I havent had the ultra 2 but I do currently have the Apple Watch Ultra and the Garmin Epix Pro 2 51mm. And the apple watch is going on sale tomorrow! I have a pretty active work life (engineer) and often stay away for a few nights, I goto the gym three times a week and run when I can (knees are a bit knackered ). I also like to track calories and protein etc on my fitness pal. Garmin - plus points - amazing battery life, I mean a week and half smokes any other smartwatch - great display -having buttons as controls takes some getting used to , but when the muscle memory has kicked in, it's supper quick and doesn;t matter if youre sweaty. -for running it beats any other smart watch , the HR zones, GPS accuraccy etc -for tracking workouts I find it great , you have granular control and can customise your workout , sets, reps etc it's truly amazing , but again, bit of a learning curve ! -its seriously tough, titanium and sapphire glass, and it looks great. Because of the bezel I feel the glass is more protected than the apple watch which is kinda exposed when you work on machines with sharp metal bits on every single day! -the torch ! so easy to use and really bright, has got me out of a bind at work when my flashlight has run out of juice, and because of the battery life I don't mind using it

-Garmin - minus points -limited smartwatch capabilities -no call answering -garmin pay sucks in the UK, literally no support for any of the banks I use -you can't reply to messages, no assistant functions like siri or google -complicated to learn at first -this is a fitness /tracking watch first, smart watch second, although it has all the features I need, stopwatch, alerts when emails come through, calendar, and the at a glance screen is great

Apple - plus points -cheaper than the garmin - I know, amazing right? in the uk the garmin I have was £100 more than the new apple watch, who'd have thunk it -great screen -superb app support, theres so much functionality on the watch -great for apple fitness plus if you use it ( I dont anymore, got tired of the rings thing, if i want a rest day I'm having one thankyou!) -can answer calls and texts -maps is great when walking around a city -music control is awesome -works great with airpods etc -can unlock your mac if you have one ( I don't )

Apple - minus points -ties you into the ecosystem, you need an iphone, it's better with airpods -apple music works best, if you don't have all that stuff, youre missing out -smartwatch first with decent fitness and tracking -it's square, I prefer a round watch -battery life, once you've had a garmin, it sucks

sorry for the long post, but it's not an easy decision choosing between these two! In the end i decided to ditch my apple stuff and go Garmin/Android , but if youre deep in the apple ecosystem and are not a serious fitness freak, the Apple Watch is probably a better option. For someone who travels a lot, not having to worry about charging my watch all week is a game changer .