Watch for open water swimming

2 watchers

Love Lettuce Nov 2019 2:24pm, 13 Nov 2019 913 posts	0 Love Lettuce I'm in the market for a new watch. I have a Forerunner 35 at the moment and it does pretty much what I need in terms of running. However, I want to start logging open water swimming too. Can anyone recommend a running watch that could handle sea swims? I don't need bells and whistles: an entry level multisport watch would be fine. I've always had Garmins in the past but would be open to trying a new brand.
oumaumau Nov 2019 2:46pm, 13 Nov 2019 1,276 posts	0 oumaumau Mr Rainmaker is your best bet - seems there's a new garmin on the block for swim only https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/10/garmin-swim-2-openwater-pool-gps-watch-review.html. If you know exactly what you want, or a combo watch then he does very in-depth comparisons.
Oranj Nov 2019 6:16pm, 13 Nov 2019 1,744 posts	0 Oranj Oooh, that looks good. I guess it's not a running watch too though. I've been using an old Garmin Swim watch (the one launched 7 years ago mentioned in DC Rainmaker's review) and I have to say it's the best pool watch I've ever used (I've tried a PoolMate and also use a Garmin 920XT occasionally in the pool, but mainly save it for open water). In a pool the Garmin Swim never misses a length, records intervals and rests correctly (the 920XT can make a bit of hash of these - perhaps the newer triathlon watches are better?), so if there's a new one with GPS added I'm very interested.
Love Lettuce Nov 2019 4:48pm, 14 Nov 2019 922 posts	0 Love Lettuce The DC Rainmaker review says that it has the standard run and fitness tracking features of other Garmin watches, except that it doesn't have a barometric sensor. I'm guessing it'd do everything my Forerunner 35 does. DCR also raves about how accurate the satellite tracking is for the Swim 2. I skipped the pool swimming section of the review, but he declared it competent for pool swimming in the summary.
southcoastclaret May 2020 12:53pm, 28 May 2020 266 posts	0 southcoastclaret I'm still using my old Garmin 910XT. It is a brilliant bit of kit, does more than everything I need for run, bike and swim. The only real disadvantage over newer models is that it isn't suitable to wearing all the time. Going for well under £50 on ebay.