Inspire swim tracking

[csmelt]

How does Inspire track swimming - is it the same as Flex2?

[Tuggy10]

Did you find that works better? I was also curious if you can use the inspire to clock pace while swimming? I would love to know what my pace is.

[RossInGA]

I don't directly clock pace. It gives a fairly accurate time for exercise and when it agrees with my lap count I can calculate approximate pace by dividing total seconds by total laps. i.e. (38 minutes * 60 sec/min) divided by my 56 laps gives me 40 seconds per lap (each lap is 25 yards in the pool we use). The inspire does not have a GPS, so clocking your pace on land requires have the app on your smart phone and running with the phone and the inspire after turning on the tracking feature on the app. I guess if you had a waterproof phone maybe you could rig something up??? Hope this helps.

[RossInGA]

Update re "tracking swimming pace": My wife had a Flex 2 for tracking her swimming prior to buying the Inspire. The Flex 2 allowed/required her to put in the length of the pool. As has been noted many times previously in this discussion the Inspire does not allow that. However, Fitbit kept her pool length info when she "upgraded" to the Inspire. As a result it IS giving her a pace of how long it takes her to swim 100 yards! So, for those who had a Flex 2 and THEN an Inspire (HR), I guess they are getting a "pace" value. It would be nice if Fitbit allowed us Inspire only users to input pool length. Fingers crossed.

[tanmaym]

I swim on a 50m pool with my Fitbit Inspire. I have set the default length correctly yet I don't get correct reports after my swim. Today I got 18 lengths when I just swam 16 and normally when I do 20, it gives me 24. Why is that so?

[RossInGA]

Mostly a guess on my part since I'm not part of the fitbit programming team: If you have any "pauses" in your strokes (maybe around mid-lap toward the end of your laps) the inspire program might "think" you are doing a turn and starting another lap. It doesn't have to be a long pause. If you don't have any pauses whatsoever then I have no idea why you might be getting extra laps. It doesn't have a built in GPS to track your location, it just tries to monitor activity (like strokes) and pauses (which normally only happens at turns as far as the programmers think). Hope this helps.

[SueFig]

Inspire HR is sending me a notification that it recognized my swim but I can’t figure out where it’s logging it. Does it just add to steps? Thanks for your help!

[Jessicajt]

Hello!

When I shower with the inspire, it appears in the app as if I was swimming. What can I do to let it know that I wasn’t swimming?

[Sonsiedw]

Hi I can't seem to find swim settings on the app, went to advanced settings but can't seem to find it to change the distance of the pool? Please help

[RossInGA]

Sorry for the delay. The older Flex allowed one to input length of the pool. Starting with the newer Flex 2 and both Inspires there is no way to input that info. My wife had the older Flex (she has since upgraded) and was able to set pool length. As she has upgraded to Flex  2 and now Inspire that information remained, effectively "grandfathered" in. Sorry, I do not know of any other way.

[koolson]

Thanks for your input on the Inspire trackers. So frustrating they no longer sell Flex 2 (though I saw one on eBay).
My 3-year-old Flex 2 finally died and I'm looking for what can replace it. I swim with a USMS club so I don't care too much about time (most workouts are an hour including a10-minute warmup and 3-minute cool down). I have found the Flex 2 got better and better over time at tracking yards but is terrible if you try to switch between meters and yards (which I do normally in summer). Gave up on changing it after a few tries. But the Flex 2 clearly stated that it worked by tracking arm movements, so I always had to keep track of kick sets myself. Also, I was able to track open water swims, I guess with GPS.

It sounds like the Inspire is pretty inadequate for swimming so I won't bother with it. Any good models out there that do work for swimming?
Anybody have experience with other models that work better? FitBit Charge 3, for instance?

[Ang1t]

I’ve found my Unsoire HR has improved over time and is far more accurate than before. I swim only for exercise and I count my lengths in my head too. It’s usually within 1 or 2 lengths now.


Sent from my iPhone

[pabr]

Did you mean 3 years?

[mjdwds]

How do I set the lap length for my Inspire (not HR)? The field is in there on the app but I can't make a change. I can't find the field on the dashboard. Thanks.

[Nmccarth]

Except that it only recognizes that you are swimming about 75 % of the time and the yardage is never accurate when it does realize you are swimming. Even if I tell it that I am swimming by choosing that exercise, the laps and yardage are way off. I swim 2000 yds and it records anything from1700 to 1850  seemingly at random. 

[pabr]

I find it pretty accurate. On a 1000m swim it may miss one length but not always. Time is good. My main problem is not being able to see the watch face in the pool area.

[koolson]

Thanks, I have now had a chance to swim pool workouts twice a week and also
find it very accurate. As always, kicking is not tracked so you have to add
on any laps that you kick. Now I can edit yardage down to the yard, which I
prefer to the past when my yards would convert to miles and you could only
edit down to the tenth of a mile (or kilometer).
I have been doing a fair amount of open water swimming in a nearby lake as
well, and the yardage there matches up closely with a friend's smart watch
that uses GPS to track distance.
Positive reviews from me all around!
Karen

[mjdwds]

Have you found out how to set lap length? I see it as a data field. but
can't find how to edit it.

--
juliet.drennan@gmail.com

[pabr]

I’ve done it because mine is set. I googled it to check and those steps no longer seem to work which is why I hadn’t replied. Very odd.

Sent from my iPhone

[SharonC.]

I tried the auto recognition for Swimming. On the device, I set the pool length to 50M but at the end of the session, it counted double the distance I swam.  Did I miss something?