I ditched my Garmin for the Apple Watch Ultra — here's what happened - Tom's Guide

As a fitness editor, I have to be impartial when it comes to the best running watches and best fitness trackers.

Before I did our Apple Watch Ultra review, I used to alternate between my Garmin Fenix 7 or my Garmin Forerunner 955 for tracking my training runs (I’d often forget to charge them, so I’d take out whichever had more battery) and my Apple Watch 7 during the rest of the day.

I never loved or trusted the Apple Watch 7 on my run, hence the Garmin, but as someone who quickly became addicted to closing those damned rings, I’d swap back to the Apple Watch once I got back from my run.

I really believe that the Apple Watch Ultra was designed for runners like me.

After doing a few test runs with the Apple Watch Ultra and my trusty Garmin Fenix 7 on my wrist, I soon realized that the GPS was pretty spot on — both gave me very similar results.

Despite all my running friends commenting on how big the Apple Watch Ultra was, I soon got used to the large screen and loved how bright and clear the screen was, even in direct sunlight.

One of the main reasons I never loved running with my Apple Watch 7 was the lack of physical buttons.

I also didn’t miss having to sync my Garmin running data to Strava, then from Strava to Apple, in order for the data to affect the status of my rings?

Garmin won’t share calorie data with Apple, so a run on one of the best Garmin watches won’t close the Move ring on one of the best Apple watches.

Despite all my running friends commenting on how big the Apple Watch Ultra was, with its 49mm screen, I soon got used to it and loved how bright and clear the screen was, even in direct sunlight.