Standout Running Gear of 2025: Nutrition, Watches, Shoes, and Lights Worth Your Attention

Introduction

After a year of testing that took in Switzerland, France, Italy, and an ultramarathon in Morocco, a clear set of standout products has emerged. This list covers six items that earned their place through real-world use on long training runs, ultras, and mountain trips: a new nutrition bar, two GPS watches, a wildly popular trail shoe, a pair of run-specific sunglasses, and a fresh head torch.

Precision Fuel & Hydration Chew Bar

Nutrition is deeply personal, and dialling it in usually takes years of trial and error. After roughly three to four years of using Precision Fuel & Hydration products, including the energy chews, standard gels, and electrolyte mix, the new Chew Bar has earned a permanent spot in race packs. It weighs 68 g and packs 60 g of carbs, which is genuinely impressive for the format, and it comes in two flavours: original mint and lemon.

It is the rare piece of running nutrition that is actually enjoyable to eat, easy to digest thanks to the texture, and reliable over long durations. For a fast city marathon, gels may still absorb slightly quicker, but for long training runs and ultras the Chew Bar works beautifully, as proven at Ultra X Morocco where it went down a treat. Beyond the products, the brand’s website is packed with free advice, from race nutrition planning to free video calls with their experts.

Coros Pace Pro

Two GPS watches made the list this year, and the Coros Pace Pro is the one that genuinely blew everything else away. It is super lightweight and compact, covers every running feature needed, and carries Coros’s typically excellent battery life.

What really won things over was the bright, colourful AMOLED display, a first for a running watch here, making data fields easy to read at pace whether running at night or on a gloomy day. For the way it combines weight, features, battery, and screen quality, this is hands down the best GPS running watch ever used on this channel.

Coros Apex 4

The second watch, the Coros Apex 4, was tested more recently and also impressed. It was taken into the Moroccan desert specifically to check GPS signal and the new mapping system, and it performed really well across that vast open terrain.

If you want the newer mapping capability and a slightly different fit, the Apex 4 is a strong alternative to the Pace Pro, and both benefit from Coros’s solid battery reputation.

La Sportiva Prodigio Pro

A gear of the year list needs a top-performing shoe, and the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro launched earlier in the year and promptly sold out everywhere. It is arguably the brand’s biggest-selling trail shoe of all time, and it topped the shoes of the year shortlist too.

The power wire and TP fuse yarn upper construction fits like a glove and feels secure and connected, the midsole is comfortable underfoot but lively and responsive when you push the pace, and the outsole grip has been excellent. There is genuinely nothing that needs changing, which is very rare. Two caveats: sizing is all over the place as La Sportiva shoes tend to be, so go up at least half a size, or a full size for long distances. And with a narrow, fitted upper, wide or high-volume feet may want to look elsewhere. This is the trail shoe that put La Sportiva firmly on the global trail running map.

SunGod 42s

Tested first in the sunny mountains around Chamonix, the run-specific SunGod 42s is a level above the brand’s previous sunglasses when it comes to fit, comfort, and lens clarity. They use SunGod’s brilliant 8KO lenses, which handle mixed conditions superbly.

On bright days the tint is just right, yet in the darker, tree-covered sections of trail visibility stayed clear, which used to mean constantly removing and replacing sunglasses on past runs. The size and shape of the 42s also strike a nice balance, more restrained than some of the larger frames in the lineup. Fit is secure and face-hugging with no movement or bounce while running, and on hot, sweaty efforts there were no sweat streaks down the lenses.

Fenix HP12R Head Torch

The final item is the Fenix HP12R, a running-specific head torch. Its predecessor, the HM65R, was the go-to light for three to four years of long runs and challenging ultras without a single letdown, and the new unit builds on that foundation sensibly.

Fenix has split the lamp unit and battery pack for more even weight distribution, which makes it feel lighter on the move, and it has slightly longer battery life. The brand has also added a red LED on the battery pack, something customers had been asking about for a while. Build quality is the same solid, well-engineered standard as previous torches, with big textured top buttons making it simple to flick through settings while running. The dual light output is the real highlight: a whiter, clearer light plus a warmer option that penetrates fog, mist, and heavy rain far better, which is ideal for coastal conditions where sea mist rolls in constantly.

Overall Buying Advice

Each of these products solves a distinct problem: fuelling long efforts, reading data clearly at pace, navigating with reliable GPS, fitting a trail shoe properly, handling mixed light conditions, and running safely after dark. The most common pitfalls are avoidable with a little planning: size up on the Prodigio Pro, check whether the Pace Pro’s AMOLED or the Apex 4’s mapping package matters more to you, and if your nutrition strategy has never quite clicked, the Chew Bar is an easy entry point thanks to its digestibility and high carb density.

Conclusion

It was the busiest testing year yet, and these six items stood out through months of use rather than a single good first impression. From the 60 g of carbs packed into a tasty 68 g bar, to the best GPS watch experience yet, a record-breaking trail shoe, sunglasses that finally solved mixed-light trails, and a head torch that listened to what runners wanted, this is gear that genuinely held up under pressure.