Most heart rate monitors are waterproof, and therefore you can track your heart rate while doing laps, but it’s difficult to track what you do in the pool. The new Swim training watch from Garmin is designed specifically for swimmers, and provides feedback on laps. The Garmin Swim training watch was announced ahead of the U.S. Masters Swimming Championships in Omaha, Nebraska taking place July 5-8.
The Swim training watch tracks stroke type, stroke count, distance, pace, lengths and more. The Garmin Swim tracks workouts and drills in real-time. “Garmin Swim will quickly replace the log books and journals so many swimmers have come to rely on for tracking their progress,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “At a glance, swimmers will know their time, distance, pace and be able to wear this watch as an everyday timepiece, all without having to worry about charging it.”
It is necessary for swimmers to program the training watch a little. Swimmers need to tell the watch the length of the pool they’re swimming in before actually diving in. The training automatically detects the stroke a swimmer is using, tracks lengths, strokes, distance and pace based on the stroke and length of the pool. Swim also calculates swimmers’ SWOLF scores to help gauge efficiency. The SWOLF score, known as “swimming golf” score, is the combination of a swimmer’s 25-yard swim time with the number of strokes taken in that distance.
Garmin designed the watch with a streamlined profile so it cuts through the water and doesn’t cause drag and slow swimmers down. The battery lasts roughly a year, and is easy to replace and maintain the water-tight seal.
The Garmin Swim will retail for $149.99.