makes it a little harder to spot content in direct sunlight.
At 41.9 x 41.9 x 11.7mm and weighing 30 grams with nylon and 39 grams with silicone band, the Pace 3 comes in red, white, and black colorways. It has a quick release, a metal pin band, or a nylon velcro band. The straps are 22mm in length.
For customisation, it comes with 5 pre-built watch faces, which you can change by going to a toolbox or shortcut menu. From there, you can change colours, watch faces, menu items, and more.
In terms of battery life, the Pace 3 can last for around 24 days on a single charge and drops down to 38 hours with GPS enabled. There’s no fast charging support, so it takes approximately 2 hours to fully charge the device.
Let’s break down the specs
| Specifications | Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 | Coros Pace 3 |
|---|---|---|
| General | ||
| Brand | Samsung | Coros |
| Model Name | Galaxy Watch 6 | Pace 3 |
| Design and Body | ||
| Weight | 28 grams | 39 grams |
| Material | Aluminum Alloy | Fiber-reinforced Polymer |
| Lens Material | Sapphire Crystal | Mineral Glass |
| Shape | Round | Round |
| Display | ||
| Type | AMOLED | LCD |
| Touch | Yes | Yes |
| Size | 1.3 or 1.5 inch | 1.2 inch |
| Resolution | 280 x 280 pixels | 240 x 240 pixels |
| Always-on Display | Yes | Yes |
| Connectivity | ||
| Bluetooth | Yes | Yes |
| GPS | Yes | Yes |
| Extra | ||
| Sensors | Heart Rate Monitor, SpO2 (Blood Oxygen) Monitor, Calorie Count, Step Count, Sleep | Heart Rate Monitor, SpO2 (Blood Oxygen) Monitor |
| NFC | Yes | No |
| Camera | ||
| Camera | No | No |
| Technical | ||
| Compatibility | Android, iOS | Android, iOS |
| Multimedia | ||
| Music | Yes | No |
| Battery | ||
| Backup | Up to 40 hours | Up to 24 days |
| Fast Charging | Yes | No |
| Features | ||
| Water Resistant | Yes | Yes |
| Water Rating | 5 ATM | 5 ATM |
| Water Depth | 50m | 50m |
| Price | $329 (40mm) and $379 (44mm) | $229 |
Health, fitness, and activity tracking
When it comes to health and fitness tracking, there aren’t many features to explore in the Coros Pace 3, but the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 excels in this area.
The Galaxy Watch 6 features Samsung’s Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) sensor to provide insights into your body composition, including skeletal muscle, fat mass, body water, body fat, body mass index (BMI), and basal metabolic rate (BMR). It also has a skin temperature sensor, a 24×7 heart rate monitor, stress monitoring, a cycle tracker, and a SpO2 (blood oxygen) tracker. Plus, it has an ECG capability that can track irregular heart rate rhythms to detect any early signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib).
In terms of activity tracking, it can track over 90 sports modes, including swimming, running, walking, biking, and much more. It can also detect activities automatically, including walking, running, cycling, elliptical trainers, rowing machines, high-movement activities, and swimming. But you must perform these activities continuously for 10 minutes for this feature to work. It collects all your data inside Samsung’s health app and provides more detailed health and fitness metrics, plus the data is encrypted for security and privacy purposes.
The Coros Pace 3, on the other hand, features an next-gen optical heart rate sensor and SpO2 sensor, plus a redesigned rear sensor array that provides more accurate data and readings. The heart rate readings match the readings of the chest strap, showcasing excellent accuracy during workouts or running.
In terms of activity tracking, it can track multiple sports modes, including running, biking, swimming, strength, and snow. Plus, Coros added five new activity modes to its arsenal, including hiking, trail running, skiing, XC skiing, and snowboarding.
What about sleep tracking?
The Galaxy Watch 6 excels at sleep tracking by analysing your sleep time, cycles, and nuances and providing insights into whether you have properly recovered or not. Plus, Samsung also added a sleep coaching watch face and sleep tile that show sleep score, sleep time, sleep stages, blood oxygen during sleep, snore detection, and sleep consistency. If you like the sleep coaching watch face, you can opt for it, but if you don’t like it, the sleep tile would be a way to go as it shows more metrics without changing the watch face.
The Coros Pace 3, meanwhile, tracks when you fall asleep and adjusts its recording to your actual sleeping pattern. It records sleep even when you wake up in the middle of the night for bathroom breaks and detects your sleep pattern. For this feature to work properly, wear the watch tightly on your wrist, as it detects your sleep by monitoring your heart rate. If your watch is loose, too many hand movements can interfere with recording.
Pros and cons:
Coros Pace 3
Pros
- a little bit slimmer than the Galaxy Watch 6.
- Its budget-friendly nature might be more appealing.
- Excellent battery life of 24 days and 38 hours in GPS mode.
- Digital crown for navigation
Cons
- Limited health tracking capability.
- Less visibility when it directs sunlight.
- Lacks customisation (watch faces)
Samsung Galaxy Watch 6
Pros
- Wide array of health and fitness features.
- Advanced sleep tracking
- Crisp and bright display and excellent lightweight design.
- Fast charging support with 8 hours of battery life in 8 minutes.
Cons
- Higher cost compared to Coros Pace 3
- 30 hours of battery life might not be sufficient for a wider audience.
Which should you choose?
Both devices perform better in fitness tracking, but when it comes to other watch aspects, the Coros Pace 3 falls short in so many things. The display has visibility, health and fitness features, sleep tracking, not much customisation, and only a size option. The only advantage it has is in pricing, but the features you are getting even in this price range are still not enough to go for the Pace 3.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, on the other hand, has an excellent bright display, more advanced health and fitness features, advanced sleep tracking, and two size options. There’s only two downsides: the pricing and shorter battery life, but I don’t mind plugging my watch every day for a quick top-up rather than lacking in health tracking capabilities.
So, if you are not on budget restrictions, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is a way to go. But if you don’t want to put a hole in your pocket and just want a watch with excellent fitness tracking, then the Coros Pace 3 might be a better choice for you.