Pool Mate Watch - Are they any good ?

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Running Beer Jan 2011 11:02pm, 4 Jan 2011 790 posts	0 Running Beer I have the £120 one as I like statistics I can load onto my PC. I got hold of my replacement unit yesterday. This was very quick as I got it for Christmas, it broke soon after but a replacement was dispatched and arrived before New Year even with bank holidays in the middle. I don't know exactly when it arrived but I guess new years eve as it went to my neighbour while I was away. Full marks to Swimovate here, despite the initial disappointment they couldn't have been more helpful to resolve the situation. Today was the first outing to the pool for my watch. Setting it up took about a minute and is best described as easy peasy. I was very impressed while using it in the pool. It is very easy to use, keeping track of laps and strokes accurately. I found it very useful to track my progress as I usually lose count of lengths. I particularly liked the pause feature allowing me to keep track of sets and rest periods. When I got home I loaded the software. This was a bit problematic as the driver for the pod did not load correctly. The instructions provided on the swimovate site gave very clear instructions on how to resolve this problem though so it was quickly resolved. Installation of the link and swim log application went without a hitch. Loading the data to my PC is done by setting the watch to upload mode and placing it onto the infrared pod. This automatically loads csv files onto your PC using the link application. You then use the second swim log application to load the csv and view it. The swim log is ok but not the best piece of software in the world from first looks. It seems to be fairly decent though so I will be giving it a go before finding other alternatives. Being spoiled by Garmin / Fetch software and integration Swimovate have though competition on the software front. This is just an initial impression though and I am sure I will share more thoughts soon. So initial thoughts summary: - watch good in the pool to give stats during the swim - software works well if not as fancy / seemless as other sports products like garmin - swimovate are proving to be a very good company to deal with providing a decent product
manda_r Feb 2011 11:31am, 5 Feb 2011 334 posts	0 manda_r finisinc.com Interesting competitor....
island991 Feb 2011 7:01pm, 5 Feb 2011 2,087 posts	0 island991 Doesn't look as easy on the eye as the poolmate. Looks a bit more early garmin. But if it gives you length times within a set it would be interesting.
-E- Feb 2011 3:08pm, 11 Feb 2011 1,287 posts	0 -E- I've upgraded to the Poolmate Pro but having big problems getting the driver loaded
-E- Feb 2011 11:24am, 14 Feb 2011 1,292 posts	0 -E- Success - very nice lady from Swimovate 'phoned and talked me throught the installation of the drivers that were being difficult. All working perfectly now
tubbyrunner Apr 2011 10:06am, 20 Apr 2011 1,361 posts	0 tubbyrunner To save me hunitng out the instructions for my poolmate can someone tell me which way the efficiency goes? Does a lower number mean better efficiency or the other way round?? Cheers
Nick Cook Apr 2011 10:44am, 20 Apr 2011 6,266 posts	0 Nick Cook Lower number is better - mine is going down!!!
Loon. Apr 2011 10:50am, 20 Apr 2011 155 posts	0 Loon. useful thread, I'm thinking of treating myself to one of these
tubbyrunner Apr 2011 11:11am, 20 Apr 2011 1,362 posts	0 tubbyrunner Thanks Nick, keep looking at the number but couldn't remember if the lower number was good or bad. We like down
Loon. Apr 2011 10:04am, 22 Apr 2011 158 posts	0 Loon. I got the poolmate pro yesterday software was a faff to set up but mainly because vista doesn't appear to have a zip file reader thingy. so had to faff on the internet to install one then it was straight forward. First outing in the pool today, I was really excited, watch is very easy to set up, impressed that you can have 3 different swimmers on it. 62 lengths in the pool, longest swim ever It did drop a length at the end, not sure what happened there but think it was because I was tired and didnt' push off the walk and glide enough for it to register, which I think may have mucked up the stroke effectiveness, but still squeaked in within the average efficiency and given I only started swimming again a month ago and still struggling with front crawl I'm not massively disappointed. Agree that the software is very basic but I like graphs and stats as it helps motivate me so I'm impressed with that, if you are looking to buy one and can afford the extra I would probably go for the pro as you can download onto the pc otherwise it's probalby not hugely good for log history. I also quite like it just as a watch it's a nice design. very pleased so far. Oh and I'm as blind as a bat, almost can't focus on a hand in front of my face but I was able to read the watch while my arm was under water and I was swimming.