To test the Galaxy Watch Ultra, I had to take off the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) with a mere two days left to go before completing my 28-day preliminary Training Load analysis. Training Load is a new feature in watchOS 11 that takes cumulative, calorimetric data like heart rate, pace, effort, and age to gauge whether your efforts are improving your fitness performance or not. It was annoying to be so close and not finish. However, it was not as annoying as it might have been, since I've tried this feature before. Garmin has had a Training Load feature for years.

In the race to create the most fully-featured outdoor smartwatch that works well with your phones, Apple is clearly winning. The Apple Watch Ultra’s design is more visually distinctive. The software is better, with more sports like diving, better algorithms like Training Load, and a better UI. It’s also hilarious how closely the Galaxy Watch Ultra’s design mimics Apple’s, with a safety orange band that looks exactly like Apple’s Ocean Band ($99) and a Quick Button on the side where you can assign a function, like Apple’s Action button. There’s even a gesture-based feature very similar to Double Tap, which is called (still laughing) Double Pinch.

With all that said, Samsung has the resources to catch up quickly, and I found no major flaws. If you’re pretty happy as an androids user and would like the experience of wearing an Apple Watch Ultra, this is a decent start. It can only get better.

Add It Up

The Galaxy Watch Ultra is very pretty. It’s not as visually distinctive as the Apple Watch Ultra, but its design does echo the look of a high-end Garmin or Coros watch. It’s a 47-mm smartwatch, which makes it slightly smaller than the Watch Ultra’s 49-mm case, but it feels bigger because it’s square instead of rectangular.

It has a titanium case with a sapphire glass face that is rated to 10 ATM (which means it can withstand the pressure exerted by 100 meters of water) and IP68, and can withstand elevations as high as 9,000 meters and temperatures as high as 131 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn't have the opportunity to bag a Colorado 14er while testing, but I did stupidly go biking to run errands with temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in a heat wave, and the watch operated well (I did not).

Battery life is my main issue with these smartwatches turned extreme fitness trackers. The Watch Ultra can last a little longer than two days, which is great for a smartwatch but far below what you’d need for your average weekend camping trip. Every other morning, it took three hours to charge the watch back up from 10 or 15 percent. With Power Saving mode on, the watch could last up to three to five days. I like being able to tinker with the settings to figure out what to turn off or keep on to extend the battery life.

Samsung notes that the watch has a new enhanced BioActive sensor, which increases the accuracy of the heart rate sensor and other new health metrics. It's remarkably consistent with what I track on my Oura ring—for example, if the Oura said my heart rate was 69, the live reading on the Galaxy Watch Ultra was 70.

The other new feature is the AGEs index. According to Samsung, the Galaxy Watch 7 and Watch Ultra can measure your advanced glycation end products (AGEs). (Diagnoptics is the company that powers the tool, which takes readings via a light source that excites specific fluorescent moieties, or molecule parts, on your skin). Your AGEs index is important because it can help predict the risk of diabetes and stroke; the way most people do this now is by taking a test called an A1C, which is a more invasive blood test.

It’s possible that some watches will have noninvasive blood sugar testing soon; for example, Apple recently partnered with Dexcom to track blood sugar readings on the watch. I have a family history of stroke and diabetes, and completely coincidentally, got full blood labs complete with A1C and a lipids panel while wearing the Galaxy Watch Ultra. All I can say is, if you're worried about diabetes or stroke, I suggest talking to a doctor instead. I have a genetic predisposition to these conditions; my panels were clear, my AGEs index is high. I didn't find this measurement to be useful, as there's no context at all.

The body fat composition measurements were relatively consistent and in line with what I would consider for myself as a healthy, athletic woman—my readings cycled more or less around 27 percent body fat, which is … well, it's fine. If this interests you, I suggest remembering to measure yourself in the morning before you eat anything, because that number will be more flattering. It’s also worth noting here that some features, like ECG, are not available if you’re not using a Samsung phones.

Hair of the Dog

When it comes to sleep, Samsung has also taken a page from Fitbit’s book. After a week of taking measurements, it provides you with a sleep animal to better interpret your sleep patterns. I am a penguin, which is a good sleeper who gets enough sleep but wakes up too often because I check my eggs. This was incredibly accurate, because by “eggs,” Samsung has intuited that I have a new puppy who likes to sleep on my pillow and kick my head all night. She does this often enough that I was able to wake up and confirm the times on the watch and in the app.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra also has dual-band GPS for greater accuracy. I ran, rock-climbed, hiked, paddled, and walked my dogs twice a day while testing the watch. Again, the heart rate measurements were shockingly similar to the measurements on my Apple Watch Ultra (for example, both recorded my dog walks at 88 bpm) and the paths were accurate.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra autodetected all my random biking and walking adventures throughout the day. While some of the metrics it measures are pretty rudimentary compared with what you get with Garmin or Apple Watch, others are more advanced. For example, when I go on a run, the metrics that I want are slightly harder to find and read, but you can still see your cadence, asymmetry, and vertical oscillation.

As someone who gets lost the instant they leave their car, I also liked that the watch has basic navigation options, like a compass and Track Back (which Apple calls Backtrack). It’s a little harder to find and use—you have to swipe through settings after you’ve started an activity—but it exists! I also liked that in its sports metrics, it also counts probable water loss. It turns out I have probably not been drinking enough water in this heat.

It also doesn’t have some of the same sports as the Apple Watch Ultra, most notably scuba diving, which brings me to my last point.

I switched from my iphoness 14 to the Samsung Galaxy S23+ to make sure I wasn’t missing any features, and, like—OK, this is shallow, but it’s a huge part of Apple’s appeal—Samsung watches just aren't as easy to use, and not as many cool things happen. That's not even counting if you're using an androids phones that's not a Samsung. Is a certain feature in Samsung Health or Samsung Health Monitor? Or Google Fit? Apple used to be more complicated, but now it’s as simple as waking up and checking my Vitals app and Training Load.

This manifests in other ways as well. For example, the Galaxy Watch Ultra can measure FTP, an important metric for high-performing cyclists, but unlike the Apple Watch Ultra, starting the activity doesn't automatically turn the S23+ into a bike computer that you mount on your handlebars. If you do go off the grid, the Galaxy phoness don’t have satellite connectivity or messaging (yet).

Still, these are minor quibbles. Samsung definitely has the resources to support these options in future updates, and I’m curious to see features like the AGEs index leave the experimental phase. It’s a pretty watch that’s accurate and comfortable and attractive to wear, and what it does, it generally does well. “That's a watch that looks like it can bike,” a friend said, noting my new arm candy as I was out. If you have a Samsung phones and enjoy outdoor sports, it's worth trying out.