Apple - Apple Watch Ultra
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Feb 15, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
163
36
"It’s also pretty well established that AW has the best motion tracking which shows up when you use the swim feature for distance. ... In swimming, it’s not even close. 100% of garmins worn during our pool swims are incorrect, regardless of swimmer level. ... Every single Garmin incorrectly reported swim distance vs manual counting. Freestyle 4000m in 25m pool."
"I like the apple gives me the actual normal time but gives a score on level of intensity of the work out separately"
"The later AW is best in class for non chest straps. ... For daily fitness, Apple Watch is just better IMO. ... It being the most accurate heart rate tracker not a chest strap makes it the best fitness tracker to me. ... Maybe I should say it's the best workout recorder because it records the most accurate heart rate data. ... I just really like the AW for every day fitness more so than what Coros or Garmin can provide. ... Executing a training plan I've set out for myself and recording the results. Results being the duration and heart rate data during the planned workouts. I then upload that data to Training Peaks and use Training Peaks to keep up with my training load over time. So the every day fitness part is executing and recording my workouts. ... Apple Watch is data recording. Together they are tracking my fitness."
35
3
"the accuracy of the heart rate monitor. ... I compared both with a chest band and apple tracked more closely both on a daily basis and during workouts."
"has the best wrist based heart rate sensor, both in and out of water"
"they’re state of the art for HR monitoring on the wrist."
101
9
"I unlock my computer and phone with it."
"the fact that they integrate to the Apple Watch simply cannot be understated for me, I couldn’t go back to Garmin now, it is just so much part of my life now. ... Tracking weightlifting workouts, nutrition and other stuff, analysis of the data, send messages to HomePod, changing NC automatically, sending emails …."
"it's awesome to have everything perfectly working with my iPhone, being able to reply to messages. Having everything in sync. ... small things like it being in sync with your Focus. So when my phone is set to sleep, the apple watch goes dark (optional) and gets your ready for bed. ... the reminders app being able to be displayed on a watch face, and I can see how many reminders I have left on my iPhone. ... being able to remote start my car from the watch."
14
104
"the ultra 3s battery (especially with fast charge) is now good enough for most- certainly for my iron man and ultra endeavours."
"Upgraded from the regular Apple Watch because of needing the battery life for Ironman and marathon training and have been very happy with it."
"I am so glad I have the ultra, I never have to worry about running out of battery on the course even when using the auto shot tracking and in watch gps."
67
6
"the Apple Watch cellular model lets you leave your phone behind. ... Perfect for activities like running."
"celluar feature allowing me to ride without my phone at all"
"Being able to run with my Watch only connected to cellular service is soooo freeing. ... I have music and podcasts available to keep me entertained and getting audio cues from Runna for my running plan is just perfection."
Disliked most:
0
156
"The battery life is a literal joke. ... Do an activity? There goes 75% of your battery."
"after having it die on a couple seven mile/1.5 hour runs WITH the battery freshly charged and battery saving options on"
"Mine kept dieing one me mid run ... after two years of using it twice hours was about all an aw had battery for when using music and gps! By the 2:15 mark it would be dead. ... When I started running for longer than 2 hrs my battery would die mid run"
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24
"If you are in long sleeves in the rain, you need to lock the touchscreen to prevent accidental touches. But that prevents you from using the touchscreen without holding to unlock for a few seconds. So if you are doing intervals, it can be hard to end the interval quickly."
"i tried the apple watch ultra for diving, it’s ok but you can’t use it at all once in the water ... Not to mention i can use it with gloves etc etc."
"The biggest issue for me on the AW that stops me going only AW is Sweat. ... The screen becomes impossible to use when I hot and sweaty. I mean completely unresponsive. Can’t press the music controls, can swipe the screen etc."
Purple-Smoke-6389 1.0And 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.
ApatheticSkyentist 0.4That 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.
as9934 0.4I 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.
Babayetu416 0.4I 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.
Bmerkley30 0.4Bought 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.
brasda91 0.4I’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.
CasablancaDriver 0.4Also 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…
Celica88 0.4Only reason I still have my Gen 1 AWU still. Hopefully it's back for Gen 3.
Competitive_diva_468 0.4I have a AWU1 and a Garmin 570. Use the Garmin only for running. Everything syncs fine, I use Athlytic for heath stats
craniotes 0.4I traded in my AWU1 for the 3, and while I can certainly understand those who don’t feel the need to follow suit, for me the upgraded screen and onboard Siri made it worth it, to say nothing of the increased battery life, as my AWU1 was starting to show its age. (Also, I really wanted to try out the black DLC case option.) 5G and satellite connectivity are certainly cool, but for my needs, hardly necessary. FWIW, If I had an AWU2 I would’ve sat this one out.
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