I vastly prefer the Apple Watch Ultra over non ultra… too much charging anxiety with the smaller batteries. I’d rather have an Ultra v1 used with excellent battery health over a new SE/10. I personally hated having to think about charging and how I was going to use the watch the rest of the day starting every day by afternoon.
I used to use Garmin watches and would probably stick with them if that were my primary workout device, but I almost exclusive cycle and always use a Garmin bike computer, so prefer the Apple Watch for general smart watch use and occasional run and doing various workouts (gym bike, run) when traveling w/o bike. But if I had reason to “optimize” the watch for fitness (endurance events, more running, long hikes, etc.) or hated charging I’d go Garmin.