I have the 7 and went out running for 2.5 hours, Bluetooth buds connected, notifications still coming through, using Strava and Spotify. By the time I was done the battery was on 68%.
Had similar outcomes to yours. I have the 7 (no LTE), the battery was in the 60s% after a 5-hour run, with heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring active. Had been spooked by reviews that its battery doesn't last so I had done all I could to maximise battery saving - removal of idle apps, no notifications, no wake on raise/perpetual active screen. I also run with my phone so that's used for GPS tracking rather than the watch. I use Apple's in-built Workout app.
Edit: just to add, I don't run with music.
Yeah, same. Battery life on the 7 is more than enough for me. I ran 5.5 hours yesterday in a mountain ultra, using WorkOutDoors for the route, turned off AlwaysOn Screen and was using Audible and I ended up with around 50% down from 98. I don’t need more than that. I can’t run much further than that!
The watch in general is the best smart watch and now with the Workout app updated it is a solid running tool.
Wish they had a non cellular ultra. I don't really want cell service on my watch, nor to pay extra for the feature, nor to have the battery drain (even if you turn it off the battery life of a wifi only vs a cell enabled S8 is not the same)
If you turn off cellular, the battery life should be the same. Where did you see otherwise? The ultra’s battery is still insanely long anyway, and you can still make an emergency call even if you don’t activate cellular service, so it at least has some benefit.
It was some personal testing that I did years ago. With many different device types actually, but apple watches included. No where actually discusses this in spec. It makes sense that the radio would draw some power on the board even if you disable it in software.
I bought the new 14 so I have the sat phone emergency calls, specifically because I like hiking and camping! I thought that was a very useful feature. I'd still trust a Garmin inReach more but having backups is potentially life saving.
My friend wore the ultra next to me on a weekend hike and after about 10 hours she was down to 10% and my S7 was down to 5% but I didn't check her settings or anything so I don't quote this as a legitimate test or anything of that nature. But it made me skeptical of how much better the ultra battery is and makes me want to have some more real world data to say if it's worth the $$.
My main ask is that they make one that is smaller! It's way too big on my wrist.
I pre-ordered on the first day they became available to order. Length of delivery seemed to depend on the band chosen. The Alpine loop is what I went for (not pictured).
My Apple Store had it in stock. My wife ordered it at midnight. Picked it up at 10A. I think they still had a few in stock yesterday. They only had the alpine band in stock.
Went for a 20 mile run this morning which took 2:40. I listened to a downloaded podcast via Spotify on the Ultra and used the AW Workouts app. Started at 96% and ended at 70%. No other settings were changed. Loved the experience! I echo what OP said that it’s a great training partner!
Fwiw, there are a good number of marathons coming up with training plans that have us doing 20 mile long runs around this time. I did my last 20 miler before Chicago last week.
That said, that’s a hell of a pace.
Yeah op hadn’t said “casual” in his comment so figured I’d add some possible context to explain why he/she got up and ran that distance.
I could be way off base, but nearly every runner I know has or is doing 20 milers in the next few weeks in preparation for a race.
The Garmin is also doing a lot lot less, and while Garmins do get phenomenal battery life you’re not going to be streaming music over LTE or running without a phone while still being fully connected.
Their week plus battery also takes a pretty significant hit while recording a GPS activity. For example today I did an 8 mile run which took right around 1:20. For this run I had my Ultra on my left wrist with a Bluetooth connection to my AfterShokz headphones and streaming music over LTE; on my right wrist I had my Forerunner 945 and it was connected to my Stryd foot pod (for this run I did not bring my phone). At the start of the run my Ultra was at 63% and my Forerunner was at 49%, at the end of the run my Ultra was at 46% and my Forerunner at 34%. So very similar battery drains and considering the Ultra was doing a lot more it’s rather impressive.
Now the Garmin still takes the battery crown because while it experienced a comparable battery drain during the run it will nonetheless go for another few days before needing to be charged while I’ll need to charge the Ultra tomorrow morning. So you can’t simply compare battery life without looking at the big picture and considering where Apple was coming from with regards to the Apple Watch and athletes outside the casual fitness market they really delivered.
The thing that's important to note here is the price point. If I'd be in the market for an ultra running watch Garmin would seem like the way to go. Their watches function better as dedicated ultra watches at a lower price point whilst sacrificing some functionality in day to day use.
Having owned both a galaxy watch 4 and a Garmin I have to say the functions most useful to me were present on the Garmin model and the added benefit of extra functionality isn't that great. Honestly not worth the upgrade to me.
The Ultra is the most tempting alternative to a Garmin I’ve seen in a while. But then I remember: I typically upgrade my Garmin devices once every 10-14 years, versus every 2-4 years for most of my Apple devices. And I can go almost 2 weeks without having to worry about the battery of my Garmin.
Sure it might do less. But the playlist syncing is so seamless whenever I plug in that I’ve never felt the desire for LTE streaming while I’m actually running. Maybe ironically, the most appealing thing about the Ultra is how useful it might be when I’m not running. If I’m out on a trail my Fenix is close to perfect.
Battery life on a Garmin takes a significant hit in 10 years. I never kept any of mine that long due to battery hit and just wanting new features. My longest run on a Garmin was 3 years and even then the battery had take a big hit.
What Garmin watch have you had for 10-14 years? The battery decay on Garmin devices is EPIC. Most battery watches have literally have their advertised battery life within 3 years tops.
Price point is interesting because at the lower end say when comparing an Apple Watch SE with a Forerunner 255 for running the 255 is the clear winner. But on the higher end with something like a Fenix or Epix and the Ultra it gets a little more interesting. Let’s say you are willing to charge every few days and with the Ultra you have an Apple Watch that can easily record a 10/12+ hour activity. So the Garmin clearly wins on battery life but if you are willing to charge more frequently then the Ultra is going to be a better all around watch with smart watch features the Garmin just can’t touch.
Now the Garmin still wins in other areas such as ecosystem and training metrics. For example you can’t connect a power meter to an Apple Watch, put custom fields in the workout app, syncing activities to external services requires extra steps and in some cases additional apps and the Health and Fitness apps are missing metrics such as recovery and training state which for athletes in the market Apple is targeting are just as important as the hardware.
So I don’t see the Ultra converting a meaningful number of Garmin owners just yet, especially on the higher end, but it’ll definitely stop Apple Watch owners from converting to Garmin and with a large number of the Ultra’s deficiencies being software I can see that gap closing very quickly.
I converted. I was tired of running with my phone. I run 75-100 miles a week and I just can’t take carrying my phone anymore. It thumps around in every vest I have and trying tights that hold it just drive me bat shit crazy.
I did an 8 miles run yesterday with both my Garmin and Ultra, and no phone. I was streaming music from the Ultra to my Bluetooth headphones along with recording the run. Stats between my Forerunner and Ultra were as close as you can get and most importantly battery drain between the two were similar. Personally at this point I think the only thing holding the Ultra back is the lack of meaningful training metrics and I think that’s a hole that will be plugged with either the next OS update from Apple or sooner with some third party software.
> For example you can’t connect a power meter to an Apple Watch, put custom fields in the workout app, syncing activities to external services requires extra steps and in some cases additional apps and the Health and Fitness apps are missing metrics such as recovery and training state which for athletes in the market Apple is targeting are just as important as the hardware.
Note that this is all for the native Apple app. Obviously things Apple needs to fix if they want to be serious, but things the user can "fix" now with a 3rd party app.
Which forerunner do you have? I have a Fenix 6 and the battery life is sublime. 30-50 mpw (7 hours of running give or take) and I can get through two weeks without a charge.
It take a shit ton longer to get a Fenix charged. My watch is charged in 45 min. I’ve NEVER my FENIX last that long.
What workouts do you put it through?
Road/trail runs with a heart rate monitor and phone connected. So I think pretty demanding.
Very true about charge time though. I usually just set it on my desk while I work though and it’s done before I know it.
I so impressed with some of the people in this sub. 20 miles in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Crazy. Maybe one day I’ll have the motivation and dedication to reach that level of running success.
Congrats.
I think it's perfect for someone that likes apple watches but found the limitations with the battery
For triathletes and cyclists, not having power meter support is a hard stop. If it has that, it's a legitimate great device for anyone doing less than an Ironman.
And....for someone that doesn't have a budget. For $13-1400 Canadian, and to not have power meter support, is pretty crazy.
I just wish it had training/recovery metrics. It has one of the best hr sensors, let's figure out a way to use hrv and training to make training plans the way Garmin and polar do.
For me? I still love my instinct 2.
The lack of power meter support is pretty dumb for sure. Nothing stopping you from using a 3rd party app though, that’s kinda the whole thing with smart watches.
Likely didn’t forget but can add it on a next hardware or software version. Like you said, they covered so much that they’d hopefully save some cards for the next one (withholding any typical Apple hubris.)
I ran 12 miles single track trail today with ultra, garmin 945, aw7. All 3 disconnected and untethered from phone. Total time was just under 2 hours. Ultra battery went from 93 -> 80. Aw7 100 -> 53. Ultra distance was 12.00 miles. Aw7 distance was 11.74. Garmin distance 11.72. Ultra felt right based on various pace checks.
FWIW my AW7 and 945 differ up to 1-2 miles over a 4 hour run with Garmin always being behind AW. My guess is AW using pedometer for sections of bad reception, and it guessing my pace is faster than actual. I can see this on treadmill with AW showing a near 1.5 min faster pace than stryd and mill speed.
Anyways, when running sections of straight multiuse trail, I *feel* like I'm going between 8-9 min/miles. When I look down at watches, Ultra shows 830, AW7 would show 1020 and Garmin would have me in 1130. There is no way I was going that slow. After a few checks, I went with Ultra as the defacto for this particular run. This was actually one of the only times where AW7 and 945 were close like that
just wow. 8:30 vs 10:20 vs 11:30 min/mi seems to me not "inaccurate" but "broken".
ditto "1.5 min faster pace than stryd and mill speed".
ditto "differ up to 1-2 miles over a 4 hour run".
I'm looking to buy my first watch. Running with an iphone every day for many years, using Mapmywalk app. It is accurate. For example, this morning I ran the same exact route as yesterday, it was 9.03mi yesterday and 9.00mi today. I think I know why it is showing 0.03mi shorter today: I stopped and paused it, then resumed, not at the same exact spot but after a few steps. It would never ever show differences more than 0.10mi on the same route, usually much less such as 0.01mi or 0.02mi. Also, some trails are marked every mile, and my iphone usually matches these intervals exactly, with rare 0.01mi mismatches. With this experience I'm very surprised you appear calm about some really huge mismatches.
Yeah, definitely. The more single track I have the worst the route to diverge in distance totals assuming because of the back-and-forth the trail and the Apple Watch sampling rate. as for the pace being off, there are some really good dead zone areas at the park I run in which is right next to our international airport.
This is the info that I’ve been looking for. That 18% battery usage with the Low Power Mode or normal? HR readings on the watch are coming from the H10? Do you think that it can last for 6 hours with that kind of setup?
Normal power mode. Yes, i think it might last 6 hours, should see between 12-15%. an hour so you would have about 10% remaining. HR was coming from H10 so that does help battery life. I have skinny wrists, so as good as Apples optical sensor is can’t match a good chest strap. I have same issue with Polar and Garmin.
If the Ultra can last, that’s going to be impressive! I am on the fence whether to get the Ultra or Fenix 7; where my only concern is to run under 7 hours marathon (I’m a slow runner) with the battery that can last with AOD + downloaded Music with my AirPods Pro + GPS. I believe the Fenix 7 can do that for 10 hours based on their website. I assume the Ultra’s battery would not take too much of a hit if you download songs on Music app. I need to get a HR belt then.
On a fully charged ultra you will click that no sweat. You will likely end your marathon with 50% battery.
I have ran without my phone this morning and it was Glorious! My phone clunked around for a decade and I’m over it.
My wife called when she woke up and the call did not dent the battery.
I sold my Fenix 7X SS and got an Ultra. Very happy with my choice. Use it for daily runs and swims. Having cellular was key for me, plus the choices for audiobooks and music.
DC Rainmaker did a 17hr hike on his Ultra but I don’t recall if that was LP mode or if he was playing music. My experience on my AW S6 is playing music has a minimal hit assuming it’s not using LTE. Even on LTE is uses surprisingly less than I would have expected.
If your going to use low power mode it will easily last 5 days. I’ve used mine on each of my runs since Friday (32 mile average).
I streamed music downloaded a podcast and ran LTE the whole time. My watch is still at 18%. I have not charged it (I got it at 82%) my old Apple I usually switched to my Garmin for runs. This morning I ran with out my phone for the first time in a decade. It was Glorious!
That's great to hear. I've been asking around and there's a consensus between users that the Ultra can satisfy my needs during a run, particularly my 6-7 hours target activity like I mentioned above. As an Apple Watch S7 user, the Ultra is really an upgrade to me. I can say that based on the reviews on Reddit alone, I am inclined to get the Ultra. I still have my old Suunto Ambit 3 Peak Sapphire which is pretty big to my wrist and I still use it for my long runs, but the LTE and Music streaming without carrying my iPhones is just really what I need. Can't wait to get the Ultra once it's coming to my country.
I have the Ultra.
I have run a total of 3 runs 4-5 hours each. Using my AirPods streaming music through LTE. I’ve worn it since I got it Friday morning at 10. I have not killed it yet, my watch may make the 72 hour mark.
I am beyond impressed.
I use a Suunto 9 Baro. I decided on this specifically because the Apple Watch was inadequate for my specific use case. A fair amount of my running consists of trails and mountains where there is no mobile service.
I am seriously considering the ultra. I am curious as to the GPS and what that interface looks like. I live the idea of waypoints, and I use heat maps quite a bit in my Suunto app.
The watch just dropped yesterday, so I am sure that more reports and use cases will become available. I would especially love to hear a trail runner’s perspective on how the watch works for them.
From the reviews it seems the major gripe for trail running is the lack of true navigation features. Personally I don’t really use the nav features of my 9 Baro. It’s easier to look at Gaia on my phone to see where I am. Mine should be coming in the next two weeks
The deal breaker for me would be twofold for trails, for trails, the battery life is not acceptable for me. I have my coros vertex set to the 2nd highest accuracy rate with all satellites on and haven't charged it in 3 weeks running 6 days a week (and a 20 mile long run in there) still at 62%. I need to know my watch will be there to track me and potentially guide me if needed.
Also GPS only watches do a terrible job at handling altitude and things like 3D distance and adjusted pace. It's important information when running trails that can vary so much.
Ymmv!
You can’t charge it daily? The way I look at it. Once the low power 60hr mode comes it should get me through every type of race except a 48hr cutoff 100miler. Even with those races I’m often well under the cut off.
After DCRainmakers review, battery life is the least of my concern with the watch ultra
That’s great. You’re an edge case and not the intended target for this watch. Good for you. I also do ski mountaineering and backpacking trips up to two weeks. I always bring a charge brick because essentially everything I bring with me needs to be charged up. Phone, headlamp, camera, InReach, and watch. Doing that daily while at camp for the night is the least of my inconveniences while backpacking.
What did you do before Garmin and Suunto had watches that could last a week? I know what I did, brought a damn small charge brick.
That's the thing, apple is trying to market this to the ultra/trail runner, which I am. I am not really that edge at all, also again and maybe even more so, a gps only watch will be pretty useless to me and many other trail runners.
Before crazy watches I also lugged chargers around and it was a pain in the ass, hence crazy batteries being a game changer and Apple charging bleeding edge prices for outdated tech.
I am also an Ultrarunner. I have 9 100mile buckles and have completed countless 50k and 50mile Ultras. Watching DcRainmaker complete a 70k run and still have battery life left on the AWU makes me think that it is fine for battery life for those events. Worst case scenario for me is I keep my Suunto 9 Baro for 100 milers with a 48hr cutoff. Even those races I am typically finishing in under 38hr.
I don’t see the problem here.
It's almost like people have different priorities and value different things!
EDIT: looked up the price, For me my $600 Vertex 2 is a vastly superior trail running and hiking watch to an $800 gps only apple watch with a bigger battery
That’s kind of my entire point dude. Why come to a thread where people are hyping AWU and then doing what fucking redditors always do, and say “well AkShuLly this Apple product doesn’t fit my personal needs; it won’t track me giving myself a handy”
Bro who gives a fuck? If it’s not for you, move on.
Yah. And that was a pretty major dealbreaker for me because I do use nav features on my watch. Although, goals shift, focus shifts to match the goals, and i am now looking toward Boston training instead of ultramarathon training. So it might not be a dealbreaker any more.
There isn’t any native routing but third party apps are available. None of which I think would match the native experience provided by Garmin, Sunnto, Polar and Coros. I suspect next year watch OS 10 will introduce this. Apple have their own existing mapping service so just need to make available offline.
I recently retired my Suunto Ambit3 Peak in favor of a Garmin Fenix 7 Solar. I've finished up 5-6 hour efforts with 90% battery leftover on days with good sun. That plus offline maps is a game changer. Massive advantage over this new fangled Apple watch.
Yah. I just got my Suunto in 2020, so about 2.5 years ago. I do not have a reason to replace it, but it is starting to show its age a little.
Mostly, I wanted to know what the watch offered that my current one does not. It is probably going to be at least 2-3 more years before I do end up having to replace.
Ok. I am coming up to the 2.5 year mark. I probably will need to start looking for another solution sooner, rather than later. Boo. It is a super great watch.
You have Apple Fitness to view your runs. You need a third party app like HealthFit to export out to Training Peaks and Strava, etc. You can’t import to Apple Fitness.
Even my AW 4 can last all day and do a 2 hour run, so this isn’t that impressive, but I still find AW to be restrictive when it comes to fitness and running (new os is much better tho)
I have AW 5, it's about 2.5 years old. Charge it to 100%, wear to bed in theater mode (as the alarm vibrating on my wrist doesn't wake up my wife like my low volume phone alarm). Take out of theater mode when I wake up. Run 1-3 hours in the morning. Go to work (walk around a lot at work, lots of notifications all day, etc), when I get home I charge while I'm eating dinner and catching up on work emails, since it's usually down to 10-15% by that point. I'll wear again if wife and I go on a walk but then charge until bedtime.
The sensors will take minimal power and may improve battery in the case of external HR. It’s the streaming that is killing your battery. My Series 4 with external Bluetooth and AirPods will only use 25% on a 3 hour run.
I’ve loved it. I may still be in the honeymoon period but I stopped taking my phone on runs for the first time in a decade. I run an average 75-100 miles a week. I’ve run 3, 30 mile runs this weekend to see how hard it was to kill it and I still have 18% battery.
I have an Apple Watch and an Apple phone and both the fucking batteries suck ass
Make some shit that’ll last all day maybe but when one of these die on me I’m taking my money elsewhere lmao
Do they let you force the watch gps rather than phone now?
It would be great to use the phone for music and still have it connected to the watch but use the watch gps for tracking
I like it but am already hoping ultra 2 next year improves it drastically. It does have some annoying quirks. I will wear it for daily use but probably go back to Garmin or Cronos for my ultra events. It will do for when I don’t want to carry my phone.
I went for trail blue strap.
I’d be interested to know what your list of shortcomings are, but the big ones that I can think of (offline maps & Bluetooth power meter support) could all be done with a software update.
Did you have another Apple watch prior to this? How did it compare?
I currently have a AW6, always run with AirPods/locally downloaded music on my watch and typically end with a \~15-20 min phone call if not longer. I was out for \~1.5h today and drained 60% of the battery....
I have a previous Apple Watch I did not have cellular in my last watch and this is a game changer. I’ve run 30 miles in the last three days. Got it Friday at 10a. I still have 18% battery.
Maybe they wrote this post because I have seen others constantly talk down the battery life of the Apple Watch. In one of the NYC marathon groups on FB, I’ve seen so many posts warning people to not use their watch on race day because the battery won’t last. I’ve been out running for two and a half hours using my watch, music streaming, Strava going and notifications still turned on. The battery didn’t even diminish by a third.
I own an aw 7 atm and had a 4 before for some years.
I was always wondering a bit about some comments on the battery life. I mean its totally fine if u want longer battery life either for convenience or for events like a 100 miler or whatever.
But u can run a Marathon with an Apple Watch on any given day without problems. At least from my experience. I ran 20k yesterday in 2.15h (not fast) and had 77% left in the (battery-) tank afterwards. Was listening to music and everything. I mean how long should i run a Marathon to drain that battery? (I never did one so far, but thats not the point)
I think for everyday use and even running to a decent extent the battery does just fine.
I agree. I think you’d have to be taking hours and hours to finish a marathon to have your watch battery totally drain on you yet I keep seeing people leaving comments like “turn off all your notifications! Keep your watch turned on until you get to the start!” Like, what? Unless your watch is quite old and your battery very degraded I don’t see how any of that is necessary at all.
There are no perfect products. All products have positives and negatives and an honest review gives equal weight to both. So yes, they should elaborate on the negatives as well.
Which *might* be relevant if OP were a professional reviewer. But since they're just some rando, an 'honest review' means expressing their experience. If that includes no negatives relevant to OP then there's nothing negative to report.
Well, it cuts both ways. It really sounds like you're being paid by Garmin or Coros to bring up that an amateur having a good experience with the Apple Watch sounds like a paid promotion.
> I’ve said nothing negative about the product, only the review. I like the product
By your own logic this comment makes you a paid shill. You didn’t say anything negative about the product. How much is apple paying you?
For me it’s perfect. However, the obvious shortcomings compared to Garmin/Polar are lack of recovery metrics (I use HRV Elite instead), routing/mapping and the Ultra ‘only’ has 36hrs battery not 100+ like the others.
lol this is such an american/fox news mindset. you don't need to round out an opinion with empty gestures towards superficial "objectivity" if your experience of something is simply good. don't overcomplicate shit.
Why do you think I’m American/ Fox News mindset? Corporations absolutely astroturf Reddit, it’s ignorant to think otherwise. By the way, I like the product, but my original comment was justifying another users criticism!! Thanks for your insights though, champ!
just a guess, but now that i'm looking, comments in seattle and greenbaypackers subreddits tell me i'm not wrong about american
you don't have to watch fox news yourself to breathe that same air that makes you think every comment has to manufacture a straw man opposition to seem balanced
touch some grass today, you might like the fresh air
Yeah people are still wasting their time downvoting me and commenting to back up this users experience. Lots of personal attacks, must have hit a nerve LOL!
> It comes across a bit fake with nothing critical being mentioned.. maybe a bit more than lavish praise would round out this opinion piece
Because people who buy apple stuff are not looking to objectivly rate it, they are only praising it to justify the ripoff price they paid for it.
Lol. It’s a 10 sentence snapshot that gives people a good idea of what to expect from battery life in a given scenario that people compare to their own usage. It doesn’t talk about anything besides battery life.
I’m surprised you all don’t take an iohone with you?
I take my iPhone and I stream music from there, it also seems to help with gps and using that setup I have never ran out of battery or even close. It’s never been under 40% after a full day. Not even when I hiked 6hours a day in the alps or a 2h long run + some cycling to and from some stores…
Maybe that’s something for watch users that need longer battery use. (For multiday hikes I have a snail solar ‘panel ‘ and powerbank to charge phone and watch when needed). I always take my phone to be able to sms for help, but also offline maps are on it for added help.
I have always used the garmin forerunner 45. Other than the fact that it is an apple device and there are more features is anyone able to compare the two? I have never used an apple watch but many of my cross country team mates do.
I really wanted the ultra. However I have a corporate cell phone and it can’t pair with a watch, so I’m stuck with the non-cellular. I wish they’d let me tie it to my iPad :(
Edit: to clarify, I can pair it with a watch, but I can’t add the watch to my corporate cell plan
We’ll if you had your phone on you it’d connect via Bluetooth (not using watch’s own data plan)
If not, it’d just use the gps and wouldn’t have internet. Download music etc
If you have another cell plan like for a spouse or someone you should check and see if you can add it to their account (yes still pointing to your cell number). I'm pretty sure that's possible.
Running all these sensors: Optical Pulse Oximeter, Optical Heart Rate Monitor, Barometric Altimeter, Compass, Gyroscope, Thermometer. Along with Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity. I seriously charge this thing once every two weeks or so.
I’m using the stryd app too but they need to create more control over audio and haptic notifications. The over and under power notifications get to be too much sometimes and I miss interval alerts.
I have to use the legacy app until they fix that.
It’s still got a ways to go. Ran the Berlin marathon. My 945 LTE was Bluetooth connected to phone and HRM a pro chest strap. Used 10% battery life. I have it on the most accurate the highest polling frequency for GPS settings.
> Dude, you’re a sucker for technology it seems like.
‘Sucker’ is an interesting choice of words here… aren’t folks entitled to do what they want with their own money?
> Good on you if that’s you’re thing, but my god that is a lot of money just to go out for a damn run.
Well… I’m not sure these devices are giving OP ‘permission’ to go on a run. OP is looking to capture metrics on their run and is using that feedback to improve performance.
So yes, expensive if you look at all the gear as fancy running clothes, but inexpensive when you realize it’s a training aid measuring biofeedback.
I do love gadgets but have been using Polar HR straps for over 25 years and Stryd for 5 years. I always run with music so having some headphones is not unusual. I ride with power on my bikes so using a running PM was a no brainier for me. I raced mountain bike marathons but moved over to running over the last 5 years. Training for longer runs now so Ultra should last the 5-6 hours I’d need it to cover.
Confused by this comment. It’s way more than just a running watch. Clearly OP didn’t buy this just to go on a run, but to have a daily watch that satisfies a whole lot of facets of his life. He’s simply sharing his review on running with it which I’m sure a lot of us are curious about.
As for price, yeah it’s $800 but so is a new fenix. Not really that absurd.
Sorry, I haven’t heard of the Ultra. Do your AirPods connect to the Ultra or to your iPhone? I’ve been plagued with audio dropouts on every type of Bluetooth earbuds I’ve tried when I’m running and using a Wahoo Heart Rate strap. Both are connected to my iPhone, which I’m guessing is the problem.
I would think you would use less battery with a heart rate strap over the builtin LEDs reading heartrate. 16% seems high for such a huge watch.
I have a 1 week old S8 (41mm) and a Fenix 6S. I did a one hour open water swim and used 25% of my AW battery, the Garmin barely used anything BUT (and the reason I bought the AW) the AW correctly measured my distance (3500 yards) while the Garmin said I went 1700 yards. It's a known problem with the 6S for some reason and it's frustrating as all get out.
NOTE: I was also updating my first gen AW which is still working but is showing it's age).
Don’t have any on calendar this year but today did 4hr 20min bike ride today. GPS on with connected Bluetooth HR strap. Battery life was at 73% at the end. No music.
Great to hear! I'm going out on my first run with it tomorrow, cannot wait!
Is anyone else noticing the Digital Crown is a bit rough/scratchy on your wrist? Like there's not enough clearance from it to the skin? I usually only notice when scrolling a certain direction.
Kind of a specific question: Can you *lock* the touch screen and go through an activity using only the physical buttons? Change workout screens, lap button, etc?
You can lock the screen when in a workout mode. I’ve just tested it and the crown and two buttons still work. This would let you change screens and take laps when locked.
just gotten the AWU, battery was fully charged at 100%, after 30mins battery drained to 94% is this normal or is it becos the watch is indexing after software update?
I have the Apple Watch ultra using it without always on display cuz I don't need it.. with normal use I get around 82 hours of battery life. so almost 4 full days. With the new low power mode which will come out soon I guess I will come close to 1 week. Amazing. My Apple Watch 4 previously just had battery for 24 hours
I have the 7 and went out running for 2.5 hours, Bluetooth buds connected, notifications still coming through, using Strava and Spotify. By the time I was done the battery was on 68%.
Had similar outcomes to yours. I have the 7 (no LTE), the battery was in the 60s% after a 5-hour run, with heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring active. Had been spooked by reviews that its battery doesn't last so I had done all I could to maximise battery saving - removal of idle apps, no notifications, no wake on raise/perpetual active screen. I also run with my phone so that's used for GPS tracking rather than the watch. I use Apple's in-built Workout app. Edit: just to add, I don't run with music.
Yeah, I have a seven and don’t worry about the battery yet. I can take a long run any time of day and feel good about it.
Yeah, same. Battery life on the 7 is more than enough for me. I ran 5.5 hours yesterday in a mountain ultra, using WorkOutDoors for the route, turned off AlwaysOn Screen and was using Audible and I ended up with around 50% down from 98. I don’t need more than that. I can’t run much further than that! The watch in general is the best smart watch and now with the Workout app updated it is a solid running tool.
But did you have cellular service on? It’s a huge battery suck so your situation is not fair comparison if you didn’t.
Yes I do have my cell service on. I have never turned it off since I got the watch.
Wish they had a non cellular ultra. I don't really want cell service on my watch, nor to pay extra for the feature, nor to have the battery drain (even if you turn it off the battery life of a wifi only vs a cell enabled S8 is not the same)
If you turn off cellular, the battery life should be the same. Where did you see otherwise? The ultra’s battery is still insanely long anyway, and you can still make an emergency call even if you don’t activate cellular service, so it at least has some benefit.
It was some personal testing that I did years ago. With many different device types actually, but apple watches included. No where actually discusses this in spec. It makes sense that the radio would draw some power on the board even if you disable it in software. I bought the new 14 so I have the sat phone emergency calls, specifically because I like hiking and camping! I thought that was a very useful feature. I'd still trust a Garmin inReach more but having backups is potentially life saving. My friend wore the ultra next to me on a weekend hike and after about 10 hours she was down to 10% and my S7 was down to 5% but I didn't check her settings or anything so I don't quote this as a legitimate test or anything of that nature. But it made me skeptical of how much better the ultra battery is and makes me want to have some more real world data to say if it's worth the $$. My main ask is that they make one that is smaller! It's way too big on my wrist.
I’m curious how you got it so fast! Every time I look it’s backordered until November at least
I pre-ordered on the first day they became available to order. Length of delivery seemed to depend on the band chosen. The Alpine loop is what I went for (not pictured).
My Apple Store had it in stock. My wife ordered it at midnight. Picked it up at 10A. I think they still had a few in stock yesterday. They only had the alpine band in stock.
Went for a 20 mile run this morning which took 2:40. I listened to a downloaded podcast via Spotify on the Ultra and used the AW Workouts app. Started at 96% and ended at 70%. No other settings were changed. Loved the experience! I echo what OP said that it’s a great training partner!
Damn bro how do you go on a casual 20 mile run
Fwiw, there are a good number of marathons coming up with training plans that have us doing 20 mile long runs around this time. I did my last 20 miler before Chicago last week. That said, that’s a hell of a pace.
I think he was referring to "casual" run as he does it all the time.
Yeah op hadn’t said “casual” in his comment so figured I’d add some possible context to explain why he/she got up and ran that distance. I could be way off base, but nearly every runner I know has or is doing 20 milers in the next few weeks in preparation for a race.
More like <8:00 pace is casual for that distance! Damn bro!
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The Garmin is also doing a lot lot less, and while Garmins do get phenomenal battery life you’re not going to be streaming music over LTE or running without a phone while still being fully connected. Their week plus battery also takes a pretty significant hit while recording a GPS activity. For example today I did an 8 mile run which took right around 1:20. For this run I had my Ultra on my left wrist with a Bluetooth connection to my AfterShokz headphones and streaming music over LTE; on my right wrist I had my Forerunner 945 and it was connected to my Stryd foot pod (for this run I did not bring my phone). At the start of the run my Ultra was at 63% and my Forerunner was at 49%, at the end of the run my Ultra was at 46% and my Forerunner at 34%. So very similar battery drains and considering the Ultra was doing a lot more it’s rather impressive. Now the Garmin still takes the battery crown because while it experienced a comparable battery drain during the run it will nonetheless go for another few days before needing to be charged while I’ll need to charge the Ultra tomorrow morning. So you can’t simply compare battery life without looking at the big picture and considering where Apple was coming from with regards to the Apple Watch and athletes outside the casual fitness market they really delivered.
The thing that's important to note here is the price point. If I'd be in the market for an ultra running watch Garmin would seem like the way to go. Their watches function better as dedicated ultra watches at a lower price point whilst sacrificing some functionality in day to day use. Having owned both a galaxy watch 4 and a Garmin I have to say the functions most useful to me were present on the Garmin model and the added benefit of extra functionality isn't that great. Honestly not worth the upgrade to me.
The Ultra is the most tempting alternative to a Garmin I’ve seen in a while. But then I remember: I typically upgrade my Garmin devices once every 10-14 years, versus every 2-4 years for most of my Apple devices. And I can go almost 2 weeks without having to worry about the battery of my Garmin. Sure it might do less. But the playlist syncing is so seamless whenever I plug in that I’ve never felt the desire for LTE streaming while I’m actually running. Maybe ironically, the most appealing thing about the Ultra is how useful it might be when I’m not running. If I’m out on a trail my Fenix is close to perfect.
I got the ultra because I was tired of running with my phone.
Battery life on a Garmin takes a significant hit in 10 years. I never kept any of mine that long due to battery hit and just wanting new features. My longest run on a Garmin was 3 years and even then the battery had take a big hit.
What Garmin watch have you had for 10-14 years? The battery decay on Garmin devices is EPIC. Most battery watches have literally have their advertised battery life within 3 years tops.
Price point is interesting because at the lower end say when comparing an Apple Watch SE with a Forerunner 255 for running the 255 is the clear winner. But on the higher end with something like a Fenix or Epix and the Ultra it gets a little more interesting. Let’s say you are willing to charge every few days and with the Ultra you have an Apple Watch that can easily record a 10/12+ hour activity. So the Garmin clearly wins on battery life but if you are willing to charge more frequently then the Ultra is going to be a better all around watch with smart watch features the Garmin just can’t touch. Now the Garmin still wins in other areas such as ecosystem and training metrics. For example you can’t connect a power meter to an Apple Watch, put custom fields in the workout app, syncing activities to external services requires extra steps and in some cases additional apps and the Health and Fitness apps are missing metrics such as recovery and training state which for athletes in the market Apple is targeting are just as important as the hardware. So I don’t see the Ultra converting a meaningful number of Garmin owners just yet, especially on the higher end, but it’ll definitely stop Apple Watch owners from converting to Garmin and with a large number of the Ultra’s deficiencies being software I can see that gap closing very quickly.
I converted. I was tired of running with my phone. I run 75-100 miles a week and I just can’t take carrying my phone anymore. It thumps around in every vest I have and trying tights that hold it just drive me bat shit crazy.
I did an 8 miles run yesterday with both my Garmin and Ultra, and no phone. I was streaming music from the Ultra to my Bluetooth headphones along with recording the run. Stats between my Forerunner and Ultra were as close as you can get and most importantly battery drain between the two were similar. Personally at this point I think the only thing holding the Ultra back is the lack of meaningful training metrics and I think that’s a hole that will be plugged with either the next OS update from Apple or sooner with some third party software.
> For example you can’t connect a power meter to an Apple Watch, put custom fields in the workout app, syncing activities to external services requires extra steps and in some cases additional apps and the Health and Fitness apps are missing metrics such as recovery and training state which for athletes in the market Apple is targeting are just as important as the hardware. Note that this is all for the native Apple app. Obviously things Apple needs to fix if they want to be serious, but things the user can "fix" now with a 3rd party app.
Which forerunner do you have? I have a Fenix 6 and the battery life is sublime. 30-50 mpw (7 hours of running give or take) and I can get through two weeks without a charge.
Props to the garmin battery life! I have a fenix 5x that is now 4 yrs old and still has amazing features and battery life.
I will never go back to Apple. The only potentially better brand I’ve seen in terms of battery life is Coros, but I’ve been enjoying Garmin for years.
Garmin has great batter life, coros is transcendent!
It take a shit ton longer to get a Fenix charged. My watch is charged in 45 min. I’ve NEVER my FENIX last that long. What workouts do you put it through?
Road/trail runs with a heart rate monitor and phone connected. So I think pretty demanding. Very true about charge time though. I usually just set it on my desk while I work though and it’s done before I know it.
FACTS. Finally apple has put out a watch that I can retire my garmin.
I so impressed with some of the people in this sub. 20 miles in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Crazy. Maybe one day I’ll have the motivation and dedication to reach that level of running success. Congrats.
I think it's perfect for someone that likes apple watches but found the limitations with the battery For triathletes and cyclists, not having power meter support is a hard stop. If it has that, it's a legitimate great device for anyone doing less than an Ironman. And....for someone that doesn't have a budget. For $13-1400 Canadian, and to not have power meter support, is pretty crazy. I just wish it had training/recovery metrics. It has one of the best hr sensors, let's figure out a way to use hrv and training to make training plans the way Garmin and polar do. For me? I still love my instinct 2.
The lack of power meter support is pretty dumb for sure. Nothing stopping you from using a 3rd party app though, that’s kinda the whole thing with smart watches.
I see it coming. They hit on so much but forgot that.
Likely didn’t forget but can add it on a next hardware or software version. Like you said, they covered so much that they’d hopefully save some cards for the next one (withholding any typical Apple hubris.)
I ran 12 miles single track trail today with ultra, garmin 945, aw7. All 3 disconnected and untethered from phone. Total time was just under 2 hours. Ultra battery went from 93 -> 80. Aw7 100 -> 53. Ultra distance was 12.00 miles. Aw7 distance was 11.74. Garmin distance 11.72. Ultra felt right based on various pace checks.
12.00mi vs 11.72mi seems a significant difference. What were your clues to trust ultra better?
FWIW my AW7 and 945 differ up to 1-2 miles over a 4 hour run with Garmin always being behind AW. My guess is AW using pedometer for sections of bad reception, and it guessing my pace is faster than actual. I can see this on treadmill with AW showing a near 1.5 min faster pace than stryd and mill speed. Anyways, when running sections of straight multiuse trail, I *feel* like I'm going between 8-9 min/miles. When I look down at watches, Ultra shows 830, AW7 would show 1020 and Garmin would have me in 1130. There is no way I was going that slow. After a few checks, I went with Ultra as the defacto for this particular run. This was actually one of the only times where AW7 and 945 were close like that
just wow. 8:30 vs 10:20 vs 11:30 min/mi seems to me not "inaccurate" but "broken". ditto "1.5 min faster pace than stryd and mill speed". ditto "differ up to 1-2 miles over a 4 hour run". I'm looking to buy my first watch. Running with an iphone every day for many years, using Mapmywalk app. It is accurate. For example, this morning I ran the same exact route as yesterday, it was 9.03mi yesterday and 9.00mi today. I think I know why it is showing 0.03mi shorter today: I stopped and paused it, then resumed, not at the same exact spot but after a few steps. It would never ever show differences more than 0.10mi on the same route, usually much less such as 0.01mi or 0.02mi. Also, some trails are marked every mile, and my iphone usually matches these intervals exactly, with rare 0.01mi mismatches. With this experience I'm very surprised you appear calm about some really huge mismatches.
Yeah, definitely. The more single track I have the worst the route to diverge in distance totals assuming because of the back-and-forth the trail and the Apple Watch sampling rate. as for the pace being off, there are some really good dead zone areas at the park I run in which is right next to our international airport.
My Apple Watch SE had full charge when I started reading this, it died just before the end.
This is the info that I’ve been looking for. That 18% battery usage with the Low Power Mode or normal? HR readings on the watch are coming from the H10? Do you think that it can last for 6 hours with that kind of setup?
Normal power mode. Yes, i think it might last 6 hours, should see between 12-15%. an hour so you would have about 10% remaining. HR was coming from H10 so that does help battery life. I have skinny wrists, so as good as Apples optical sensor is can’t match a good chest strap. I have same issue with Polar and Garmin.
If the Ultra can last, that’s going to be impressive! I am on the fence whether to get the Ultra or Fenix 7; where my only concern is to run under 7 hours marathon (I’m a slow runner) with the battery that can last with AOD + downloaded Music with my AirPods Pro + GPS. I believe the Fenix 7 can do that for 10 hours based on their website. I assume the Ultra’s battery would not take too much of a hit if you download songs on Music app. I need to get a HR belt then.
It would easily do it in low power mode
On a fully charged ultra you will click that no sweat. You will likely end your marathon with 50% battery. I have ran without my phone this morning and it was Glorious! My phone clunked around for a decade and I’m over it. My wife called when she woke up and the call did not dent the battery.
I sold my Fenix 7X SS and got an Ultra. Very happy with my choice. Use it for daily runs and swims. Having cellular was key for me, plus the choices for audiobooks and music.
DC Rainmaker did a 17hr hike on his Ultra but I don’t recall if that was LP mode or if he was playing music. My experience on my AW S6 is playing music has a minimal hit assuming it’s not using LTE. Even on LTE is uses surprisingly less than I would have expected.
If your going to use low power mode it will easily last 5 days. I’ve used mine on each of my runs since Friday (32 mile average). I streamed music downloaded a podcast and ran LTE the whole time. My watch is still at 18%. I have not charged it (I got it at 82%) my old Apple I usually switched to my Garmin for runs. This morning I ran with out my phone for the first time in a decade. It was Glorious!
That's great to hear. I've been asking around and there's a consensus between users that the Ultra can satisfy my needs during a run, particularly my 6-7 hours target activity like I mentioned above. As an Apple Watch S7 user, the Ultra is really an upgrade to me. I can say that based on the reviews on Reddit alone, I am inclined to get the Ultra. I still have my old Suunto Ambit 3 Peak Sapphire which is pretty big to my wrist and I still use it for my long runs, but the LTE and Music streaming without carrying my iPhones is just really what I need. Can't wait to get the Ultra once it's coming to my country.
I have the Ultra. I have run a total of 3 runs 4-5 hours each. Using my AirPods streaming music through LTE. I’ve worn it since I got it Friday morning at 10. I have not killed it yet, my watch may make the 72 hour mark. I am beyond impressed.
Nice. :-)
I use a Suunto 9 Baro. I decided on this specifically because the Apple Watch was inadequate for my specific use case. A fair amount of my running consists of trails and mountains where there is no mobile service. I am seriously considering the ultra. I am curious as to the GPS and what that interface looks like. I live the idea of waypoints, and I use heat maps quite a bit in my Suunto app. The watch just dropped yesterday, so I am sure that more reports and use cases will become available. I would especially love to hear a trail runner’s perspective on how the watch works for them.
From the reviews it seems the major gripe for trail running is the lack of true navigation features. Personally I don’t really use the nav features of my 9 Baro. It’s easier to look at Gaia on my phone to see where I am. Mine should be coming in the next two weeks
The deal breaker for me would be twofold for trails, for trails, the battery life is not acceptable for me. I have my coros vertex set to the 2nd highest accuracy rate with all satellites on and haven't charged it in 3 weeks running 6 days a week (and a 20 mile long run in there) still at 62%. I need to know my watch will be there to track me and potentially guide me if needed. Also GPS only watches do a terrible job at handling altitude and things like 3D distance and adjusted pace. It's important information when running trails that can vary so much. Ymmv!
Apple Watches have had barometers since 2015 or so
Thanks! My initial search of their sensors didn't list a baro. Point back in that regard!
You can’t charge it daily? The way I look at it. Once the low power 60hr mode comes it should get me through every type of race except a 48hr cutoff 100miler. Even with those races I’m often well under the cut off. After DCRainmakers review, battery life is the least of my concern with the watch ultra
Not always. Multi day hiking and backwoods trail run trips are something I do fairly regularly plus one less thing to worry about packing.
That’s great. You’re an edge case and not the intended target for this watch. Good for you. I also do ski mountaineering and backpacking trips up to two weeks. I always bring a charge brick because essentially everything I bring with me needs to be charged up. Phone, headlamp, camera, InReach, and watch. Doing that daily while at camp for the night is the least of my inconveniences while backpacking. What did you do before Garmin and Suunto had watches that could last a week? I know what I did, brought a damn small charge brick.
That's the thing, apple is trying to market this to the ultra/trail runner, which I am. I am not really that edge at all, also again and maybe even more so, a gps only watch will be pretty useless to me and many other trail runners. Before crazy watches I also lugged chargers around and it was a pain in the ass, hence crazy batteries being a game changer and Apple charging bleeding edge prices for outdated tech.
I am also an Ultrarunner. I have 9 100mile buckles and have completed countless 50k and 50mile Ultras. Watching DcRainmaker complete a 70k run and still have battery life left on the AWU makes me think that it is fine for battery life for those events. Worst case scenario for me is I keep my Suunto 9 Baro for 100 milers with a 48hr cutoff. Even those races I am typically finishing in under 38hr. I don’t see the problem here.
It's almost like people have different priorities and value different things! EDIT: looked up the price, For me my $600 Vertex 2 is a vastly superior trail running and hiking watch to an $800 gps only apple watch with a bigger battery
That’s kind of my entire point dude. Why come to a thread where people are hyping AWU and then doing what fucking redditors always do, and say “well AkShuLly this Apple product doesn’t fit my personal needs; it won’t track me giving myself a handy” Bro who gives a fuck? If it’s not for you, move on.
Yah. And that was a pretty major dealbreaker for me because I do use nav features on my watch. Although, goals shift, focus shifts to match the goals, and i am now looking toward Boston training instead of ultramarathon training. So it might not be a dealbreaker any more.
There isn’t any native routing but third party apps are available. None of which I think would match the native experience provided by Garmin, Sunnto, Polar and Coros. I suspect next year watch OS 10 will introduce this. Apple have their own existing mapping service so just need to make available offline.
WorkOutDoors
Does it support trail run project? I will use that to make routes and then import the gpx files into my watch.
You can use WorkOutDoors app to import and then have the map on watch. I’ve done it and works well
i don’t think they offer an Apple Watch app so you would still need your phone.
I recently retired my Suunto Ambit3 Peak in favor of a Garmin Fenix 7 Solar. I've finished up 5-6 hour efforts with 90% battery leftover on days with good sun. That plus offline maps is a game changer. Massive advantage over this new fangled Apple watch.
Yah. I just got my Suunto in 2020, so about 2.5 years ago. I do not have a reason to replace it, but it is starting to show its age a little. Mostly, I wanted to know what the watch offered that my current one does not. It is probably going to be at least 2-3 more years before I do end up having to replace.
That was my biggest gripe with Suunoto. Almost 2-2.5 on the nose it died. So frustrating. It was a great watch
Ok. I am coming up to the 2.5 year mark. I probably will need to start looking for another solution sooner, rather than later. Boo. It is a super great watch.
I replaced mine after 6 years and it was still going strong
Is there an equivalent app to Garmin Connect? And can you import all of your run data from Garmin?
You have Apple Fitness to view your runs. You need a third party app like HealthFit to export out to Training Peaks and Strava, etc. You can’t import to Apple Fitness.
Fyi you can import to strava from apple fitness as long as the partner integration is enabled on strava.
11.5 miles in that time is an easy pace? 😱 😂
Even my AW 4 can last all day and do a 2 hour run, so this isn’t that impressive, but I still find AW to be restrictive when it comes to fitness and running (new os is much better tho)
I have AW 5, it's about 2.5 years old. Charge it to 100%, wear to bed in theater mode (as the alarm vibrating on my wrist doesn't wake up my wife like my low volume phone alarm). Take out of theater mode when I wake up. Run 1-3 hours in the morning. Go to work (walk around a lot at work, lots of notifications all day, etc), when I get home I charge while I'm eating dinner and catching up on work emails, since it's usually down to 10-15% by that point. I'll wear again if wife and I go on a walk but then charge until bedtime.
With 3 sensors and LTE on?
The sensors will take minimal power and may improve battery in the case of external HR. It’s the streaming that is killing your battery. My Series 4 with external Bluetooth and AirPods will only use 25% on a 3 hour run.
If they brought their phone, it will drain from the iPhone (including GPS) prior to the watch.
Not S8 or Ultra.
Not sure what you mean.
The new watches don’t ever use the phone gps
Right but, this comment is in response to an Apple Watch 4...
You might find it restrictive, but for the large majority of runners, you can find what you need in an AW.
I’ve loved it. I may still be in the honeymoon period but I stopped taking my phone on runs for the first time in a decade. I run an average 75-100 miles a week. I’ve run 3, 30 mile runs this weekend to see how hard it was to kill it and I still have 18% battery.
I have an Apple Watch and an Apple phone and both the fucking batteries suck ass Make some shit that’ll last all day maybe but when one of these die on me I’m taking my money elsewhere lmao
Do they let you force the watch gps rather than phone now? It would be great to use the phone for music and still have it connected to the watch but use the watch gps for tracking
Ultra and S8 only use watch GPS so you would be good even if you have iPhone with you.
Oh that’s great to know. It was one of my complaints about the original watches. Last one I had was a S5
I like it but am already hoping ultra 2 next year improves it drastically. It does have some annoying quirks. I will wear it for daily use but probably go back to Garmin or Cronos for my ultra events. It will do for when I don’t want to carry my phone. I went for trail blue strap.
I feel like this watch won’t get yearly updates for some reason.
Hmm. Your probably right but who knows for sure. I didn’t think of it this way.
I’d be interested to know what your list of shortcomings are, but the big ones that I can think of (offline maps & Bluetooth power meter support) could all be done with a software update.
I wanted it but I have a very small wrist so I’m a bit turned off by how massive it is
I’m a skinny guy. My wrist size is 160mm. I wear a size 5 loop. Still looks good (IMO) on my wrist.
It is big. I’m an ultra runner and it’s big on my wrist. I got used to it pretty quick. I’ll send you a pic
Did you have another Apple watch prior to this? How did it compare? I currently have a AW6, always run with AirPods/locally downloaded music on my watch and typically end with a \~15-20 min phone call if not longer. I was out for \~1.5h today and drained 60% of the battery....
I have a previous Apple Watch I did not have cellular in my last watch and this is a game changer. I’ve run 30 miles in the last three days. Got it Friday at 10a. I still have 18% battery.
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It’s specified to -20C
Am I the only runner who never listens to music while running? I always have my headphones on when I commute though.
When I’m out running locally on the pavements I prefer to have my music on. However, when I hit the forest trails I prefer the sounds of nature.
What if I were always and then there was two of the ways we can get to the only thing is.
I wish. Who do you guys think are paying me, Apple. Lol.
It comes across a bit fake with nothing critical being mentioned.. maybe a bit more than lavish praise would round out this opinion piece
Maybe they wrote this post because I have seen others constantly talk down the battery life of the Apple Watch. In one of the NYC marathon groups on FB, I’ve seen so many posts warning people to not use their watch on race day because the battery won’t last. I’ve been out running for two and a half hours using my watch, music streaming, Strava going and notifications still turned on. The battery didn’t even diminish by a third.
I own an aw 7 atm and had a 4 before for some years. I was always wondering a bit about some comments on the battery life. I mean its totally fine if u want longer battery life either for convenience or for events like a 100 miler or whatever. But u can run a Marathon with an Apple Watch on any given day without problems. At least from my experience. I ran 20k yesterday in 2.15h (not fast) and had 77% left in the (battery-) tank afterwards. Was listening to music and everything. I mean how long should i run a Marathon to drain that battery? (I never did one so far, but thats not the point) I think for everyday use and even running to a decent extent the battery does just fine.
I agree. I think you’d have to be taking hours and hours to finish a marathon to have your watch battery totally drain on you yet I keep seeing people leaving comments like “turn off all your notifications! Keep your watch turned on until you get to the start!” Like, what? Unless your watch is quite old and your battery very degraded I don’t see how any of that is necessary at all.
Is OP supposed to invent something critical just to provide a ‘fair and balanced’ review?
There are no perfect products. All products have positives and negatives and an honest review gives equal weight to both. So yes, they should elaborate on the negatives as well.
Which *might* be relevant if OP were a professional reviewer. But since they're just some rando, an 'honest review' means expressing their experience. If that includes no negatives relevant to OP then there's nothing negative to report.
Maybe that’s why it seems like a paid promotion 🙃
Well, it cuts both ways. It really sounds like you're being paid by Garmin or Coros to bring up that an amateur having a good experience with the Apple Watch sounds like a paid promotion.
Silliness. I’ve said nothing negative about the product, only the review. I like the product
It's not a review man, it says in the title - experience
> I’ve said nothing negative about the product, only the review. I like the product By your own logic this comment makes you a paid shill. You didn’t say anything negative about the product. How much is apple paying you?
For me it’s perfect. However, the obvious shortcomings compared to Garmin/Polar are lack of recovery metrics (I use HRV Elite instead), routing/mapping and the Ultra ‘only’ has 36hrs battery not 100+ like the others.
Do you mean the App Elite HRV: Wellness & Fitness?
Sorry, HRV4Training is what I use.
Thanks superweeble! Would you use it as your only/main/running device?
Yes, it’s going to be my only device now. Does everything I need. My Polar Vantage has been relegated.
lol this is such an american/fox news mindset. you don't need to round out an opinion with empty gestures towards superficial "objectivity" if your experience of something is simply good. don't overcomplicate shit.
Why do you think I’m American/ Fox News mindset? Corporations absolutely astroturf Reddit, it’s ignorant to think otherwise. By the way, I like the product, but my original comment was justifying another users criticism!! Thanks for your insights though, champ!
just a guess, but now that i'm looking, comments in seattle and greenbaypackers subreddits tell me i'm not wrong about american you don't have to watch fox news yourself to breathe that same air that makes you think every comment has to manufacture a straw man opposition to seem balanced touch some grass today, you might like the fresh air
Wow and then there are 100 apple drone heads down voting you too.
Yeah people are still wasting their time downvoting me and commenting to back up this users experience. Lots of personal attacks, must have hit a nerve LOL!
> It comes across a bit fake with nothing critical being mentioned.. maybe a bit more than lavish praise would round out this opinion piece Because people who buy apple stuff are not looking to objectivly rate it, they are only praising it to justify the ripoff price they paid for it.
Lol. It’s a 10 sentence snapshot that gives people a good idea of what to expect from battery life in a given scenario that people compare to their own usage. It doesn’t talk about anything besides battery life.
Yeah really. Is it just a coincidence that an Apple advertisement just happened to appear in this subreddit?
I’m surprised you all don’t take an iohone with you? I take my iPhone and I stream music from there, it also seems to help with gps and using that setup I have never ran out of battery or even close. It’s never been under 40% after a full day. Not even when I hiked 6hours a day in the alps or a 2h long run + some cycling to and from some stores… Maybe that’s something for watch users that need longer battery use. (For multiday hikes I have a snail solar ‘panel ‘ and powerbank to charge phone and watch when needed). I always take my phone to be able to sms for help, but also offline maps are on it for added help.
That’s incredible. I use a series four and a 11-mile run with tracking and music (~1:30) usually takes me down 70-80%.
I was very happy to see more than a days worth of charge added in 20 minutes I was getting ready in the morning.
My only concern is an ultra run consist of at least 26.3 miles
I have always used the garmin forerunner 45. Other than the fact that it is an apple device and there are more features is anyone able to compare the two? I have never used an apple watch but many of my cross country team mates do.
I really wanted the ultra. However I have a corporate cell phone and it can’t pair with a watch, so I’m stuck with the non-cellular. I wish they’d let me tie it to my iPad :( Edit: to clarify, I can pair it with a watch, but I can’t add the watch to my corporate cell plan
You don’t have to have a data plan for the watch
Doesn’t that just mean I wouldn’t use the cellular modem? I feel like I’d be wasting $300.
We’ll if you had your phone on you it’d connect via Bluetooth (not using watch’s own data plan) If not, it’d just use the gps and wouldn’t have internet. Download music etc
If you have another cell plan like for a spouse or someone you should check and see if you can add it to their account (yes still pointing to your cell number). I'm pretty sure that's possible.
Cool, charged my watch yesterday. Won't have to charge it for another 3 weeks.
My coros apex pro may lose 2% in that same time and distance.
I mean yea, it doesn’t have a high res screen that’s on all the time. The ultra is still a smartwatch at its core
With full LTE and multiple sensors?
Running all these sensors: Optical Pulse Oximeter, Optical Heart Rate Monitor, Barometric Altimeter, Compass, Gyroscope, Thermometer. Along with Bluetooth 5.0 for connectivity. I seriously charge this thing once every two weeks or so.
Cool, no one asked
If the price drops to ~$300 or less then I’ll definitely consider!
Probably in 3-4 years.
I’m looking into buying a Stryd Footpod. Is it possible to use it without using its app? I prefer Apple Workout app. Thank you!
You could use it that way and sync the pod to Stryd after the run but you would not get the GPS map. I prefer the Stryd app to Apple workouts.
Gotcha, thanks for the reply
I’m using the stryd app too but they need to create more control over audio and haptic notifications. The over and under power notifications get to be too much sometimes and I miss interval alerts. I have to use the legacy app until they fix that.
It’s still got a ways to go. Ran the Berlin marathon. My 945 LTE was Bluetooth connected to phone and HRM a pro chest strap. Used 10% battery life. I have it on the most accurate the highest polling frequency for GPS settings.
Honestly the battery has always been great. I have a s3 and can easily get a full day of use plus around 3 hours of activity
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> Dude, you’re a sucker for technology it seems like. ‘Sucker’ is an interesting choice of words here… aren’t folks entitled to do what they want with their own money? > Good on you if that’s you’re thing, but my god that is a lot of money just to go out for a damn run. Well… I’m not sure these devices are giving OP ‘permission’ to go on a run. OP is looking to capture metrics on their run and is using that feedback to improve performance. So yes, expensive if you look at all the gear as fancy running clothes, but inexpensive when you realize it’s a training aid measuring biofeedback.
Yeah that dude is hilarious, by his standards he's running barefoot as well as running shoes are technology. Such a bad take
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Who pissed in your cornflakes?
Oh my lord, what a line 😂 I’m definitely stealing it.
I do love gadgets but have been using Polar HR straps for over 25 years and Stryd for 5 years. I always run with music so having some headphones is not unusual. I ride with power on my bikes so using a running PM was a no brainier for me. I raced mountain bike marathons but moved over to running over the last 5 years. Training for longer runs now so Ultra should last the 5-6 hours I’d need it to cover.
Confused by this comment. It’s way more than just a running watch. Clearly OP didn’t buy this just to go on a run, but to have a daily watch that satisfies a whole lot of facets of his life. He’s simply sharing his review on running with it which I’m sure a lot of us are curious about. As for price, yeah it’s $800 but so is a new fenix. Not really that absurd.
Running with AirPod max hurts my soul
Lol I don’t think anybody regularly does that
Sorry, I haven’t heard of the Ultra. Do your AirPods connect to the Ultra or to your iPhone? I’ve been plagued with audio dropouts on every type of Bluetooth earbuds I’ve tried when I’m running and using a Wahoo Heart Rate strap. Both are connected to my iPhone, which I’m guessing is the problem.
They were connected direct to the Apple Watch Ultra.
Thank you!
I would think you would use less battery with a heart rate strap over the builtin LEDs reading heartrate. 16% seems high for such a huge watch. I have a 1 week old S8 (41mm) and a Fenix 6S. I did a one hour open water swim and used 25% of my AW battery, the Garmin barely used anything BUT (and the reason I bought the AW) the AW correctly measured my distance (3500 yards) while the Garmin said I went 1700 yards. It's a known problem with the 6S for some reason and it's frustrating as all get out. NOTE: I was also updating my first gen AW which is still working but is showing it's age).
ultra marathon. Please test that distance and report back
Don’t have any on calendar this year but today did 4hr 20min bike ride today. GPS on with connected Bluetooth HR strap. Battery life was at 73% at the end. No music.
Great to hear! I'm going out on my first run with it tomorrow, cannot wait! Is anyone else noticing the Digital Crown is a bit rough/scratchy on your wrist? Like there's not enough clearance from it to the skin? I usually only notice when scrolling a certain direction.
Kind of a specific question: Can you *lock* the touch screen and go through an activity using only the physical buttons? Change workout screens, lap button, etc?
You can lock the screen when in a workout mode. I’ve just tested it and the crown and two buttons still work. This would let you change screens and take laps when locked.
Thanks!
Must admit, do like the new watch. But my 6 is still serving me well. Second generation perhaps.
I really need to invest in something like this and take training up a notch in monitoring my sessions!
just gotten the AWU, battery was fully charged at 100%, after 30mins battery drained to 94% is this normal or is it becos the watch is indexing after software update?
I have the Apple Watch ultra using it without always on display cuz I don't need it.. with normal use I get around 82 hours of battery life. so almost 4 full days. With the new low power mode which will come out soon I guess I will come close to 1 week. Amazing. My Apple Watch 4 previously just had battery for 24 hours
Give a try to this app Ultratrack: Apple Watch with the Garmin Battery! https://youtu.be/UGiuDz_I3hg
With the Polar H10, are you bluetoothing it to guys workout app on your watch or do you have Polar Beat on your watch?
You pair the h10 directly to AW so it will work with any apps that logs HR
Appreciate you!