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Fenix 7X Sapphire Swim Pool Length Count (and thus Distance) Badly Incorrect

I have access to both a heated outdoor Olympic 50-meter pool and indoor 25-meter pool at Fort Sam Houston (San Antonio, Texas) and swim 1000 meters daily for fitness.  I wore a Fenix 3 HR for the past 5 years and just bought a Fenix 7X Sapphire last week.  I gave up on using the Fenix 3 HR for the pool swim application and instead just used the stopwatch to record my time on each lap because I could never get it to count pool lengths correctly.  This week I have had the same problem with the new 7X Sapphire Solar.  For example, today I swam 1000 meters (10 laps in the 100-meter pool) and used the pool swim app.  I set the pool length to 50 meters and auto rest set to off. I rest for 20 seconds after each 100-meter lap and hit the lap button upon stopping and again on starting back swimming.  The intervals record correctly.  The pool length numbers are way off.   By a factor of 2x.  This makes distance recordings and all averages on the date nonsensical.  

I have a good crawl stroke but do not do flip turns.  I do touch hard and push off and glide, but do no flip turns.  After the 100-meter lap it almost always records 200 meters and 4 lengths vs the correct 2 pool lengths.  It recorded 200 meters on 8 of the 100-meter laps.  On two laps it recorded 150 meters.  On the ten laps, it never got it right.  The pool length number should be 2, not 3 or 4.  

I went into Garmin Connect and edited the final reported distance of 1700 meters to 1000 meters.  That gave me ten good intervals (laps) with the correct time.  But Garmin Connect would not let me edit the number of lengths of each interval from 4 to the correct 2 - only the total distance of the swim.   That made the data on each interval (lap) meaningless.  

If I can't get this situation resolved, I will again give up on the pool swim app on the Fenix 7X Sapphire like I did on the Fenix 3 HR.

I know this is a problem with other users, but I wanted to fully explain my situation because I know how to use this watch.   

If you have to do a flip turn to make this work, please Garmin ... say so.   

  • I swam 1000 meters (10 laps in the 100-meter pool) and used the pool swim app.  I set the pool length to 50 meters

    If swimming in a 100m pool, why did you set the length to 50m? it should be set to 100m.
    I also had some minor issues with lap recording correctly with 5X, 6X, now have the 7X.
    I find when I push off the wall, I keep my arm that has the watch on extended forward an extra second or so before I start swimming strokes again. This has really helped with lap recording to be a lot more accurate.

    My last swim recorded correctly at 1500m, 60 laps in a 25m pool.

  • Thanks, but no, I don't think so.  Are you saying that is a standard 50-meter Olympic pool, which is 50 meters long, that you set the pool length to 100 meters?  Plus, on the interval recording, which is 50 up and 50 back, it records four lengths of 50 meters, or 200 meters.  It should be 2 lengths at 100 meters.  

    This 25-meter pool that you swim in....  Are you saying you set the length to 25 meters or 50 meters?  The length of a 25-meter pool is 25 meters.  The length of a 50-meter Olympic-sized pool is 50 meters.  

    The pool length that you set is the length of the pool.  

    But thanks for the tip on extending the arm.  I do that after I push off from the wall, but I will make sure I exaggerate it.  

  • 10 laps in the 100-meter pool)

    How long is this pool you swam in, 50m or 100m long?

  • Maruzko, When I swim in a pool that is 25 meters long, I enter the pool length at 25 meters.  When I swim in a pool that is 50 meters long, I set the pool length to 50 meters.  Today, it was a 50-meter Olympic pool and I set the length at 50 meters. 

    The watch is not registering the turns correctly and is doubling them.  I swim 50 up and 50 back and hit the lap button to register an interval.  It reports that I swam 200 meters and 4 lengths when I really swam 100 meters and 2 lengths.  It thinks I turned when I didn't.   

  • (10 laps in the 100-meter pool) and used the pool swim app.  I set the pool length to 50 meters

    I will try one more time to understand.

    I quoted what you originally posted above, you said "100 meter pool and you set the length to 50 meters" <-- Confirm this ??

  • Are you swimming constantly for the entire length of the pool, not stopping or changing stroke?

    It sounds like it's thinking you've stopped at some point during the length, then starting another length.

    Check the times on the reported lengths - are they uneven? If so, then at some point it stopped one length and started another.

    Try a different stroke and see if that works better, if so then it's either a bug(!) or something odd with your technique which is confusing it.

  • winfij, My crawl stroke is pretty good and smooth.  I'm not fast but do have a good freestyle and backstroke.  I'm not stopping except to turn and push off the wall.  Like I said above, I swim 50 meters up and 50 back ten times for 1000 meters (ten laps - a lap being up and back for 100 meters), stopping to rest for 20 seconds between each full lap.  The watch records ten interval, but each interval records 3 or 4 pool lengths.  It thinks I'm turning when I'm not and my stroke is good and I do not stop except at the wall.  Two things that might impact this:  I do not do flip turns but do push of and glide.  After resting between laps, I punch the lap button and push of hard and glide to start the interval.    

  • Update - I swam 1000 meters again today in a 50-meter Olympic pool.  I registered an interval at each 100-meter lap, which is two pool lengths - 10 intervals.  The first three intervals recorded 4 pool lengths vs the 2 that I actually swam on each interval, doubling the distance to 200 meters vs the correct 100 meters.  I rested 20 seconds between intervals (100 meters - 2 lengths).  Very frustrating because I have a good freestyle stroke and was doing everything right.  I don't know why it was recording double on the pool lengths (4 vs 2 lengths).  

    So I switched the watch to my right hand and the final 6 intervals of 100 meters recorded perfectly at 2 lengths each (100 meters).  Switching hands did the trick.  I will try the 1000-meter swim again tomorrow with the watch on my right hand.  

  • I had the same issue this morning. Went for a my usual 1500m swim. Usually takes me about 35-40mins. Somehow I did 1500m in 20mins according to Garmin which is highly inaccurate. I swim in a 50m Olympic sized pool and set the settings to the pool length to 50m. Still having errors

    PLEASE HELP ANYONE!!! 

    very frustrating considering I dropped a lot of money on this watch. 

  • Possible solution?  Today I swam 1000 meters in the same 50-meter pool, which was 50 meters up and back ten times.  Each up and back (lap) was recorded as an interval with the lap button.  I rested 20 seconds between intervals (laps).  This time, the entire 1000-meter swim - 20 lengths - recorded perfectly.  I did this by switching the watch to the right hand.  I touched the wall with my right hand, spin to my left (counterclockwise) and push off and glide. All ten intervals recorded 2 lengths.  Perfect.

    It remains a mystery why my intervals were recording 3, 4, 5 and even 6 lengths when the number was supposed to be 2 when the watch was on the left hand.   My freestyle stroke is good (but I don't use no flip turns).  Something about my left hand was triggering turn recordings and thus additional new lengths, which threw the distance readings off drastically.