Best Sports Tech of 2024: Our Top Picks for Cameras, Computers, Headphones, and Watches

Introduction

This was a strong year for sports tech. Action cameras, bike computers, sport headphones, and watches all saw meaningful releases, and a few of them genuinely changed how we ride, run, and record. This roundup pulls together the picks that earned their place, along with the trade-offs worth knowing before you buy.

Action Cameras: Three Strong Picks

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 is the premium pick of the bunch. Image quality is excellent, and the audio is the real standout: an improved wind-filtering setup up front produces clean sound, so you often don’t need a separate microphone on rides. The main trade-off is weight, as it is the heaviest camera in this group.

The GoPro Hero 13 Black did not change dramatically on the inside compared to its predecessor, with updates mostly limited to the battery and small refinements. The real story is the accessory system, particularly the new lens mods. The macro lens mod stands out: it extends the camera’s reach into close-up territory, which action cameras normally can’t do, letting one camera cover both ultra-wide and macro shots.

The camera that gets grabbed most often, though, is the Insta360 Go 3S. It doesn’t record 4K 60, and image quality is a step behind the two cameras above, but its convenience is unmatched. The camera itself is tiny, snaps into a pod for standard action-camera handling, works with a magnetic lanyard as an invisible chest mount, and sticks to any metal surface for quick setups. The compromises: no replaceable battery or memory card, so it needs the pod to recharge and offload footage.

Bike Computers: A Two-Way Toss-Up

The Hammerhead Karoo 3 nails the size balance: a large display that never feels unwieldy, one of the most customizable interfaces available, and suitability for gravel, road, and even mountain biking. Two complaints stand out: battery life could be longer, and the buttons are a little too easy to press accidentally.

View more details for Hammerhead Karoo 3

The Garmin Edge 1050 is the other pick, best suited to gravel and road rather than mountain biking because of its size. Its gigantic display is exceptionally bright and visible, and it adds a speaker with a digital bell that integrates with accessory buttons on compatible electronic groupsets. Downsides include the weight, heavy reliance on the touchscreen, and a button layout that isn’t as good as smaller Edge units.

Sport Headphones: Two Very Different Winners

The Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 combines bone conduction with traditional drivers, filling in the low end that pure bone conduction designs lack. The result is the most full-sounding open-ear headphone experience available, while keeping the key benefit: you can still hear your surroundings while training.

View more details for Shokz OpenRun Pro 2

The Sennheiser Momentum Sport takes the crown for sound quality. With an optional wing tip for a secure fit, these are simply the best-sounding sport earbuds around, with impressive range and bass. One caveat: the built-in optical heart rate sensor is a headline feature but not a reason to buy; rely on a watch or chest strap for meaningful heart rate data. The good news is the price has dropped by $100 since launch, putting it in line with the quality on offer.

View more details for Sennheiser Momentum Sport

Sports Watches: Value, Speed, and Style

Two watches impressed in the budget-to-mid price range. The Suunto Race S brings nearly everything from the original Race in a smaller, cheaper package: the same performance, training, and recovery feedback, plus improved accuracy. It skips the sapphire lens of its bigger sibling, and heart rate accuracy is the weak point, so plan on an external monitor.

The Coros Pace Pro counters with a brilliantly implemented AMOLED display. The interface speed is exceptional, with almost no delay moving through widgets and menus, and the maps are both gorgeous and fast to pan, zoom, and reroute. Between the two, the Race S wins on materials with its stainless steel bezel, while the Pace Pro wins on usability and heart rate accuracy.

View more details for COROS Pace Pro

High-End Pick: Garmin Enduro 3

For high-end watches, the Enduro 3 takes the top spot over the Fenix 8 on value. The Fenix 8 moved to $1,200, and its additions, such as the speaker, microphone, and diving features, won’t matter to most buyers. The Enduro 3 launched cheaper than its predecessor, offers far more efficient solar charging, and is much lighter and very comfortable despite its large size. It also drops the translucent solar panel overlay of previous models, making its display slightly more readable, though there’s no AMOLED if that matters to you.

Conclusion

The through-line for 2024 is refinement: better audio in action cameras, faster and brighter bike computers, headphones that finally blend open-ear awareness with real sound quality, and watches that deliver more for less. Match the pick to your actual use case, and any of these should serve you well for years.