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Summary of User Complaints and Improvement Requests Regarding Garmin Descent Mk3 Swimming Features

raon

Background:
As someone who enjoys both swimming and freediving, I made the significant decision to purchase the Garmin Descent Mk3. While I’m quite satisfied with its freediving features, I find the swimming functionalities to be severely lacking.

Main Complaints:

  1. Limitations in Activity Recognition:

    • No Recognition of Kickboard/Drill Practice: Unlike Samsung Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch, which can somewhat detect swimming even without arm movements, the Mk3 completely fails to recognize such activities and requires manual input through the “Drill Log” function. This is disappointing, especially for a smartwatch marketed as fitness-focused.

    • Inaccurate Stroke Recognition: Regardless of the actual stroke used, over 90% of my swimming is recorded as breaststroke. This is not a personal issue, but rather a long-standing problem with Garmin watches, as pointed out by many users. Competing products generally offer much better stroke recognition.

  2. Lack of Water Temperature Measurement During Swimming:

    • Although the Mk3 is equipped with a water temperature sensor, this function is unavailable during swimming activities and is not recorded in activity logs. Users want to see real-time water temperature during their swims and have this data logged for future reference, especially when swimming in different pool environments.

  3. Swimming Features Are Underdeveloped Compared to Running:

    • Swimming is arguably the second most important sport for smartwatch users after running. However, Garmin seems to lag behind in supporting and developing swimming-related features. As a result, many users feel that apart from waterproofing and battery life, Garmin is hard to recommend for swimmers.

Requested Improvements:

  • Significant Enhancement of Swimming Features: Garmin should provide swimming support on par with its running features, ultimately fostering the perception that "Garmin is the go-to brand for swimming."

  • Firmware Updates: Improvements such as better activity recognition accuracy and water temperature display/logging should be implemented via firmware updates—not only for the Mk3 but for as many Garmin devices as possible.

Conclusion:
I feel that Garmin has neglected swimming functionality, especially in terms of activity recognition accuracy, user convenience, and supplementary features like water temperature logging. Just as Garmin has become a top choice for runners, I urge the company to take proactive steps so it can also become the best option for swimmers.

  • 0 in reply to Maruzko

    I don’t understand.

    1. Whether it’s freediving or scuba diving, a lot of practice is done in indoor pools. The water there is no different from that of a typical swimming pool.

    2. The temperature sensor is enabled or disabled through software; it is not physically isolated from the water. In other words, since it is always exposed to water when submerged, its durability is unrelated to whether the function is activated or not.

  • +1 in reply to raon

    Based on Ray's post it sounds like the issue was when the sensor was energized in chlorinated water. My guess would be some sort of electrochemical reaction causing the sensor to fail. So then if it's not energized while submerged in chlorinated water then it wouldn't occur.

  • 0

    A very strange behavior of strike and distance recognition is making device almost useless. Was training a beginner student in 50m pool who has Mk3 - she was doing different excercises including swimming with one hand and other "strange" activities. All were very slow and total distanse was mere 400 meters. Watches then showed 2000 m(!) of total distance with magnificent record of 25s/100m! Such a great break between "measurements" and reality looks like total madness in algorithms.

    I have my own Mk2s and use a drill mode for such activities but could not find it on Mk3 instantly.

  • 0 in reply to DM

    Swimming distance is calculated by detected turns and the pool length setting. It's meant for swimming, not doing drills so not sure what are you expecting there. If you stop moving and continue, it's most likely detected a turn. If you do quick direction changes, that's again a turn and so on...

  • 0 in reply to chrisallennc

    That doesn't make sense either. When people learn freediving and scuba diving, they usually do so in an indoor pool. This water is the same as the water in a regular swimming pool. However, the water temperature sensor works accurately in those situations.

    If the problem is really caused by an interaction between chlorine and electrical signals, then I would consider it a very poorly made product.

  • 0 in reply to chrisallennc

    Granted, the water in an indoor pool is usually a stable 29-30 degrees Celsius. But for someone who logs all their activities, it can't help but feel like a letdown when the water temperature isn't recorded. This is especially true when you're traveling and using a hotel pool, or swimming somewhere new.

  • 0 in reply to DM

    Wow, that's a very serious error you had. While my device isn't that bad, I think the fundamental problem is that a dedicated fitness watch is proving to be less accurate than a general-purpose smartwatch like a Galaxy Watch or Apple Watch.

  • 0 in reply to jmto

    A smartwatch uses sensors like the gyroscope and accelerometer to recognize arm movements, understand the swimming activity, and then present that as data. However, the problem I see is that the performance of this data doesn't live up to the reputation of a "specialized fitness smartwatch."

    From a common-sense perspective, it seems entirely possible to improve the accuracy of the swimming data. In fact, the Galaxy Watch and Apple Watch are relatively accurate at recognizing stroke type, swimming distance, and rest times.

    (This has made me consider buying another watch just for swimming data, but I don't think it's right to have to buy a separate device when I already own this expensive one.)

  • 0 in reply to jmto

    That's when smart algorithms should do their job. There's no person in the world who can smim 100 meters in 25 seconds, especially with pulse of 120. These smart watches should be much smarter...

  • 0 in reply to DM

    Somewhat true, but then we can argue what is smart watch and what are these and so on. These have some smarter and some not so smart things. It's also that the swimming in designed for swimming where it works pretty decent. It's not designed for measure distance while doing drills so it's pointless to comment how it sucks on something it isn't designed for. 

    I don't think Garmin sees any idea to use effort to thing that couple of people nags that they don't understand how the watch works and what is expected but you can of course suggest that to:  https://www.garmin.com/forms/ideas/ 

    BTW They even have this article that tells the points I raised.

    Tips to Improve Accuracy of Pool Swim Activities | Garmin Customer Support 

    Some highlights from there:

    • Disruptions mid-length, such as:

      • Changes to speed or stroke cadence mid-length (including stopping or walking).

      • Interruptions from other swimmers.

      • Switching stroke type mid-length.

    • Performing drills that affect arm motion.

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