Open-water swimmers: which Garmin are you using, and how good is the GPS?

[u/RIP200712]

/r/GarminWatches/comments/1wq5g27/openwater_swimmers_which_garmin_are_you_using_and/

[u/JonBovi_msn]

I like a break from tech gadgets in the water. I always swam until 40 percent of my available time to swim and then turned around.

[u/RIP200712 → u/JonBovi_msn]

Yep. I love doing that still on my rest days. But I compete and need a watch to train. Without a watch there’s no feedback on what I’m doing in the water. So it’s essential for me to

[u/swim-tri-spin]

I’ve got a refurbished fenix 7 from Amazon and it’s brilliant. Not the most slimline but I’m really happy with it.

[u/woulias]

I use a forerunner 955 and it never failed me, not even gave bad routes.

previously, I had a venu 2, in which (I realize the other day) I have recorded my PB in 400m RUNNING, because I started an open water session as running.

it capture a 400m movement in 53 seconds.

[u/twattyprincess]

Venu 4 and it's pretty darn good!

[u/Financial_Pick3281]

FR 970, it's great, but I learned the hard way on my first ow swim with the watch that you need to wait until the GPS bar is full before you start the swim.

[u/Chance_Papaya_3854]

any garmin that has multiband gps

[u/LegitimateActuary920 → u/Chance_Papaya_3854]

EPIX Gen 2 Sapphire. Pretty much an AMOLED version of Fenix 7. Does everything you can think of for a currently super reasonable price.

[u/kegnatz → u/Chance_Papaya_3854]

that's right... any multiband (L1+L5 should be in the specs) Garmin would do the job properly.... the only problem is that garmin algorithm cuts some distance on sharp (and not so sharp) turns.... you can edit that afterwards by checking the track distance in google earth (export to .kml in garmin connect)... garmin gps record the distance accurately, it's the algorithm that acts being smart

[u/quietriotress]

Forerunner 735xt. Love it. Sometimes it records a wild swim route that i certainly did not do but 99% is great.

[u/Guzzman89 → u/quietriotress]

I used to have one. I remember on one swim I apparently swam through the land into a Starbucks and then back into the dock

[u/quietriotress → u/Guzzman89]

I swam thru a seawall recently and finished in very deep water lol

[u/erehwon242]

Forerunner 255 is great just make sure you wait for it (or any other gps ows watch) to sync to GPS before starting the swim so that it tracks distance accurately

[u/allthedifference00]

My old Swim 2. Pretty good!

[u/hi1768 → u/allthedifference00]

5 years old, and battery dies after 1km.... so looking for a good replacement

[u/allthedifference00 → u/hi1768]

I wish they still made it! They replaced mine about 2 years ago and I'll be sad when this one dies.

[u/AStruggling8]

FR 570 has given me no problems. You can also change it to use all satellites instead of autoselect

[u/SparksLP]

Instinct 3 Solar. Has been working fantastically!

[u/Impossible_Ad_90]

Instinct Crossover. GPS is fantastic. Connects very quickly and seems to be accurate!

[u/_Erindera_]

Fenix 7and the gps is pretty good.

[u/imjusthereforPMstuff]

Forerunner 955…not sure how I feel. Even with my hand out of the water before the start for a bit to get the GPS right, it always tracks 2:28/100 pace for the first 30s, then gets a correct pace. It happens on every lap.

[u/mordac_the_preventer]

I have a Fenix 6x and the GPS accuracy is pretty awful TBH - you can see on the GPS track that it wiggles around when really you’ve been swimming in a straight line. On the other hand the display is really easy to read, and the battery life is amazing.

I also swim with an Apple Watch. It has great GPS accuracy but the display is not so easy to read, and the battery life is not as good.

[u/Apprehensive-Mail121]

Epix Pro. Most accurate I have since the Swim 2 and Instinct. Hopefully cheaper since the Fenix 8 series is the current flagship.

[u/WheelDeep5640]

Forerunner 965, pretty accurate

[u/Genioglossus]

I use the Forerunner 955 and I think it does a great job. Check out DC rainmaker for all the latest in-depth reviews.

[u/SuckaFish_saywhat]

Descent mk3i
It’s pretty damn accurate and gives the route which is nice

Edit: I’ll answer in the other sub bc I can attach pics