Can Charge 5 get heart rate readings while swimming?

[Laghers]

Charge 4 can't get heart rate readings while swimming because it is blocked

Does Charge 5 can get heart

[t.parker]

My opinion: very unlikely. Unfortunately, the manual mentions nothing about it so the customers will have to find out after purchase.

[SteadyAway]

Hi. Just finished a swim in my local pool with a Charge 5 the heart rate was recorded so if I look at my heart rate I can see readings during my swim with no gaps and they are the correct readings for the given effort. 

It auto detected the swim work out as well.

Hope that helps.

[Segi]

No it doesn’t on my Charge 5 and it’s a pity. I read the reason is related to the inaccuracy of the sensor in the water. 
Solution I found: I tight the bracelet one or two additional step to help the sensor being against my skin. I then start recording in “spinning” mode, swim my laps (unfortunately the watch doesn’t count them because I’m in spinning mode), after synchronization with the Fitbit app I edit the activity from spinning to swimming. The heart rate is still there but the laps do not appear by magic. 
If you swim outdoor I would recommend the same trick but using the “walk” or “run” mode. With the gps record you could somehow measure your distance/count the laps. 

All in all it’s a pity Fitbit decided not to record the heart rate during swimming. They should simply do it and warn about the low accuracy (but that would be better than nothing)

[SunsetRunner]

Similar to me but I use the workout option.