I am a watch person, but I own mostly mechanical watches. I have a G-shock for yard work and such. Up until now I’ve had little interest in Apple Watches. Recently, though, the health & fitness tracking features have piqued my interest. That sent me down a Garmin vs. Ultra rabbit hole on YouTube. My son wears a Garmin Fenix 7x. He’s biased obviously. The Ultra seems the better everyday smartwatch with enough fitness/health tracking for a normal person. Does anyone have the Ultra, and if so, do you like it?
I have an Apple Watch and I do like it. It’s not the Ultra, but I’m not ultra fitness oriented. I do like the workout tracking on it. And it syncs with my iPhone too.
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I think I’m more of an Apple guy, than a Garmin guy.
After 10 straight days of wearing my new AW Ultra I have to say that I’m very impressed with it. Luckily I realized the entire IT department at work wears Ultras, so they brought in different bands for me to try on before I made my purchase. Surprisingly, the most comfortable was the silicone ocean band, so that’s what I purchased with the watch. I have already purchased several other bands from Amazon to change things up occasionally. I can highly recommend this watch.
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Did you have an Apple Watch previously and what are the outstanding add one of this Ultra?
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I had never owned any smartwatch prior to this. I guess the differences between the Ultra and other Apple Watches would depend on the version you’re comparing. The internals of the Ultra are basically identical to the AW 8.
A major difference is a larger, flat screen compared to the usual AW screen that rounds off at the case edges. The screen is also made of sapphire, which is something I require on all of my watches because of its scratch resistance. I don’t need to fiddle with screen protectors like my son and wife do with their earlier generation AW’s. The Ultra also has a very durable titanium case.
The battery life is also 2x-3x longer than other versions. The only time I take it off is to shower. On the morning of day 2 I put it on the fast charger while I shower and get ready for work. It is fully charged by the time I put it back on and I’m good to go for another 3-ish days if I want to stretch it. I charged my watch at 5:45 am yesterday. It’s been 31+ hours and I have 52% of my battery power left.
The “action button” on the left side is a decent feature. It automatically takes you to the watch feature you set it to. Because the Ultra’s screen is so much brighter than older versions some set the action button to flashlight mode. I set it to start my daily walk tracking with my dog.
The Ultra also has a new microphone and speaker set up that makes phone calls on the watch very clear. The watch also changes to the microphone shielded from wind noise when you are talking outside.
Of all things, the Ultra is rated as a dive watch as well. I don’t dive, but I don’t baby watches either. This watch will be in the water all summer. The 100m depth rating offers a sense of security.
Now, this is a big, thick watch, which can be an issue for some people. I don’t have large wrists, but I’m used to wearing larger watches. I would recommend people try the Ultra on before they buy it.
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Wow, some amazing features! The battery life!
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Thank you for posting this.
Oldest S is interested in getting one this summer and now I know to start reviewing this version.
I especially like how this particular one you noted is more rugged (sapphire watch and water proof).
Not sure if it will be too big a face for him or not though.
Thanks again!
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I decided to test the battery length this weekend. I charged my watch to 100% at 5:45am Friday morning. I had GPS, cellular, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on all the time. I used it to track and time my walks with the dog, listened to SiriusXM, took two phone calls and actually sent and received texts(yes, the larger flat screens actually makes it possible to text from a watch). At around 1:00pm on Sunday I got a low battery warning. At 5:45pm Sunday I decided to charge it. I still had 6% left. That’s 60 hours with more time to spare.
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I wore my AW Ultra to mow the lawn today.
In 1 hour and 47 minutes I walked 4.94 miles and burned 1,132 calories.
I buy the mileage count, but am skeptical about the calories burned. I’ve never looked at how my Apple Watch (not ultra) calculates calories burned so don’t know the algorithm. With that said, on average, a person burns 100 calories running a mile (give or take depending on weight, speed, etc…common range=80-140 calories/mile).
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I honestly have no idea how accurate the calories are, but I think you’re about to scuttle my plan to reward myself with a cup of coffee Oreo ice cream at a nearby ice cream spot.
My yard has 5 levels, dropping from front to back. I dump the clippings in the lower corner of my yard, along the woods. Maybe all of the trudging up and down with a full bag padded the numbers? I know it elevated my heart rate.
I was also skeptical of the calories burned -
Lol not a judge against you! I think you should do it three times (3 weeks or whatever) and compare
I just cut my grass - I usually put it on “other” for grass cutting but chose “outside walk “ today so I could compare to yours.
You can see my stats for 3.5 miles. My total calories burned (active +non-active - meaning my heart rate not in active range) was 678 calories. I have an APPLE watch 4 or 5?? Really can’t remember!
Since I purchased my Ultra at least 4 of my co-workers have purchased one as well after talking with me about it. I think Apple should send me a small finders fee per watch sold…
I have a Garmin of some sort. I run a 10k (6.2 miles) twice a week and burn only around 530 calories for that distance. My 3.2 mile beach walks burn about 265. I’m not pushing a lawnmower, though?? Actually, I don’t think my Garmin registers steps at all when I’m pushing a grocery cart 
Maybe people prefer Apple Watches because they are more generous on their calorie counts?! 
I know it depends on weight. My dh burns more calories than I do on a same distance run.
Noting that I wasn’t sharing that calorie burn for the purpose of an excuse to load up on cake that night. 
There are some factors in calorie burn including your heart rate and how your body is working. Grass cutting isn’t running a marathon of course but it is a good workout! Constant pushing, pulling, turning of the equipment frequently, etc. I definitely work up a sweat. Liken it to pushing a cumbersome object using both your upper body and lower body at the same time with little relief!
What I’m most interested in is the # of active minutes I get - so active meaning getting my heart rate up enough to be working in an active, exercise state.
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