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Swim Recognition not accurate (confuses free style for ***)

avikoren1
over 5 years ago

I am not a pro swimmer but on hundreds of swims the Fenix 5x was way more accurate in detecting my free style.  With the 5x I would get an occasional *** stroke detection but with the 6x its every other length is wrongly detected as *** vs the style I swim which is free style.  I would say something changed in the SW for this big stroke detection issue but any guidance as to what may be confusing the watch into thinking I am swimming *** vs free would be appreciated. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to diaks

    could the turn mechanics affect stroke recognition? 

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Just as FYI, I went from the below with the 5X swimming at 2:2x/100 meters

    https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4176663065

    To this with the 6x, all while my swim improved (but I am also turning differently)

    https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4609479234

    A big change in swim detection all while I improved.  I may try to go back to my older turn style to see if it makes a difference

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to avikoren1
    avikoren1 said:
    could the turn mechanics affect stroke recognition? 

    I wouldn't have thought so. It's more likely to affect length counting,

    diaks said:
    forced to slow down due to different swimmer in line. 

    and disruptions like this will also affect length counting and possibly stroke detection.

    These watches work very well for people with reasonable stroke style and who can swim lengths without interruptions. I do all sorts of funny things at the end of the pool to change direction but rarely lose a length. I swim at roughly 2mins/100 about 20 strokes per length of a 25m pool and do things that occasionally resemble a flip turn at the end, and only freestyle. I rarely have problems.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Well it a mystery for me.  I went from near perfect stroke detection on the 5x to about 50% being misread as breaststroke instead of freestyle on the 6x.  What would be cool is if Garmin can provide some guidance on possible stroke improvements.  Perhaps a table that shows that if your freestyle is being registered as breaststroke, try 1, 2 and 3 to improve your stroke.  Etc, for other mis interpretations. Alas, I will drop this topic but something changed in the 6x and I guess you need a near perfect stroke to have it read correctly. 

    Also, just looked back at results from previous SW versions and it seems to me that stroke recognition got worse starting with version 6.0.  Isn't that when they introduced the new SWIM features?  While we are on that topic when they did introduce the new SW features I tried two features.  The first was the auto rest detection and the pace alerts.  I tried them one at a time and for both of those enables features I was getting issues with lengths being split into two.  That has never happened to me before, ie if my normal length is 30 seconds it detected one lenth as two taking approx 15 sec each

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to avikoren1

    i had some problems with auto rest. It doesn't seems to work so well with me. Both timing and stroke recognition seems a bit more off. I am not sure if i'm going to use it again. I had better results with auto rest set off. 

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I use my Garmin watches exclusively for swimming and noticed similar behaviour like OPs. 

    • Since returning my 6X Sapphire (swimming calories software issues) - I moved temporarily to Polar Vantage M - needless to say much lower price tag, and tried swimming with it.

    So for OP - just in case you find useful:

    - Software options are way behind Fenix/Forerunner line

    - Polar has some lap auto-corrections embedded - and on my training (2.5-3km in 33m pool) I NEVER get lap over-counted - no matter how pool is crowded (changes of tempo with Fenix/Forerunner ALWAYS lead to additional laps). Laughing to suggestions to have swimming coach - shows how "senior" members treat sincere questions. Happy to meet them in the pool any day to see their style.

    - HR in swimming is better on Polar: as I guy with big wrists - now I tend to believe this is due to larger sensor (leds are spread on much  bigger surface than on Fenix), also Vantage M band is superior - its beyond description, you have to wear it after Fenix to see what I am talking about. Material (hard rubber like) is much more robust (no signs of silicone wear like on Garmin) and grip is superior! Why Fenix doesnt have this (on a much more heavier watch) is beyond my knowledge.

    All this is coming from otherwise Garmin fan - I wish I could say that swimming has equally same support like other sports - but no... try other brands and see for yourself. You have month return period for anything you buy nowadays.

    Also check/google for Garmin forum comparison of Vivoactive 3, Apple Watch and Huawei GT2

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to phn55

    I tell you why I didn't consider the vantage for swimming: 1. It doesn't have the drill option

    2. It doesnnt connect to swim.com or swim.pro  or anything else

    Reason 3: the web is full of review telling how bad the polar is for swimming.

    If you are happy with it, it's good for you but I would go too loud about the vantage being better than the fenix for swimming because probability it is not