Have been swimming in the ocean and walking (instead of swimming in the pool and weight training) since the Covid 19 crisis began so have been thinking of getting a watch that keeps track of both my distance swimming and distance walking. Seems like the Garmin Swim 2 watch is the best out there (not interested in Apple). Before I take the plunge I was hoping for some feedback from people who already use it.
I'll offer my experience with using a GPS watch for open water swimming. But, I will admit that I've never used a GPS watch with a swim function. The GPS watches I've used for open water swimming have always been running watches. First I used the Garmin Forerunner 10, and now use the Garmin Forerunner 25. They're both inexpensive, and basic providing pretty much only time, distance, and pace. When used for open water swimming, they don't really work well when worn on your wrist...they lose the GPS signal when you plunge your hand into the water, and then it may or may not regain the signal once your hand comes out of the water for your brief recovery. At best, when the watch is worn on the wrist for a swim, the resulting route will be all "zig zaggy" and the distance will be way off. I'm not sure how GPS watches with a swim function overcome that (probably use of "dead reckoning" but that's a different discussion). So, with my running GPS watch, at first I was strapping it to my head, under my cap, so that it would be on the crown of my head and never go under water. That worked pretty well. But, I couldn't really take a quick glance to see how far I had gone. But I could hear the 'beep' at each mile. Then, a couple years ago I began towing one of those inflatable safety buoys during open water swims. Now, I tie the watch so that it's on the top of the buoy and it works great, and is accurate. The only issue I've discovered is that I have to make sure "Auto Pause" is not turned on. If it is, swimming is so slow compared to running, or even walking, that the watch thinks you've stopped so it stops recording. Another issue is the calorie count. If you upload a recorded workout to Strava or MMR, a two-mile swim will say you only burned around 100 calories. I guess that's because it's a 'running watch' and it think you took an hour to run just two miles.
Dan
I'll offer my experience with using a GPS watch for open water swimming. But, I will admit that I've never used a GPS watch with a swim function. The GPS watches I've used for open water swimming have always been running watches. First I used the Garmin Forerunner 10, and now use the Garmin Forerunner 25. They're both inexpensive, and basic providing pretty much only time, distance, and pace. When used for open water swimming, they don't really work well when worn on your wrist...they lose the GPS signal when you plunge your hand into the water, and then it may or may not regain the signal once your hand comes out of the water for your brief recovery. At best, when the watch is worn on the wrist for a swim, the resulting route will be all "zig zaggy" and the distance will be way off. I'm not sure how GPS watches with a swim function overcome that (probably use of "dead reckoning" but that's a different discussion). So, with my running GPS watch, at first I was strapping it to my head, under my cap, so that it would be on the crown of my head and never go under water. That worked pretty well. But, I couldn't really take a quick glance to see how far I had gone. But I could hear the 'beep' at each mile. Then, a couple years ago I began towing one of those inflatable safety buoys during open water swims. Now, I tie the watch so that it's on the top of the buoy and it works great, and is accurate. The only issue I've discovered is that I have to make sure "Auto Pause" is not turned on. If it is, swimming is so slow compared to running, or even walking, that the watch thinks you've stopped so it stops recording. Another issue is the calorie count. If you upload a recorded workout to Strava or MMR, a two-mile swim will say you only burned around 100 calories. I guess that's because it's a 'running watch' and it think you took an hour to run just two miles.
Dan
