Garmin: Steps while swimming (!)

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Jthanmyfitnesspal
Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I like my Garmin watch a lot. The swim widget works reasonably well for pool swimming. (It sometimes misses a turn, but it times the intervals correctly.)

But, as I've complained previously, the calorie estimate for swimming is low (relative to other estimators) and it also has a terrible bug where it counts steps while you swim. Here's Garmin's "step graph" :

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This has some weird related problem where it won't add calories for your other steps that day. Notably, sometimes I walk more than a mile to get to the pool, swim, and then walk back. For the day, Garmin/MFP will give some extra calories for the swim, but sometimes dead zero for the walking and almost zero for any other steps that day. In comparison, if I run in the morning, Garmin showers me with extra calories for my extra steps that day.

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  • skinnyrev2b
    skinnyrev2b Posts: 400 Member
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    Oh! That makes sense! I was wondering what was up with that with regard my new Garmin. Bummer though! Ah well, at least I know I've potentially got a little wriggle room logging in that case.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    An expensive solution would be to get a second watch, I would be very frustrated too even consider that to remedy a software problem.

    Garmin used to have lower software quality in their Edge bike computers. They've come a long way but reputations are hard to shake. My read of the tea leaves is that they seem to be prioritizing customer sentiment. If you call them and explain the problem you're having as a result of the nonsense programming in the expensive watch you bought from them, you may be able to get a discount on a refurbished Swim, or another watch you might be able to control the sync behavior of. Also, telling them it's a problem for you as a customer may help prioritize it, most places use the squeaky wheel method of deciding what bugs to invest in fixing.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    @NorthCascades : I like my new Edge 530. So I already have two devices. Hey, why not a third?

    I'm wondering if the better watches have this problem. Mine is a Vivoactive 3, which was pretty darned affordable given what I can do with it.
  • Spotteddingo
    Spotteddingo Posts: 95 Member
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    I have the Garmin Fenix 5 and I used it primarily for swimming indoor and open water. I found it to be very accurate with my distance. I did not pay attention to calorie burn at the time. I don't know what calorie numbers you are getting but the more efficient you are in the water, the fewer calories you burn.
    I can't get my Garmin to pair with MFP. ;(
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    edited May 2021
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    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    @NorthCascades : I like my new Edge 530. So I already have two devices. Hey, why not a third?

    I'm wondering if the better watches have this problem. Mine is a Vivoactive 3, which was pretty darned affordable given what I can do with it.

    I just checked. The last time I swam was September 10. (I only swim outdoors.) Connect shows zero steps while the activity was running. Fenix 6X. Again this was more than half a year ago, a software update could be doing the same thing in mine. It'll probably be another month before I'll be able to test it (there's still a lot of snow), I'll report back when I can.

    Edit:

    Screenshot-20210525-192416-Chrome.jpg
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    Spotteddingo wrote: »
    I have the Garmin Fenix 5 and I used it primarily for swimming indoor and open water. I found it to be very accurate with my distance. I did not pay attention to calorie burn at the time. I don't know what calorie numbers you are getting but the more efficient you are in the water, the fewer calories you burn.
    I can't get my Garmin to pair with MFP. ;(

    I have heard mixed reviews about using any of the Garmin watches in open water on your wrist to track distance. (I assume it works very well for tracking strokes.) I mean, you're asking the device to do something that is very difficult, which is to monitor the GPS signals while at least half the time it's blinded by the water. My Vivoactive 3 won't do it at all, so I put it under my cap or in my buoy and put it in "walk" mode, later changing the activity to a swim. I'm interested in anyone's experience with the Fenix series: is the location reliable for open water swimming with the watch on your wrist?

    Also, if you're swimming regularly, can you check to see if it's counting steps while you swim? It's easy to tell on the Garmin Connect app.

    Finally, connecting Garmin to MFP is done on the MFP web site:

    https://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps

    You click on the "GET" button and allow MFP to share info with Garmin. (It's only mildly creepy.)
  • Spotteddingo
    Spotteddingo Posts: 95 Member
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    @Jthanmyfitnesspal Thanks for the link!

    I am not swimming presently due to needing a new hip. However, in the past (1.5 years ago), my Fenix 5 was very accurate and I could see my swim mapped out. GPS starts when you set it to open water. It helped me see my track and let me know if I strayed in current during ocean races. Also, seeing my pace and SWOLF was very helpful in pushing during training.

    It did count steps which was a little weird but it didn't bother me.

    I still wear it. It counts my steps, hiking and times my cycling but I am not really using the really cool stuff this watch can do!
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    @Spotteddingo : Thanks for the report! I hope you get your new hip and it works out well for you.

    (I swam for a year with an injured knee. I wasn't allowed to kick, so I used a pull buoy both in ponds and in the pool. It was one of a few things I could actually do!)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    Spotteddingo wrote: »
    I have the Garmin Fenix 5 and I used it primarily for swimming indoor and open water. I found it to be very accurate with my distance. I did not pay attention to calorie burn at the time. I don't know what calorie numbers you are getting but the more efficient you are in the water, the fewer calories you burn.
    I can't get my Garmin to pair with MFP. ;(

    I have heard mixed reviews about using any of the Garmin watches in open water on your wrist to track distance. (I assume it works very well for tracking strokes.) I mean, you're asking the device to do something that is very difficult, which is to monitor the GPS signals while at least half the time it's blinded by the water. My Vivoactive 3 won't do it at all, so I put it under my cap or in my buoy and put it in "walk" mode, later changing the activity to a swim. I'm interested in anyone's experience with the Fenix series: is the location reliable for open water swimming with the watch on your wrist?

    Also, if you're swimming regularly, can you check to see if it's counting steps while you swim? It's easy to tell on the Garmin Connect app.

    Finally, connecting Garmin to MFP is done on the MFP web site:

    https://www.myfitnesspal.com/apps

    You click on the "GET" button and allow MFP to share info with Garmin. (It's only mildly creepy.)

    For what it's worth, the maps my Fenix gives me of where I swam look great. There are landmarks here, I like to swim from a peninsula and I'll do laps back and forth from one edge of the land to the other, the map matches up with where I turned around, how far out I was, etc.

    DCR talked in a few reviews about how this works. The watch gets a fix on the satellites, it knows it's going to spend half its time underwater, it's programmed to remember where to look for the satellites, get a quick fix when it leaves the water, and expect it to disappear.

    When I say the maps look good, I don't been compared to a bike or ski map though. And the fact that the map looks correct doesn't necessarily mean the distance is.
  • Spotteddingo
    Spotteddingo Posts: 95 Member
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    @Jthanmyfitnesspal
    I may try a pull buoy and see if that helps. Thanks for the help!
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    NorthCascades wrote: »
    For what it's worth, the maps my Fenix gives me of where I swam look great.

    That's great to hear. Doesn't need to be absolutely perfect, from my POV. I'd like to get HR while swimming as well.

    (Some people are really critical of the water tracking capability on some forums. Maybe it depends on your stroke.)
  • frankwbrown
    frankwbrown Posts: 12,253 Member
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    I have a Fenix 6x, and it does not count steps during my swimming.
    I had a Fenix 3 HR, but found, to my dismay, that the HR monitor was disabled during swimming. Swimming was my main--practically only--exercise at the time, and the reason I purchased the Fenix 3 HR, so that was a major disappointment. I got the Fenix 6x when I learned that the HR monitor was enabled even during swimming. I'm quite happy with it for the most part, although several times it has stopped counting laps/distance in the middle of my swim.
  • emmarrgh
    emmarrgh Posts: 44 Member
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    My Nokia HR counts steps during my swimming too! I get a random buzz on my wrist that I reached my step goal mid-way through my swim... it doesn't give me step credits for other things I do though - walking while carrying toddler, pushing the stroller, pushing a shopping cart, pulling the radio flyer wagon.

    So for me it may even out throughout the day.

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