Swimming with Ionic

[datalore]

Interesting comparison of the AW3 and Ionic here. Both watches nail down distance fairly well, but lap counts are a different story. I wonder if this is a software issue. Both watches seem to struggle some, but the AW3 has more swim metrics which is understandable for a more mature platform. I'm hoping my swim pro will be ported to Ionic before the year is out. Check out the article: https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/apple-watch-series-3-vs-fitbit-ionic-swimming#c-15785

[WavyDavey]

"You might also notice that the Apple Watch tracks your heart rate in the pool while the Ionic doesn't. That's not really an added feature; like screens, water and optical sensors don't play well together either. Like mine, chances are your graph will be very patchy anyway. So you might as well ignore."

Sounds like AW doesn't do heart rate well in swims, thus the "ignore" this feature.

Also, as you said, maturity---- watchOS4 vs. version 1 of the Fitbit OS. But I understand these comparisons need to be made to write timely articles.

[datalore]

I'm a swimmer and need to get distance right above all else. I don't really care about SWOLF score though it's interesting to look at. Despite what some watches claim; the only way to get an accurate heart reading in the pool is a chest strap. I expect that to change as the technology advances. I'll go with fitbit just for the chance to create my own apps. I'd like to see my swim pro ported to ionic at some point. If they don't I have a programming background, so I'll create something myself if not. I'm still waiting for Black Friday as I think the watch will be discounted then, and I'm also waiting for a few of the software kinks to get worked out. 

[TriFit]

I swam for half an hour yesterday which somehow got broken into two different sessions despite me not ending the first one. I found at first the lap/distance tracking was accurate, so I stopped counting. Soon after the distance seemed to get out of whack with the laps. I then kept an eye on the laps and they seemed fine but distance wasn't tracking properly which is hard to understand when you've told it what length the pool is.

[Donnamt16]

I tried it today. 33 lengths (not much to some but my first swim in over 20 years lol) but it said my metres was 225 LOL

when i logged onto the online account it had my distance matching the 33 lengths in mileage so I'm happy, just what I wanted.

Also it performed beautifully in the water I expected nightmare trying to swipe a wet screen but nope its all buttons so I'm even more pleased 😄 😄

[TriFit]

So it did sync the swim to Strava? Mine didn't but I may not have given it long enough. I entered it manually into Strava.

[TriFit]

Nice work on the swim first time back in too. You have to start somewhere and that seems pretty good to me.

[aaonwona]

Has anyone attempted to swim or take showers while wearing their ionic? Care to share any experience?

Thanks

[djforrest]

Yes, I swam with it today, had an enjoyable time. UNTIL.... it stopped working. Yes, water seems to have gotten inside, touch screen stopped working, won't charge, now it is sitting in rice

[TriFit]

Oh no! That's tragic. Mine has stopped part way through each swim. Thankfully I have noticed each time but it's a bit annoying not being able to just trust it. It also seems to count laps accurately but not the total distance. I haven't had a chance to search the forum regarding these issues yet.

[SiGr]

The touch screen stops working properly in water so swiping etc can go haywire.  Once out of water mine works fine so it may be that you're getting.  I wish the could double up to scroll left/right to counter this.

[aaonwona]

Wow and what's their support saying, you were negligent?

Sent from Abed

[djforrest]

Mine was working great and fully functional in the water, then suddenly touchscreen wouldn't work. Now, it is completely dead. Won't charge or anything

[djforrest]

They sent me a link to do a reset, but unit is totally dead. I am just going to ship it back to amazon and wait for the Ionic 2 once they work all the bugs out of this thing

[Beards247]

> seems to count laps accurately but not the total distance

I assume you have the pool length set... so how is that even possible? 10 laps should always be 500 yards (assuming a 25 yard pool). I get it may miss counting a length or even lap if swimming slow (when I kick/scull/do drill work it often does not register), but laps should always = distance if swimming settings are set correctly.

Am I missing something?

[TriFit]

No you aren’t missing anything. It seems simple doesn’t it? But something goes astray somewhere.

Here’s the informafion from the squad session I just did. I most definitely did an even number of laps, but let’s assume 33 is correct. The app says I did 625m and the website says I did 825m (which actually is 33 x 25m). Most of the stats are the same apart from speed which may be due to pausing between drills

[TriFit]

My first one ‘drowned’ after three weeks. So far so good on the replacement apart from some sort of weird episode it had last weekend between a ride and a run. I ended up doing a hard restart and resetting it up. Seems okay again so far.

[Beards247]

I'd say that's the second bug I've run into with Fitbit's swimming data - but the 2 may be related: the first one is:

1. With Flex2 it under counts steps from swimming. From what I've read on the internets, fitbit generally guesstimates 1 mile is 2000 steps.
   If swim 1 mile, it gives me far less than 2000 steps.

Since I am a swimmer who wants to compete with my friends step wise, am always whining about it not being fair (and trolling them about how much more challenging swimming is : ).

[NellyG]

@Beards247 I have no idea where your steps are coming from when you swim, but it is NOT Fitbit calculating steps from a swim session. Fitbit does not translate non step based activities into steps. Swimming and biking etc dont contribute towards your step count unless the tracker picks up some false steps (like going over bumps on your bike)

[Beards247]

All I can tell/show you is the sceenshots. I wasnt stepping at all in the pool. Interestingly it registered them as very intense and moderately intense - I'd love to know how it made that decision. I'm a decent swimmer, but I definitely do not swim as fast as I walk, but it is accurate I did my speed work first, tempo/drill second, then warm down.

note my swim started @ 7:42, and went for about an hour

my intense steps start @ the green bar 7:45 and the yellow bars end @ 8:45. that's when I was swimming.