Garmin - Swim 2

Garmin swim 2 does your 4 requirements, with the caveat that IMO the rest detection is more trouble then it's worth. That's not a swim 2 specific issue, that's an every watch I've tried issue. In my experience it's always more accurate to not use auto-rest, and I would advise you to think about whether you actually want that as a hard requirement.

Garmin for last 8 years or so. Went from Swim to Swim2 to FR265. IMO Garmin has the most complete functionality of anything out there. I would recommend the FR165/FR265 models as they are the newer more modern releases that have the full swim functionality (with the 165 missing a few things like open water and HRM support).

Garmin for last 8 years or so. Went from Swim to Swim2 to FR265. IMO Garmin has the most complete functionality of anything out there. I would recommend the FR165/FR265 models as they are the newer more modern releases that have the full swim functionality (with the 165 missing a few things like open water and HRM support).

I have used a Vivoactive 3, Venu, Venu 2s, and Venu 3s for swimming and other activities. If your focus is on swimming, and the other activities aren't as prominent, why not try the Swim 2? https://www.garmin.com/en-CA/p/665374/pn/010-02247-00

I wouldn’t do that. Having used both Apple and Garmin products for swimming, I’d urge you to go for the Garmin. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the Apple, it’s just that the Garmin is better and the battery life is a godsend by comparison

I wouldn’t do that. Having used both Apple and Garmin products for swimming, I’d urge you to go for the Garmin. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the Apple, it’s just that the Garmin is better and the battery life is a godsend by comparison

Samsung Galaxy Fit 3 is an affordable and basic option. It counts laps fine (not including kick sets), detects stroke and gives you an overall time. It also has some smartphone features such as displaying messages from your phone. That's the extent of how I use mine. A key negative for me is that it adds rest time to lap time, resulting in inaccurate peace data. ETA I tried a Garmin Swim 2 a couple of times and just couldn't get used to it, especially for drills, and I personally think it's overpriced for what it offers, YMMV.

My Swim 2 is pretty accurate here. I use the option GPS+ GLONASS in my first ow races/workouts and it gets the distance fairly well, comparing with my pairs’ watches. It even catches the moments where I got on my swim buoy to clean my goggles’ fog hahahahaha

I use a garmin Forerunner 965, and it does the job with no real complaints. Like most watches, it misses the odd length every now and again, but ultimately, it's pretty good. The only thing I think the apple watches might do better than the garmins is they automatically count kick set where on garmin watchs you have to manually input the data. I have also had a garmin swim2, which is fine but very basic.

I pretty much use it to track everything. Where as the swim 2 from memory you can track swimming and running and nothing else l.

I use Garmin Swim 2 and it's been great. Pretty accurate for lap swimming!

You could use Google Earth to check the straight-line distance from the beach to the dam. If your track wasn't straight, the Garmin will show a greater distance. I also find that my Garmin Swim 2 is more accurate if I always pause the tracking if I happen to stop in the water and keep the watch above the water if I'm stopped so the GPS signal isn't lost.

I picked up the Garmin swim 2 after reading lots of reviews last Monday. I’m really liking it the app that goes with it that you install on your phone is so detailed and has lots of information. The watch is very easy to use. Has fun little features like beating previous times. For 100-400-800 + meters that’s fun trying to beat my previous best times. Unlike other watches. This is just a fitness watch. It doesn’t have a touch screen. You can have phone message alerts set up. But you can’t reply ect. So that’s worth thinking about if you want Apple Watch type features.

First time I took it out as it had just arrived as I was heading out the door to my swim so I just put it on and went through the basic set up. I hadn’t installed the app on the phone. And it had a bit of a mare said I did 3000 meters in 20 minutes…I wish. I was thinking this is kind of crap. When I got home I installed the app and it updated my software and calibrated some things. Next day and ever since it has been spot on mate.

I will say that I had an older Series 6 and it was fine in the water for about 2 months swimming 3-4 times a week. Then it literally fell apart mid-swim. Face detached and battery fried. I ended up getting a swim 2 to replace and I’ve been happy with it, but will likely upgrade to a FR 265 when this dies. I’m sure a newer model AW would probably do fine, but I didn’t want to spend that much to test that theory. So yes there are some of us out here that would be hesitant to recommend an AW, but you also may not have any issues at all. I think the older the watch, you’ll already have some degradation of the seal, so likely why mine just fell apart after a couple months in the pool.

Same. I was so hesitant to get it at first as I was used to an AW but when my AW died in the pool I was scared to spend money on a new one. The Swim 2 was cheap enough that if it failed at least I wasn’t out $600+. I really like it overall.

I've been hearing good things about Phlex (not a watch) but supposedly better. I use the Garmin Swim 2 for pool swimming. I like it because of the auto rest, so I can do a whole work out without messing with it every lap. It also has a pacing function so distance swims, if you have a consistent pace, it can help keep you on target.

I love my garmin swim 2… lower profile makes it more comfortable in the water

I use the Garmin Swim 2 in OWS races and it’s pretty spot on

I use the Garmin Swim 2. It keeps track of laps and outdoor swimming. I use it mainly to count laps and time my swims but it gives you a lot of other info as well. I think it was around $200 about 2-3 years ago. It has held up well. No problems.

I have a new Swim 2. I am unable to save my swimming activity. It’s an endless loop of save or discard. None of the buttons will save, but they sure will discard! I’m sure this is operator error, can someone help me?

Garmin swim 2

It’s a good, durable watch that tracks what a swimmer needs. I’ve had mine for over 2 years and it has been a rock with great battery life and barely has a scratch after enduring 6x swims per week. That includes a few incidents of accidentally smacking it on lane ropes and walls. It has kept on ticking. Don’t expect a slick user interface or ‘smart watch’ touch screen features like Apple. It’s very basic with push buttons to navigate menus and features. Swim 2 is great at counting laps, counting strokes (for 1-arm), tracking pace, keeping interval time, detecting stroke style, and monitoring heart rate. However, you might find occasional workout errors - it will sometimes miss or add a lap if your turn is strange or you switch strokes mid-length. For daily stats, it’ll give you average active/resting heart rate, calorie burn estimates, sleep stats (if you wear it to bed), intensity minutes, step count, and stress levels. As a bonus it will let you log basic running and biking activities as well. The Garmin Connect phone app is solid and good for reviewing your workouts and daily stats.

I use the Garmin swim 2, and from my experience it measures distance correctly. There are certain situations where it will make an error, if you switch strokes in the middle of a length it may count it as 2 lengths. If you are swimming and bump into another swimmer and pause for a moment and then continue swimming, it may count that as 2 lengths. If my coaches work outs have sets where we switch mid length I just switch to drill mode and log the lengths manually, no solution that I'm aware of for the other issue.

I'm not sure about temperatures in the Adriatic, but Swim 2 does not work in very cold water- it shuts off. I'm talking about 32-55 F.

Garmin swim 2 is great for swimming. I like all the swim focused options it has as well as the price I got it for.

Garmin swim 2 is the best watch for swimmers period

The best is the swim2 ! Not other garmin have the features for swimmers like that one, CSS test ,open sea water, pace and body battery

Not all swim2 features are in the newest Garmin and you can push the training plan from my swim pro to Garmin and have all the stats in the app

The Garmin swim 2 should differentiate between strokes. The FR745 does overall, somehow it sometimes mixes up backstroke and breaststroke, but very occasionally - might be due to my technique.  When necessary, I edit the activity with https://www.swimmingwatchtools.com/upload

I really like my Garmin Swim 2

My exact experience with a swim 2 and instinct 2

Garmin will track your laps (while swimming any style). But if doing drills (FS kicking, one hand FS, BF kick...), you'll have to manually start/end each drill during your current Garmin poolswim session. With an Apple Watch it will track almost every lap, despite doing drills. So depends on what you'll do in the pool. Cheaper versions like a Fitbit , will track your laps no problem. You don't need to go to he GPS smart bands/watches just for swimming.

Garmin will track your laps (while swimming any style). But if doing drills (FS kicking, one hand FS, BF kick...), you'll have to manually start/end each drill during your current Garmin poolswim session. With an Apple Watch it will track almost every lap, despite doing drills. So depends on what you'll do in the pool. Cheaper versions like a Fitbit , will track your laps no problem. You don't need to go to he GPS smart bands/watches just for swimming.

Does anyone of these can differentiate the backstroke and breaststroke? I have the garmin swim 2 and it can not

I second this recommendation. Been swimming open water with it, and the GPS tracking is quite decent. Plus, it's less expensive than the other Garmin watches

If you don’t want any smart watch capabilities then you could look at a Swimovate Pool Mate 2. Literally just counts laps or meters/ft. Has an open water setting but it’s not gps so not very accurate and you have to calibrate it. But for laps it’s fine. I had one for a few years before I got a Garmin swim 2 for open water swimming. The pool mate uses a watch battery like a regular waterproof watch, as opposed to chargeable smart watches.

Fortunately, Garmin Swim 2 & Forerunner 165 (two watch models that happen to be one of the more affordable Garmin) could track swimming drills that involve no arm movements or single (non watch) arm. Perhaps the obsession to track every single workout could be unhealthy, but it's up to each individual to decide. I personally wear fitness tracker to keep record of my swimming session & how I did compared to previous one. I'm a recreational swimmer, and I would like to improve through any means possible (drills, intervals, etc). Wearing a tracker allows me to gauge that metric.

I use Garmin Swim 2 for a couple of months and don’t have any complaints really.

I love my Swim 2. It’s super accurate when swimming open water and was so much cheaper than other Garmin models. Granted, it’s pretty bare-bones, but perfect if you just want to track your workouts. This was my third summer using it, and I’ve never had a single issue with it.

Yeah - I'm just a little gun shy to spend another $300 on a smartwatch just to have a similar result. This will be my third watch in just over three years, with my two previous being the Fitbit Sense and then the Sense 2. Hence why I'm moving away from Fitbit. I think the "Swim 2" might work well, but I'm just so nervous after two previous misses. Really hope someone has some experience to share. My online sleuthing has turned up some issues but most seem related to swim laps and such, so not a problem for me, but I still wonder if the more jarring motions of the arms under water (underwater running, or punching motions) are just too much for these smartwatches... swim strokes tend to be more smooth much less herky-jerky. I'd like to believe you should be able to get three to five years out of these watches, something better than 18 months anyway.

Got the swim

It's ok, seems better for water but the UI and software aren't great. It's clearly a case of function over form... though, in truth, I miss the form as an everyday wearable. Sensors work well though. If you just want a good watch for exercise and swimming you should be happy. Want to use it every day, use alarm, have nice dial options and just generally nice UI, well it's not the best. Passable though. I don't regret it and can't afford to replace a Fitbit every year, so longevity will be the kicker, fingers crossed.

I just track cardio. Not ideal but serves my needs.

I have a smart watch, Garmin Swim 2. You are, of course, welcome to buy a similar smart watch, too. The issue is whether its limitations are a problem for you. The main limitation of all smart watches is that, during open water swimming, they don't properly track anything other than front crawl. This is a problem if there are waves that force you to use breaststroke. Another problem is that, after buying the watch, you risk swimming only for the watch and not for yourself. I still use the watch, but my levels of satisfaction became higher when I started adding a few minutes at the end of each swim "not for the watch".

I’ve used a Garmin Fenix, Garmin Swim 2, and Apple Watch for swimming and by far the garmins were superior. My Apple Watch would die after about half an hour in open water, regardless of water temp, and was always inaccurate with my laps and interval times in the pool. The swim 2 and fenix work much better.

GPS tracking is off by 3-10 meters. You can't really use gps tracking in a pool. A Garmin GPS watch tracks pool swimming using the accelerometer and not the GPS. I don't think you can do what you want to do.  https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/206645830-Swim-Activities-on-Strava

You can use a Fitbit, Apple watch, or Garmin to track your laps and have that data sent to Strava. With Garmin, for example, I tell it how long the pool is and then it counts how many laps and what distance I swam. The app, Garmin Connect, will interface with any other fitness app and send data.

AW left hand, Garmin right hand btw

Same for me man, always lose count after a few laps when I get lost in my thoughts while swimming. I prefer Apple Watches as they are more comfortable to use but my god, the Ultra is a UNIT and definitely not comfortable to wear. Using the Swim 2 is horror as it doesn't have a touchscreen and you always have to sync for a minute with your phone to see your activities. If money isn't an issue, I'd go for the best Apple Watch with the best strap.

Garmin Swim 2 isn't too expensive and works fairly well.

Not if you also have to go buy an iPhone then it's not cheaper. The swim 2 is pretty darn good for swimming and it's not crazy expensive.

Yep, Garmin Swim 2. It doesn’t seem popular but it’s cheap enough and does a great job of tracking my swim. Misses 1 in 10 or 20 lengths

Swim 2 has outdated tech and can't work with even myswimpro training plans. Almost Every garmin now has those features. Swim 2 is old.

It depends. For just doing laps and perhaps some rest in between you can use the buttons and the vibration feedback. Screen turns dark when in rest, light when active. (Set pool size beforehand). However if you want to add drills, you would have to do some menuing. It's also possible to edit your activity afterwards in the app, say if you want to add some drills, but you would have to remember them.

I've tried Garmin Swim 2, Instinct Solar 2 and Huawei Fit 3 recently. The best results from the Garmins I found has been the Instinct, the Swim 2 did count extra laps here and there....it might have just been my swimming style. The Huawei has great data through their health app and was counting laps perfectly until I tried backstroke, it would not log those laps at all. All of these watches have not coped with identifying backstroke very well actually, it seems to be a tricky one for devices to catch properly. If backstroke not required I would say the Fit 3 wins on price as is around $100

I have garmin swim 2. Overall I am happy with it. It saves me from having to count the laps. Some issues exist. Sometimes, it can miscount. This happens on long intervals when my form gets bad. Also, it can sometimes mis interpret what stroke I am doing.m, again probably due to my bad technique

I am very happy with my Garmin Swim 2 - both for pool and open water swimming. Not sure what the price would be where you are, but it is fairly old, so hopefully fairly cheap. It also has great gps tracking, so it can be used for your runs . It doesn't require a smartphone nearby. Keep in mind it doesn't do much else other than tracking your swimming, running and cycling activities. Good luck!

Curious how you are tracking the water aerobic workouts on your Swim 2. I just got one and I tried building a workout as a "pool swim" and one as "custom workout". Going to try the pool swim tonight.

I have a Garmin Swim 2, it's really good at tracking swimming, even open water swimming. I also use it for cycling running and spin class, although it doesn't track distance on the spin bike. I got mine second hand and for the price it's everything I need :)

I’ve got and recommend the Garmin Swim 2 as well. It does a good job of differentiating strokes.

Garmin Swim 2 watch chiming in here. Tracks open-water and pool swimming (I'm almost exclusively open-water). No complaints except for the occasional telemetry error, where the satellite has me making a sharp triangle around my actual path, but that's only happened twice in a few years.

garmin swim 2 is great if you want full swim tracking. if you just need something simple and cheap, check out the casio w800h or skmei sports watch, both waterproof and budget-friendly.

Been using swim2 for about 4 yr. Great device for swimming.

I use it for open water and it's been really good - even tracking me swimming short laps back and forwards across a remote bay with surprising accuracy.

I use a Garmin Swim 2. Works pretty well

You could have your Garmin set up for a wrong wrist. Worth checking.

Swim functions of Fenix 8 seem to be more of less the same as most somewhat more recent models, even with Swim 2 (honestly, it is fine for swimming. I swam with it for sure a while, but other functions are somewhat lacking). Fenix 8 supports diving but unless you dive, or otherwise do activities not supported by somewhat older models, I am not sure if it would be worth the extra money compared to older models because the swim functions seem to be essentially the same as the likes of Epix or earlier Fenix, more recent swim-compatible Forerunner etc. You should be able to pick up previous models somewhat cheaply, whereas Fenix 8 is quite expensive. I would have bought Fenix 8 if it was much better at swim tracking but it's not, so I did not spend the money to upgrade from Epix Gen 2 (which is annoyingly less accurate compared to Finnis goggles and Apple Watch but I digress)

As an user of Apple Watch Ultra AND Garmin (VA4 followed by Swim 2 and now Epix 2), and previously even Samsung Watch Pro, I agree with all of this. I still use my AWU for swim timing because it is more accurate than Epix 2 but AWU had a lot of displays missing even if the data is there (like swim rest timer). Even Samsung Watch Pro has auto pause for walking. Sleep tracking: I think AWU is more accurate personally, but also has its flaws.

I use Garmin Swim 2 for my pool and open water swims. Pool 25m and 50m, you need to change the pool type each time and I can set it to buzz me every 4 laps 100m in 25m and 200m in 50m. Also I set it to buzz my pace as I swim long distances, 2km to 5km. Works perfectly as long as I keep swimming. Open water I set it to buzz me every 500m. And I get a GPS tracking map.

Not sure. I've always made sure the settings are correct before i swim. I guess the data will be off if you dont, your pace will be super fast if it's set for 50m in a 25m pool or super slow vice versa. it's easy to make the changes. Not heard of any watches having an auto pool size detection, because how would it know without GPS activated.

I swam for years using a $10 Timex. My wife finally got me a Garmin for Christmas. But I haven't really seen any swim watch that gives any really meaningful information since the lap count is always off by one or two, I can never use the splits as meaningful data. Just trend data I suppose. But better or worse, my pacing is always constant. So if your on minimum wage. A timex works great. You can use the alarm-set function as a lap counter. Just go to set an alarm then advance the minute on your setting each length. Most timex firmware gives you 60 seconds to timeout of the alarm-set function so as long as each length takes less than 60 seconds (and it should) then your fine. Some $20 timex have a counter function as well to make this simpler.

I have limited experience with both. Garmin (Swim) was not as good as AW for counting laps without flip turns. I killed an AW by swimming in a saltwater pool though.

My Garmin requires me to press the lap button to end the set and from what I can tell it does not break it down. I’m told I should swim without a watch but there’s no way I could keep count so I awkwardly reach for the button at the wall

It counts my distance but I don’t think it knows when I’m at the wall. But I have used the my swim pro workouts and when I do them it transfers to my watch and I think I had to stop it at the end but it would auto start at the end of the rest. You could ask at r/garmin they will know better

My Garmin records my freestyle as breaststroke, and I don't even know how to breaststroke.

The set up is correct (left wrist). I think it's because my stroke rate is too low. When I start flailing my arms, then it records as freestyle, but at 42spm it's a breaststroke or backstroke...

I love my Garmin Swim watch! https://www.garmin.com/en-CA/p/665374/

I got the Garmin Swim from like 8 years ago, and it’s really good for tallying laps at the pool. It’s best for those long straight sets when you don’t want to worry about counting laps. If you pause, just press the pause button on the watch, and it won’t accidentally try and count “laps” while you’re at the edge of the pool.

Like others have said, I've a Garmin and it seems to be tracking my swims quite well. I had two fitbits before (both stopped working) and they more often than not were wrong when it came to how far I had swam.

Those watches are basically just counting turns. Knowing the pool size is required. Garmin says, and that's my experience too, the acceleration caused by forcefully pushing of the wall is a major factor in detecting turns. As long as you keep pushing the wall every turn, the distance calculation is pretty accurate.

Well they also rely on the swimmer pushing off the wall, at least that's how my Garmin works.

People have to stop comparing these. These are for two different people. I would never wear an Apple Watch based on battery life alone. I specifically got the Garmin for a wrist based gps and mapping tool to track and orient myself. You buy an Apple Watch to use smart features and be connected to your phone. Garmin has never been in that market. It’s a whole company based on gps systems for outdoor activities . You buy an Apple Watch to have Apple ecosystem. you can’t use half the feature of the fenix on an iPhone bc they only want you to use their watch… Garmin are all specifically made for their audience even down the the model . Apple watches are just to keep you plugged into your phone and have no bearing on actual outdoor activities despite calling it ultra. The Millitary has been orienteering with Garmin wrist based gps systems forever. You’d never catch an Apple Watch on patrol in Afghanistan. 😂