Ionic Swimming

[Jimmacf]

I am having trouble getting my ionic to track my heart rate while swimming. So far 3 swims, only once has it tracked my heart rate.

Also counts laps correct but gets the distance out a little, it corrects this on the dashboard but not in thr iPhone App. 

I like fitbit products a lot so I am happy to work with the Ionic and figure the way to get the most out of it.

[bbarrera]

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wrote:
I don't know less, i know why it is inaccurate and why they turned it off.
Curious to know how you know it's actually accurate. 

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I believe the point he was making is that auto-tracking a swim gives better calorie estimates than swim mode. Neither calorie estimate is accurate.

[SunsetRunner]

That flew right over you

[Evonny]

Well I swam I. The lake and it recorded and tracked fine, but when I got in the 50 meter pool I realised it was only recording it at 25m. I did 6 laps of 50m and it said I swam 150m. It’s very annoying 

[SunsetRunner]

Maybe so, but that’s how it’s layed out. Everyone has to deal with it aswell. And to be honest, it’s not that annoying and unbearable to deal with. You just have to remember what setting you’re on really

[multiverse]

During my swim workouts, my HR remains pretty high the whole time.  It's well above 120 all the time, and usually well above 140.  (My max HR is in the 190's.)   The reason I know these heart rates are reasonably accurate is that I am in tune with the relationship between my level of exertion and instantaneous heart rate.  I can guess within 10 BPM what my HR is when near full exertion, regardless of the type of workout.

With the understanding that my HR doesn't dip below 120 (conservatively), if I explicitly track a swim workout, my average HR at the end shows as 105.  If I auto-track it, the average is above 140.  This fact is evident in the two different workout graphs I posted.  An average of 105 is mathematically impossible. 

The way FitBit has programmed swim mode leaves a lot to be desired.  All you have to do is wear your watch tight and the HR monitor works in the water.  They should let us choose whether we want to disable the HR monitor.  Do you like not having the choice?  North Korea has a job for you.

[MattyW]

Have you tried this? Use the cycling For an open water water swim and then convert the activity to a swim afterwards? Does this then keep recorded gps data? Does it keep  the possibly dodgy HR data? I haven't tried it, too cold in the sea here right now, but some were using a similar workaround for running because of the dodgy running app. 

[Lindywbl]

Crabby a bit?!  Maybe the person wanted gps to track an open water swim.  If that’s the case, you could kindly respond that it only tracks laps in a pool.  If it bothers you that they asked the same question, don’t respond.  

[SunsetRunner]

Judging by your response, you have not read all of the replies i've made.
If you had you would see that i did kindly say that it only tracked laps in
a pool. Despite this people didn't understand it so i had to explain. From
that point on people were still asking the exact same questions i had
answered in the reply before. If you don't find that annoying i don't think
your human. Over and over again i had to explain the same **ahem**, of not only
the open water thing, but also Heartrate stuff. I will tell you this, it's
hard to argue with a stupid person, and i had multiple on my **ahem** because i
told them the hard truth that the swimming tracks laps in a pool and your
movements, and is not using the gps at all. I told this multiple times in
various ways to make everyone understand that it didn't work like they
thought it did, and how Fitbit hasn't promised them anything in terms of
any open water app (like they thought). Because when you're setting up the
Fitbit, it asks what length the swimming pool you're gonna swim in is. And
apparently that's not common sense. So next time, dont come at me thinking
you know everything. Try and read yourself in on what has happened before.
Which goes for everyone. Your answer is in this post, and if it matters to
you so much. read to find it instead of being lazy and asking the same
question that has been answered before. THAT'S HOW FORUMS WORK!

[ter426]

I just started reading this thread and I am way turned off...I kindly ask Golden to please keep your elitist attitude to yourself and be respectful to others.  I have a couple of points for you to consider - 1) People are trying to figure out how to maximize their use of the Fitbit tool they purchased.  They are asking questions more than once in hope that someone might have solution for them or a response they can understand..  I have been a Fitbit owner since they came out.  Even though I have used the Ultra, One, Blaze, Charge, Ionic, and a few others, I find things with each Fitbit that I must figure out and the take a while to figure out.  Furthermore because the documentation with the device packaging is sparse, it takes longer to find info online compared to thumbing to the page in a user manual provided with it.....2) People may be asking the question more than once because when you respond so harshly, they stop reading your response.  If you want people to hear you the first time respond repectfully - it works every time!  

[SunsetRunner]

I suggest you read the responses i have made, all of them. Not just the
latest ones. You're a good example again of a person jumping in on the last
response and defining every response i've made.

[BitSwimmer]

I find it to be 0% accurate in a pool in regards to distnce.  The fitbit loses at least one of my laps on every swim.  Doesn't seem to matter is the pool is 25yd, 25m, 50m.  The Ionic can't get the laps right.

[MattyW]

Out of interest, has anyone tried my suggestion of an open water swim using bike mode, and then changing the activity to swim using the app afterwards? 

[Evonny]

Yes now I have had it a bit longer I realise you can actually set it for 25 or 50or whatever. Just takes time to work out how to use

[BitSwimmer]

Nope. I've been doing that since the beginning. I swim in 25yd, 25m, 50m
and the lap count has been wrong in every case. Really stinks when you get
gipped 50m instead of 25yd.

[Bob911]

GPS tracking would be interesting for triathlons and open water swims.

[Jeff.B]

People like this are amazing. GPS tracks distance. It tracks distance throughout your exercise, not after. Therefore, it is used for the entire time you are running, biking, etc., not just when you look at it later. It would be more reliable to track distance in a pool than to rely on an approximate measurement based on types movement. Ever notice how the Ionic will add a length to your swim if you move your arm in certain way without actually swimming a pool length? It does. That's why you would use GPS in a pool, not to see *where* you go, but to see precisely how *far.* Maybe that way when I swim 1000 yards, I don't come up with a stat of 1250 because I stopped at the end of a lap to wave at somebody or do a couple of extra kick turns at one end for practice, genius.

[multiverse]

Golden, you do not know how to read a graph, and you don't know what the mathematical definition of "average" is.  Why do you insist on lowering the bar?

[ter426]

Please consider how a message that states "You don't know" might affect people?  I am not the  person you were addressing but it read as very unkind and negative.  Fitbit is about tracking exercise.  Exercise is something fitbit users do for their bodies.  It is a postive and good thing.  Please don't tarnish it with negative responses. Perhaps you were hangry or perhaps you wrote this response before exercise and while you were stressied out.  I get it...but it sounds critical and destructive.  Is that who you want me to perceive as you?

And Golden - Please it is not neccessary to defend the fitbit....We all knowhat the trackers are inperfect tools but they remain a tool I use for motivation.  I would liken the swim tracking as equivalent to making measurements by pace - not even a  12 inch ruller.  As a long time fitbit user who waited so long for a swim app is it disappointing that the swim app is exactly that of a pebble using Swim.com that I used for swimming years ago.... And even worse - my Ionic seems to have a crack across it after only a few months of ownership so I don't dare to use as intended...and fitbit only offered me 25% off another....really- I didn't drop or bang it....and I would have been willing to pay for the replacement glass if that were an option....but I digress...please be kind to one another- remember we look for answers and it is OK if no one has any - but every once in a while someone does and that is fantastic....Please don't forget to have fun!.  

[SunsetRunner]

I'm not defending anything. I'm giving the hard truth about the features
that the ionic has. And please stop with the positivity thing, one thing is
telling us to be positive, another is to push positivity on us. The second
pisses me off sometimes, because its not helping. You just end up sounding
like a schizo mental patient 🙂 so please if you can, stop it.

[SunsetRunner]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
I'm not defending anything. I'm giving the hard truth about the features
that the ionic has. And please stop with the positivity thing, one thing is
telling us to be positive, another is to push positivity on us. The second
pisses me off sometimes, because its not helping. You just end up sounding
like a schizo mental patient 🙂 so please if you can, stop it.

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PMSL keep it up. I find blunt writing style very positive myself.

Don't know who you are talking to half the time though, please use the quote button .