Apple - Apple Watch Ultra

I have been wearing an Apple Watch for ages.. back to the Series 3. Then a 4, 7 Ultra and Ultra2. At the same time, I have rotated in a few Garmin devices. I am not a hardcore athlete. I, like the OP, just insight into how my body response to the life I live. I have difficulty taking AW intel seriously. Maybe because it's scattered all over the place. Maybe it's info overload. Maybe it's the flamboyant colors. The Garmin, by contrast, speaks to you in your face. No fanfare. The Body Battery is amazing. Visual connection, but a single digit to quantify to the impact of what I eat & drink, how I move and sleep and how my body is responding. I have Athlytic app which is much like Garmin's delivery of data, but way too much of it for me. I'll take a look at Bevel. Maybe that is more my speed.

Coming from a Series 3, 4, 7, Ultra and now an Ultra2…. But I also use a Garmin Epix Pro which has a battery that lasts a month. Battery life with Ultra is about 2.5 days. I use wrist gesture so no AOD. That alone would be enough of a reason. The other AW series needed to be charged daily and couldn’t make it through anything more than a short day hike when in AOD and recording. That said, the Ultra does bring a big more bulk so it’s not as sleek under a dress shirt.

And will the watch measure more accurately just because of the longer battery life? Doesn’t seem like it. Garmin’s hardware is truly outstanding, but the accuracy of some health monitoring agents and the entire software package, which feels 20 years outdated, really needs to be improved — not a justification for charging more money. At least the AW/AWU delivers industry-leading accuracy consistently.

That was my issue with the AWU1. I *loved* that it allowed me to not bring my phone on runs but I didn't like the weight of it on my wrist and it felt way too thick. My Forerunner 265 has been perfect. If Apple made a watch that was 265 size, a legit fitness device, and had cell connection I'd be all over it. EDIT: Looking a the spec the AWU3 is 1.6mm thinner but 0.4g heavier than the AWU1.

I did a 13:47 Ironman on my Apple Watch Ultra v1. Used it to track everything. It died on mile 18 of the run. I bought a bike computer for the ride on my next one. I don’t think they’ve improved the battery life for the v3 enough to have it be your one device to do it all, unless you are going under 10 hours.

I don’t like wearing watches at home because the notifications get annoying. For me, 42 hours of battery life is more than enough unless I’m traveling to a mountain or somewhere without electricity for an extended period. I mainly stick to running and cycling, and, even the AWU1 handled those activities perfectly. Ended up selling my Garmin LTE version because longer battery is pointless for me.

Using Apple Pay in most stores means the Apple Watch cellular model lets you leave your phone behind. Perfect for activities like running. If you have a phone with garmin, why do you need a garmin? lol just get the heart beat sensor.

I love my ultra. I had the first generation and got the third generation last year. No worries about battery life ever along with cell coverage and all that other gizmos. I use it all the time.

Bought the AWU1 day one and loved everything about it, except the battery life. Bought a Fenix 8 as I started doing long distance running, and while I love the insane battery life, flashlight, and look, it’s just not enough of a smart watch for me. I miss IOS integration, texting/calling, LTE, and ease of use. I’ve preordered the AWU3 and will be putting my Fenix up for sale. It’s a great watch, but there’s just something missing for me. I’ll miss that battery and flashlight though.

I’m doing the opposite. I’m coming from the Apple Ultra 1 to the Fenix 8 more due to the rectangle design of Apple Watches.

I currently use the AWU3. The battery life is sufficient currently for a day with activities and wake on wrist gesture. It goes down until 50% at the end of a day. But my AWU1 after 2 years of battery degradation and with the same daily usage got down until less than 20% at the end of a day. With my previous Fenix 8 Amoled, I only lost 8% with sleep tracking, AOD, some music playback and same daily gps usage. That was a breath of fresh air. Insane battery life. Battery degradation is a thing and will affect all watches but more with the Ultra sadly as it burns more battery per day. I am now looking for a Forerunner for training as I miss the Garmin metrics for free and insane battery life instead of subscribing to lots of third party apps on my AWU. I bought workoutdoors for the offline map.

Yes with Garmin, you will never have battery anxiety anymore. Just do your workouts. With Apple Watch Ultra, you should still watch out for that battery life, especially if you work out for longer (do marathons) and have a night out later. Only if you don't need the LTE, then Garmin is definitely better for that battery anxiety alone.

No Garmin watch is fluid like an Apple watch even the high end ones. It always lags on its UI choosing new watch faces, topomaps and just scrolling through glances. It’s the price to pay for a long battery life. I think you should stay with an Apple Watch (titanium or stainless steel built) and install apps for your sports and hobbies. Or you can choose from another manufacturers. Only the Fenix 8 pro can do your wishes but it is so expensive and you will probably be let down by its interface and fluidity.

Also surprised. I used an Enduro 3 all summer, pretty good watch by the way and last gen OHR sensor from Garmin, and the results vs my AWU1 were bad. A lot of cadence lock for example. It was not bad all the time but it was much less reliable than my Ultra gen 1. Then again those kind of results are also very dependent of the user physical profil so I guess it’s hard to make some generality. And I use also an external arm band when I train so…