Ionic track swim workouts?

[bbnan401]

I've been waiting for a fitbit tracker that is similar to the apple watch that will track swim workouts.  Will the Ionic be that tracker?  I understand it's water resistant but does that mean I can actually track a swim workout on the tracker? 

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[Susanlewis4005]

I did a water running class today and while it recognized my activity-even auto classified it as "swimming" the HR definitely did not register. I worked HARD and my HR was definitely elevated but the results are below. Does not look right to me! 

[shipo]

@Susanlewis4005, my understanding of the Swim exercise function is when it is invoked, heart rate monitoring is suspended.  Said another way, I'm not surprised the graph looks a bit wacky.

[Gdayaa]

I'm sure these questions have already been answered so sorry if they have. 

Im thinking of buying the Ionic for my boyfriend who is training for Iron Man. Will this watch work in open water swim and will it track distance and speed? 

Thank you 

[Rach77]

As far as I know it track's pool swims but not open water swims.

[mariossp]

You better do a light bleed test before any swim tracking.

[pedris]

I started swim tracking manually yesterday morning and swam about 1,200m before the watch stopped tracking. No biggie, I thought - maybe I bumped one of the buttons and I was almost done anyway.

Today, when my Ionic finally synced (after restarting the watch), my swim data isn't there. A later run is. Any idea how to access this data?

[pedris]

Yesterday's swim data seems to have vanished. Really hope it's not lost 😞

Has anyone else had this problem? Do you think I might have a faulty unit?

[Gdayaa]

Thanks for this.

Sent from my iPhone

[SunsetRunner]

Hey @Susanlewis4005 - just seen your comment here, and this evening I went swimming with my Ionic for the first time - and have the very same issue. I manually checked my pulse after some pretty aggressive flapping about in the pool, and my HR was at least peaking at 160+BPM, so I struggle to believe that 331 is accurate. 

Hmm, wonder if Fitbit have shed any light on how they track this calorie burn in swim mode?

[bbarrera]

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@Gdayaa wrote:

Im thinking of buying the Ionic for my boyfriend who is training for Iron Man. Will this watch work in open water swim and will it track distance and speed?  

---

@Gdayaa You really should be looking at Garmin 935, 735, etc. Take a look at the triathlon section of DCRainmaker's gadget guide from last November:

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/11/winter-sports-recommendations.html

If you want to know what triathletes use, here is a list from last month's Ironman in Tennessee:

https://gplama.blogspot.com/2017/09/strava-insights-ironman-703-world.html

The Ionic doesn't officially support open water swimming, and doesn't support multi-sport where you start recording swim then transition to bike then transition to run. Its not really designed for triathlons, and lacks a lot of features that a triathlete would find highly valuable.

The Garmin 935 has 24 hour GPS recording battery life, supports open water swimming, supports triathlon tracking, bike mount kit, training and recovery monitoring, 2 week battery life in watch mode (with 24x7 HRM and sleep tracking), and a lot more. Its designed and optimized for triathletes, and in a completely different league versus Ionic.

[MarshaWilcox]

I wish the lap count and average pace for swimming were included in data on the dashboard.  The summary data appear on my Ionic when I've finished swimming, then disappear permanently.  Why not report them on the Dashboard or in Premium statistics?

It's a shame to collect the data - then delete it after the workout.  I'd like to track my progress and currently cannot.

[nicola13]

I hope someone can make it work. Swimming is my main exercise, so having a watch that just counts lengths and makes some kind of estimate of calories burned (not sure how if it doesn’t know how hard you’re working) doesn’t seem very helpful!!  I’ll keep watching this space for developments 🙂

[Hoofheart]

Used my watch in the pool for a coached workout today. I just hit start and swam. We swam 18 x 100m off 2 m 30 intervals. I was averaging just around 2mins flat per 100m. Our coach tracked the session as well so I'm certain of distances etc.

My watch recorded the session as 2,175 metres and gave times for each 100 of around 2 minutes. The only thing that is correct is the overall time in the pool, which a wall clock could do.

Is there anyway to make it work for swimming or should I send it back?

[shipo]

@Hoofheart, I haven't looked at how the Ionic calculates distance, but I'm guessing it is similar to how it calculates walking distance without GPS, by multiplying your stride length (or stroke length) times the number of strides (or strokes as the case may be).  Said another way, determining distance in a pool is a gross approximation; that your Ionic was as close as it was is a good sign.  Assuming my above assumption is correct, I suspect all you need to do is adjust your stroke length.

In addition, if in fact a stroke length setting is available, you will need to readjust the stroke length for different types of workouts.  The odds of any one length being accurate for different types of workouts is exceedingly remote.

[Hoofheart]

Hi, thanks for your response but I wouldn't agree that the Fitbit results are in any way close to the actual times and your response suggests you aren't familiar with swimming. The Fitbit records swimming by knowing the length of the pool and recognising change in direction. In my case, I swam 18x 100 metres in 2 minutes, stopped for 30 seconds each time so it should have recorded 18 x 100 in an average time of 2 30. 

I didn't swim 2175 metres, so it's out by 21%. 

I don't believe stroke length comes into it as turn technique has a big impact in the no of strokes taken.

i'd appreciate anybody who's got it to work accurately?

[NellyG]

I have found my Ionic very accurate in the pool. I think the most imortant things are consistant stroke, style and rythm within laps and clear turns at the ends. The HR gives a reading on mine if I let Smart track track the swim, but I dont think it is an accurate recording. Mine looks too high to me. If I use the exercise and start and stop manually I dont get an HR record.

[shipo]

@Hoofheart, well, yes and no, while I am familiar with swimming (I competed in numerous triathlons when I was younger), I have not used my Ionic to swim with.  Before you responded I looked up the swim settings for the Ionic and discovered the whole pool length thing.  So, the next question is, do you perform a flip turn or just touch the end of the pool and pivot around?

[baxjohnson]

I've used it twice and it appears it will only track laps when your arms are moving in a certain pattern.  This is not a problem for those that are doing freestyle or backstroke.  Breaststroke or paddle board drills don't appear to be working but heart rate is tracking unlike what some of the users are stating. 

[Hoofheart]

The Ionic doesn't meet my expectations as a swim tracker so I'm sending it back. 

[blueshadow]

@nicola13Have you owned an exercise watch before? You might want to check Garmin Forerunner 735. In a bundle with swim&tri belt it's still a bit less than 935 or Fenix 5. And in a couple of years you will see, if you need to upgrade it. Just a suggestion.