Apple Watch Ultra: Good For Hiking? (6mo Review)
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
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I've been hiking with the Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin Epix (Gen 2) side by side for months now, and I know how it stacks up as a hiking smartwatch. But does the Apple Watch Ultra live up the hype in the Apple marketing videos? Not quite, but there's things you can do to make it better.
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The problem with the low battery time is not really the 10-15 hour hike time but you can easily start a long hike with the Garmin at 30% and still get like 10-15 hours. So you don't have to worry with 50% battery where as the AWU had to be fully charged most of the time.
For example, I went on a weekend long camping trip and did several hikes during the trip. With my Fenix 6x Pro I didn't even have to think about charging over a 3 day period with multiple hours of GPS activities, including recording the fishing I did. When I got home I still had enough battery to last a for a little while without worrying about charging it immediately. I think I had a couple days left, but I can't remember the precise number. I didn't have to pack a cable at all for it.
I did have electric where I stayed this time, but that's a relief knowing that with no electricity available I'm good for a while and any battery banks I bring will purely be for my phone.
Yeah but here the differnce Comes between a made for product And Just another serie in a Line.
Apple watch stays under the smartwatch And iets software like wear OS , And OR samsung's tizen
The buttons And looks should already say enough.
Its a bit like a voice speaker VS a Speaker OR BT speaker.
No way youre homemini with a battery gonna survive longer then OR do better then a BT rubber speaker with Hook for youre bag bassicly
If they would want that same performance, they bassicly need te redesign the whole thing, delete the apps, destroy the oled And use a tranflective LCD that always work on Brigtness 1 ,
They keep there systems so bassicly you get a city Apple watch in a rugged case And screen And with the extra room for bigger battery.
So they Just added a extra battery safe mode Button bassicly.
Its a Apple watch + bassiclyç
Exactly. I can charge my garmin from 0% to 7%, and go on an hour long walk and return back with like 5% battery remaining. It's insane to me that I could actually do that the other day.
And after almost a year of owning the watch, that was the first time my battery went to 0% (it was some random battery drain bug too)
When I had an Apple watch I'd go to 0% at least once every week or so.
Great and useful video! Watch os 10 should come with topo maps and offline downloaded maps!
Good review. I also have the sleeve-problem.
I got around it by activating the screen-lock for swimming.
Thank you for the review
a lot of useful information and your analysis is great to watch
Thanx for app recomendations!
I’ve watched a lot of reviews of Ultra and I have a ultra as well.
And I really like yours. Your aspect is very practical and I am so related.
Thanks for spending time making this reviews. 👍👍👍
Big thank you, and yea, just trying to look at from a practical standpoint. I love tech but just trying to talk about it as if I was making a recommendation to a friend. Glad you enjoyed it and again, big thank you.
Thank you for this review! I've said this many times before but the quality of your videos is SO GOOD!
Big big thank you! And thank you for your support, I couldn't do it without you. More vids coming soon...
Great comparison! Thanks for your insight from your experience
It's amazing how different the sponsored vs unsponsored reviews are. Thank you for your honesty, it's greatly appreciated.
or thats just confirmation bias
Apple rarely pays for reviews 😎
Apple very very rarely does sponsors...I think that should speak even more than what you're getting at
@@MangoMattbut you can get special or early access to products or events
Apple hasn’t done any sponsored reviews for this product
Best review so far. Seen a lot of comparison videos to decide which one to buy. This one is the most practical video.
I love how you’re concise with the information. Good job and great video! Subscribed 👍
Great in depth view from a heavy user. Thanks. Hiking and one day charging is for me a no-go. You have give a good review. Thanks.
You made some excellent points! really helpful!
I am glad I am not the only weirdo with two watches on a hiking trail; the looks I receive....
Hands down the best review I’ve seen. Thanks for sharing your experience with the ultra! Love all the technical details.
Big big thank you!
Fantastic review! Very comprehensive and focused on real-world usage. Subbed!
This was very helpful, thanks for the watch input as I’m considering my next watch option
thanks for the amazing review
thanks for the video, it was interesting and useful 😊
Seems like a balanced and grounded review. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼
For the Alpine Loop band. In your video looks like the band is in backwards. The hook should be looping from the top of the watch not bottom, much easier to fasten. I did the same thing when I first got mine.
感謝分享，也期待您分享的兩個hike app經驗。對眾多使用者幫助很大❤
The best comparison I’ve seen. Thx!
Thank you!
Great Video! I have used a compass for navigation as my primary when island hopping on sea kayaks but it'd be a total hassle if the compass was stuck to my wrist because it'd be hard to see so yeah compass is still not that useful here.
Best video about Apple Watch ultra. Ty!
thanks for sharing!
I am in the camp of already have an Apple Watch and thinking of upgrading to the Ultra (or gen 2 since its out now). The Garmin is likely a much better device for hiking, but it's purpose built I can't really afford to buy both. Your video is the one of the clearest and best descriptions of the pros and cons that I have seen. Thanks!!!! - great job (actually I love most of your videos). Keep it up and maybe I'll find an update to this report as some of the hiking apps update their software to work better on Apple Watch.
This was the BEST review between Apple vs Garmin for hikers- FINALLY!!! Thank you!
Greatly appreciate your time, your review of the Ultra; you offer a wonderful perspective; I wish Apple did reach out to you; maybe next time. all the best. So appreciate what you bring.
Terrific review. Very helpful. Recent Utra owner but now I know the shortcomings. I definitely had different expectations. Thanks. Cheers!
I bought the AWU2 in Jan 2024 went on a hike and lost my track, the workout was interrupted twice and the battery was at a mesly 13% when I returned. 2 Weeks ago I got my hand on a Garmin Tactix Delta from a Jeweller at a steep discount. Went on another hike last week with this watch with technology from 2019 inside, still brandnew watch. The hike went great, I could pause the activity and have lunch, switch between map and regular watch face, made it to my destination and got back home to find that I had battery left for 19 days with constant GPS, Heart-Beat and connected to my iPhone. The AWU2 I passed on to my wife, she was very excited. I'm excited with the freedom of having to charge the watch every other week and for it being reliable when I need it. Just my experience and I was very surprised of the outcome, because as a MacBook Air aficionado and iPhone addict since 2015 I thought this would never happen to me, but it did. There's even newer Garmin watches with real flashlights, I have my 2019 watch and am totally happy with it.
Very nice and detailed explanations, thanks!
Before I made the switch to COROS I was an Apple Watch user. The wet sleeves pausing or stoping my activites drove me nuts, I would lock the screen as a way to stop that from happening as you mentioned.
thank you, very detailed comparison
Great review! Thanks!
best video to compare these two great watches, thanks !!!
I am not an hiker, but I love learning new things. I am one who would jump in not knowing what I was doing. Thanks for the details! I am considering life in a Prius and played the idea of hikes with my dog.
What an excellent review and insight to this watch before I buy it. Thank you very much. This was extremely useful.
Enjoyed your honest video.
I have both. I use my Ultra for the smartphone usage, and my Garmin for outdoorsy stuff.
Yea, I do the same, wish I didn't have to though
Rich people problems
@@wile123456No poor person is buying an Apple Watch ultra
Regarding the Alpine Loop, I actually swap the sides over so that the hook is facing upwards and it becomes much easier to get a secure hook
that's the correct way to wear it.
Thanks for the video. I just recently bought the ultra watch and before I go on a big hike I wanted to try the settings on the watch like back track etc so I went on a small hike to try it. Well when I started going back the first 20 mins was fine but if I kept following it I would have ended up in the river beside the trail
Great review! Debating these two now. Think I’ll get the garmin, but I hope the new ones don’t come out soon lol
Practical, pragmatic review. Really helpful, thanks.
I’ve watched a lot of Watch ultra apps. This is by far is the best. Subscribed 👌🏻
Thank you for what you do.
👍🏻🤔 I had planned on doing my fast forward skimming of long reviews and ended up watching all of this review. It was balanced, very well researched and presented, with thoughtful and intelligent insights. Learned a lot! 👍🏻☺️
Loved this content. Subscribed. I have an Apple Watch 7 and it didn’t last my hike on Mt. Elbert. My fenix 7 SS is arriving today. I considered the AW ultra, but I wanted a better battery and I didn’t want an iPhone on my wrist. I like that Garmins look like an actual Watch. I look forward to your future videos. I’ll be putting the Garmin to good use next month hiking in Wheeler peak, NM and some various trails around the area.
*update*
I took the Watch out for a test run and walk. The watch is fantastic, but I find the screen annoying. It’s great in the sun (when you get the right angle). I often blinded myself with the reflection of the screen. IMO the screen is terrible with mid lighting (in car, shade etc). It’s not light enough to see and not dark enough where the backlight helps. I think the Epix would be fantastic and better in most lighting scenarios. The battery life will be worse but I’m not going into the wilderness for a week tracking gps lol. Even if I did, I’d be carrying a solar battery charger anyway. Just my experience so far.
Update
The fenix 7 pro came out so I pulled the trigger on a SOLAR ONLY model because of my experience with Sapphire screen. The solar only model IS indeed a little clearer than the solar with sapphire. The backlight is also significant brighter than the regular 7 (you just have to turn auto brightness off). I have brightness on at 20% with gestures and I have absolutely no problems. I’m happy with my decision. Now I get a 7 with an updated HR sensor, flashlight in 47mm model and 32gb of storage. I don’t have to worry about pixel burn in and will use this Watch for as long as I can.
Very insightful description of the 7 SS screen and confirms my thoughts after playing with one in a store. Thanks :)
Would like to see you do a hikers review of the garmin 965
Thanks for the footpath rec, I will check it out. I have an All Trails subscription and would love to see a comparison of those two plus any other similar apps
Thank you, and yes, AllTrails is on the list, I plan on covering lots if not all the apps I can find for hiking on the AW in the next couple of months.
The upcoming watchOS and iOS gained the ability to save offline maps. I'm not sure if it can also calculate a route offline but at least you can define map areas on your phone beforehand that will then be downloaded and available to you on both devices regardless of connectivity
Nice analysis dear please do a video about how accurate the ECG, SPO2 , blood oxygen and hart rates please
thank you for the detailed video :)
Greta video. The review was well organized and written. Subscribed.
What a good video. Thank you.
This is a great video showing an interaction with a watch on a normal users level! Thank you!
Really good review!
This is an excellent review and exactly what I was looking for and needing. After watching (no pun intended) this video I think I will be going with the AWU. Here's my reason. Even though I live in one of the greatest areas in the country for outdoor life (Bozeman, MT), I'm a casual outdoorsman. I am one of those that is looking for a rugged smartwatch that can do some great outdoors things also such as hiking and fitness tracking. I'm deeply ingrained into the Apple ecosystem as I use a MacBook, iPhone, my wife and kids all have apple products, we use iCloud to sync most things to, etc etc. I have been an Apple Watch wearer for several years and I do enjoy and use the smartwatch features that iOS offers. I feel like I'll be able to get the exact use that I'm looking for out of an Apple Watch Ultra with potentially installing a couple of add-on apps. HOWEVER, if I feel like I need or want to have a more outdoors-centric GPS watch then I will definitely consider the Garmin Epix. At this point I'm mostly concerned about batter life so I'll see how it holds up with daily smartwatch use and doing day hikes around the valley here. Thanks again! I give your review 10 thumbs up.
Nice review keep it up
I run ultra marathons and rely on having maps and navigation with reliable battery life! Garmin Fenix for me 👍🏼
Apple have some work to do to make this a true outdoors adventure watch!
Very good review. Both are awesome products. Garmin is more like the pro outdoor version but Apple is an all-in-one city and trail companion. But incredible products overall.
Thanks! Very helpful!
Big thank you!!!!
the rugged look has always appealed to me more. something i wont be afraid to scratch, something that lasts (reliability) in battery. I prefer circular face too.
Best hiking channel!!!❤
I prefer the ocean band because it’s easier to clean and dry but currently use the older model made for the regular Apple Watches. Same concept as the ocean band though.
Thank you!
I enjoyed your review and definitely agree that Garmin makes the better hiking watches. However, as a smaller person, I really dislike the giant round Garmins. Plus, the Epix is ahem, a $900 purchase. Then, recently they came out with a 265S and I jumped on that. Now, it's true that the 265 does not have maps (just a track, breadcrumb line), but when hiking, I use my phone with Gaia for maps anyway (along with a battery backup). In any case, I love the Garmin 265S for its form factor, amoled screen, and especially for its superior exercise features. Garmin actually gives you feedback on your training and body battery, etc., unlike Apple who just throws data at you (alphabetically, lol) and you gotta figure it out. However, I love Apple for the smart watch features. So, yes, I'm one of those troubled souls who wears both, at the same time, on different wrists. I'm used to this now, and I don't care what anyone thinks. When backpacking, only the Garmin and the phone are coming along though. (oh, and I did not splurge on the Apple Ultra; I have the lowly SE 2022, which is still great).
Ha yea, well, the watches are def not cheap, and def not necessary but more of a nice to have . And I've gone back and forth over the years, and sometimes I just get fed up and wear nothing for a while because it can be data overload. I've found that the Garmin with my phone, like you, is a nice sweet spot for everything since I have the phone with me all of the time anyway.
The Epix Pro was just released and comes in a small size!
I use the ultra for my triathlon training and so far it works very good
I WISH they would put a reflective display on a watch. It would make their watches so much more functional. The touch screen being always on is my other big gripe. The wet sleeve thing is a massive oversight.
Thanks great video. I appreciate you are probably not reviewing different Garmin watches here but like another commenter I would be interested in a review of the Forerunner 965
Thank you, okay maybe will pick one up and check it out, thanks for the suggestion
The Ultra is for the gentlemen hiker. A city dweller who is comfortable with tech and who may actually work in tech. The Garmins are for hard-core hikers who delight in being hard-core. Definitely two different groups.
Or Garmin is for regular people who do sport few times a week and dont feel like having to charge their watch all the time. Also, it is round so with leather wristband it works better in more formal environments. The "delight in being hard-core" is just your interpretation. I guess you never had newer Epix or Fenix, right?
Gentleman hiker is a good way to put it. Admittedly thats what I am. But I will do 6 to 10 miles at a time on established trails and try blast through them at pace. Reminds me of point to point objectives over rough terrain in the military
The updates are coming. It won’t be long till it’s right up there
"Who delight in being hard core" is pretty dismissive dude, guess you're an Ultra owner who delights in charging regularly?
The compass has a back tracking feature that will show you where to go, and the directions to take not just a straight line
great video, thanks
Realy nice comparison - showed excactly for whom are the watches for. Thank you for your interesting and entertaining video! Kind regards form Dresden / Germany :-)
Danke!
Excellent review.
About accidental button pushes and such, I have that when wearing gloves, with the standard Apple watch. I'd find that it had changed to Theater Mode or other such things. The "solution" is simply to put it in Water or Swim mode. From the main screen, swipe up to the control panel and find the water drop icon. Once I'm done or need to do something on the watch, I hold the crown in for a few seconds and it clears water and removes that Swim mode.
Solid tip, I'll be using that in the future.
Thanks for sharing
I like for real and honest review, thanks 👌✌️
I have to feel comfortable and look good wearing a watch. Unfortunately, to me at least, the Apple Watch Ultra is too thick and looks too big for my 5'4" body. I bought the Ultra when it came out and in the end, I just couldn't see anything that it really improved over my Series 7 Titanium and as I said before, it looked far too big on my wrist so I returned it. I'm happy with my Series 7 for now.
Great video. Very informative and honest. I really like your long sleeve shirt you have on. What’s the brand?
Thank you - it's a Kuhl - bit.ly/3LWTfNv
Have the AWU and Fenix 7. I wear the AWU for day use and short hikes. Anything more than that is Garmin. Garmin is a better fit for my hiking style. After using both I see the AWU as a great smartwatch with some outdoor functionality and the Garmin as an Outdoor watch with some smartwatch functionality. After this may have to look at an Epix.
Do you use workoutdoors with the gps breadcrumb trails for hiking with the AWU? And if so, how does it compare to your Garmins gps maps?
Like you, I have both and use them exactly as you do. I really like the functionality of the AW when I go on training runs as I can leave my phone behind. I've done a 50K race with the Ultra and it did great. For any multi-day adventures, its the Fenix by a mile.
I think the AWU will never truly be the best option until they make it totally operational via buttons alone. Anyone who spends enough time outside knows that touch screens are the least optimal controls and nothing you want to rely on entirely. A light drizzle and suddenly opperating your device becomes a challange in itself.
One thing that I find helps significantly, and I just find quite useful and nice in daily use especially when my hands are full, is enabling AssistiveTouch. Not having buttons to do everything doesn’t bother me too much usually, It’s not a perfect substitute, but it is just a genuinely useful feature, even when the screen is not wet.
Put the water lock on. Set up the action button for it.
Some of the accessibility features can be very useful for hands free usage such as assistive touch which lets you control the Watch using pinching gestures with your fingers
I love physical buttons. The haptic feedback gives me peace of mind.
There is no reason to use put buttons on Apple Watch when assistive touch does the same thing
This is a great video! Thank you for taking the time to make it!
Sounds like Apple is making huge strides in outdoor exercise tracking in the next update. Have you heard anything about this or is there any video coming on this topic? Maybe the new update is for geared towards cycling. Either way, do you have any good info on this?
thank you - I'll review the new iOS navigation features when they're out soon - czcams.com/users/shorts3U24_YFTMmI?feature=share
Great video. I use Garmin for hiking and cycling since the 90's. And there havent, unfortunately, been a competitor for handhelds, cycling computers and watches.
Even though I'm sucked in to the Garmin Eco system. It would be good for the market if an other company could compete. And no Mio you're not one of them!
Great review
I dropped Ultra for Epix. Epix is great out of box and Ultra is a platform for getting you to pay subscriptions to tons of 3rd party app makers to get the same functionality.
İM SUMMER outdoor guy i rarely sport activiy in winter.i go to gym mostly in winter. so what do you recommend for me?
Thank you for an excellent and thorough review! I have followed your channel for a while. I found you because of your original WorkOutDoors Apple Watch App review/tutorial! Thank you for your excellent work.
I understand you not holding your breath. I do hope that Apple sees feedback like yours and works to put out more functional onboard navigation software.
With the build as good as it is, I am hoping the device will only get better over time with updates. I suppose we shall see.
Bought the Topo Pursuit, thru your link, based on your review. Ive hiked about 50 miles on them and they are great. After 5 years of Altra Lone Peaks, Im now a Topo convert.
great to hear, thank you for posting that - still loving mine too
ooo epix sounds awesome, maybe i should get one
HUGE Respect sir !
In some sense, this might be Apple’s opportunity to differentiate Apple Maps. Apple Maps and basically every other maps app step on each other’s foot since there isn’t too much to gimmick on a maps app. I’m not an outdoors person by any stretch (I got the Ultra because driving route navigation obliterates battery on the normal watch) but it’d be cool to see Apple take in input from people like him who do actually go out and compare how the Ultra performs with dedicated hardware like Garmin’s
Just so you know, this is the video which ultimately pushed me to buy an AWU instead of a Garmin. As primarily a day hiker in Southern California, you convinced me that the Apple Watch Ultra is more than good enough for my hiking needs (footpath is awesome). Yeah, its definetely not the best outdoor watch (That Epix DOES look nice), and if I were to ever start getting into longer multiday hikes in the backcountry I would probably look into getting a Garmin, but until then the AWU it is. Excellent video.
That's great to hear, thank you for sharing that, it's exactly why I did this video. And glad Footpath is working out for you as well. One rumor that's flying around is that a new AWU is going to be announced on Sep 12. Will keep you posted.
is this paid comment lol?
you can water lock the watch screen while wearing long sleeves as well to help eliminate accidentally shutting off activity monitoring or workouts etc....
My major complaint with ULTRA is every time am going for a outdoor bike ride, the workout keeps pausing & pausing, is so aggravating and I went to settings of course and shut all the pauses offs and still pausing so I have too keep manually unpausing it and is so hard.
about the unwanted pauses or touches in the screen. You can activate the drop like icon and it would block the screen from unwanted touches. This function is destined to water related sport but is also great to use in hiking environments
Thanks for the review - I currently have an Epix and an Ultra and most of these points resonate with me. I'm trying to decide which to stick with (or more accurately, decide if I could happily part with the Ultra, since my iPhone broke and I'm back to using a Pixel, unsure if I really want to pick up another iPhone or not) - from the comments it sounds like there are more watch dual-wielders than I'd expect. 😊
Yea it's a tough call but if it were me I'd probably just go Pixel / Epix until I needed a phone upgrade and then decide from there.
@@Hikingguywhen watch os 10 comes out of beta it’s a lot better and action button gets more apps and then I get 3 days on mine that’s with general use n walking
If a future Apple Watch Ultra comes with more buttons (ideally at least three in total) + significantly improved battery life (can last a week at least), I think it's a no-brainer for me to pick AWU. I just need an apple watch that can last a marathon or a vacation without worrying about battery life.
When disabling the always on display my ultra can last me between 4-5 days where as with always on I get around 2-2 and a half days, for activities all the sensors are working so your going to get less battery however it’s sort of at the impass where you either disable features or you make it even bigger as the battery density is about as good as it can get without a completely new battery technology. Ultra low power mode is that option of disabling features to boost battery life but the consequence is less workout data.
The battery life is down to the cpu/gpu mostly. The CPU that can show 3d memojis, all sorts of other 3d effects.
Garmin CPU is around 10-100x slower, but more than enough for the task at hand and sips so much less power.
Display doesn't really matter that much, new Garmin Epix Pro has similar screen to Ultra but can get similar battery life to the Fenix.
Unless they remove all that normal apple watch capability from ultra, or battery tech jumps considerably (much less likely), they can't get the battery life up to fenix levels.
Does it take you one week to run a marathon?
This is exactly reason I ended up returning mine. I should not have to touch any settings to get 36 hours of battery life. I just go with my Sunto instead and picked up a classic AW for day to day.
APW is like men want to have golden p3nis ;-) only bling bling
What watch band did you have for the Ultra? Can you provide the link?
Totally spot on! I love Apple but god! Its a real pain to use Ultra on long hikes with no reception😫 Made that mistake today, its back to Garmin for the remaining days of hiking home
Good to know. Here in Europe, you can’t even use cellular when abroad…
Great video. I switched from Apple Watch to epix and am glad I did. Can you recommend an external battery for day hiking/backpacking that is reliable, powerful, and as light as possible?
I've been using this guy - amzn.to/3LMHYj4 - there's probably something lighter now (bought it last year) but it works well, and as the silly copy says "as light as 3 eggs"
Thanks so much - for this recommendation and for all your really, really helpful content.
I am
Also the weirdo with two watched. I wear a Fenix on one hand and the ultra on the other. I use the ultra for HR data (Afib tracking) and the ability to have cell service without my phone. The garmin is my run/hike go to. I think the AW probably has more usability were I to figure out it’s tricks.
I wanted to get the epix, but I already have the AWU and didn’t want to spend another 1k. I really don’t need maps, so I got the instinct 2x solar tactical. Feel like that watch will be perfect for bicycle touring.
I always pressed the action button accidentally, reaching up the long sleeve to grab watch always triggered the button. But the Garmin has 3 buttons on sleeve pull side as a righty
Thanks for addressing these issues with the Apple Watch Ultra. I'm a long distance runner and you mentioned exactly all of Apple's design mistakes during more serious use of the Apple Watch Ultra in daily practice. Even the aspect of paying attention while forced to scroll through menus with a finger on glass while you are exhausted... 🙂👍 P.S: Fenix here... 😉
Thank you, good to hear that my experience is jibing with yours. It's hard to explain how not fun it is dealing with the touch screen when you're wiped out.
When you are running, even long distance all you relly need to do is lift your wrist to view all the data in real time. This is assuming you are willng to keep workout app in focus on your watch while running. I do that all the time for 10km distances and it's perfect.
Apple could improve this by simply dimming the display for the workout app when you are not looking at the watch. Similar like they do for watch faces. You can still mitigate it by turning off always on display but it's not as good.
There’s literally a wheel on the side of the watch to let you scroll through something. Much more convenient than buttons.
@@kevintaylor7047 not when you're sweaty and tired - speking from experience / 100s of miles using both