Does anyone have a recommendation (or a warning) to share about a swim watch? I'm looking for something to help me count distance and/or strokes. I'm thinking about the Garmin Swim. I have the Garmin Forerunner (for running) and am pretty happy with it.
Does anyone have a recommendation (or a warning) to share about a swim watch? I'm looking for something to help me count distance and/or strokes. I'm thinking about the Garmin Swim. I have the Garmin Forerunner (for running) and am pretty happy with it.Maybe I didn't think through what I actually wanted out of this watch, but I found the Garmin Swim to be nothing more than a glorified waterproof watch. You might be seeking different things, but here's what I found.
The stroke counting mechanism works fine enough for fly and ***, but not for free or back since it can only count strokes for one arm. So, if I was swimming free and had the watch on, the watch might read "5" at the end of a length, but that could mean I took 9, 10 or 11 single arm strokes. That data for free and back, therefore, is meaningless to me.
The lap counting mechanism works fine, but I don't ever do long straight swims where I would lose count and, if I did lose count, glancing at the pace clock while pushing off the wall is easier and less disruptive to my swim than trying to read the small watch face.
The "which stroke was I swimming" identification was suspect
The downloaded data (and I am a data geek) was less useful than my memory or, if I was going to do something complex, a pencil and an $11 diving slate by the side of the pool.
The one place it came in handy was on the odd times when I dropped into lap swim at a pool without a pace clock. But, then it really just turned into a small pace clock I wrapped around my water bottle.
Does anyone have a recommendation (or a warning) to share about a swim watch? I'm looking for something to help me count distance and/or strokes. I'm thinking about the Garmin Swim. I have the Garmin Forerunner (for running) and am pretty happy with it.Maybe I didn't think through what I actually wanted out of this watch, but I found the Garmin Swim to be nothing more than a glorified waterproof watch. You might be seeking different things, but here's what I found.
The stroke counting mechanism works fine enough for fly and ***, but not for free or back since it can only count strokes for one arm. So, if I was swimming free and had the watch on, the watch might read "5" at the end of a length, but that could mean I took 9, 10 or 11 single arm strokes. That data for free and back, therefore, is meaningless to me.
The lap counting mechanism works fine, but I don't ever do long straight swims where I would lose count and, if I did lose count, glancing at the pace clock while pushing off the wall is easier and less disruptive to my swim than trying to read the small watch face.
The "which stroke was I swimming" identification was suspect
The downloaded data (and I am a data geek) was less useful than my memory or, if I was going to do something complex, a pencil and an $11 diving slate by the side of the pool.
The one place it came in handy was on the odd times when I dropped into lap swim at a pool without a pace clock. But, then it really just turned into a small pace clock I wrapped around my water bottle.
