Versa Won't Track Swims

[PhinaFox]

Some background information: I have mild Cerebral Palsy, Spastic Diplegia with a Hemi distribution where my right side is impacted more, meaning my legs are the most impacted overall, but my right side is all over more impacted than my left. I walk unassisted and only use a wheelchair for really long distances (over 3 KM), crowded places and things like zoos or parks. I understand that my physical differences are going to lead to some issues tracking my stats. It mistracks steps all the time because my stride is weird and I haven't had a chance to fix the length yet, and it never gets stairs because I have to use the railing(s), however....Oh, I currently usually wear my versa on my right, non-dominant hand.

However, yesterday I swam at least 60 lengths and it only tracked 12. Today I swam 200+ and it tracked 25. This was mostly back crawl with some front crawl mixed in. I bought the Fitbit mostly to help me track my swims because at full training schedule, I am in the pool every day - and I'm beginning to get very  disappointed with it. I read it was largely reliable and I'm not finding that. I need tips to make this work. I have the pool length set right.

I don't get it. I'm not a beginner para-swimmer. I'm not quite competitive, but close. I know what I'm doing. I train basically every day. I play wheelchair basketball three times a week and weight train a bit on top of this. It should work. Maybe using my dominant arm would help, but surely not enough to make up so much distance?

Please help. Please and thanks.

[Rich_Laue]

Hello @PhinaFox which of the 2 possible ways are you tracking your swimming? 

Do you simply start swimming and expect Fitbit to notice that your swimming? There is only a few swim strokes that Fitbit recognizes, you might not be doing any of them. 

The other way would be to manually tell the Versa that you are going to swim. 

See question 2 of the FAQ

How do I track my workouts with my Fitbit device?

[PhinaFox]

I listed the swim strokes I am doing. Both are on Fitbit's list, just by other names. Fitbit tracks competitive swim strokes and those are what I'm training for. I set the Versa to the 'Swim' exercise like you're supposed to. I can manually enter workouts and I did that today, but that means that you lose information and it makes the Versa basically useless. I can enter basic workout information on a free app.

What I need is ideas on how to make the Versa recognize my swimming better. I realize my disability will impact its ability to follow some, but I assure you I know how to swim.

[Rich_Laue]

As for auto detection of swimming, I would say to wear the tracker and go swimming

If you want to manually start a swim recording from the wrist before starting the swim. You would definitely record the swim. This recording will be as or more accurate as an auto detected swim. 

[NellyG]

Hi @PhinaFox It sounds to me from what you have said that the problem is not recognition of swimming (and especially not if you manually start the activity using the swim shortcut). It seems to be the lap count that is off. With my experience of tracking my swimming, i have managed to improve my lap count to pretty well perfect, with just an occasional miscount of one lap. What I have found is that for the fitbit to recognise a lap you need to stop moving your arms at the end for a couple of seconds. I am just an average swimmer ( not competative or particularly fast!), but have been swimming for years. I do either touch the wall and turn lap ends or tumble turns and through lots of trial and error have found that in order for the fitbit to count the lap your arm has to stop for a couple of seconds. You sound like a more advanced swimmer than I am so maybe you dont pause your Fitbit wearing arm long enough (though I am guessing here).

Let me know if that helps you (always wanting to learn more, and using Fitbits with a disability interests me)

[PhinaFox]

First day I checked a lot. Second day less so. Still should have been long enough of a pause on both days. I'm not great at turns and they are slow. I did notice the second and a half delay in recognition when it did track them, though. Don't think that's the problem here. At least not the overwhelming majority of the time. Thanks.

[WenFor]

I have had the same issue with mine.  My daughter and I were swimming 3-4 times a week, doing mostly freestyle (front crawl).   I would go to "exercise" and choose "swimming" before we started, and for the first month or so it tracked our lengths perfectly, but then all of the sudden it was WAY off.  For example, if we swam 1,000 yards, it would give us credit for 300 or so.  For a while, I stopped telling it to start a swim and just let it figure it out and that worked for a little while, too.  Now it is really hit or miss and it IS quite frustrating.  I feel your pain, but unfortunately have no answers.

[PhinaFox]

I'm going to try to remember to try it on my left arm today, as it is my stronger, looser, more coordinated arm... but I'm not convinced that will fix most of the issue.

[PhinaFox]

It might have been better at the beginning of my swim with the pause at the end of the length and on my dominant arm, but overall, no change. I think it tracked nineteen out of sixty. I also have swim coach confirmation that my range of motion and technique is not that far from typical. At one point, I thought I had the knack for it, but I don't. I ended up deleting the workout and entering it manually because I had no choice.

[NellyG]

@PhinaFox  That sounds really annoying. Do you have any extra movements in your arms? Just wondering if that might confuse it. Try restarting the Versa several times and see if that improves things.

Restart your tracker

@WenFor  Try restarting your Versa several times too. My Versa occasionally has a melt down and doesnt count any where near correctly and I restart it several times and it is fine the next swim, so give that a go.

[PhinaFox]

No extra movements, just tight - and in my left arm, especially, it's not much at all. I'll try restarting before the next time I swam because it's not getting any better. I swam over six KM and it missed most of it, and keeping count is hard for long swims, so I end up going with the lower number whenever I lose count (potential extra distance there) and doing extra lengths just to make sure. I know I'm robbing myself of lengths, messing with all my workout stats and manually entering a correction robs me of some anyway. Not to mention this means I'm making more work for myself. I really wanted something that would make my life easier. Oh well....

Will keep at it. I don't think my finishes are consistent enough... maybe. It's messed up. Fitbit also might be counting my swims as steps, even though I have it set to swim. I knew my step counts would be off, but not not this off. None of my workout routine includes stepping at all. I'm in a court wheelchair pushing around or I'm in the pool. 

Fitbit, please do better by wheelchair users and people with physical disabilities.