Wahoo and Coros Just Teamed Up to Break Garmin’s Grip on Your Data

Today Coros and Wahoo are launching a partnership that could seriously shake up the consumer training market. This story is technical, but if you care about competition, options, and prices, it is a massive shift.

The Problem with the Walled Garden

Before today, Garmin had Garmin Connect, and it was a core ingredient in the brand outpacing other fitness companies. It is the reason Garmin is the bike computer to beat, and it is the reason why, despite the price, many people choose Garmin watches.

Garmin Connect allows comprehensive fitness tracking. The system updates in real-time based on the work you do on a bike, and if you use a Garmin watch, it accounts for recovery using sleep and heart rate metrics. The basic promise is that if you stay within the Garmin ecosystem, you do not need any additional tools to guide your training, no matter how deep you want to go.

The problem is that Garmin is expensive, and it’s a walled garden — that is, non-Garmin devices can’t integrate into this seamless data sharing. But there is hope. Coros actually offers a system that is every bit as capable. The brand has bike computers and watches for training and recovery data collection, as well as a highly capable system called the Coros Training Hub. There is still a slight issue, though.

Like Garmin, Coros is a walled garden but Coros only has one head unit option. The Coros Dura is a niche product that does not work for everyone. The selling proposition is its great price and the fact that you essentially never need to charge it, but Garmin offers a compelling hardware advantage.

Wahoo’s Missing Piece

Wahoo can compete toe-to-toe with Garmin hardware. In many ways, Wahoo bike computers are actually better. The ease of use that leverages your smartphone is a huge selling feature, and if you need to ride serious distance without stopping, the Wahoo Ace has a claimed 35-hour battery life. The Wahoo Ace is also the only bike computer to ever integrate a wind sensor.

As good as Wahoo is, there is no longer a Wahoo watch (it lagged behind the market and is now gone), and it lacks a comprehensive unified training platform. Wahoo SYSTM is one of the best, but it’s an additional cost on top of the devices.

A Unified Ecosystem, Without the Garmin Tax

Today, Wahoo and Coros are coming together to fix the current landscape. Wahoo and Coros have created a two-way API integration. For Coros users who are also runners, your watch now connects directly with the Wahoo KICKR RUN treadmill to receive accurate data via Bluetooth without additional sensors.

For those who are cyclists though, you now have options. For cyclists in the Coros ecosystem things don’t actually change that much. The big change is cyclists who are in the Wahoo ecosystem. Starting today, you can add a Coros watch to track recovery metrics, and with no additional purchases or fees, you now have a unified training ecosystem to track your progress.

From here forward, if you are looking for a new bike computer, you can choose hardware from either the Coros or Wahoo ecosystem without needing to solve for a separate training platform later. Activity files from either brand automatically upload to both the Coros training platform and the Wahoo app.

To cement the partnership, Wahoo Fitness is now selling the Coros APEX 4 and PACE 4 watches. Coros watches will also offer custom Wahoo digital watch faces, with custom Wahoo watch bands coming late summer.

For more information visit the Wahoo Fitness or Coros website.