Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I'm loving my Ultra. It feels very premium, especially the band which I was surprised with coming from older AWs, and really feel like I got my money's worth. I've used the Series 8 for about a week, and the Ultra is definitely worth the premium in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: jimbobb24
Insane battery life is something like the Garmin Enduro 2, which has 34 days of smartwatch usage, and 150 hrs of dual-band gps, which unlike the AW Ultra is able to cope with an ’ultra’ event aka 100 mile run.

Which is why you should get a device that meets your needs. If the Garmin does but the AWU doesn't, get the Garmin.

Personally, I bought the AWU because I can rig it for red on the Explorer face. Can't do that on a Garmin.

And in true Apple fashion, if you want to really use this as sports watch, you have to ‘download an app’.

Doesn't Garmin require Garmin Connect for tracking, etc.?

And you can’t really call the AW a smartwatch, as it has to be paired with an iPhone to begin with, and it’s cellular capability is dependent on having a ‘sim‘ with a telecommunications company.

Some sort of SIM is needed for any device's cellular connectivity, what is your point?

So if I have an iPhone and either of these watches, I don’t have less iOS smarts.

Or you have it without having a phone with you.

Why would you do a workout without all the purposes you bought an Apple Watch for?

You can disable low power during a workout and enable it for normal use if you want.
 
Wait a second, you got my attention with the flip flop. So we aren't comparing apples to apples?


It is Apple, it Garmin, who are positioning their AW Ultra up against sort watches, not the other way around. They should be ridiculed for it. Peloton and Apple Fitness users are not Ultra athletes.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I was completely underwhelmed with AW's 2,5,6... for multiple reasons - the most being battery life... I decided to take a chance on the AWU... Bar Far the best "smart watch" I've ever used, including 2 Garmin's. Even w/o this "low power mode, I was getting 2+ days, and to charges very fast...

Aside from the battery, I want the Ultra because of its rugged nature. I love rugged stuff, and I'm always scared of scratching my Apple Watch. Plus, I want beeg `0ω0´
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimbobb24
I'm loving my Ultra. It feels very premium, including the band which I was surprised with coming from older AWs, and really feel like I got my money's worth. I've used the Series 8 for about a week, and the Ultra is definitely worth the premium in my opinion.
The bands are absolutely amazing. The feel is very pleasant. Great stuff!
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimbobb24
If you're out for a multi-day hike, you don't really need to measure your heart rate and gps every couple seconds. It's plenty to check it once every couple minutes. And thats what this is for. Not for a 5k run in a park.
That’s true, but it’s the ‘reality distortion’ of marketing a product that bears no resemblance to its actual ability when placed against the companies marketing of it.
 
That’s true, but it’s the ‘reality distortion’ of marketing a product that bears no resemblance to its actual ability when placed against the companies marketing of it.
Wait, you take apple marketing seriously at all? You’ve already lost before you even start any argument.
Apple’s marketing has been misleading and deceiving since day 1 and never change in the past few decades. That’s part of how they stay in business.
 
There are certain features that some people may not need that keep draining the battery. They have the option to preserve the battery for features that they need most.
Except, there’s no option to configure what feature is desired the most and how frequent the data is updated. It’s all dictated by Apple. If this Apple Watch ultra really wants to be suitable for all sorts of situations, this whole low power mode thing has to be user configurable and highly customisable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tivoboy
This seems more like a way the proving that an advertised spec is achievable ("see, it can do it!"), rather than something that has much real life application. A bit like driving 200 miles on a motorway at 40mph to hit the manufacturer's fuel efficiency figures.
And you have to accelerate and decelerate over ridiculous distances. If there is any amount of traffic, someone will beat you for driving like that
 
Not using cellular connectivity I get about 60 hours without enabling Low Power Mode
Same here, I get over 60 closer to 70 hours without using LPM. I think what people may be missing is that this LPM is really workout centric, for ULTRA users since it really takes the heavy frequent HR and O2 sampling data out of the mix, and as Apple indicates expects that during that 60 period, 25% of the time, 15 HOURS is going to be spent TRACKING workouts. I don’t think there are many users in that category here.

Over the 60-70 hours I’m getting with AWU, I’m tracking ~ 3 hours of workouts across two disciplines usually In addition to everything else the watch is doing.
 
Same here, I get over 60 closer to 70 hours without using LPM. I think what people may be missing is that this LPM is really workout centric, for ULTRA users since it really takes the heavy frequent HR and O2 sampling data out of the mix, and as Apple indicates expects that during that 60 period, 25% of the time, 15 HOURS is going to be spent TRACKING workouts. I don’t think there are many users in that category here.

Over the 60-70 hours I’m getting with AWU, I’m tracking ~ 3 hours of workouts across two disciplines usually In addition to everything else the watch is doing.
Have they figured out to connect my foot pod to an Apple Watch?

Would love my cycling power meter during riding on my Apple Watch too. What’s the eta for these basic sensors coming to the ultra? Oh never? Damn.
 
A bit like driving 200 miles on a motorway at 40mph to hit the manufacturer's fuel efficiency figures.
Technically thats not how mileage testing or ratings are done at all, but similar to this thread things like AC are off, there is only ONE passenger, the vehicle isn’t carrying any load, it’s broken in first and is driven usually without traffic between 48-60 mph to achieve what the EPA considers the vehicles rated range in MPG.

I’ve almost never been able to achieve an EPA rated range in my vehicles, even when traveling usually 15-20% above posted speeds.
 
The average battery life on my Garmin Instinct is 20 days!
I looked for a more detailed description of this battery life for Garmin Instinct and here's what I see from their own website:

Internal, rechargeable lithium battery provides up to 14 days in smartwatch mode, up to 16 hours in GPS mode and up to 40 hours in UltraTrac™ battery saver mode. Source: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/621802

The Garmin Instinct also only has Bluetooth and Ant+ connection, both protocols that are very low powered. Try turning off the Apple Watch Ultra's cell and wifi abilities, I bet the battery life will go on for a lot longer too.

In other words: it's not exactly honest to say X smartwatch has better battery life when details about their capabilities and similarities/differences aren't really mentioned. It's not exactly a like to like comparison ;-)

Also, I'm not here defending Apple or the Ultra. I'm merely trying to say when comparing, let's be honest WHAT is it we are actually comparing.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.