Owners of both Ultra and Ultra 2……..brightness difference

[Dguitarnut]

For the folks that have both or had both is the screen brightness enough to tell the difference in everyday use?
When you just grab one and put on wrist do you know which one you you put on without a direct comparison?

 

[ebika]

For the folks that have both or had both is the screen brightness enough to tell the difference in everyday use?
When you just grab one and put on wrist do you know which one you you put on without a direct comparison?

For me, only in low-light situations. The 1 nit brightness is borderline too dim for me if my eyes haven't adjusted to the dark yet, but fine once they've adjusted. In normally-lit rooms I don't see a difference between U1 and U2. In direct sunlight, I can see and appreciate the 3000 nits. However, the 2000 nits on the U1 was pretty great in direct sunlight too.

 

[Beards]

A friend of mine was harping on about how great his U2 was.
Whilst we were sitting in my garden he proudly claimed “It’s so much brighter than a U1” he said.
With that I asked him to take off his U2 and hand it to me….. I first removed his straps, placed it down, took off my U1, removed the straps, then picked up both watches and after placing them behind my back I changed them from hand to hand several times…
Finally I placed both watches down on the garden table and asked him “which watch is yours”?
After around 10 seconds he picked up first my watch, turned it over, placed it back down, picked up his watch, turned it over and proudly claimed “this is my watch”!

The only way he could tell was because his watch was more grubby on the back. 😜

 

[Jackbequickly]

I have had both and it would be hard to tell the difference. In very bight ambient conditions, both Ultra watches go nuclear bright!

 

[Dguitarnut]

Thanks for the replies………Apple had a decent trade in value which just dropped today about $40 so I was considering it. I will wait till the new model arrives later this year…..

 

[Howard2k]

A friend of mine was harping on about how great his U2 was.
Whilst we were sitting in my garden he proudly claimed “It’s so much brighter than a U1” he said.
With that I asked him to take off his U2 and hand it to me….. I first removed his straps, placed it down, took off my U1, removed the straps, then picked up both watches and after placing them behind my back I changed them from hand to hand several times…
Finally I placed both watches down on the garden table and asked him “which watch is yours”?
After around 10 seconds he picked up first my watch, turned it over, placed it back down, picked up his watch, turned it over and proudly claimed “this is my watch”!

The only way he could tell was because his watch was more grubby on the back. 😜

That’s what you’d expect though. It’s under extreme brightness and darkness that the extra nits (or lack of) would be noticeable.

 

[bricktop_at]

I own both and the AWU2 is noticeably darker than the AWU1 in low light conditions (both set to the same brightness level).
I’m sure that’s something that could be easily fixed by an update… both on 10.2 at the moment.

 

[Beards]

That’s what you’d expect though. It’s under extreme brightness and darkness that the extra nits (or lack of) would be noticeable.

We are talking ‘real use occasions’ and not random extreme differences. As such the brightness between the two is not comparable when used in normal daily use.
P.S. My garden test was in very bright and direct full sun conditions and my friend STILL could not tell the difference.

 

[the future]

We are talking ‘real use occasions’ and not random extreme differences. As such the brightness between the two is not comparable when used in normal daily use.
P.S. My garden test was in very bright and direct full sun conditions and my friend STILL could not tell the difference.

Being outside in sunlight is not „real use“?

And nice anecdote (n=1), but for me (n=1, too) the difference is quite noticeable.

OTOH I agree that the 2000 nits of the U1 are „bright enough“ and I wouldn’t get the U2 just for the brighter screen if I already had an U1.

 

[mrmister]

It is noticeably better in very low light and very bright situations.

 

[perezr10]

I did side by side comparisons in the sun and the Ultra 2 is significantly brighter. Easy to see.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Apple needs to bring that lowest setting up from one nit to about five. It is too dim in some conditions.

 

[jbc25]

We are talking ‘real use occasions’ and not random extreme differences. As such the brightness between the two is not comparable when used in normal daily use.
P.S. My garden test was in very bright and direct full sun conditions and my friend STILL could not tell the difference.

"real use" is different for everybody. For example if you're a runner and you want to glance at your watch whilst running in bright sunlight with your arm moving up and down, and your eyes are tearing up or whatever, that extra bit of brightness makes a difference.

 

[Beards]

"real use" is different for everybody. For example if you're a runner and you want to glance at your watch whilst running in bright sunlight with your arm moving up and down, and your eyes are tearing up or whatever, that extra bit of brightness makes a difference.

That is why I said real use “occasions”. One occasion is different from another user’s occasion but it’s still a real use. In my real use occasion I cannot tell the difference when sat in the garden with the sun shining down brightly on both screens.