45% of 64 verified owners recommend the Apple Watch Ultra 3, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
“I have the Ultra 3, during the day I wear it on my left wrist but at night, since I sleep on my left side, I wear it in my right wrist. It doesn’t bother me at all!”
“Fenix for fitness, Apple watch for smartphone features. Apple watch is okay for basic training stuff, but as you get more serious about training Garmin always wins.”
“This has convinced me that I probably need a garmin. I take my Ultra 3 off after training and I hate smart watch features.”
“I’ve not had an Apple Watch yet (I’ve owned most of them) which does a decent job of tracking heart rate when running.”
“I learned that the AWU serves all my needs and the fact that is integrates seamlessly into my Apple ecosystem was a huge plus. After comparing the F8 and AWU3 side by side, I've decided to keep the AWU3.”
“I like the awu 3 and now on a garmin fenix 8 51mm and love it. If I stop training and running I'm back to apple. But as of today don't miss my awu 3 a bit.”
“There are some things I miss compared to my AW Ultra. But for me the advantages of the Fenix clearly outweigh the thing I miss.”
“I’ve tried the AWU3 but can’t get over the multiple apps and toggling between different ones to get different info.”
“It’s much more enjoyable to wear and also just an incredible smartwatch and within the ecosystem - there’s absolutely no comparison there.”
“I have returned the AWU for now and am back on my Garmin, but darn I miss certain aspects of the AW for sure”
“Personally, I’d rather have fewer, medically validated, well-annotated HRV readings than a constant stream of modeled estimates.”
“I am trying to fully commit to my Awu3. But I am missing the raw Garmin sports tracking and management, and carefree battery.”
“I know AWU is superior in that regard.. but right now I’m more focusing on fitness where AW is still not that great..”
“Both look ridiculously big, but the Apple is ridiculous, plus ugly and you need to charge every day.”
“most test even quantified scientist on YouTube has said that HR tracking and sleep tracking is absolutely top on Apple Watches.”
“Funny I ran this morning and sweated so much my socks were squishy with sweat and I had no problems with my Apple Watch Ultra.”
“From a hardware perspective, the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor is actually better than Garmin’s. But Apple takes a much more conservative approach on the software side, which makes it hard to get the same kind of detailed data you’d see on a Garmin.”
“j’ai gardé ma Fenix 8 pro pour tous les jour et donnée et télécharge Bevel pour les donnés de santé”
“I have realized that I miss the Apple ecosystem too much. And now I’m thinking about coming back to Apple”
“this is a very helpful review to the things that I dislike about it now, won’t change with the 3.”
“I disagree with the HR it blows the competition away in my opinion. No weird spikes it’s just consistent with my effort.”
“I play hockey with mine and it’s getting hot by my glove repeatedly and knocked on occasion and never had HR drop out.”
“No issues with ocean/alpine uw1/2/3 except rare occasional downhill and colder weather.”
“Personally I switched from AWU to Garmin enduro 3 and I don’t miss the Apple Watch.”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
“Ive seen your original comment. Your fuse is so short, that you can’t accept fact that’s it is issue on your end. When i purchased ultra 2 it also performer software update and it wasn’t nowhere close to 8 hours.”
“Sure thing. Keep trying position and tightness. Temps and wrist size change seem to be the biggest issue for me. Congrats on your first ultra :)”
“This. Apparently the heavier Milanese loop tends to lead to more watch movement on the wrist, leading to less accurate measurements”
“Ok. I only ask because that can cause issues with the heart rate monitor. There are quite a few posts in Apple Watch subs about it.”
“I believe it can, but with limited functionality. I wear two watches when I run, so haven’t tried myself.”
“I’ve got an Ultra 3, but I can’t quite understand why they’d discontinue the Ultra 1 – I don’t know.”
“But just for the sake of discussion, since my Ultra 2 just finished the watchOS 26 new device setup process, I'm going to upgrade it to watchOS 27. My iPhone Air is already on iPhone OS 27 and my Series 9 is also on watchOS 27 so I've done the download once already.”
“Oh wow nice, I was thinking about getting a chest strap but I guess I’ll pass. Thank you!!”
“I've worn mine all the time since S0, so 11 years now. Now I can sleep with my WU3 too.”
“That’s the whole point of the action button the ultras have, or am I missing something?”
“How do you know that you had a perfect heart rate? Can you describe what that means?”
“Coincidentally it's cold here right now. I will make sure to recheck next sprint.”
“What do you mean “run with all settings off”? If you put the watch in low power mode you can get 20 hours with the ultra 3 (plenty to run 50km) and still get full HR and GPS accuracy, it just turns off the AOD and reduces background activity. Not sure why you think that makes the watch “pointless”? 🤣”
“the AW Ultra last 3 days of full usage without charging.”
“And I came here to find this comment. found it :)”
“Thanks! As far as temps how does that effect it?”
“Neither of which are the ones meant for running”
“Does the hrm pro play nice with the awu?”