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Open Water Swimming

Felt It was better to start a generic thread rather than posting in a thread that was discussing 'OWS inaccuracy'

I've now been swimming in the sea with the 5+ for the past couple of weeks so six or seven swims overall. Each of them without any of the problems that were so prevalent last year. Not losing the signal, distance and track are good. This is an open water swim course we have here. Buoys are approximately 250m apart and the total distance abut 2km depending on tide. I have a 250m alert set that went off almost alongside the buoys, which was useful this morning was I tracking about 15m inside the buoy line on the way out. I was sighting off some cranes at the port because the buoys are small and hiding in the chop this morning.

Anyway, in short, in my opinion, Garmin have fixed open water swimming for the Fenix 5+. I will let you know if it changes.

Top Replies

Stewart.Fairbairn over 4 years ago in reply to Dr Phil +2

Just as a comparison, I did an OWS today and it measured 7.6km on the F6 and 7.56km on the F5X Plus. One watch worn on left wrist and the other on the right wrist

All Replies

0 denglerfranz over 4 years ago

I have a Fenix 5 Saphir and the OWS swim tracks are really horrible. It worked until FW 8.0 so it will be probably a software problem. One question did garmin update the GPS software? Or only the software of the watch. For the Fenix there was a 2.51 beta. However no update since then. In summer I will try out hte 2.51. Currently here we have -5 degrees. The water is still liquid. However even with wetsuit no option.

0 Dr Phil over 4 years ago in reply to denglerfranz

Comparison swims with a F5+ and a F6 Sapphire being worn together show the tracks to be good and the distance to be within 100m of each other.

Whatever’s been done works. And that’s all I care about. Last year the F5+ was unusable in the water. I’ve been swimming with it, and the F6 for a couple of months now without any problems at all. My experience with the 5+ last year was very hit and miss, probably more miss than anything else but the OWS appears to be nailed now.

0 denglerfranz over 4 years ago

I have a Fenix 5 and the summer tracks were horrible. Your F5 plus track looks good. I cab only test my F5 in April again. My question was what the GPS version younhave on your F5 plus. 2.50 or higher?

0 Dr Phil over 4 years ago in reply to denglerfranz

Can't answer that at the moment as my watch is away with a friend. But it's whatever the most recent public release is.

0 AllanOlesen67 over 4 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

So you didn't install GPS v2.51 beta manually when it was released?

If you did, it will apparently stick after installing a later public firmware version. At least that happened to me at firmware 9, as described here:

forums.garmin.com/.../gps-chipset-type-m5-2957-software-version-2-51-beta-now-available

0 Dr Phil over 4 years ago in reply to AllanOlesen67

I did install the beta when it came out. Haven't checked to see if it still there. Either way, the tracks show a marked improvement over what I was getting last year.

0 DerDembo over 4 years ago

While this appears to be an n = 1 observation it does at least not point against Garmin getting on top of things. It would be very interesting to get your GPS version, @philipshambrook. I try to stay away from betas of the GPS system but would be tempted to give this one a shot, despite the fact that it appears to have been out there for quite some time and never made it into an official release.

0 Dr Phil over 4 years ago in reply to DerDembo

As soon as I get hold of my 5+ I'll let you know. Hopefully, there will be a public release before your Summer. If it's any consolation, there is a similar improvement and consistency with the F6 Sapphire and open water swimming too.

0 Stewart.Fairbairn over 4 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

Just as a comparison, I did an OWS today and it measured 7.6km on the F6 and 7.56km on the F5X Plus. One watch worn on left wrist and the other on the right wrist

0 4682078 over 2 years ago in reply to denglerfranz

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