Apple - Watch Series 6

I’m not as hardcore as you. Doing fairly intense, compared to the average 71 year old, but I do exercise very rigorously for over an hour everyday. I’m tracking what is happening especially for endurance in improving general health and stamina. I do pool exercise and needed to have a watch that could last 6 to 8 hours per week every week. I went through my Series 6 with 5 replaced watches (I kept AppleCare) every year. So the Ultra Series has better water redistance and battery life. In can appreciate your comment about heart rate. I have seen problems with outlier measurements. There are one or two times, very intermittent. I’ll get a recorded heart rate reading about double the rest of the recorded HR. My anecdotal observation is it tends to happen in the pool. If I see the reading I will tighten the bad a bit and it doesn’t seem to continue. This happened on my old Series 6 and it has happened on my Ultra 3. It probably comes down to the intent of the design combined with the use case. If I go to my doctor every office visit begins with vitals being taken. It’s a snapshot in time. If a reading is about of whack they may repeat it in a few minutes once or twice, another slice of time. All Apple Watch products are really good at monitoring trends over time. You can setup alerts snd there are apps that can do additional analysis using the collected data. I look at trends events there too low and too high. The outliers do not really impact trend data. The other thing about trend data is knowing when your trend data occurs. I had a heart rate that would go below 40 bps in the 15 to 30 minutes before I wake-up in the morning. I got an alert that I was able to tell that to my Primary doc and Cardiologist. They suggested a change that needed to monitor for another couple of weeks. In my use case, the heart rate monitoring capability is 100% effective. It’s so effective I have the entire days HR data displaying in a compilation a full view of yesterday’s data and to date of the current day. Tap the graph and I can drill into the data, even the outline events. I’m not sure if the watch face comes from the heart health app I have or it’s in the Apple Watch stock watch faces. I have been enrolled the multi-year Apple Heart & Movement Study. The study has found that the Apple Watch sensor is accurate to within 5 bpm (beats per minute) for 98% of the time when users are in sedentary (or resting) mode, and reaches 99.7% accuracy with an error margin of 10bpm. The sensor’s heart rate accuracy varies: * 96% for outdoor cycling, * 87% while walking, * 88% while running, and * 91% during high-intensity workouts, with a 5 bpm error margin when recording in the foreground. Starting with the Apple Watch Series 6, accuracy has improved significantly. * Data from 480 participants logging 21,000 hours shows 89% accuracy (within a 5 bpm error margin) in the background, compared to 72% in older models.

Had AW 6, 7, 10... Had Garmin Fenix 7 somewhere between AW... Now with Garmin instinct 3. ALl has pros and cons. none is perfect. For me it's great to switch from time to time... I would happily do the same between iphone and android, but the cost of switch in terms of software is crazy...

I’m switching from S6 to UW3. The battery life is main motivation. I’m also a fitness enthusiast between running, gym and martial arts. I wear my watches all the time including to bed. The extra battery life is gold in my view. Plus the looks is great too.

I have an Apple Watch 6 which is probably like 5 years old, I run with it on cinematic mode and stream music from my phone which seems to help. I ran 2hrs earlier today and still have 75% battery.

I don’t think it’s “much more.” It varies from person to person. For me, the Apple Watch Series 6 and the Garmin Fenix 7 are within +/- 1 bpm compared to the Polar H10. However, I do agree with you that a cheap chest strap (connected to an iPhone via Bluetooth) is the most affordable way to measure heart rate accurately during workouts.

I’m still rocking with S6.

Here, here. Me too. Went from an AW6 to an Instinct 2 and eventually to a used Enduro. Couldn't be happier. I get weeks on a charge, health tracking is great, and it has all of the smarts I want but is an excellent timepiece and less of a distraction. (Bonus: new Instinct 2 + used Enduro 1 cost less than a new base model Apple Watch.) I also find the Garmin/Apple Health integration to be pretty solid. Rarely have I gone from something from Apple to something from another company and been this happy with the change.

I'm interested in purchasing an Apple Watch Ultra. Though I am wondering if it is worth it to buy the 3 or just save money and go for the 2. I currently wear the Series 6 and it's durability has been astounding thus far. I'd like to upgrade and would prefer to have something even more durable now that I work outside. I landscape but also paint and power wash. My initial reason for first purchasing an Apple Watch in 2021 was because I had started going to the gym. I still do on a regular basis and enjoy completing all my rings each day. I also enjoy hiking as my friends and I travel specifically for this reason. I would also like to reduce my screen time, and would feel more comfortable leaving my phone behind at times if I know I'm still able to keep in contact with people via my watch. And any accessory recommendations would be met with gratitude. Any advice would be very much appreciated, thank you.

In a series 6 chassis. Just did a comparison to my series 6. Same exact dimensions.

Every single time. Calories, yards, time are pretty much all I use/ need

It didn’t always; the enhancement came a couple years ago.

I’ve been using it for swimming over the last six years, about 300 times a year, and it works well for me. I can count on one hand the number of times that it has glitched.

I’ve been using an Apple Watch for five years; first the series 6 and then the ultra. Has worked great.