Apple Watch Ultra 2 review: The smartest sports-watch?

There are some areas in which pure sports watches surpass the Apple Watch Ultra 2 - but the sheer depth and breath of Apple’s ruggedized flagship model is hard to outshine

Apple Watch Ultra 2
(Image credit: Anna Marie Abram)
Cycling Weekly Verdict

For a quick answer to “should I buy it?”, first consider your battery requirements - are you okay with charging essentially every other day, or do you need a watch that holds its charge for longer? Second, the mapping - is following a GPX track with full topographic maps a must, or is Apple Maps fine? If those aren’t deal breakers, then I can fully recommend the Ultra 2. It is packed with functionality, from connectivity with power meters and heart rate monitors to super accurate GPS and health metrics. Plus, the seamless integration with Apple’s wider ecosystem is something no other smartwatch can match. If you’re already an iPhone user, and you haven’t been ruled out by the first two questions, this is the smartwatch to go for.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Power meter connectivity

  • +

    Intuitive user interface

  • +

    Seamless smartphone integration

  • +

    Excellent GPS accuracy

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Day and a half battery life vs rivals’ one week plus

  • -

    Mapping functionality isn’t fully fledged

  • -

    Limited data screen customisation for custom workouts

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Smartwatches are uniquely complex products to test. Unlike tires, wheels or other components - where the considerations entirely revolve around ‘how much better does this make my riding?’ - with a smartwatch, you also have the more general question of whether, all things considered, this is the best product you could be wearing on your wrist?

Most of the smartwatches we test come from sports tech companies. The onus on these models is to prove themselves more useful and feature-packed than the smartwatches produced by smartphone manufacturers - which have the upper hand in terms of seamless integration into everyday life.

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