# The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 can finally go scuba diving

Source: https://idevice.com/the-galaxy-watch-ultra-2-can-finally-go-scuba-diving
Published: 2026-09-17

> Tom's Guide wore it two weeks and measured 60 hours of battery. Samsung fixed the dive rating and left the case just as chunky.

The [Galaxy Watch Ultra 2](https://idevice.com/smart-watches/samsung-galaxy-watch-ultra/roadmap) can go scuba diving, and the one before it could not. Samsung had shipped a watch rated to 100 meters that it would not certify for diving or even snorkeling, and the new model closes that out with an EN13319 rating and a partnership with the Mares dive app, which turns the watch into a dive computer with speed monitoring and safety-stop alerts. The app costs $8.99 a month or $69.99 for the year.

Dan Bracaglia wore the watch for two weeks for Tom's Guide, including e-mountain biking with a [Garmin Instinct 3](https://idevice.com/smart-watches/garmin-instinct/roadmap/instinct-3) on the other wrist, and measured 60 hours of battery. The original Ultra managed 48 in the same testing. An Apple Watch Ultra 4 managed 50.

Sixty hours means a Friday night charge covers a whole weekend outdoors, and 48 does not.

The battery inside is 800 mAh, a 35 percent jump on the first Ultra and the largest Samsung has put in an Android watch. Screen brightness went from 4,000 nits to 5,000, and Bracaglia reported the Ultra 2 was easier to read in direct sun than both the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which peaks at 3,000 nits, and the Garmin he rides with.

Samsung took 2mm off the case thickness and the reviewer said he barely noticed, calling it still chunky on a 6.5-inch wrist. Elevation tracking came back wrong more than once during outdoor workouts, which is the kind of error that matters on a watch sold for hikes and climbs. The strap is softer than before and uses the same attachment, so an old band fits the new watch.

Samsung Health picked up a Vitals tab that puts heart rate, HRV, blood oxygen, body temperature and breath rate on one screen, plus a Heart Health score and a Fitness Index out of 100 built from step averages, VO2 Max, resting heart rate, body composition and recovery time. None of it sits behind a subscription, which is not true of what Google and Garmin charge for.

The price is $699, which is $50 more than the first Ultra asked two years ago and $100 under an Apple Watch Ultra 4. It's the cheaper of the two flagship rugged watches for the first time in a while, and it's the brighter one.

The complication is inside Samsung's own lineup. The Galaxy Watch 9 starts at $379 and carries nearly all of the same health features in a smaller body. What the extra $320 buys is the dive certification, the 5,000-nit panel and the 60 hours.