Anyone seen this watch in action? Apparently, it can count your strokes and your laps.
www.swimovate.com/poolmate.html
I searched the forums but didn't see any threads on this watch.
(No, I'm not a dealer and no I'm not getting kick-backs.)
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I ordered one, too, and have swum with it in 2 practices so far.
It seems to be pretty accurate at counting freestyle laps, for me, but less accurate for other strokes. It counted only half of my laps in an IM set, and very few of my laps in a breaststroke set today, but had no problem with my breaststroke laps in the previous workout.
It also switches out of lap-counting mode if I rest too long between sets. Granted, today was a taper workout and I had long rests. Maybe that will be less of a problem when I switch back to more normal practices.
Pressing the pause button to exempt the rests & kick sets is a problem for me, but that's user error. I forget to unpause it before starting the next set or rep. Maybe I'll get better at that.
The stroke counting seems good, both on freestyle and on non-free laps that it manages to detect. Since you wear it on only one hand at a time, of course, it only counts half of your freestyle strokes. So it can't tell the difference between a 12-stroke lap and a 13-stroke lap, for example. Also, I'm not sure whether it's counting my first (underwater breakout) stroke, in addition the the hand-entry strokes that I'd normally count.
I agree that the efficiency measure (swim golf) is cool, although it is best suited for long sets, or short rests, or someone who can reliably remember to hit the pause button between sets.
I ordered one, too, and have swum with it in 2 practices so far.
It seems to be pretty accurate at counting freestyle laps, for me, but less accurate for other strokes. It counted only half of my laps in an IM set, and very few of my laps in a breaststroke set today, but had no problem with my breaststroke laps in the previous workout.
It also switches out of lap-counting mode if I rest too long between sets. Granted, today was a taper workout and I had long rests. Maybe that will be less of a problem when I switch back to more normal practices.
Pressing the pause button to exempt the rests & kick sets is a problem for me, but that's user error. I forget to unpause it before starting the next set or rep. Maybe I'll get better at that.
The stroke counting seems good, both on freestyle and on non-free laps that it manages to detect. Since you wear it on only one hand at a time, of course, it only counts half of your freestyle strokes. So it can't tell the difference between a 12-stroke lap and a 13-stroke lap, for example. Also, I'm not sure whether it's counting my first (underwater breakout) stroke, in addition the the hand-entry strokes that I'd normally count.
I agree that the efficiency measure (swim golf) is cool, although it is best suited for long sets, or short rests, or someone who can reliably remember to hit the pause button between sets.
