Swimming with the Sense

[Sapphie]

I understand that the Sense is able to display the number of lengths on the watch whilst actually swimming - like the original Versa.

Is anyone able to comment on the accuracy of this display? My understanding is that it uses the gyroscope to detect a change in direction

I am a beginner adult swimmer and my strokes are probably somewhat 'unconventional'. My Inspire HR gets the number of lengths wrong every time!

Also, once a swim has been synced with the app - what data is displayed? I see reference on this forum to it telling what type of stroke etc but haven't come across any screen shots of the app and the Sense User Manual barely mentions anything about swimming.

I am trying to decide whether to upgrade from my Inspire HR and whether the live swimming data in itself is worth it (in addition to all the other features).

Thanks

Lee

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @Sapphie, welcome to the community. The Sense will provide the following data to the smartphone app, zone minutes, energy (calories burned), Impact (a repeat of the first two), lengths and distance. If you start the exercise manually it will display time and lengths but a word of caution, you may find they are difficult to see in the water. I'm a daily swimmer and just let the auto-recognise function start and finish the swim exercise. I get a 45 minute limited swimming time and concentrate on putting as much effort into the swimming (and keeping out of other people's way). Once home I have the luxury of reviewing my stats. The length count is sometimes out by one length but even the most sophisticated swimming trackers (SwimTag) miscount.

Good luck with your swimming, much the best form of exercise.

Cheers

[Sapphie]

Hi

Thanks for the reply. Do you know what specific action one needs to take for the gyroscope to recognise a turn (and thus end of length)? I am an adult newish to swim and will mostly do breast stroke (somewhat inefficiently). So will reaching the end, grabbing the rail and turning be sufficient?

I am not sure I should choose a fitbit purely on its length count accuracy, though, as I may be disappointed. My existing Inspire HR always over-estimates my number of lengths!

Lee

[Gr4ndp4]

Hi, @Sapphie , you do not need to do anything to allow Sense to note the turn, this is done automatically on both auto-recognize and manual exercise start. My own experience of lap counting is that no device is 100% accurate, The "SwimTag" I mentioned earlier is a sophisticated pool installed system working with exclusive wristbands that download data at the end of your swim when the band is returned to the charger at the pool reception. Data is very extensive but lap count can be off a little.

I hope this helps.

Cheers