Apple - Apple Watch Ultra 3

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.

The only consumer health tracker on the planet that is reasonably accurate enough to even think about maybe, maybe, maybe, deigning it as something which could monitor abnormal cardiovascular medical conditions, is the Apple Watch. Maybe. Even that's a stretch. Most trackers are very clear about how their features are only validated for otherwise healthy individuals. And the Whoop's EKG, as one example, barely even works for healthy individuals, let alone unhealthy ones.

Bevel (and Athlytic) are mostly pretty pseudoscience. The issue the Apple Watch has is that third party apps do not get access to low level AW sensor data; they only get high level summaries of the data, so they get "average heart rate over the last minute" instead of each intra-beat timing. This, combined with how the AW only takes sensor readings every five minutes, severely & negatively impacts the accuracy of Whoop-like statistics on that platform.

I’m using an Apple Watch Ultra for 2,5 years now 3 times a week. Auto detection works great for me, no need to stop/pause after laps.

I use it for my workout. Its great, it has also greatly improved over new versions for tracking the meters better. I would never consider switching, most likely will get a new one in a year or 2. I also use it in open sea training.

Compared to my Fenix I remember being very self-conscious at first with how dainty the ultra felt and looked. I honestly didn’t know if I liked it. Like OP I immediately noticed how light it was too. That didn’t last long and it felt completely normal in a matter of days to a week

The sapphire will absolutely do it. Mixed reviews on scratched bezels, but the staggering consensus is the screen will hold perfectly. I’ve had each gen of AWU since their respective release days (I keep selling my old one and getting the new model for 1/2 off that way), but in 3 years of daily use I’ve never scratched the sapphire.

I just switched from an Apple Watch (3.5 years) to a 255. I run and was mostly using my aw as a running watch. As a running watch it was fine, but the battery life sucked and my gps/distance was always a bit off from my friends. I’d much rather a slightly better gps than a slightly better hr sensor. Also, big, physical buttons are also great when doing things when you are sweaty. I didn’t even bother getting a touch screen. From my perspective, I couldn’t find a good reason to buy another apple.

I found I couldn’t use my AW for sleep because the battery was forever needing to be charged

I got the Apple Ultra 3 . And not impressed. When i have to start a run i need to do three taps. Is Garmin going to be better. I also play tennis . And walk. I need something thst wint need me to be constantly tapping etc . Am I expecting too much.

I use both. I feel my Apple Watch is more accurate with HR, steps, workouts. My ring is for sleep and stress.

I’ve been using the Ultra 3 for about a week now, mainly for running (1–2 hours a day, roughly 10h/week, 120km/week) plus strength training or yoga for about an hour daily. I’m very routine-driven: I work from home, never travel much, always home by 6PM, runs in the morning, workouts in the afternoon. So my habits are pretty consistent. # 🔧 Settings * Always-On Display: **ON** * Cellular: **ON** (outdoors only) * Low Power Mode: **OFF** * Background Refresh: **ON** (disabled a few irrelevant apps) * Wake on Wrist Raise: **OFF** * Wake on Crown Rotation: **OFF** * Always On: **ON** # ⚡ Charging & Battery I keep it between 20–80% charge, and it tops up super fast — basically full again after my post-run shower. On average, I’m getting about **1.5 days per charge**. I typically charge it every other day: once in the evening and then again after my morning run two days later. It’s nowhere near Garmin-level battery life, but I honestly don’t mind the shorter cycle. A single 1–2h run eats up about **7%**, regardless of whether cellular is on or off. I don’t play music from the watch since I usually have my work phone on me and stream to my Shokz from there anyway. # ❤️ Heart Rate Accuracy This is where the Ultra still lags behind Garmin. * For walking, strength, or yoga — it’s great, very close to chest HRM accuracy. * For running — not so much. I get frequent dropouts and it often locks to cadence (hello, 180 bpm “steady state”). I’ve tried all the usual fixes — moving it higher up my wrist, tightening/loosening, different bands — no real improvement. I have a pretty bony wrist, so that might be part of the issue. My Garmin’s optical sensor wasn’t perfect either, but at least it didn’t constantly confuse cadence for HR. I’ve switched to a chest strap again for running sessions. # 📊 Metrics & Health Data Coming from Garmin, this is the weakest point. Apple’s HRV, stress, and recovery data are nowhere near as consistent or detailed. HR and HRV aren’t continuously measured, so you lose that nice rolling insight Garmin gives you. That said, after three years with Garmin I’ve learned my own recovery cues pretty well — so I’m less reliant on the watch’s “readiness” metrics now. There are third-party apps that try to replicate Garmin’s body battery / training load data, but without continuous measurement, it’s just not the same. # 🍏 Ecosystem & Everyday Use This is where the Ultra wins easily. * The UI is smooth and snappy. * Being able to respond to messages and notifications without my phone is huge. * Integration with the rest of Apple’s ecosystem (Mac, iPhone, AirPods) is seamless. If you’re already deep into Apple’s world, the watch feels like an extension of your digital life. # 🆚 Apple Watch Ultra 3 vs Garmin Garmin is still **the better athlete’s watch**, no question — especially for long-distance runners or anyone training for ultras. Battery life, GPS tracking, and data depth are all superior. This is why I will still keep my garmin - for any 50k+ mountain runs. I am just not this kind of guy who would turn all the settings off, making the watch essentially pointless (I like looking up metrics during run a lot). But if you’re like me — training \~20 hours a week (which is still only about 18% of my waking time) — the other 82% of your life is where the Apple Watch shines. For everything outside pure training, the Ultra 3 is just **a better all-around smartwatch**.

Thanks for the input on this - makes me wonder whether I have a faulty model :) But again - works quite well when I don't move a lot.