COROS Spring 2026: Hill Alerts and Pace Strategy
COROS has released a spring firmware update that adds 14 new features, including two that triathletes and trail runners have been waiting for. Hill Alerts (COROS’s answer to Garmin’s ClimbPro) and Pace Strategy (its answer to PacePro) arrive free on the current and previous generation of watches. That is the key difference: Garmin usually reserves new features for its newest models. COROS reaches back two generations.
Hill Alerts: a preview of your climbs
The feature works during running, trail running and hiking. It requires a route uploaded in advance from the COROS app.
The watch alerts you at three points: at the start of a segment (length, elevation gain, average gradient), during the climb (remaining distance, remaining gain, current gradient), and at the end (confirmation that you’ve finished it). The Elevation Details view shows the full route profile with each segment’s difficulty colour-coded.
COROS shows the current gradient in real time, not an average like Garmin. On variable terrain that’s a real advantage. The gradient shading along each segment is clear, comparable to what Hammerhead does on bike computers and, according to reviewers, better than Garmin’s on AMOLED screens.
Limitations? The feature needs a loaded route: it doesn’t work standalone. You can’t adjust how sensitive climb detection is, which on rolling terrain can clutter the screen with alerts. And there’s no support for cycling. Hill Alerts won’t work on the bike.
Pace Strategy: a pacing plan for race day
Pace Strategy generates pacing plans matched to the terrain and your current fitness.
On the road you pick a distance (5k up to a marathon, or any custom length), and the app generates a target time from your training data. You can set a pacing profile: positive split, negative split, or even. Individual segments can be edited manually, and the target time recalculates automatically.
On the trail you load the route, and the system spreads pace across the elevation profile and your fitness. If the race is within three days, entering the start date makes the watch overlay a weather forecast onto each segment. You can also mark aid stations with a planned stop time.
On the watch you see four data fields: target pace, projected finish time, time ahead or behind plan, and, on routes, distance to the next waypoint. After the activity, the watch compares the plan against reality segment by segment.
The weak point? Route plans split into 1k, 5k or 10k intervals, not individual climbs. On a mountain ultra that’s a problem: a long segment can cover several ascents and descents, and an averaged pace over mixed terrain doesn’t give precise guidance.
Hybrid Fitness mode: COROS moves into Hyrox
The new mode tracks all 8 functional stations: SkiErg, Sled Push, Sled Pull, Burpee Broad Jumps, rowing, Farmer’s Carry, Sandbag Lunges and Wall Balls, matching the Hyrox race format exactly.
There are three modes: Race (all 8 stations with running intervals, in Individual, Doubles or Relay format), Training (any configuration, with Continuous, Fixed or Manual pauses), and Test (a standardised benchmark: 1k run, 50 burpees, 100 lunges, 1k row, 30 push-ups, 100 wall balls).
On the plus side, COROS pairs with Stryd in Hybrid Fitness mode, giving reliable pace data on the indoor running segments, where GPS struggles.
On the downside, moving between stations takes 15 presses of the bottom-left button over a full Hyrox race. An accidental press of the crown pauses the activity, and unlike Garmin, there’s no way to undo it.
Which watches get the update?
| Feature | PACE 4 | APEX 4 | NOMAD | PACE Pro | PACE 3 | APEX 2/2 Pro | VERTIX 2/2S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pace Strategy | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hill Alerts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hybrid Fitness | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Nutrition Alerts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Older models (PACE 2, APEX Pro, VERTIX 1) get only Race Predictor Trend. PIN codes and large-font notifications are, for now, limited to the NOMAD, APEX 4, PACE Pro and PACE 4, with the rest to follow.
The rest of the update, in brief
Nutrition Alerts now works in 5-minute increments, across a 5 to 60-minute range. Passcode is a 4-digit PIN that locks the watch once it’s been off your wrist for more than a minute. Sleep Mode syncs to your wake time and cuts screen interruptions. Race Predictor Trend tracks predicted times over time, not just a single reading.
Verdict
COROS is steadily closing the feature gap with Garmin, and doing it for free, across a wide range of models. Hill Alerts and Pace Strategy are concrete race-day tools that, a year ago, were exclusive to Garmin. No Hill Alerts support on the bike is a letdown for triathletes, but for running and trail, this is solid work.