I have worn the Watch with the Alpine loop for a few days, and thankfully the experience was better than I expected. I find it a bit difficult to put on and off, not because of the hook but there is little stretch to the fabric, so there is not much clearance over my hand. I am interested to see how the altimeter measures up (no pun intended) as you mentioned in another thread; it will be nice if the altimeter can be periodically re-calibrated with GPS and map data.
So far, the battery life of the Ultra 2 has been pretty unreal (for an Apple Watch). My Watch is not on a cellular plan, and the battery is draining at a rate of ~25% a day. Granted, I have not had hours of workout during those days, but still it is surreal that an Apple Watch can finally last more than a day without charging.