I Know This Is a Silly Apple Watch Ultra Comparison (And I Don’t Care)

My experience with the Garmin Marq Commander

If you’ve only just come across me, yes, I can confirm that I’m one of those annoying tech YouTubers who are constantly ‘switching’ devices.

Only, I’m not switching, am I? Because both you and I know that the device from which I’m allegedly departing for pastures new is an Apple device — and we all know that the Apple ecosystem is one of the stickiest out there.

However. I’m trying it for real this time. I promise.

That’s right — I’m going to attempt to switch from the Apple Watch Ultra to the Garmin MARQ Commander for as long as Garmin will let me hold onto this incredibly expensive review unit.

It’s early days, but let me paint the road ahead for you.

My Garmin watch journey so far

I’ve tested two Garmin smartwatches to date — the Fenix 7 Pro and the Epix Pro. I was hugely impressed with those watches, but I ultimately drew the same conclusion for both of them.

Garmin’s smartwatches beat Apple’s best effort hands-down in terms of stamina, health metrics, and, in my opinion, looks. But they’re not the Apple Watch and, consequently, don’t provide the same integration with Apple Pay, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, my iPhone, or my Mac.

This isn’t a criticism. Just like every other third-party smartwatch that has some form of integration with the iPhone, Garmin cannot compete with the Apple Watch because Apple won’t let them. Nor would Garmin want to, I’d guess; both of the Garmin watches I tested have their own versions of everything I’ve mentioned (bar integration with the Mac). They’re quite happy doing it by themselves — as is the legion of Garmin fans.

This splits the audiences for the Apple Watch Ultra and the Garmin devices cleanly down the middle, which is great when it comes to making recommendations, but less helpful when it comes to making up my mind about which one to place on my wrist full-time.

Introducing the Garmin MARQ Commander

Last week, a brand-new Garmin MARQ Commander Carbon Edition entered the Mark Ellis Reviews studio. Like most Garmin watches, the landing page for the MARQ Commander on Garmin’s website is brilliantly lengthy. Only, this time, it includes stuff that I couldn’t have made up if you’d asked me to.

The Commander sits within Garmin’s ‘Luxury Watch Collection’, known as MARQ. There are three devices on the roster — each one designed for a very specific use case. The Athlete and Golfer need little explanation, but the Commander’s purpose isn’t immediately obvious.

That is until you start reading through the aforementioned landing page.

Garmin tells us that this second-generation Commander is “a new badge of honour”. Speaking directly to who it thinks should be buying this watch, Garmin informs us that “a mission is your calling. There is no challenge too tough or objective too fierce. You demand the finest. You want a modern tool watch that reflects your passion for the field”.

As someone whose main cardiovascular exercise is a 5K treadmill run in an air-conditioned gym, the feeling of imposter syndrome as I scrolled down the page was palpable.

The MARQ Commander smartwatch comes in one size — 46mm — and is machined from a solid block of fused carbon fibre. Because of course it is. It also has multi-band GPS with SatIQ for positioning accuracy, and UTC markings on the bezel.

I freely admit that I’ve just had to look up UTC, and yes for anyone else scratching their heads, I can confirm that it is the method by which all timezones are set. How you read UTC from the Commander I have no idea, but I can confirm that the numbers 02 to 22 are dotted around the bezel in even number intervals. Which is nice.

On display duties, we have an AMOLED unit encased in a domed sapphire lens, and the package is wrapped up with a jacquard-weave nylon strap. Battery life? You can expect up to 16 days in smartwatch mode, and 42 hours in GPS mode.

That isn’t what you came here for, though, is it? If we dig deeper, we find that the MARQ Commander also has a night vision mode which switches the display to a deep green that can be easily read by night vision goggles, a stealth mode which stops storing and sharing GPS data, and a kill switch which wipes the device of all user memory “if security becomes an issue”. And I don’t think they’re talking about inadvertently opening a ZIP attachment on a dodgy email.

The MARQ Commander also has a Jumpmaster feature, which calculates high-altitude release points according to military guidelines, thus helping navigate you to your objective once you’ve jumped from the helicopter.

That should prove particularly useful in Leamington Spa.

If you haven’t guessed by now, this particular Garmin watch is built for military use — or for those who wish they were in the armed forces. As a result, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the feature set today.

The price for this avalanche of functionality and beastliness? A mere £2,799.

Garmin MARQ vs Apple Watch Ultra: unfair?

Yes. And no.

I’d apologise for the unashamed fence sitting above, but there’s a reason I can’t yet commit to whether or not this is a fair test. I need some serious time with this MARQ Commander — and, no, not from the perspective of a military operative (I won’t be jumping out of any helicopters, I’m sorry).

There’s a huge gulf in price between the MARQ Commander and the Apple Watch Ultra (£2,000, to be exact), but the latter has always made a clear play for serious use cases.

Apple’s marketing for the Apple Watch Ultra suggests it is for people who are far more adventurous and much fitter than yours truly. It’s for people who find themselves having to call base camp. It’s for runners who wouldn’t mind running all day up and over dunes in blistering heat. It’s made of materials which can survive the harshest conditions. It is Apple’s very own MARQ Commander — just without the Applied Ballistics option in the list of workouts.

I want to see what you get for that extra £2,000. Being someone who has always lusted after fancy watches, I want to see if I’d spend this much money on a Garmin watch and, in turn, ditch my Apple Watch Ultra. How will it play out for someone who will never need to hit that kill switch?

This is going to be a fun, long-term test. Join me, and get to the choppa!

Before you go

Join my newsletter list for a weekly behind-the-scenes video of a tech content creator!

Originally published at https://markellisreviews.com on March 11, 2024.