Is there a wrist watch with a lap timer that works for swimming laps?
Is anybody using one successfully?
Which brand and model is it?
Do you hold the watch face down while pushing the lap button, or take any other steps to prevent water entry?
Casio and Timex both make wrist watch lap timers. Timex even sells theirs under the brand name IRONMAN Triathlon. What their advertising and marketing literature typically doesn't tell you, but a call to either companies customer service will reveal, is that they both strongly advise against pushing the lap timer button under water.
What is less clear is pushing the button immediately after a lap, with the watch held in air, but still wet. I could not get either company's customer service to say it was OK to push the lap button then; but they seemed less adamant that that wouldn't work.
Speedo did have a watch that had waterproof buttons and the ability to just push the face of the watch which would record a lap. Mine seemed to work well until the strap broke, and it was not replaceable.
After that, I switched to the Finis Swimsense, which gave much better info and is made for underwater button pushing; better than that, it can sense each lap and give you information about each length, interval, set, etc. However, it too has a non-replaceable band, and the band started to break down after a year/1.5 years.
I now use the Garmin 910XT, which works for both pool workouts and open water workouts/events, as well as other outdoor exercise like running, biking, skiing, etc. It gives lots of good info and is relatively easy to use. It has a replaceable band. But it's pricey as it includes GPS. If you just want pool workouts, the Garmin Swim seems likes a good bet.
I got all three watches from SwimOutlet, the Speedo and the Finis were in the "watch" section while the Garmin was in the "GPS" area. The Finis is also available from Finis and the Garmin is pretty widely available on the market (with and without a heart rate monitor, which I didn't get).
Speedo did have a watch that had waterproof buttons and the ability to just push the face of the watch which would record a lap. Mine seemed to work well until the strap broke, and it was not replaceable.
After that, I switched to the Finis Swimsense, which gave much better info and is made for underwater button pushing; better than that, it can sense each lap and give you information about each length, interval, set, etc. However, it too has a non-replaceable band, and the band started to break down after a year/1.5 years.
I now use the Garmin 910XT, which works for both pool workouts and open water workouts/events, as well as other outdoor exercise like running, biking, skiing, etc. It gives lots of good info and is relatively easy to use. It has a replaceable band. But it's pricey as it includes GPS. If you just want pool workouts, the Garmin Swim seems likes a good bet.
I got all three watches from SwimOutlet, the Speedo and the Finis were in the "watch" section while the Garmin was in the "GPS" area. The Finis is also available from Finis and the Garmin is pretty widely available on the market (with and without a heart rate monitor, which I didn't get).
