for my iPhone
That should tell you everything you need to know. If you use an iPhone, nothing even comes close to an Apple Watch regardless of your use case. Seriously. Everything just works so well together in the ecosystem.
The only real point of consideration is battery.
“But XYZ watch has three weeks of battery life.” I regularly train for and run marathons. That’s why I have an Ultra 2. For most people, the SE/mainline series is more than capable to get you through the day.
AWU2. I use mine indoor and outdoor rock climbing. No case or screen protector (it’s SAPPHIRE, for crying out loud). I’ve hit my wrist pretty hard multiple times on Squamish granite. I cannot find a single scratch on my screen under bright light and close inspection.
I’m sure the titanium casing will be the first to go, though. But I’ve seen pictures of the natural wear and tear on the Ultra’s titanium, and I think it actually looks significantly better than putting a whole circus tent on your wrist.
FWIW, back when I had a mainline series watch, I had one of those case and screen 2-in-1s. The transition has been very liberating.