Lap Counter

What do people who swim a lot more than I do want in a product like this? You are really talking about two different markets. One market probably consists mostly of triathletes, who might want to count laps and remember the total time for a certain number of laps. These people might want a lap counter. There are tons of watch-based lap counters out there already. Most require that you push a button at the end of every lap. The PoolMate counts laps (and more!) without that requirement. Here you are talking to mostly pool swimmers, who rarely swim any distance they can't easily count. (Personally, I have no need for a lap counter.) We are mostly used to using pace clocks for interval sets (e.g. 10 x 100 on 1:30, there are many variations on the theme). The two problems with most commercial pace clocks are (1) They are rather large, hard to move around, and so are not "personal", and (2) They are expensive. I have shopped extensively over the last two years, looking for a "personal" pace clock. The two that fit my needs most closely are the SportCount Chrono 100 (around $40) and the PacePal (around $140). As a committed cheapskate, I went for the finger-mounted Chrono 100, which I like very much, and has the added benefit of being able to time sprint 25's to 0.01 sec. I would like to have a PacePal, but as I said, I'm a cheapskate. The Finis clock at $200 and up is not in my price range.

What do people who swim a lot more than I do want in a product like this? You are really talking about two different markets. One market probably consists mostly of triathletes, who might want to count laps and remember the total time for a certain number of laps. These people might want a lap counter. There are tons of watch-based lap counters out there already. Most require that you push a button at the end of every lap. The PoolMate counts laps (and more!) without that requirement. Here you are talking to mostly pool swimmers, who rarely swim any distance they can't easily count. (Personally, I have no need for a lap counter.) We are mostly used to using pace clocks for interval sets (e.g. 10 x 100 on 1:30, there are many variations on the theme). The two problems with most commercial pace clocks are (1) They are rather large, hard to move around, and so are not "personal", and (2) They are expensive. I have shopped extensively over the last two years, looking for a "personal" pace clock. The two that fit my needs most closely are the SportCount Chrono 100 (around $40) and the PacePal (around $140). As a committed cheapskate, I went for the finger-mounted Chrono 100, which I like very much, and has the added benefit of being able to time sprint 25's to 0.01 sec. I would like to have a PacePal, but as I said, I'm a cheapskate. The Finis clock at $200 and up is not in my price range.