Swimming with Versa - lap counting issue and tracking in open water

[GergelyK]

Hi All,

I bought my Versa mostly to track my swimming performance, but I am experiencing two major issues.

1) When I track pool swimming, the lap counting is sometimes accurate, but nowadays in most cases 10-15% of the laps are not counted. I swim continuously and orderly in medley (repeating breaststroke - freestyle - backstroke cycles always in the same order). Lap gap is usually the highest in 25m pools, and gets somewhat better in 33m, and almost always accurate in 50m. It is extremely annoying because I don't track what I actually swim...

2) I often swim in open water and I don't know what exercise type I should use to track it. Choosing swim as exercise doesn't work because I can't set laps, and running neither because the mileage is undermeasures (probably due to the parts when the watch is underwater). Can anyone suggest how to track open water?

Thanks,

Gergely K

[LiliyaFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community, @GergelyK. I am sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and sharing the issues you're experiencing with tracking your swimming performance. I totally understand how you are feeling as you would like to receive an accurate information about your activity. I appreciate your efforts to resolve this and providing the additional details.

Regarding the lap counting, I recommend restarting your device as described in this help article. This will refresh your watch internally. Please monitor your Versa after that. 

With your Fitbit Versa you can track swims automatically, or use the Exercise app to start and stop your swim workout. Your Fitbit device tries to identify lengths each time you swim, so you may see an estimated number of lengths after your open water swim. I understand your concern and appreciate your feedback. Our team is always working on improving our devices and user experiences, and your comments are always welcome. Please consider voting for this Feature Suggestion. Our Feature Suggestions board is a great place to make your ideas heard.

You can find more information about tracking swims here. 

If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

[GergelyK]

Hi Liliya,

Thanks for the suggestions. I restarted the watch as decribed, yet it still logs 10-15% less laps in a 25m pool than I actually swim. I will test it a few more times though.

Concerning the open water tracking, I upvoted the thread you suggested. However, I tend to have the opinion that for a $300 smartwatch meant for sports this function should not be something that users should ask for to be developed (persistently, as I saw in other forums), but a built-in functionality.

Best,

Gergely K

[GergelyK]

Hi @LiliyaFitbit ,

After 10+ occasions of testing, the issue still pertains. The watch measures 10-20% less laps (thus distance) than I actually swim in 25m pools, while it works better in 50m pools yet it is still not entirely accurate.

Gergely

[t.parker]

Open water cannot be reliably tracked with Fitbit. It's just not supported. I used to pick other types of exercises to be able to use GPS and HR in the water but the fact that there is no screen lock feature for anything else than Swim makes it useless. The watch does random things when the screen gets wet. My swims got randomly paused, randomly finished, etc. This isn't a watch made for swimming.

[LiliyaFitbit]

It's nice to see you around, @GergelyK @t.parker. I am sorry for the delayed response.

@GergelyK I appreciate your efforts and the additional details. I would like to confirm that our team is aware of the issue with tracking swim. We'll continue to monitor the situation, and keep our team informed of the impact to you and other customers. Be sure to keep your Fitbit device and app up-to-date to ensure you receive the quickest resolution. In order to update your app you can follow the steps provided here. I am sorry for any trouble, I totally understand how you are feeling and appreciate your feedback. Our team is always working on improving our devices and user experiences, and your comments are always welcome. 

@t.parker I appreciate your participation in the Forums and sharing your experience and feedback

since this helps us to keep improving.

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[davidbarnum]

Has there been any updates/upgrades to the Fitbit Versa that will allow it to track meters (not lengths) when open water swimming?

[GergelyK]

Hi David, unfortunately no answer or solution for the open water swimming... What is more, recently I've been facing again even more serious issues on regular swimming lap counting: I now get 30-35% less laps counted by my Fitbit Versa in a 25m pool than what I actually swim. My dissatisfaction with Fitbit software and devices has reached an extent that I made a resolution: I will never, ever buy a Fitbit watch again. They are inaccurate, untrustworthy, overpriced pedometers with rudimentary, unfinished, patchy software.

[distalfx]

It is 2 years later, and there has still been no improvement in the Versa2's lack of accuracy in counting laps in the pool. Even if it can't show the number of laps while I'm swimming, it needs to be accurate in tracking them once the swim is done and recorded.