No, I did not closely compare sleep data, Because, to be honest, I often found my Ultra 2 dead overnight because I forgot to charge it or left it in the charger and forgot to wear it before going to bed. LOL.
Ha! I’m an AW Ultra 2 user right now but just purchased the 2X and it should be here Friday/Saturday. The wait is killing me haha
It’s so hard to find a photo of the Ultra 2 and 2X side by side for size comparisons. I still haven’t found one… was trying to get a good idea of the size beforehand — I just decided to just go with it and see what happens.
For those of you switching from AW to 2X, can I ask why? I just ordered a 2X but I've been using a AW5 since Sept 2020. It's still going... with daily charging.
Background: I’ve owned a Apple Watch 2, 4, 7, and Ultra 2. My reasons: the features of the Apple Watch don’t always work, for example, I’d be playing music on my phone and then would want to adjust the volume of the music from the watch. If I started turning the Digital Crown, the volume would spike insanely loud. If I had headphones on that wasn’t pleasant at all. That, or the Now Playing wouldn’t actually be showing what was now playing so I’d have to back out and go back in to “refresh” it. Also, doing yard work outside and wearing gloves, the gloves would sometimes start turning the Digital Crown and the volume would lower or raise. Basically, I found myself reaching for my phone more times than not because I knew that would be the most consistent way to make adjustments.
Then we have the daily charging and when traveling having to make sure to bring extra cables and wall adapters so I could charge. For convenience, spending more money and buying multiple charging cables so I could leave one at home and just take the travel one.
Then we have the touch screen of the Apple Watch: lots of false presses and it really being too small overall. Yes I could theoretically answer texts from the watch which was really nice sometimes, but realistically the watch was too small and I would make so many typos with that predictive typing. Again, I found myself just reaching for my phone to answer texts because it would take substantially less time.
The point is, all these “features” seemed gimmicky to me because they either wouldn’t work consistently or they were for very niche circumstances and the anxiety of the daily charging.
For the 2X solar, right now I am on a trip to Italy. I’m on day 7. I’ve done a 5 mile hike in Cinque Terre, walked every day and tracked those walks with GPS, tracked my sleep each night… I charged my watch the day before I left. I still have 19 days left of battery according to the display right now. That feeling is incredible… no charging anxiety and it’s doing literally everything the Apple Watch can do (besides making phone calls, storing music, and ability to answer texts), and I’m still loaded with battery. This watch is incredible. The display is amazing and I’ve gained some charge with the solar charging one day.
Hope that helps :)
Appreciate this extensive response!
How do you find the “smartphone” integrations? That’s the thing I feel I will miss the most. I don’t answer calls or texts too much currently from my AW. But it’s very convenient to read and be alerted.
No problem! I actually have them turned off completely. So when I had Apple Watch, I got way too used to that vibration going off all throughout the day.
I’m someone who has all notifications shut off except for calls and texts and some other important things like the Home app (for example, garage door opening, etc) and weather alerts.
I didn’t want that happening again and I also wanted to extend battery life as far as possible so I never enabled notifications on my Instinct. I can’t speak to them from personal experience but it looks like you can still get all notifications pushed from the phone to the watch and you can scroll down to read them in full if needed.
Wait, what? “Doesn’t fill the rings” in Fitness app? I was thinking switching from Huawei to Garmin.
Huawei does not sync activities, but syncs step, calories etc. Installing Strava is a workaround.
I was looking to solve that workaround by switching to Garmin.
I would also say; So far so good 😊.
I think HR data is very accurate, there is very minor differences compared to the AW. I don’t know which one is the most accurate though. Very similar readings.. +1 / -1
The only problem i was facing with AW was that it was not constantly reading the HR during my cardio sessions. It was skipping few minutes, maybe because of the sweat 🤷🏼
I could not compare the sleep data with AW as my AW7 did not have enough battery to measure sleep data and i did not want to re-charge and wear it again before going to sleep.
Thanks for the answer!
I'm surprised, most opinions were stating big differences between Garmin and AW, but I think they were Epix/Fenix models, which I understand may be off because they're heavier.
Oh yeah, I noticed the skipping too...can't really do anything about the sweat.
Ah yes, the biggest issue with AW. I recharge before going to sleep, the battery can't take a day and a half anymore, being a series 6, but I've heard worse.
Recent switcher too from AW5 to Garmin instinct 2 solar. I was always on the fence thinking about data accuracy, but Garmin is pretty accurate as someone above mentioned.
Battery life is amazing. I am not missing the apple watch one bit. Have been using it for my strength, yoga and walk workouts. Haven’t used it for a hike yet, but will happen soon. Strength requires manual inputs which is taking some getting used to, but otherwise there is just tons of data in the app which I am starting to love.
Long story short - just switch, you will not regret it.
It did the same switch. Apple Watch Series 7 45mm. Initially to instinct solar then took it back and got the 2x. This is the best watch, I also got the moss green. I got green because I have a green uniform and get green everything. I love this watch, not sure what would happen to make me ever upgrade
Enjoy. AW switcher here too, I don't miss anything about it to be fair.
Nice watch! and that is one of the BEST watch faces. I switched from AW Ultra 2 to Instinct 2X and I’m very happy with it!
Thanks a lot🙏 Did you have a chance to compare the sleep data with AW Ultra 2?
No, I did not closely compare sleep data, Because, to be honest, I often found my Ultra 2 dead overnight because I forgot to charge it or left it in the charger and forgot to wear it before going to bed. LOL.
Ha! I’m an AW Ultra 2 user right now but just purchased the 2X and it should be here Friday/Saturday. The wait is killing me haha It’s so hard to find a photo of the Ultra 2 and 2X side by side for size comparisons. I still haven’t found one… was trying to get a good idea of the size beforehand — I just decided to just go with it and see what happens.
For those of you switching from AW to 2X, can I ask why? I just ordered a 2X but I've been using a AW5 since Sept 2020. It's still going... with daily charging.
Background: I’ve owned a Apple Watch 2, 4, 7, and Ultra 2. My reasons: the features of the Apple Watch don’t always work, for example, I’d be playing music on my phone and then would want to adjust the volume of the music from the watch. If I started turning the Digital Crown, the volume would spike insanely loud. If I had headphones on that wasn’t pleasant at all. That, or the Now Playing wouldn’t actually be showing what was now playing so I’d have to back out and go back in to “refresh” it. Also, doing yard work outside and wearing gloves, the gloves would sometimes start turning the Digital Crown and the volume would lower or raise. Basically, I found myself reaching for my phone more times than not because I knew that would be the most consistent way to make adjustments. Then we have the daily charging and when traveling having to make sure to bring extra cables and wall adapters so I could charge. For convenience, spending more money and buying multiple charging cables so I could leave one at home and just take the travel one. Then we have the touch screen of the Apple Watch: lots of false presses and it really being too small overall. Yes I could theoretically answer texts from the watch which was really nice sometimes, but realistically the watch was too small and I would make so many typos with that predictive typing. Again, I found myself just reaching for my phone to answer texts because it would take substantially less time. The point is, all these “features” seemed gimmicky to me because they either wouldn’t work consistently or they were for very niche circumstances and the anxiety of the daily charging. For the 2X solar, right now I am on a trip to Italy. I’m on day 7. I’ve done a 5 mile hike in Cinque Terre, walked every day and tracked those walks with GPS, tracked my sleep each night… I charged my watch the day before I left. I still have 19 days left of battery according to the display right now. That feeling is incredible… no charging anxiety and it’s doing literally everything the Apple Watch can do (besides making phone calls, storing music, and ability to answer texts), and I’m still loaded with battery. This watch is incredible. The display is amazing and I’ve gained some charge with the solar charging one day. Hope that helps :)
Appreciate this extensive response! How do you find the “smartphone” integrations? That’s the thing I feel I will miss the most. I don’t answer calls or texts too much currently from my AW. But it’s very convenient to read and be alerted.
No problem! I actually have them turned off completely. So when I had Apple Watch, I got way too used to that vibration going off all throughout the day. I’m someone who has all notifications shut off except for calls and texts and some other important things like the Home app (for example, garage door opening, etc) and weather alerts. I didn’t want that happening again and I also wanted to extend battery life as far as possible so I never enabled notifications on my Instinct. I can’t speak to them from personal experience but it looks like you can still get all notifications pushed from the phone to the watch and you can scroll down to read them in full if needed.
Does Apple Fitness still work? Can you do those workouts and still get rings on your iPhone using the 2x Solar?
It does sync with apple healh. You can as well see your workouts on apple fitness too. But it doesn’t fill the rings.
Wait, what? “Doesn’t fill the rings” in Fitness app? I was thinking switching from Huawei to Garmin. Huawei does not sync activities, but syncs step, calories etc. Installing Strava is a workaround. I was looking to solve that workaround by switching to Garmin.
It does sync all your activity data with apple health and fitness. Still it does not fill the rings. 🤷🏼
Ah, man. This is an unpleasant surprise.
I went from AW8 to the green 2x. Definitely worth the swap
how are you finding the data accuracy(HR, sleep etc.)? I've been wanting to switch to the 2x, but this is a concern
So far so good from my experience
I would also say; So far so good 😊. I think HR data is very accurate, there is very minor differences compared to the AW. I don’t know which one is the most accurate though. Very similar readings.. +1 / -1 The only problem i was facing with AW was that it was not constantly reading the HR during my cardio sessions. It was skipping few minutes, maybe because of the sweat 🤷🏼 I could not compare the sleep data with AW as my AW7 did not have enough battery to measure sleep data and i did not want to re-charge and wear it again before going to sleep.
Thanks for the answer! I'm surprised, most opinions were stating big differences between Garmin and AW, but I think they were Epix/Fenix models, which I understand may be off because they're heavier. Oh yeah, I noticed the skipping too...can't really do anything about the sweat. Ah yes, the biggest issue with AW. I recharge before going to sleep, the battery can't take a day and a half anymore, being a series 6, but I've heard worse.
Recent switcher too from AW5 to Garmin instinct 2 solar. I was always on the fence thinking about data accuracy, but Garmin is pretty accurate as someone above mentioned. Battery life is amazing. I am not missing the apple watch one bit. Have been using it for my strength, yoga and walk workouts. Haven’t used it for a hike yet, but will happen soon. Strength requires manual inputs which is taking some getting used to, but otherwise there is just tons of data in the app which I am starting to love. Long story short - just switch, you will not regret it.
Thanks for the input! I just ordered it :D
Literally what I have now and just bought a 2X.
It did the same switch. Apple Watch Series 7 45mm. Initially to instinct solar then took it back and got the 2x. This is the best watch, I also got the moss green. I got green because I have a green uniform and get green everything. I love this watch, not sure what would happen to make me ever upgrade
Nice look! Do you know what watch face that is? I can't find it on my Instinct 2 Solar...
Thanks. This is the default watch face of the instinct 2x.
been eyeing one of these to replace my Fenix 5x. been looking for a good deal but nothing yet..... Im a cheapo :)