Apple - Apple Watch Ultra 3

Compared to my Fenix I remember being very self-conscious at first with how dainty the ultra felt and looked. I honestly didn't know if I liked it. Like OP I immediately noticed how light it was too. That didn't last long and it felt completely normal in a matter of days to a week

The sapphire will absolutely do it. Mixed reviews on scratched bezels, but the staggering consensus is the screen will hold perfectly. I've had each gen of AWU since their respective release days (I keep selling my old one and getting the new model for 1/2 off that way), but in 3 years of daily use I've never scratched the sapphire.

This. I'm going on my third day without charging. This means less battery cycles and longer life of device.

I received the AWU3 and I remain in doubt. For running it is very inferior. Runna is okay but it's an additional subscription. I expect from the AWU a better silent morning alarm and perhaps help to better organize my days with Structured for example.

I switched from Apple Watch & Apple Music to Garmin 255 & Spotify. You can get a yearly Spotify premium gift card from Amazon for $120 to save money, otherwise it's $144 a year from Spotify. I much prefer Garmins watch for running over the Apple Watch. The 2 music subscriptions were about equal to me. They both have their annoyances & pluses.

For me the integration with my Macs (auto unlock), phone for notifications and celluar feature allowing me to ride without my phone at all are important so an Apple Watch Ultra has been amazing. If you don't care about those things and fitness and tracking are your priroity it be Garmin all day.

Right? It's actually amazing to have all this tech in a tiny device strapped to your wrist. Lots of people only dwell on things that aren't there. But the things that are there? Pretty cool: You can call your mom with it or have it tell you which way to turn so you don't get lost. It will call 911 for you if are moving and get stopped fast enough that your brain noped out. It will warn you if have afib or sleep apnea. It's a jukebox. You can play a game on it while waiting in line. It will tell you when to turn off the quinoa pot. It nags you if you've sat on your ass too long. Mine nags me if I start to get dehydrated. Because it has its own friggin App Store. Oh yeah . . . you don't have to drag a big slab of iPhone everywhere you go. And it will do all this 24/7 for some years. It's really hard to break. Plus all the athletic/health data you actually need as a layman. For $800. This is by far the best device Apple has built yet for my personal use case. My phone might sit on the counter in the same place for a day or two. But my Ultra is all over the place.

Personally, i had Apple Watch only since the very beginning. That's 10 years of being stuck on one platform. Same watch faces. Slow to roll out features. But the biggest for me was: sleep tracking sucked ass on my Apple Watch and the calorie burn was just laughable. The calorie burn on a totally lazy day on my AW put me in the "moderate exercise" category. It was just silly. My wife got a garmin last spring and i got jealous. It had a lot more features that i considered health centric that i liked. The calorie burn made sense. The metrics it gave were just plain cool to look at. It integrated well with the loseit app. The watch face store is just amazing. Makes my garmin feel new all the time. Everything i wanted out of the Apple Watch needed an app and usually a subscription to do. Sleep tracking? Have fun with the pillow app. Subscribe to premium to unlock basic features even the garmin has for free! Calorie tracking beyond some rings? Download bevel. Subscription though! Hydration tracking? Water minder app. Like there's apps to do stuff, but i just find the functionality on the base garmin experience to be preferable. I just like it. It's nice.

I can't stand my Apple Watch. It always turns off during my workouts and counting "exercise minutes" is literally pointless. I bought an Ultra 2 because I wanted to have the best shot at success with it and that thing is a POS for health tracking. The whoop is so much more comfortable and consistent at tracking with better data analytics. I have the 5.0 and the band is fine. Idk what everyone is complaining about. Is it something you would wear to dress up an expensive outfit? No, but that's not really what it is intended for. Personally, I would wear it with a suit without thinking twice because I don't really care what other people think.

I use both. I feel my Apple Watch is more accurate with HR, steps, workouts. My ring is for sleep and stress.

I got the Apple Ultra 3 . And not impressed. When i have to start a run i need to do three taps. Is Garmin going to be better. I also play tennis . And walk. I need something thst wint need me to be constantly tapping etc . Am I expecting too much.

Apple Watch Ultra user and haven't used Garmin or others. I like the AWU because the GPS is extremely accurate, I like the out of box workout/fitness App with Apple, and most importantly I have SOS emergency call if I'm swimming solo. I also have a family with young kids so having the ability to call/text when I'm away if I really need to is peace of mind.

For me, my Apple Watch never knew when I woke up or did anything and the timing was always off. Where is my Garmin is dead on with pretty much everything. Idk 🤷♂️

yea i wear both aw on the left whoop on the right. they are both good for different things and having the whoop gives me some peace of mind about my apple watch charge like i don't stress about if it dies cause ik the whoop is running

I wear both an Apple Watch and a Garmin. But honestly, if I had to choose one, it would just be the Garmin. For health data and hell even just telling time the Garmin is miles ahead of Apple. Great thing about Garmin is that they hit pretty much every price point. You can get one of their fitness bands for as low as $150 or more expensive watches.

I took the same path, to take advantage of the connected functions of the Apple Watch and a better silent morning alarm. I miss Garmin's running features, including routable dynamic mapping (WOD makes up for it a bit) and Garmin Coach. Runna is less good (much less adaptive) but it gets the job done. For everyday functions, I am happy with my new AWU3 even if I still have the reflex to blindly look for my button to turn on the LED lamp :)

Yeah I have taken fitness pretty seriously over the last 1.5 years. Have done 6 triathlons and feel that the Apple Watch is severely lacking. But I feel there would be too many trade offs to go to garmin

I have both. Often, it appears the readings are for different people. Oura has me awake when I am asleep and asleep when I am awake. My sleep metrics seem more accurate with Oura aside from deep sleep which can be 14 minutes on Oura and an hour on Apple. My HRV has always been very low, even though I seem to be very fit and healthy. Oura's average is 29 and Apple 20. Apple is far more efficient at determining lowest RHR at night.

I had an Apple Watch and immediately switched to the 965 after about 2 weeks of trying to manage my anger over how often the AW had to be charged. I'm firmly on the buy-it team

I have an AWU3 and just grabbed a Fenix8. How do you mix their use? Do you use the garmin for sleep? If not, how does that change your training load? I had a fenix6pro that I used for a couple 50k's, and I want to get back into doing them. That's why I picked up the 8.

Yeah, I always had better luck with the sleep tracking on the Garmin after switching from Apple Watch. My Apple Watch sleep tracking was so basic and I felt the duration times were so off. And I'm hearing from the new videos on Apple and their sleep scores say that it factors in less things like it doesn't counter HRV while you're asleep it goes off consistency, duration, and that's it. I set my Garmin to sync to Apple health and I got a sleep score and it was so wildly far off. It was insane lol 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. Definitely happy with my decision to stick to Garmin.

The Apple Watch is the choice of compromise between daily life and running. I find it very inferior to the Garmins for running and hiking, but it is still acceptable considering the advantages for everything else.

It essentially boils down to numbers go brr. Not a literal video game thing like some niche high end workout machines have Apple Watch's activity rings are closest to gamification you can ever get to a watch though. It has achievements in it too. My problem is I can't disable stand rings because I do not wear my watch 24/7

It's more of a fitness tracker than anything. Apple themselves (in the apps they have) makes sure to reiterate that whatever data they show to you is not a replacement to a health check up nor an accurate indicator of your overall health. It's not a gimmick, as the data they record hold real weight and I've read stories here that some of the things they saw in their watches prompted them to go to a doctor, indirectly saving their lives. Personally I use an Apple Watch to gamify my workouts. I am an avid gamer and a bit of a gym rat. Some people use it to gamify their walk, run, swimming and hiking activities. Even sleep can be gamified, or menstrual cycles. You'd know how many hours you actually slept with a watch on. It is a fun device for those trying to stay fit and live a healthy lifestyle. For some people, maybe they just want a digital watch they can customize. A watch they can put their dog's face on. But for health and making sure you don't die? Nothing still beats a visit to the doctor.

Went from apple watch to Garmin (for longer battery life) then Casio G-shock. Its so calm now. I do miss the tracking sometimes in the summer when i bike. Other than that, i enjoy the freedom not having to charge everyday or not getting bombarded with stats and notifications. You can disable these features from smartwatches of course (which i did), but whats the point of having one then?

The expensive ones aren't any more accurate than the cheap ones, but they do last longer. I'm on my third Apple Watch and likely will never switch to anything else, so take my advice with all the weight of a single grain of salt.

Yes, but said apps also cost money and aren't necessarily cheap. I tried going that route and wound back up staying loyal to Whoop. I rock both now and have gotten used to it. The strength trainer on Whoop is light years better than any fitness or workout module on the Apple Watch as well.

I love Apple and Garmin products, and I've been waiting for the Ultra 3 release to replace my Apple Watch Series 9. Here's where my AWS9 falls short for me: camping and hiking because of battery, maps and navigation while biking and hiking, and the dynamic running workout suggestions that Garmin has. I can get Fenix 8 Solar for $880 through a discount with my health insurance which makes it comparable to AWU3. Things I like about Fenix 8 Solar: maps, battery, daily suggested workout, Garmin coach, MIP screen doesn't look like a mini phone on my wrist. Things I like about AWU3: being reachable by my wife and kids while running and cycling, running errands sans phone, love the design, my watch bands will fit, my Apple Music subscription works, etc. I feel like the AWU3 fits my actual day to day better than the Fenix; although, when I do make it out for that couple times a year backpacking trip, Fenix is the clear winner. But on the day to day I mostly am tracking running and weightlifting. And a weekend gravel bike ride. Anybody have both?

🤷♂️ came from Apple Watch last spring. It might be cheaper but it doesn't seem better. Sleep tracking (for me) was far worse on the Apple Watch, fitness tracking is better on garmin, calorie burn, calculating tdee, etc. just everything is better for me. So meh

I have an apple watch and I used it in the start, but I've purchased a bike computer after a while, and It's 100 times better. If you just use it for commuting, I would say it's fine to just stick to an apple watch. If you use the bike for training, it's pretty annoying to have to check you wrist to see your heart rate in an all out intervall. If you don't really care about the stats mid ride an apple watch is the way to go. Since it's probably not that nice to slap a bike computer to your wrist.

I returned the mk3i 43mm. It's heavy for daily use and the screen is small for diving. So trying to do everything but it's not good at anything. I got the descent x50i instead and just use the super light Apple Watch 10 for everything else. The Apple Watch Ultra was also too heavy for me. To me heavy is ok for just a fashion watch. But for a fitness watch I don't like it.

Ultra gets me two days easily. Isn't hard to find time to charger it. Ussually my rings are full by dinner time. I just toss it on the charger for a bit or worst case till I go to bed then slap it back on.

Thanks for the input on this - makes me wonder whether I have a faulty model :) But again - works quite well when I don't move a lot.

I am 100% on the side of ultra. Bought my first Ultra the 3 and will never go back. The battery life is amazing!!! Lasts 2 to 3 days easy and that's without low power mode.

I wear my Apple Watch on my bicep or around my ankle on the days I wear my regular watch. At times I just wear Apple Watch like a tool watch on my wrist too. I don't think it has to be either or

It is way more accurate than most runners need. If you do want or need more accuracy you need dedicated accessories or devices. Like a chest strap. Anecdotally, Apple has edged ahead of Garmin in most metrics. But that's the way of Apple. Slow and steady with incremental improvements. Apple is the tortoise in this race.

Switched from Apple Watch to a Garmin Enduro some time ago. For exercise / fitness related stuff I would never go back to Apple Watch. Also with the enduro , the battery life is absurd , can run an ultra marathon and still have a really significant amount of battery left. If your goal is a watch for exercise garmin is the way to go.

Correct, unless it's an ultra as others have said. Personally, I use my Garmin for long activities and running and my Apple Watch for everything else. I prefer the versatility and convenience of my Apple Watch throughout the day, while working, doing HIIT, running into a store without my phone, etc. but prefer the Garmin for running metrics and battery life for several hours walking/hiking activities.

I compare my apple watch logs with my pedometer. Ultimately, the device that exists for that single function will be more accurate.