Huawei Watch GT Runner 2 Running GPS Review: Best, or Flop?

Huawei has launched the new GT Runner 2 watch to pretty strong fanfare: A dedicated running-focused event with Eliud Kipchoge in Madrid, a slate of new features, and a new GPS/GNSS antenna design that they are saying is the headliner feature and beating what they defined at the gold-standard GPS watch. As part of this, they held media briefings at a fascinating level of detail into how this new system is supposed to work, including side-by-side labeled comparisons with other benchmark competitors, such as the Garmin Forerunner 970 & Apple Watch Ultra 3. As a side note, it’s pretty rare for companies to actually label the competitors in these media briefings.

Obviously, with this much GPS-focused fanfare, I’m here for it. And more specifically, here to validate (or debunk) these claims in the real world. Thus, welcome to this post.

Now to be clear, there’s lots of other software-focused features that make this watch interesting. From expanded training load metrics, to expanded training plan pieces, to smart re-fueling reminders, and more. Though, as we’ve seen the trend recently, these features in and of themselves are no longer category leading, but just category baseline. Of course, it’s cool to see Huawei pushing deeper into the running side - with an acknowledgment during the briefing that this is the sport they’ll be tackling first, in terms of feature depth.

That said, the cornerstone of this newly announced watch is the GPS antenna design being revolutionary, and thus, I wanted to focus on that.