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We love the Coros Apex watch, to the point where we awarded it our Coach Approved tag owing to its winning combination of reliable sports tracking, monster battery life and low price – the Apex 46mm costs £299.99 and the Apex 42mm costs £269.99.

So we were understandably excited when the news hit our inbox that Coros was launching a premium version of the Apex – the Apex Pro. The new watch will sit between the Apex and the Vertix mountain watch in Coros’s line-up, although at £459.99 the Apex Pro is a sizeable step up in price from the standard Apex.

The Apex Pro adds an extra button and has a bigger knob, which you twirl to navigate its menus. It also adds touchscreen functionality, but only in certain instances, like when you’re using the Apex to follow a breadcrumb trail.

Coros has also increased the battery life on the Apex Pro to 40 hours of GPS, up from 35 hours on the Apex 46mm (the Apex Pro only comes in the larger size), and added a pulse oximeter to measure your blood oxygen saturation. This last feature will mainly be of use to adventurous types who frequently find themselves at high altitudes, because it will help you gauge how well you’re acclimatising.

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That’s about it in terms of headline updates to the watch, which does mean that if you’ve already invested in the Apex, there’s not really enough there to justify trading up for the new Pro version.

However, for those still deciding on what sports watch to go for, the Apex Pro adds another option to rival the best from Garmin, Polar and Suunto. Coros’s devices don’t have the deep array of features available on other watches, Garmin’s and Polar’s in particular, but they are easy to use and they cover everything runners and triathletes could need in an attractive package.

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Nick Harris-Fry is a journalist who has been covering health and fitness since 2015. Nick is an avid runner, covering 70-110km a week, which gives him ample opportunity to test a wide range of running shoes and running gear. He is also the chief tester for fitness trackers and running watches, treadmills and exercise bikes, and workout headphones.