swimming - measuring my distance

[Makka62a]

Sorry this is a bit off topic bu I am sure you lovely lot can help. I went swimming in a lake the other day as my friend does it regularly and I thought I’d give it a go. I really enjoyed it so I am going to go regularly (until it’s too cold!).

I love tracking my run distance with my watch and I’d like to do the same when I swim. I was thinking about buying something off eBay that could do the job but I have no idea of what watches could do this.

All the web research I do leads to new watches with lots of features I don’t need and cost hundreds

I simply want something to track my swimming distance - any ideas?

Thanks

[HeavyFoot Graduate10]

Taking a flier here: my Garmin doesn’t have a swimming feature, but I reckoned that if I set it to Walk it would track the distance covered swimming. Heaven knows how many steps it would register. For pool swimming I set it to Cardio.

[John_W Graduate10]

What watch do you have?

[Makka62a in reply to John_W]

Fitbit charge 2

[Cmoi Graduate10 in reply to Makka62a]

Hi Makka62a , since the Fitbit charge 2 doesn't have built-in GPS it will only be estimating your run distances unless you've connected it to GPS on your phone.

Sports watches from brands such as Garmin and Polar have built-in GPS, so they're both more expensive and more accurate. Some multisport models can be used for swimming.

For a cheap swimming-specific watch this might help: swimovate.com/

[Makka62a in reply to Cmoi]

Thanks - I very familiar with gps trackers and have a variety garmin devices but these days i mostly use my phone. The swimovate watch looks interesting- cheers

[John_W Graduate10]

I would consider buying a Garmin 35, 45 or 55- they are the cheaper models and will all have GPS that will enable you to measure your outdoor swim distances accurately. The 55 even has a Pool Swim function for indoor swimming.

[Makka62a in reply to John_W]

Thanks - I’ll check them out

[nowster Graduate10]

GPS doesn't work underwater, and most GPS watches won't work reliably for swimming. They can only possibly get a fix when your watch arm briefly breaks out of the water. Only the most expensive models claim to work for open water swimming.

[Makka62a in reply to nowster]

Thanks - that interesting and it hadn’t occurred to me.

[Rennur Graduate10]

Go on googlemaps to measure the distance you swim. Not perfect but it will give you a fair idea.

[Cowladyrunning Graduate10]

I have a polar ignite that I think was about £130 that you can swim with. I haven't tried it so can't advise but imagine it tracks distance and heart rate same as running. I got this brand because I was interested in heart rate training.

[Cowladyrunning Graduate10 in reply to Cowladyrunning]

I just checked and there is an option to set pool length in swim mode, it also has an interval timer and a countdown timer.... here is a link to the info support.polar.com/e_manuals...

[Makka62a in reply to Cowladyrunning]

Thanks 😀

[Makka62a]

Thanks for all the tips. I ended up buying a refurbished Garmin 735xt for £50 on eBay. It’s a triathlon watch that has an algorithm that deals with the loss of GPS as your arm goes underwater. I’ll see how I get along