Apple Watch Ultra 1

5owners with an opinion

60%of verdicts positive

3/2positive/negative since 2024

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for battery and ease of use; criticized for performance.

What owners wrote

Likes it

I second this: "2nd hand Garmin Forerunner 55 and with a chest based HR monitor". For heart rate training in general, the gold standard is an ECG-based chest strap. Avoid an optical-based monitor because you get some lag between readings or it even misses readings (this is especially evident during short intense intervals). For a chest strap HR monitor, the main one is Polar H10, for a cheaper monitor you can get a Coospo H808S. Saying that, I mainly use an Apple Watch Ultra 1 because it is convenient, it is good enough and I do not have to hassle with putting on a chest strap - I just have to settle with it taking a few seconds to register the correct heart rate after an intense set.

Doesn’t like it

2nd hand Garmin or Apple Watch. These things are basically being thrown away and watches like a Gen 6 AW or a Fenix 5 can be found for so little money and they work very well even today if you only care about sports tracking. I personally cannot stand Apple for sports, which is why I have a AW Ultra 1 AND a Fenix 7 lol. Got both 2nd hand for ~30% of their MSRP. Personally something like a 2nd hand Garmin Forerunner 55 with a chest based HR monitor is for me the best budget setup. But when shopping second hand you, use what you can find. I often see great deals on things like the Garmin instinct series. 2 years ago I got a Fenix 5 for 180 and it was amazing for me. Just turn off all the "smart" features.

Likes it

As a user of both Garmin (and Suunto, Coros, Polar would be in the same category) and Apple Watch Ultra, you'll find one main difference again and again: battery life. The not-Apple-watches will last a week or more before charging, AW will make it a day or two. OTOH, as far as a smart watch goes, AW will be head and shoulders better. For me, it's a lot of little cuts with Garmin. For instance, setting a timer for my tea is like six button presses on the Garmin, and that's with a shortcut keypress to get to the timer. AW: there's a complication on the watch face, one press. Or, "Siri, five minutes". Three presses otherwise. I haven't owned anything from the other brands in a long time, so can't comment on the likes of Suunto or what have you. Some will tell you that AW is "okay", but "serious athletes" use a Garmin. Meh, whatever. I've got a running resume as long as my arm, and I just preordered the AW Ultra 4 to replace my Garmin (and my AWU 1). AW gives me the data I need, and it will last long enough for me to get through a 100 mile race, so I won't miss much from Garmin. And good $DEITY, Garmin's prices are getting ridiculous. $1200 for a titanium Fenix? I don't care how long the battery lasts, that thing better wax my fucking car. If you want to save a little money, I've heard nothing but good things about Coros.

Doesn’t like it

I'm hoping that means the Ultra 3 will be more interesting later on, in some way. Maybe a 51mm circular option to compete with Garmin on form factor? Maybe a bigger battery? It's disappointing they broke the lockstep release of the Apple Watch this year, though. I have an Ultra 1 and the battery life is a lot worse than the Ultra 2, but there's no new watch for me this year, so now I'm stuck.

Likes it

Same here. It's been great, and I'm on the Ultra 1 still. I will say it wasn't great when I had the non-Ultra. It was fine at first, the watch would last a full day, but like 2 or 3 years later it would struggle if I did a lot of exercise in a day to make it to the time I go to bed. I also recently went on a 5-day backpacking trip and it was a struggle to keep my phone and watch charged with an external battery. If the ultra lasted even 3 days instead of just 2ish on a charge this would have made it way easier. By the end of the trip to save charge I just gave up charging the watch.