The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a beautiful little device. The main reason for why I got it over the regular Apple Watch is the increase in battery life, which lasts for two full days pretty consistently for me, even if I register a workout or two. I go out on overnight hikes pretty frequently in spring, summer and fall, and it’s nice not to have to bring the charging cable for the watch when I do. I could take or leave the bigger display, although it’s nice to have a larger selection of faces to choose from.
The battery life did run out on me during the 90 km Vasaloppet cross-country ski race, after the workout activity had been running for eleven hours straight. I think I forgot to disable the battery health optimization charging the night before, so it might have survived the full twelve hours if I had done that. Either way, I wasn’t thrilled that my watch missed out on the longest workout in my entire life.
Another hardware difference is the raised crown guard, which also extends down to the side button. I like it visually, but it became an unexpected issue when the cross-country skiing season started. When I double-pole, which is when you thrust yourself forward by pushing both poles into the snow and bending the upper body forwards, the right side of the crown guard by the side button digs into the skin on my wrist. By the time the season was over, I had a small wound that would open up every time I skied longer distances. Not great.
That little niggle aside, I happily put on my Apple Watch Ultra 2 every morning, just as I have ever since I bought my first Apple Watch, the Series 2, back in 2016. I use it to track every workout and it still bothers me when I miss out on closing all of my rings, although not as much as it a few years ago. This March, I got a notification that I had closed all of my rings for the 1500th time. That’s pretty cool.
