Add an open water swim exercise tracking-Ionic

[MarcUganda]

The swim tracking is nice with the ionic when swimming in a pool.

however, when swimming open water, we still have to specify in the parameters the length of the pool (100 meters being the max)... and if you swim 1km straight without turning, it just tells you "1 length" and does not give you any distance!

it would be nice to have an open water option to track at minimum time and distance swam.

I tried to swim with the run option or the bike option... which could give at leat this minimum distance and time... but the water or the swimming moves must trouble the modes, because quite often, it pauses while swimming when you don't want it to pause!

Am I missing something ?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Baltoscott]

@MarcUganda -- the Ionic is not designed to track distance for open-water swims.  There are some trackers on the market that can do it, but accuracy can be a problem because GPS doesn't work well with the tracker constantly going underwater.  

Since you've already discovered that the running/biking activities won't work for tracking distance in open water, try doing a generic "Workout" activity instead.  That at least will let you mark the time period, and you can change it to swimming on your computer later.

Hope that helps.

[bbarrera]

From DCRainmaker reviews, Garmin and Suunto triathlon watches (plus Apple Watch) are pretty good at GPS tracking open water swims.

[MarcUganda]

Thanks for your feedback, appreciated.

disappointing that we can't get the distance, but I had forgotten that GPS
don't work underwater, so I do understand the technical challenge!

So the solution could be a mounting kit to keep the watch above water while
swimming freestyle!... on the top of the head maybe ? not too convenient, I
admit... but the GPS is troubled but does not give zero data while on the
wrist, so I guess it could become reliable if kept at the surface...(maybe
a future evolution!)

[bbarrera]

while its a challenge, other GPS watches are capable of tracking open water swim (ows).

Until Fitbit supports ows, you could try putting Ionic in swim cap so that it spends more time above water. Just be sure and place it so that when swimming it is pointed toward the sky, near the back of your head.

[MarcUganda]

Noted, thanks again for your inputs.

Looking fwd to the OWS support then because the cap solution is not the
most convenient / comfortable one!...:=))

[bbarrera]

@MarcUganda also, you probably will need to track as Biking because Ionic does not have a generic GPS exercise mode, and hiking/running/walking will expect to see steps.

Give it a try and report back!

[Wobbegong64]

I have swum (open water) twice with my Ionic so far.

First time it auto-detected the swim activity and reported credible time / distance / heart-rate,

  without providing a GPS map. And did not sync to Strava.

Second time I manually started a Swim activity and the numbers had no relation to reality.

   (Of course "Time" was from when I hit start to when I hit stop, after working out that touch screen was disabled and had to stop by the buttons.)

So my recommendation is to just accept the auto-detect.

But as per other respondents, if this is your primary purpose then you've bought the wrong device.

[Binstah]

Have you thought about OWS towing a Drybag? Maybe something worth exploring as it just floats on the surface behind you so less of a hindrance whilst swimming.

Looking forward to advancement in updates to track effective OWS even if it means double dry bagging my mobile for GPS usage.

Cheers

[Duke552]

Maybe a software update soon?

[Danihopkins]

For some reason mine doesn’t auto track, even though it should, how did you make sure it was turned on?

[Wobbegong64]

Well, here is the setting that seems relevant to me...
In the smart phone app, tap on your weekly exercise goal, to go into
'Exercise' page. Tap on the Settings icon.
You should see 'Auto Recognised Exercises' and for Swimming you should see
a time limit. It should record a swimming activity for you if the activity
lasts longer than that time limit. Shorter activities get discarded.

If you were to stop for a significant break mid-swim, I guess it may break
it up and call it two short swims, but for me treading water for 2-3
minutes doesn't cause such break down.

Good luck!

[kwaasen]

But mine refuses to use the auto tracking ..  I am not a long distance swimmer. So even with the 10 minutes setting  it doesn't recognise close to 15 min as swimming. .  🙄 

[emmakw]

Hi there

I tried this and had more success with bike mode but the ionic is still not recording my entire swim. On Strava I can see I've done three laps but it's not recording me as moving as so doesn't credit me with the full distance. It's so infuriating!! Did you manage to find a solution? Fitbit just told me to set it to swim....I did that and got a grand total of 353m - when I actually swam 3000!! 

[emmakw]

Hi there

I should say I've used the ionic in a dry bag tow float in walk/run/bike exercise mode. The GPS tracks me but the Fitbit doesn't record me as moving the entire time even though I turned off auto pause. So stupid!!

Did anyone manage to find a solution?

[Binstah]

Not found a complete solution, had limited success in double dry bagging my phone in a tow float and tracking a walk. Ultimately gave up and just tracked time in the water. I really wanted to have a record of my 10k open water swim but no joy.

Get Outlook for iOS

[Wobbegong64]

It seems like the real solution is, if you're an open water swimmer, then give up on Fitbit and get a Garmin or Suunto

[OsamaB]

I swam today for 1 km in open water, the app shows that I swam only 225 meters! 

No chance to say gps not working inside water. Because gaming does, is it difficult to open the tracker manually. I am so upset and I want to sell the watch

[Paulnewton]

I put fitbit in.tow buoy and set it to a run mode...tracks time, speed and gps data perfectly....in app map its obviously not a run as its slow and the land is water.......it works for me

[EdsonFitbit]

Hello everybody, thank you for visiting the Fitbit Community.

Currently, there is a voluntary Safety Recall of Fitbit Ionic Smartwatches.

For more information, please visit this thread.

I am going to close this thread because it is too old, but if there is anything else we can help you with, please don't hesitate to start a new topic.

Have a nice day.