It packs the biggest GPS runtime battery life of any Apple Watch to date. But can you run an ultra marathon with the Apple Watch Ultra 2? On his trip to the UYN headquarters in Italy, Run Tester Kieran put Apple’s updated – and most capable running watch – to the test with a 100-mile lap of Lake Garda over 3 days. We looked at the battery life, GPS and heart rate accuracy in different powers modes up against the Garmin Forerunner 965 and a chest strap. Do we finally have a smartwatch skilled enough to conquer ultra adventures? Hit play for find out in the Apple Watch Ultra 2 ultra test.
JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
0:00 – Intro
1:02 – Apple Watch Ultra 2: What’s new?
1:52 – The ultra test explained
2:39 – Battery performance
4:44 – Heart rate accuracy
5:41 – GPS accuracy
6:29 – The verdict
Now watch:
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 review:
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Hey people welcome to the run test it's Kieran here I am in Italy that behind me Is Lake Garder I came here to visit the Wind HQ if you don't know when they're a Brand that make really Hightech sports Apparel all kinds of Bas layers running Gear skiing gear all sorts of things so We yesterday went and had a look around Their Factory at their labs and now Whilst I'm here I've got the chance to Go and do something a bit special I'm Going to be taking the Apple watch Ultra 2 and putting it to a really thorough Ultra test by trying to run 100 miles Around Lake Garder in 3 days we're going To see how the Apple watch Ultra 2 Battery life holds up in various Different modes we're going to see if How it can cope over those three days at The same time we're going to go and try And do a loop of that I've also got the Garmin 4Runner 965 on my wrist to do Some comparisons of things like the GPS Accuracy the heart rate stats all of That stuff I'll be doing as well has Taking in what hopefully is going to be Some wonderful views I'm going to also Find out if my legs can make it it's Going to have a [Music] Crack now we've got a full Apple watch Ultra 2 review on the channel so be sure To check that out for a deeper look at What's new but in a nutshell here's what
It is there's no real running upgrades Here the improvements Focus largely on The general watch experience that means Brighter screen more powerful processor And those clever controls you get the Dual frequency Precision multiband gnss Using the L1 and L5 bands to boost the Distance and real time Pace tracking Accuracy and crucially for endurance hry Runners that brighter screen and faster Processing won't cost battery life That's what Apple says anyway however The battery life remains unchanged you Get 12 hours GPS in normal power mode And that extends to 17 hours with low Power mode enabled and up to 35 hours in Low power mode with additional things Like heart rate and GPS frequency dial Right [Music] Down Now to test the Apple watch ultra's Ultra credentials I ran 100 miles around Lake Garder in 3 days covering Approximately 50 km a day with around 6 To 7 hours of GPS run time each day now Each day I tested a different power and Accuracy mode and compared it to the Garmin 4Runner 965 and the Garmin HRM Pro Plus chest strap every day I took The watches off charge at 100% in the Morning when I left my accommodation I Tracked the runtime battery burn I Looked at the burn rate when I wasn't
Running as well before I put it back on Charge and I clocked the GPS and heart Rate accuracy as well as looking at what It was like for generally use in an Ultra running Adventure like [Music] This so the Apple watch Ultra and the Ultra 2 finally put an end to battery Anxiety for most Runners there's enough Single stint juice to handle marathon Race dat and still be alive the morning After it can now stretch to 3 days Without having to stick it on charge While training for roughly an hour a day It also doesn't leech too much battery Life when you're not running I kept my Usage to a bare minimum when I wasn't Running the lake and it averaged around 1% per hour burn the exception here is Overnight I charged my Apple watch Ultra During the night during this test but in Other tests I found the overnight Battery burn averaged around 10% now That's quite a lot and it definitely Limits the ultra 2's multi-day Ultra Potential for example this wouldn't last The marathon to s six or seven days on a Single charge you would need to have a Way of charging it out there now when it Comes to runtime endurance the Apple Watch Ultra 2 couldn't quite match the Gin 4Runner 965 but it put in a really Strong performance in all three power Modes based on my Garder tests in its
Lowest power lowest accuracy mode I'd Estimate you'll get close to 45 hours Run time the 4 and a 965 offers a Slightly longer 55 hours estimate but The ultra 2 staying power in that mode Definitely makes it 100 mile and 100 km Ultra potential device anything where You'll be moving between 12 and 30 hours Now in the 17h hour low power mode with Regular heart rate and GPS readings the Apple watch Ultra 2 might well stretch To 24h hours runtime that's plenty for 100 km Ultras including getting to the Start running the race and still having A bit of juice left to use Apple pay for To buy that kind of celebrator be or Hail and Uber after it's also enough for The Speedy Ultra Runners to cover 100 Miles finally running for seven and a Half hours on day three in this test in The highest accuracy 12h hour mode the Apple watch Ultra burned about 37% that Suggests you can expect significantly More than Apple's listed runtime of 12 Hours which is a pretty good performance It might even stretch up to 20 hours and Again that will cover most Runners for 100 km [Music] Ultra when it comes to heart rate heart Rate isn't necessarily the most Important metric when you're running Ultras but the Apple watch Ultra 2's Optical sensor provided plenty accurate
Enough tracking for the demands of ultra Now regardless of the power mode the Average heart rate readings were within Two beats on the Apple watch Ultra 2 Optical the Garmin 4Runner 965 Optical And the Garmin HRM Pro chest strap so They were very very closely matched However the Apple watch Ultra 2 did have A tendency at times to read a higher Heart rate Max in those sessions not Often but there were spikes sometimes a Good 7 to 12 beats above the chest strap Surprisingly these highmax readings Happened in the most accurate 12h hour Mode and 35h hour power save mode where The Apple watch Ultra takes less Frequent heart weight reads make of that What you will but for Ultras I think the Accuracy here is plenty strong [Music] Enough so on GPS this one's quite Straightforward the Apple watch Ultra 2's multiband was excellent across all The power modes and it matched the Garmin 4Runner 965 and the much pricier Induro 2 on overall distance and pacing Even in those lower frequency power Saving modes now when you dig into the GPS tracks the Apple watch Ultra 2 was Quite noticeably better actually at Locking onto the paths and roads than Even the 4Runner 965 as well realtime Pacing anecdotally when I was looking Down was also well matched nicely
Responsive not that I was moving Particularly fast though or doing much Of a change and from a GPS perspective I Think the Apple watch Ultra 2 has all The power you need for tackling Ultra Even in the lowest GPS settings and That's definitely a win here Now when it comes to the verdict for Single day Ultras even up to the 100 Mile distance where you're not relying Too much on the need to navigate I think The Apple watch Ultra 2 is a genuine Contender if you have access to charging On those Ultras it's also got multi-day Ultra potential as well you can rely on It to handle all the running Basics GPS Heart rate accuracy is spot on the Battery life will stretch and the screen Is excellent in all lights and then when It really kind of think think about it When you throw in all the extra Smartwatch extras the ultra 2 is a far More rounded tool than any of its Rivals The ability to take calls and messages Play music pay for that emergency water Or ice cream midr run really elevates Its practicality on some Ultras outside Of races particularly not to mention the Torch the siren the safety and that last Emergency core Waypoint that takes you Back to where you last had connection if You need to and being able to hail an Uber if things go terribly wrong you can Do all of this from the watch these are
All useful as I plotted around late Guard as Towns now the big gap for me Though is the navigation you can piece Together a Garmin like experience using Third party apps but it's somewhat Disjointed and garmin's devices cater Much more effectively for the Navigational needs of ultra Adventures Outside of races particularly so despite The Apple watch Ultra 2 stronger Capabilities I wouldn't have been able To leave my phone at home and run my Guarder Loop using only the watch I Don't think and this is perhaps where I Find the Apple watch most frustrating It's the most frustrating thing about The ultra 2 I think it has all the Makings of a complete ultra running tool But it's not quite there yet so what do I mean by that well what Apple has done Here the Apple watch Ultra 2 is by far The best running Smartwatch it probably Isn't the best running watch and there Are many things that you'll find on a Garmin that are really kind of tailored Very heavily towards Runners it feels Like they've thought about Runners Specific needs and they've gone all out The Apple watch Ultra has some of that But it just doesn't go quite far enough And particularly if you're an ultra Runner where your needs a slightly Different the sort of General running Approach that Apple takes here it just
Hasn't quite been ticked off with the Apple watch Ultra it could so easily be But obviously Apple thinking you know They obviously go more General they like To make their products appeal more Broadly they're not that worried about Targeting what is potentially a sort of Specific Niche and so it just falls Short still a great smart running watch But not the best Ultra watch out [Music] There so there you have it that was my Ultra run test the Apple watch Ultra 2 I Hope you enjoyed it and found it Enlightening if you have any questions Hit me up in the comments below don't Forget to like subscribe and ring the Bell for more great run testers videos When they land if you want a multitester Deep dive into the Apple watch Ultra 2 If you're thinking of buying that Perhaps that's appearing somewhere on The channel just about now
