Is the ultra really worth $799.00?

[msackey]

Don't get me wrong it's a nice watch but is it really worth $799.00?
Samsung Watch 5 pro is going for $450.00 and i's not bad quality.
Soon apple will report earnings and I heard the Ultra is doing that well as well as their Macbook M2 notebooks
and maybe Apple should consider lowering their product prices...just my take.

How do I put this? No, it is not worth $799. But, I still like the Ultra and knew that when I paid for it, it would be an exorbitant amount and that it was a gift to myself for years of hard work (more like over work!).

I upgraded from a Series 4 to the Ultra. Honestly, the feature I love the most about the Ultra is the addition of the Action button. And is the cost of having an additional button worth a $799 upgrade? No. I just accepted that if I wanted that Action button now, that is the only way to get it and I opted to pay for it.

Does this make sense? Something could be "not worth" the buying price, but still can be acceptable (to you) to purchase it. So I do agree the Ultra is overpriced.

[UPDATE EDIT:]
I think I found another way to express what I've been trying to say.
1. No, the Ultra is not worth the price of $799
2. But it can be worth having depending on your various personal tastes and conditions
3. For me, the Ultra is not worth the price of $799, and it can also be worth having.

Basically whether something is worth the price versus worth having is a concept I'm splitting ;-).

I think the price of the Ultra should be closer to maybe $300, max . That's more like what it is worth and even that might be an over estimation.

 

[izzy0242mr]

Don't get me wrong it's a nice watch but is it really worth $799.00?

No, it's not. It's a smartwatch. It doesn't have $800 of value and it doesn't offer features that are worth hundreds of dollars more.

maybe Apple should consider lowering their product prices...just my take.

It's Apple. They don't lower prices.

 

[the future]

It is simply the most advanced smartwatch in the world right now. What that is worth to you is up to you to decide. For me it was (is) worth every cent.

 

[marmiteturkey]

Worth is mostly subjective. For most, it’s not worth it. For a few, who get utility out of a bigger brighter screen, better waterproofing, more sensors, multi day battery and a tougher shell, it may be. It’s also less than £100 more than the stainless steel model.

Cost is not subjective. Can you point to a titanium body amoled smart watch with the same sensors and LTE for less?

An Apple Watch is a luxury, albeit a very useful one to some. I just switched back to Apple from Garmin as my watch was due an upgrade. An Epix2 is comparable, an (excellent) fitness watch, less capable as a smartwatch, and significantly more expensive. The Ultra was an obvious choice for me.

 

[Chaparral02]

Don't get me wrong it's a nice watch but is it really worth $799.00?

Am kind of surprised apple didn't release the Ultra watch for something like £949 to £999

As there 45mm series 8 Stainless Steel with a Milanese Loop costs almost the same price as the Ultra watch
And the Milanese Loop costs the exact same £99 price as any of the ultra straps or loops

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[fdw777]

Is a piece of Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake (or the flavor of your choice) worth $9.95 at Cheesecake Factory. Of course it is, same with the Ultra. It's all about taste and what you can afford!

 

[CharlesShaw]

I’m amused by the constant pearl-clutching in reaction to the Ultra’s size.

 

[Howard2k]

Is a piece of Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake (or the flavor of your choice) worth $9.95 at Cheesecake Factory. Of course it is, same with the Ultra. It's all about taste and what you can afford!

Not for me (the Cheesecake)

 

[dk001]

Yes and No. Mostly No. Let me explain.

Had a Nike AW7. Hit it and somehow busted the screen. Have a Garmin Fenix 7.
Decided based on multiple reviews to give the Ultra a try to see if it can replace the AW7 and GF7.

All round a good watch. Ultra and Fenix are close in size.
Sadly it cannot replace both my watches. Better for my use than the AW7 but not as good as the GF7.

For now I use it as an oversized AW with better battery life. Some point I will replace it with something else.

 

[xDKP]

Omega sells a titanium version of its Seamaster watch, on a titanium mesh bracelet — the "No Time to Die" watch. I would absolutely buy it if I could afford to, despite the fact that all it does is look nice and tell the time. Because it costs NZ$15,000 or more, however, I will not be buying it. Under my current financial circumstances, that watch is not worth the cost.

The Apple Watch Ultra cost me about NZ$1499, or around 10% of what the Omega costs. The Apple Watch Ultra does way more than look nice and tell time; it's essentially a computer on my wrist. The only times it's ever off my wrist is when it's charging or when I'm in the shower (usually these things happen at the same time). Between its fitness features and its connectivity with all of my other devices, including my smart home accessories, the Apple Watch acts as a hub for my digital life. It's the first device I interact with when I wake up, and it's the last one I interact with before I go to sleep.

Because of its utility to me and the fact that I was easily able to afford it, for me the Apple Watch Ultra was definitely worth what it cost.

Amazing piece the NTTD Omega - To be honest, I have retracted a bit recently with the expensive time pieces. I have a 3861 Speedy Sapphire and a 214270 Explorer, but haven been wearing them at all this year. They are beautiful and amazing pieces, but the price of those things are just silly. If the market didn't take the turn down it has in recent months, I might have sold them - or at least one of them.

Using the Ultra every single day to track runs (amazing GPS accuracy etc.) and overall as a nice watch though - might last me a couple of years - maybe even three years tracking stuff every single day so very much worth it to me.

 

[ArchEtech]

Was the previous Ti edition worth $799?

Was the apple watch edition ceramic worth $1000?

 

[izzle22]

Yes and No. Mostly No. Let me explain.

Had a Nike AW7. Hit it and somehow busted the screen. Have a Garmin Fenix 7.
Decided based on multiple reviews to give the Ultra a try to see if it can replace the AW7 and GF7.

All round a good watch. Ultra and Fenix are close in size.
Sadly it cannot replace both my watches. Better for my use than the AW7 but not as good as the GF7.

For now I use it as an oversized AW with better battery life. Some point I will replace it with something else.

Just curious. What does the Garmin do for you that the Ultra doesn't?

I don't know a ton about Garmin's watches.

I know it has much better battery life than the ultra.

 

[dk001]

Just curious. What does the Garmin do for you that the Ultra doesn't?

I don't know a ton about Garmin's watches.

I know it has much better battery life than the ultra.

For me a better battery life and does a better job with way points and return.
I do occasional technical (longer 8+ hours, sometimes 2-3 days) hikes. For shorter hikes (couple of hours) both work well.

Also I can use it on both iOS and Android. Garmin Connect is a good tool. Has some better monitoring items or better than Apple provides natively. Apple does have some 3rd party stuff that I have not really gone through.

 

[Bl0ckHe1d]

Received one for my birthday, so nothing to grumble home about!

 

[msackey]

Just curious. What does the Garmin do for you that the Ultra doesn't?

I don't know a ton about Garmin's watches.

I know it has much better battery life than the ultra.

I know the questions were not directly at me but I'll choose to provide responses

I used to own some Garmin watches. I think aesthetically, Garmin watches are uglier than Apple Watches and also many look rather cheap, especially when you turn over to look at the underside that looks like the back part of a cheap dollar store watch.

Also, the interface is better and aesthetically more pleasing on Apple Watch than Garmin.

It's really hard to make a 1:1 comparison between Apple Watch and many Garmin Watch when comparing the battery life because most do not have cellular connection. Even the Forerunner 945LTE says this about its cellular connectivity: "NOTICE: No text messaging, calls or voice functionality. LTE connectivity (monthly service plan required) enables phone-free safety and tracking features, spectator messaging and live event sharing." Furthermore, the 945LTE can't fully break away from the phone if you want to stream music.

If you really want to compare battery life, try turning off Apple Watch cellular connection and make other comparable adjustments and see how things go. Folks seem to often say Garmin watches have better battery life without actually qualifying the conditions that make that different!

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I know the questions were directly at me but I'll choose to provide my responses

I used to own some Garmin watches. I think aesthetically, Garmin watches are uglier than Apple Watches and also many look rather cheap, especially when you turn over to look at the underside that looks like the back part of a cheap dollar store watch.

Also, the interface is better and aesthetically more pleasing on Apple Watch than Garmin.

It's really hard to make a 1:1 comparison between Apple Watch and many Garmin Watch when comparing the battery life because most do not have cellular connection. Even the Forerunner 945LTE says this about its cellular connectivity: "NOTICE: No text messaging, calls or voice functionality. LTE connectivity (monthly service plan required) enables phone-free safety and tracking features, spectator messaging and live event sharing." Furthermore, the 945LTE can't fully break away from the phone if you want to stream music.

If you really want to compare battery life, try turning off Apple Watch cellular connection and make other comparable adjustments and see how things go. Folks seem to often say Garmin watches have better battery life without actually qualifying the conditions that make that different!

I don’t own either but think the Garmin is a much nicer looking watch than the Ultra personally. They are different types of watches I think as the Apple Watch is very focused on being an extension of our phone whereas the Garmin is less focused on that and more about fitness tracking. I’ve often heard Garmin are much better in this regard, especially accuracy when tracking a run which is what I’m interested in.

 

[izzle22]

For me a better battery life and does a better job with way points and return.
I do occasional technical (longer 8+ hours, sometimes 2-3 days) hikes. For shorter hikes (couple of hours) both work well.

Also I can use it on both iOS and Android. Garmin Connect is a good tool. Has some better monitoring items or better than Apple provides natively. Apple does have some 3rd party stuff that I have not really gone through.

Got ya. I figured it had some tracking/monitoring advantages for hiking and what not just wasn't sure.

 

[izzle22]

I don’t own either but think the Garmin is a much nicer looking watch than the Ultra personally. They are different types of watches I think as the Apple Watch is very focused on being an extension of our phone whereas the Garmin is less focused on that and more about fitness tracking. I’ve often heard Garmin are much better in this regard, especially accuracy when tracking a run which is what I’m interested in.

Yeah I'm just the opposite on this one. I think the Apple watch is much better looking than the Garmin. Garmin looks to me like a Plastic Casio just a little better. Everyone has their own opinions on the looks just like anything in this world.

 

[msackey]

I don’t own either but think the Garmin is a much nicer looking watch than the Ultra personally. They are different types of watches I think as the Apple Watch is very focused on being an extension of our phone whereas the Garmin is less focused on that and more about fitness tracking. I’ve often heard Garmin are much better in this regard, especially accuracy when tracking a run which is what I’m interested in.

I think the Ultra is quite accurate. The Garmins (three of them) that I used were a while ago, the latest being around 2018 maybe? I didn't find them to be any more accurate or not. Accurate enough.

 

[msackey]

Yeah I'm just the opposite on this one. I think the Apple watch is much better looking than the Garmin. Garmin looks to me like a Plastic Casio just a little better. Everyone has their own opinions on the looks just like anything in this world.

Exactly! For all the 3 Garmins I have owned over the years, I had been very much amazed that the backs of these products can look so doggone cheap! They really, really look like cheap Casio watches intended for kids. The front side can be ok looking, but flip to the back and I'm like: "I paid almost $500 for this crap looking thing?" I think this was the Garmin Forerunner 645 or some model like that (it was a while ago). But aesthetics aside, it seemed to work just fine, although my last model went kaput after maybe about 4 or so years as it stopped locking on to satellites. It was not a long lasting product in spite of how expensive it was. Plus, I did not wear it constantly like I do my Apple Watches. I only wore them when I went running, so it was surprisingly it did not last more than a few years.

Cheap and pricey was what I recall them being, these Garmin . Maybe things have turned for the better...?

 

[dk001]

Yeah I'm just the opposite on this one. I think the Apple watch is much better looking than the Garmin. Garmin looks to me like a Plastic Casio just a little better. Everyone has their own opinions on the looks just like anything in this world.

When I first got my Ultra I was shopping a new Garmin - do I keep the Fenix and Ultra or get a new Garmin and return the Ultra?
Aesthetically, it was hit / miss. Some Garmin looked better, some worse. Eye of the Beholder.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Yeah I'm just the opposite on this one. I think the Apple watch is much better looking than the Garmin. Garmin looks to me like a Plastic Casio just a little better. Everyone has their own opinions on the looks just like anything in this world.

I think they could both fall into that category as both seem to go for the bulky sports aesthetic. Some of the higher end Casio G-Shocks look better than either of these IMO and there’s a reason why they have had such a huge fanbase for the past 30 years. For the record though I don’t own either the Garmin nor the Apple Ultra as both are too big for me, not to my taste and do things I have no use for.

 

[Phil108]

Between its fitness features and its connectivity with all of my other devices, including my smart home accessories, the Apple Watch acts as a hub for my digital life. It's the first device I interact with when I wake up, and it's the last one I interact with before I go to sleep.

HORROR.

Had an Apple Watch since Series 4 and these little things sucking you into the digital world 24/7 was the reason I recently sold my S7 after I got a conventional watch and used it for a few months instead of the S7.

Couldn't be happier, now my wristwatch finally is a tool and reminder to take control of my precious time again, it's such a relief.

Yea, I know, configure different Focus modes to keep the distractions at bay... no need for that any more.

Sleep tracking: I got an Oura ring now, ok so far.

 

[BigMcGuire]

HORROR.

Had an Apple Watch since Series 4 and these little things sucking you into the digital world 24/7 was the reason I recently sold my S7 after I got a conventional watch and used it for a few months instead of the S7.

Couldn't be happier, now my wristwatch finally is a tool and reminder to take control of my precious time again, it's such a relief.

Yea, I know, configure different Focus modes to keep the distractions at bay... no need for that any more.

Sleep tracking: I got an Oura ring now, ok so far.

Notifications are very controllable. Ever since my Apple Watch 3 - I've turned off most of the notifications that were on by default. I have a favorites list of people who matter to me who are really the only ones who can contact me.

I much prefer Autosleep's information vs other products that I've tried.

I interact with my AW very little throughout the day other than occasional time checks and weather checks. I also like the sundown sunup complications.

 

[Surfsalot]

My ultra is a tool, never looked at it as being controlled by it lol. I wear it surfing, playing tennis, walking the dog for distance and using streamlet radio app, also if get a call don't need to lug the phone for an hour, it's good around the house and backyard I can answer calls/messages without my phone, it just says in my home/office.
Don't use it for sleep.