Apple - Watch Ultra 2
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Jan 26, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
107
15
"my AWU2’s cellular connectivity is above and beyond the thing I care most about on long, remote runs."
"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"
76
104
"I easily get though a 12 hour shift with a workout and still have 55-60% battery left after 24 hours."
"During my last half, I used a total of 13% battery. Full GPS, AOD, listening to music, running activity, and even one phone call made with LTE. 2h of running."
"I’ve only used it for 25k trail runs so far—but I had it streaming music, tracking my run, and navigating with a map/route guidance. It went from near 100% to ~70%. I’d trust it for a marathon or a 50k without hesitation"
94
27
"It’s well known that Apple has the best optical hr in the business and has since the series 4."
"have a ridiculously good optical HR sensor (it parallels my chest HR belt even during weight lifting HR spikes.. it's *that* good!)"
"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."
51
43
"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."
"it has been very accurate both open water and in the pool. Pool is probably 100% accurate for counting laps and strokes."
"For me the config with pool + configured length works best and is way more accurate."
14
1
"Because the glass of the AWU is flat & incased in the titanium frame, it still perfect for me after more than 2 years."
"I’ve had my watch for 7 months not a single scratch on it."
"The sapphire will absolutely do it. ... the staggering consensus is the screen will hold perfectly. ... in 3 years of daily use I’ve never scratched the sapphire."
Disliked most:
7
150
"after having it die on a couple seven mile/1.5 hour runs WITH the battery freshly charged and battery saving options on"
"The battery life is a literal joke. ... Do an activity? There goes 75% of your battery."
"I had a full charge on my AWU2 before bed last night, went for a 2h hike this morning (using a third party app called Footpath because the built in Workouts app is garbage for hiking), and I'm at 44% battery at this moment at 1:22pm in the afternoon. ... If you start using GPS, it's like 4-6h. ... I hate micromanaging my watch. This is the last AW one I own for sure. ... I’m sorry, but I 100% don’t believe you’re getting 42h while tracking 2h GPS activities on your AWU2 without severely affecting functionality (battery saver, turning off AOD, etc)."
0
25
"Biggest problem I had with WorkOutDoors was when I ’m hiking in the rain or sweating a lot sometimes it ends the hike, even when I triple tap to lock the screen. Made it unreliable ... It ’s very strange, happens mostly when I ’m wearing a long sleeve shirt and it ’s either raining or really hot and I ’m sweating a lot. Seems the wet shirt sleeve will act like I ’m touching it and it will unlock the 4 button lock and then just randomly do things, I don ’t notice it till I check and see the workout ended. Not great on multi day hiking trips where I want to record each day."
"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."
"I already got sick and tired of touch screens with my Apple Watch ... Dripping sweat, rain and sleeves really screw with touch screens ... where I live we have like 6 months worth of snow so needing to take off my gloves and disable a screen lock before being able to pause my workout is an annoying PITA."
0
3
"the workouts are primitive"
"AW allows some customization there but its pretty limited."
"Unfortunately it doesn’t have."
10
30
"one day I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep and I got a 95 sleep score on Apple lol the Garmin was correct in telling me I got shit sleep."
"Apple gave me kudos for sleeping 3h42m earlier than average last week and the sleep charts show me sleeping from 9:30PM-3:30AM on a day last week when I was traveling in a different timezone and actually went to bed at 12:30AM. ... It's crazy to me that Apple doesn't correctly account for traveling in the sleep monitoring/score."
"It misses key info and HR was clearly elevated compared to baseline even on the Ultra, but it doesn't count that. So a night of drinking and shit sleep, still give you a 95 score! ... But the vitals aren’t accounted by the sleep score as far as I can tell and my HR was higher though not abnormally high by Apple Watch standard but this could be because of sampling it does compared to the Garmin ... both HR and RR were elevated but not enough for Apple to flag but the sleep score doesn’t include those metrics, which I really think they should. ... The sleep scores doesn’t take into account vitals."
25
26
"For me the biggest problem was how big and heavy the 255 was. ... I believe it's very similar size/weight to the 265, and the 955 is even larger/heavier (by a bit)."
"I still miss how the 245was disappearing on my wrist in terms of weight, bulkiness and band size."
"wearing it was bad (thin wrist)"
I only dive 3-4 times a year, and my AWU2 is great for my needs. With AOW dives, I’m not going past 30m. Since there’s always some nonzero risk of an accident causing my depth to dip below the AWU max of 40m, I do eventually plan to have a backup dive computer with me just in case my AWU fails, but it’s been perfect for me so far. If you already plan to have an Apple Watch for daily wear, and also need a dive computer for occasional recreational dives, I think it’s a great option. The colour display with high brightness is something that I was not able to find at a similar price point for a dive computer that also functions as a daily smartwatch.
I had an Ultra 2 which I bought for the cell feature and Spotify. That worked intermittently the entire time I had it. It wouldn’t even play downloaded music correctly most times. I even paid for an Apple Music subscription thinking it would be better. It wasn’t. I did use it as my only watch for about 6 months and it was pretty good but charging every other day got old and the battery got pretty bad after 18 months or so. I sold it when the 970 came out. I would add that I do not pay attention to any of Garmins useless training stats and algorithm junk that people seem to love so much. I just want a watch that’s accurate and easy to use. You can do worse. But. It’s just not as good as a Garmin for triathlon. You know it’s not. You’re hoping someone will convince you otherwise.
Same with wrist flick which is available on Ultra 2
I think sweet spot in Garmin lineup is the 970 right now. Pretty much all features of the Fenix 8 Pro but at a much better price - and way more comfortable to wear sleeping. I alternate between the 970 and Ultra 2 pretty regularly depending on what I’m doing.
I did a 10 hour day hike and the battery got to 3% and I didn’t use any battery saving methods. I switched to garmin and I don’t have to charge it for multiple hikes
I ran Paris marathon last year and my AW8 ran out of battery at 38k so I took the first opportunity to upgrade to AWU2. Runna saved the run up to that point but I’ve never ran a marathon according to Strava which is annoying 😂
I’ve had the ultra 2 pretty much since it came out. The battery is the big one for me. I usually charge at night for a little while but sleep with it on. If I forget and it waits to the next day there’s always battery left. I wouldn’t push it three days but I also follow the optimized battery settings where it mostly stops at 70% so others may seem longer life if they constantly charge to 100%. Get the apple titanium band. It’s so light I love it and it still looks premium enough in a suit
Hello everyone. I’m having a hard time deciding which watch to commit to using. I have an Apple Watch Ultra 2 and a Garmin Forerunner 255 Music, and I’ve been alternating between the two, which makes it difficult to stay committed and keep all my training data in a single app. First, I’m a 35-year-old man and I started training a bit more seriously about 3 months ago. My workouts are mainly focused on health, since I have a full-time job that I can’t step away from, as I’m the primary provider for my family. However, I’ve been venturing a bit more into triathlon training with a dream—still distant—of completing an Ironman 70.3. I finished my first half marathon two weeks ago. I really like the battery life of the Forerunner 255 as well as the way Garmin presents health and training data. For example, in swimming, the rest intervals show up every time I get out of the water. During runs, there’s an upper graph displaying my heart rate zone or pace so I can check it with just a quick glance. I also really liked the Daily Suggested Workouts and the adaptive coaches that adjust based on my sleep and recent training. But the biggest issue with the watch is that it doesn’t have LTE, nor does it have a microphone or an assistant for timer requests, alarms, Apple reminders, or voice notes. With the Apple Watch, the screen is amazing and vibrant, but it’s not always-on like an MIP display. My workout data ends up split across two different apps (Health and Fitness), and it’s not presented very clearly. I end up using Bevel and WorkOutDoors to improve the layout and presentation, but this data doesn’t influence the training suggestions. My sleep doesn’t influence my workouts, nor do my recent exercises. Everything feels a bit disconnected. But I love going out for a run with just my watch, without carrying my smartphone, and using LTE to receive notifications and calls, as well as Apple Pay for payments. Also, the convenience of voice reminders, timers, alarms, answering calls without having to run around looking for my phone—these things make life so much easier. So, I’d like to know if anyone has gone through this and how you ended up solving it. I believe that if the LTE issue were resolved, I would switch to Garmin for good. I hate running with a smartphone. Do you keep it in your pocket? Do you use a specific Lycra band or something like that? What did you decide in the end?
I have black Ultra 2. I won’t buy another watching
Doubtful. Why low power mode battery life is the same then? Same chip, same Watch size, very likely same battery size. If there was more battery i would expect more battery life also in low power mode.
ER here. I wear it every day (charge every other night). Super reliable.
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