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Why no watertemperaturesensor ?

Justice
10 months ago

I'm really missing a watertemperatursensor on the new Fenix8! They were the very first with the skin temperature but now, no watertemp messurement?

Why? :(

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member 10 months ago in reply to Dr Phil

    Coldest water that I have had the pleasure to swim in was 12 Celcius according to my Fenix 6 (not wearing wetsuit, so the watch was on my wrist with no layer between). I don't think my skin temperature had a whole lot to contribute after 15 or so minutes. But then, accuracy isn't that important for me, the temp. on the watch is an experience-based guideline for setting the max. duration of my swim.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to Former Member
    I don't think my skin temperature had a whole lot to contribute after 15 or so minutes.

    My thoughts even with the watch on the wrist, after an hour in the water the watch temperature would be expected to be closer to the actual temperature. There's a bunch of crazies here swimming all year round without wetsuits - gets to 11C in Winter when the air temp is around freezing. I'm in a wetsuit below 17C but then I'm soft!

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to jmto

    This was a swim run set I did a couple of weeks ago. I confess I don't always check the data but looking back there's consistency. For this session I had three swims each around 15mins. Air temperature was around 14C. There's little doubt that the longer you swim the closer the watch temperature will get to the sea temperature.

    And a swim last week

    As I said, I cannot speak to the accuracy of the data but for me it's close enough and correlates to published information - https://seatemperature.info/napier-water-temperature.html

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to renton82
    renton82 said:
    They have disabled it for pool swim since, in their opinion, could damage sensor. 

    These sensors can operate from < 0 to likely > 70C. You will be damaged well before the sensor is, so I don't believe that Garmin would be disabling the sensor for fear of it being damaged. The sensor is going to be damaged whether it's electronically disabled or not.

    Garmin disable recording sensor temperature in activities because your body heats the watch and interacts with the sensor causing it to give an inaccurate ambient temperature sensor reading, yet it remains accurate for the purpose of the sensor which is to ensure that the barometric readings are correct. 

    Garmin will likely enable the temperature sensor for diving and swimming activities to match what Apple have just announced As it's less likely to be impacted by body temperature in the way that it is when it's out in the air.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to 2529455
    2529455 said:
    Garmin disable recording sensor temperature in activities because your body heats the watch and interacts with the sensor causing it to give an inaccurate ambient temperature sensor reading,

    This has nothing to do with why Garmin disabled the sensor for Pool Swimming. I'm still not sure why or how but apparently it was something to do with the chemicals used in pools that caused problems with the watch.

    I'm not a fan of DCR, I find him overblown and long-winded but read this for more background - https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/10/fascinating-reason-temperature.html

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member 10 months ago in reply to 2529455
    2529455 said:
    The sensor is going to be damaged whether it's electronically disabled or not.

    Maybe. There are chlorine resistant sensors but they did not use those.

    I am not sure that powering off the sensor protects it, or the membrane that it is behind, so to be on the safe side, I stick a bit of electrical tape over the sensor opening when I swim in a pool. However I forgot that a few times and the sensor is fine.

  • 0 10 months ago in reply to Dr Phil
    Dr Phil said:
    I'm not a fan of DCR, I find him overblown and long-winded but read this for more background - https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2021/10/fascinating-reason-temperature.html

    Here’s the meat and potatoes:

    https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-945/271676/temperature-data-screen---swim-activity-not-working-after-7-8-update?pifragment-480=5#1307177

    “The ability to measure water temperature readings during a pool swim activity was removed in version 7.80. After through testing and investigation, we have discovered that having the barometer-thermometer (a combined electronic part) powered on during exposure to chlorine dramatically accelerates the failure of the part. Therefore to give customers the best experience and product longevity we decided it was very important to make the change to turn off this part during pool swimming. “ –Garmin-Brooks

    I reached out to Garmin, curious if they’d expand any more on this. While they declined to, they did agree with a part of the e-mail where I said to them that this seems to be one of those things that “you only learn at scale”.

    It at least confirms that Garmin’s official reason is to avoid damaging the sensor.