I lost my trusty Forerunner 235 that I'd had for the past 7 years, and I'm in the market for a new watch. I haven't been closely keeping up with the market, and things are a lot different now than when I last bought a watch. I'm not a particularly fast or serious runner and I'm not interested in gimmicky smartwatch features. All I want is a watch reliably tracks distance (indoors and out), pace, and heart rate; has a decent battery life; will (hopefully) last as long as my last one; and won't cost me an arm and a leg. I've done some preliminary research, but I have a couple questions I'm hoping someone can answer.
Garmin v. Coros. The big one is whether I should switch from Garmin to Coros. Garmin has never done me wrong (I had a forerunner 15 before my 235), but the watches are expensive. The 265, which I presume is the descendant of my 235, retails at $500. The 55 seems more like my thing—only $200 and just the basics—but then Coros watches caught my eye. The Pace 3 is only $30 more and looks like it has real-time GPS tracking on the watch, which is pretty much the only other feature that entices me. I was looking at other threads about Coros, and people have been trashing on them, saying they're not as accurate as Garmin. Fine, but what does less accurate actually mean? Like, it regularly messes up on routine easy runs? Because that would be a deal-breaker. But if people just mean it takes longer to sync or that it can't accurately map really remote routes, that doesn't bother me much.
Used watches. Because I'm super cheap, I was also looking at getting a used/refurbished watch. My only hesitation is that I want my new watch to last. The used ones I can find aren't that much cheaper that the new ones, and if they die on me in a year or two I'd rather just pay the additional $30-$50 for a new one. Does anyone have experience buying used watches, and if so how long did they last?