Has anyone else used a GPS for Open Water swimming?
I got a ADEO audio GPS and was able to use this to get some good results on our practice swim in this past spring. Here is a link from our team's website www.cmym.us/.../index.cfm. This is a nice GPS for swimmers in that it is audio only and I was able to find a case that fit on my google straps. The real problem with the product is that most of the prompts are for runners so the pace is in miles/hour and not meters/sec or yard/sec. I used this GPS for more a post swim analysis of our swims, as we swim in a groups and wait for the slower members at some marked locations.
This GPS was also nice for skiing where I usually listen to my MP3 player I just routed the cord to the GPS and then my headphones and had a back seat driver all day.
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Surfergirl:
I don't believe the issue is so much "waterproof" as it is distortion of the signal.
When I first got my Garmin Forerunner 305 I wore it on my wrist for a couple of swims and the courses it plotted made it look as though I were swimming in drunken circles. That's because everytime I put my wrist under the water it distorted the GPS signal. (In neither of the 2 swims was "waterproof" an issue.)
Then I began tucking it up between my two swim caps (I don't put it in a plastic bag or anything - just layer it between the two caps) and have since gotten excellent lines. It's a little tricky at first locating the start/stop button through your swim cap and, of course, if you have mean dispirited friends as I do they'll tease you about looking like a Conehead with GPS bulging underneath your cap but then, hey, what are friends for?
Yes. the new-ish 310X is waterproof, but you still won't get an accurate signal as it loses signal underwater. I've seen a chart of a Hermosa pier to pier swim from a 310 on the wrist, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't terribly accurate.
The manufacturer does not recommend (or warrant) swimming with the 305. But people do.
As for 205/305, etc. yes, the 305/310 adds heart rate, so is a better option if you do run and/or cycle. It's basically an all around computer
ETA as an underwater photographer who has put lots of cameras into waterproof boxes, I can't imagine swimming with my iphone (or droid, to be exact) in a zip loc or two. ballsy :)
Surfergirl:
I don't believe the issue is so much "waterproof" as it is distortion of the signal.
When I first got my Garmin Forerunner 305 I wore it on my wrist for a couple of swims and the courses it plotted made it look as though I were swimming in drunken circles. That's because everytime I put my wrist under the water it distorted the GPS signal. (In neither of the 2 swims was "waterproof" an issue.)
Then I began tucking it up between my two swim caps (I don't put it in a plastic bag or anything - just layer it between the two caps) and have since gotten excellent lines. It's a little tricky at first locating the start/stop button through your swim cap and, of course, if you have mean dispirited friends as I do they'll tease you about looking like a Conehead with GPS bulging underneath your cap but then, hey, what are friends for?
Yes. the new-ish 310X is waterproof, but you still won't get an accurate signal as it loses signal underwater. I've seen a chart of a Hermosa pier to pier swim from a 310 on the wrist, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't terribly accurate.
The manufacturer does not recommend (or warrant) swimming with the 305. But people do.
As for 205/305, etc. yes, the 305/310 adds heart rate, so is a better option if you do run and/or cycle. It's basically an all around computer
ETA as an underwater photographer who has put lots of cameras into waterproof boxes, I can't imagine swimming with my iphone (or droid, to be exact) in a zip loc or two. ballsy :)
