The Apple Watch Ultra is ready for your Ironman racing and training needs – Triathlon Magazine Canada

Anyone who is both a fan of Apple products and an avid long-distance triathlete has been waiting for this moment – the time when Apple finally got serious about us long-distance folks and created a watch designed to be an Ultra – Event to survive. Not only triathletes will be excited about this new watch, also adventure seekers will love this new watch.

We’ve had a chance to take a quick look at the Ultra – here are some initial thoughts:

The new Apple Watch Ultra features an aerospace-grade titanium case, which enhances the first impression of the new watch – it’s tough, looks good, while also remaining fairly light. The titanium even extends up and over the front crystal to protect against front impacts.

This flat sapphire crystal on the 49mm case showcases the largest and brightest display we’ve ever seen in an Apple Watch. The biggest update for triathletes, however, is the new “Action” button, which makes the Apple Watch Ultra an invaluable training tool – I’m still struggling not to call it the much-needed lap button that serious triathletes felt on previous Apple Watches Watch iterations desired.

In keeping with the outdoor/adventure theme, the Ultra’s buttons are designed to be operated with gloves – the Digital Crown is also 30 percent larger than other Apple Watches.

There are a variety of straps for the Ultra for different activities including Alpine, Ocean and Endurance.

Battery life

The Apple Watch Ultra has the largest battery seen in any of Apple’s wrist devices, offering a whopping 36 hours of battery life that can be extended to 60 hours in sleep mode. That means you can get through an Ironman without a hitch and fully track your data.

You don’t lose much functionality by going into sleep mode — it turns off the always-on display, reduces cellular connection, and restricts some background features. Workouts will still retain full GPS and HR readings. The energy saving mode can also be activated only for training.

GPS performance and security improvements

The Ultra offers dramatically improved GPS performance by using two frequencies (L1 and L5) to provide accurate GPS. There’s also a redesigned compass app and a backtrack feature to retrace your steps in case you run into trouble. There’s even a built-in siren that can be heard up to 180m away.

Sports friendly

This new action button can be set to start a workout right away, and you can use it to get accurate lap times. While the Ultra automatically detects when you switch from swim to bike to run (and even transition) during a multisport workout, you can also use the action button to get accurate times as you progress through each phase of your race.

You can customize the action button for much more than just starting workouts or recalling laps — it can set a compass waypoint, start a backtrack path, and more.

The Ultra includes the same vastly improved sports metrics and health tracking that’s available in the Apple Watch Series 8 – we reviewed those last week.

The Ultra is so ready for adventure activities, it was even designed for water sports – this fall Apple will release a new diving app for certified divers. It’s twice as waterproof as previous Apple Watches, so triathletes won’t have any qualms about using it for their entire workout.

crash detection

The new Apple Watches use improved accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect extreme bumps and sudden changes in speed. In addition to Apple Watch’s fall detection capabilities while walking, running, or biking, your watch can now reach emergency services or contacts if you’re involved in an accident.

We’ll learn more about the new Apple Watch Ultra as we have more time to play with this new training tool.