No HR when swimming ... so don't use swim mode?

[kristin_fardy]

I've been for two swims so far with my new Ionic. The first time I didn't put it in Swim Exercise mode, I just swam (this is what I was used to doing with my Flex 2). I could check my heart rate by lifting my wrist, the same as any other time. Last night I did start a Swim Exercise - and it doesn't show or record heart rate. I guess this is because it is less accurate underwater, but it seemed to be okay the first time as long as I had it strapped tight.

So now I'm thinking I may just never put it in swim mode - the swim still gets recorded in my exercise log (in Fitbit app) because it's auto-recognized. Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone see any downside to not putting it in "swim", or to having it continue to monitor my heart rate while swimming?

[bbarrera]

HR not accurate while swimming, so Fitbit disables it.

[shipo]

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@bbarrera wrote:

HR not accurate while swimming, so Fitbit disables it.

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I keep hearing this, but I feel I need to play Devil's Advocate on this one...

Given how flush the bottom of the Ionic is with the skin on my wrist, and given how much I sweat when I run, I'm going to SWAG if a swimmer straps the Ionic down reasonably snugly (i.e. one or even two notches tighter than when not exercising), there will be no more water between the tracker and the skin than what I have when I run.  The logic then follows if the Ionic can track my pulse when I'm running and really sweaty, and so far that appears to be the case, then it should have no issue tracking the heart rate of a swimmer.

[kristin_fardy]

I tend to agree with you, shipo. I'm going to try a few more times and see whether the readings seem reasonable (recognizing this is not exactly scientific).

[bbarrera]

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@shipo wrote:

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@bbarrera wrote:

HR not accurate while swimming, so Fitbit disables it.

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I keep hearing this, but I feel I need to play Devil's Advocate on this one...

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Except its not the same, is it? Do your arms periodically crash thru an incompressible barrier? If you think about, swimming is more like boxing, which is listed in Fitbit help as having accuracy issues.

Given how much I sweat while riding a bike - clearly we are in "sample of one" territory now - I had accuracy issues when heavily sweating on a stationary bike in a 60 degree spin room at the gym. With Surge and Blaze and Apple Watch. The logic follows that a wetter environment would be even worse.

[shipo]

@bbarrera, I used to be a triathlete and have done quite a bit of swimming; I say that to say this, with as tight as I wear my tracker when I run, I seriously doubt my arm slicing into the water would introduce any more water between the base of the Ionic and my skin than when I run and force sweat up through my pores under the back of the tracker.

Long story short, I still think the Ionic will track the heart rate while swimming with no issues.  Only time will tell.  🙂

[bbarrera]

Fitbit disagrees with you. AW does it, and "sample of one" while cycling/spinning I've had more reliable HR with AW than with Surge or Blaze. That said 'more reliable" hasn't been acceptable, all three don't do a good enough job at HR accuracy. Although AW does HR tracking while swimming, here is what wearable.com had to say:

https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/apple-watch-series-3-vs-fitbit-ionic-swimming

good luck with that, years ago I bought Wahoo Bluetooth/ANT+ chest strap (TICKRX) that does an excellent job at tracking HR while swimming, hiking, cycling, running, etc. It also does an excellent job at measuring HRV, and for some reason I can't get HRV data out of Fitbit for comparison (its hidden inside Relax / Guided Breathing feature).