Reviews / Open Water Swimming Watches
Wearable technology has been around for years and we commonly see trends and fads come and go but one piece of wearable technology that has stuck around is the smartwatch.
The wearing of sports watches has exploded in popularity over the years, and for good reason, especially in the swimming world.
While smartwatches are great for making calls, receiving text messages and paying for your groceries at the supermarket, swimmers mostly want them for one reason; to track swims.
With many different swim watches on the market, it can be hard to choose which one will suit you best. We have harnessed the power of the ocean swimming community to get real feedback on the watches being worn to see how they measure up.
There are a wide range of benefits to wearing a sports watch while swimming, here are our top five.
Sports watches with a GPS function can fairly accurately measure the distance you swim and often map out your exact course while ocean swimming to review later which can otherwise be hard to do without a sports watch.
Most sports watches provide statistics on many different measures, such as your heart rate, stroke rate and even oxygen levels on some watches. Stats are great for tracking how your training is progressing and how your fitness level improving.
Many sports watches are compatible with Strava, which is a great way to track not only your swims but also your other fitness ventures such as running. Once you finish your swim you can post it on Strava to compete with your friends as to who has completed the longest or fastest swim.
Sports watches don’t just track your swim sessions, you can also track your steps, sleep health, daily activity level, standing hours, nutrition and many more, which are all great things to monitor for your general health and wellbeing.
We all know that ocean swimmers love a good coffee and chat post swim. With some sports watches you can pay for your coffee right then and there from your watch, no need to worry about your wallet or phone getting nicked during the swim.
This guide has been developed from survey responses completed by open water swimmers who wear sports watches swimming. The feedback is not that of oceanswims.com and may not be reflective of the actual watch features and benefits. Visit the brand website for complete information about their watches.
Most worn watch: Garmin
Highest overall rating: Garmin
Most accurate: Garmin
Most durable: Garmin
Most secure: Garmin
Most comfortable: Garmin/Apple
Greatest value for money: Garmin
Disclaimer
Please take into account the sample sizes for individual brands as not all brands were similarly represented in survey results. We have chosen to display Garmin (s=203) and Apple (s=70) ratings and reviews in full, however, the remaining brands were not well represented, resulting in small sample sizes and we have chosen not to display the ratings.
As we get more responses to the survey we will periodically update the ratings and reviews. You can help by completing the survey.
Swimmers rated the Garmin watch, on average, 4.1 stars out of 5. It received its highest rating of 4.8 stars for how secure the watch feels with many respondents saying they can’t feel it and it doesn’t move when swimming. Its lowest rating was 3.9 stars for both the accuracy of the watch with many respondents saying it doesn’t track their swims properly and can either add or subtract distance by 10% during most swims. Many respondents love the large face and buttons, easy to use satellite maps and excellent and long lasting battery life. While some dislike the ability to not auto-pause when swimming, lack of identification of different strokes and inaccurate tracking of distances while swimming.
Swimmers rated the Apple Watch on average 3.9 stars out of 5. It received its highest rating of 4.6 stars for the comfortability of wearing the watch both during everyday wear and while swimming. Its lowest rating was 3.9 stars for both the accuracy of the watch and the value for money with some respondents noting that the Apple Watch can lack accuracy of swimming distance at times and is considerably high in price for what features you receive. Although, many respondents do love the GPS mapping feature, cellular service and Apple features that come with the Apple Watch but dislike the touch screen when wet, lack of heart rate while swimming and limited battery life.
The watches listed below had a low sample size and we have chosen not to display the individual ratings as they are not likely to be a true representation in comparison to the watches above.
*Discontinued model
Swimmers loved how comfortable the water was both in and out of the water. Although, they felt the value of the watch didn’t live up to its high price tag. Suunto watch users loved the accuracy of tracking when swimming, its excellent maps and long battery life. However, they didn’t like the original strap the watch came with, with some reporting it to be too heavy when in the water. They also commented that the watch has an inaccurate heart rate tracker when in the water and can sometimes have trouble connecting to the GPS.
Swimmers love how secure the watch feels and how comfortable the watch is to wear. Polar users felt the value for money of the watch was a little high. Polar watch users loved how accurate the heart rate tracking was, the long battery life and the ability to track multiple sports at once. Although, they felt the watch lacked GPS capability and the touch screen tends to lead to inaccurate tracking if not locked.
Coros users love how comfortable the watch is for swimming, although, they felt that the watch didn’t feel as secure as some other watches. Coros users love the long battery life and accurate underwater heart rate tracking but didn’t like that it had poor durability and a lack of drill function.
Swimmers rated Fitbit the lowest out of all watches reviewed. Fitbit users did like how secure the watch felt when swimming and during everyday life, however, the accuracy of the watch is said to be very poor and doesn’t track pool swimming or open water swimming well, causing users to give it a 3.2 stars for its accuracy.
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