At its core, running is beautifully simple. A pair of shoes, the open road, and the will to move. But look around at the starting line of any marathon today, and you’ll see a quiet revolution happening on the wrists of thousands. The simple act of running has been fundamentally transformed.
This is the era of the Quantified Runner. A new evolution of runners, they are the running counterparts to the “Quantified Self” movement. They don’t just run; they meticulously track, analyze, and optimize, powered by a constant stream of data from wearables, apps, and GPS devices.
To understand this seismic shift, we at GeeksOnFeet dove deep into the Strava data from the 2025 Tata Mumbai Marathon. We first did this back in 2020, and for this year’s race, we’ve done it again—analyzing the runs of over 9,000 half-marathon and marathon finishers to see just how much has changed.
The findings are fascinating, but one trend stands above all else -
While the total number of race finishers at Mumbai grew by a healthy 15% since 2020, the number of runners uploading their race data to Strava skyrocketed by an incredible 126%.
Let’s put that in perspective. Back In 2020, one in five runners shared their data. Today, it’s one in two. The Quantified Runner is no longer a niche group; they are becoming the norm.
Phones vs Wearables
The 9000+ runners who uploaded their data to Strava used two primary modes. One using the GPS wearable device, and the second using a tracking app running Smartphone. While GPS watches are the dominant mechanism of logging, smartphone apps are surprisingly popular.
| Marathon | Half-marathon | |
|---|---|---|
| Logged with a GPS Watch/Wearable | 76 % | 64 % |
| Phone apps | 24 % | 36 % |
The data tells a clear story: the longer the distance, the more runners rely on a dedicated watch. While marathoners have overwhelmingly adopted wearables, one in three half-marathoners still tracks their race using only their phone. This highlights a significant group of runners who are still considering their first dedicated GPS watch.
Given that our data comes from Strava, it’s no surprise that 94% of phone-based tracking happened on the Strava app itself. This creates a blind spot, as we can’t see the popularity of competing ecosystems like Adidas Running (Runtastic) or Asics RunKeeper. However, among those who sync to Strava, native phone apps (such as Samsung Health) and third-party apps (like Nike) barely make a dent, each accounting for only 3%.
Among the GPS wearable users Garmin absolutely dominates. 75% of the runners who use GPS are using Garmin’s devices. The rest is split by COROS, Apple, and Amazefit. There is ofcourse long tail of Samsung, Polar, Wahoo, Google, WHOOP, Suunto and more.
Garmin domination needs no explanation. Garmin’s devices are feature rich and reliable, offering a ton of choices based on budget and level of runners. COROS, meanwhile, is steadily building a reputation among serious athletes with its impressive battery life, accuracy and excellent price point. What’s interesting is the role of the Apple Watch. While it doesn’t dominate the lists like running-specific brands, it has doubled its popularity among half-marathoners compared to marathoners, even cracking the Top 10 for the shorter distance. This suggests it’s the go-to choice for many lifestyle runners, while more dedicated marathoners still prefer the specialized features of Garmin and COROS.
Garmin Trivia
The name “Garmin” actually comes from the combination of its founders' first names—Gary (Burrell) and Min (Kao): Gar-Min. Founded in 1989, Garmin initially specialized in adapting military-developed GPS technology for civilian use, first dominating aviation and boating markets before revolutionizing GPS watches for runners.
Top 10 devices among Marathoners:
| Garmin Forerunner 245 | 8.46% |
|---|---|
| Garmin Forerunner 965 | 5.43% |
| COROS PACE 3 | 5.35% |
| Garmin Forerunner 255 | 4.99% |
| Garmin Forerunner 955 | 4.81% |
| Garmin Forerunner 55 | 4.74% |
| Garmin Forerunner 945 | 3.83% |
| Garmin Forerunner 935 | 3.39% |
| Garmin Forerunner 235 | 3.39% |
| Garmin Forerunner 265 | 3.34% |
Top 10 devices among Half-Marathoners:
| Garmin Forerunner 245 | 7.02% |
|---|---|
| Garmin Forerunner 55 | 5.61% |
| COROS PACE 3 | 4.37% |
| Garmin Forerunner 255 | 4.24% |
| Garmin Forerunner 235 | 4.06% |
| Garmin Forerunner 965 | 4.02% |
| Garmin Forerunner 265 | 3.80% |
| Garmin Forerunner 955 | 3.05% |
| Garmin Forerunner 935 | 2.69% |
| Apple Watch SE | 2.69% |
With Excellent feature set, extremely capable, lightweight, durable, and a mid price point is the reason why Garmin 245 is the most popular watch among runners in India. FR 245 is the successor to FR 235 which was the most popular when we did the research in 2020. Interestingly FR 235 which was released 10 years ago (in 2015) is still used and features in Top 10 lists of marathoners and half-marathoners. That speaks a ton about the Garmin Forerunner devices longevity in this current age of tech obsolescence. FR 255 which is the successor of FR 245 is slowly being adopted and is the 3rd most popular watch.
FR 55 which is Garmin’s entry level watch also has quite a few takers, and is second most popular among half-marathoners.
With PACE 2 and PACE 3, COROS has made significant ground in GPS wearables among runners. Despite a late start PACE 3 has stood among the 3rd most popular watches among both marathoners and half-marathoners - excellent feature set, light weight, battery life and a price point that undercuts equivalent Garmin’s models.
While the global market buzzes with new releases every few months, the data shows the Indian running community is discerning and practical. They don’t just chase the ‘latest and greatest.’ They invest in what works: proven, reliable, and feature-rich devices that deliver real value. This pragmatism suggests that for brands to win here, it’s not about flashy marketing, but about building trust and technology with the running community.
This article is compiled by Team GeeksOnFeet for the love of running. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].