Swimming pool lap counter inaccurate VA5

Anyone know how do I get the pool lap counter to be more accurate? Eg: at 40 laps of a 25 m pool it says 44 laps. Auto pause is switched off.

  • Whilst i dont have the VA5 , I have the FR965 , I have times where if I move my arms strangely whilst turning or at rest or sometimes if I have to slow and pass another swimmer in lanes it end up with an additional length. I have even found it give me an additional length at the start of the swim . There are easily identifiable in the details as  some lengths have very short times.

    If i focus on my swimming , and how I start the session also, I am able to get better results.

    I am not sure how you find the stroke detection but Ive had to focus quite a bit on my backstroke form to get it to be recognised.

    Had many support calls on the issues and in the end I realised I have to be mindful of my strokes etc then its more accurate.

    As an aside , this website is very useful for extracting and then correcting the number of lengths post activity if that is useful.

    www.swimmingwatchtools.com/

  • Hi, thankyou so much for this reply. It's hugely helpful. It's a bit frustrating though. I am curious about how the lap counting goes for the Garmin Swim2, and also for some of the Apple watches. But I do like my vivo5, so I'll be sticking with it, but it's still a bit frustrating. I really wanted a good lap counter. I have been pushing off harder from the walls which is helping a bit.

  • This should assist with some of your questions regarding poll swim accuracy: Tips to Improve Accuracy of Pool Swim Activities

  • Unfortunatelly I have very similat experiences. According two sessions both time detect my watch extra laps. I'm completely amateur so I could live without perfect stroke counting at this point, but the lap counting issue makes the watch useless for me. The main purpose of the watch for me that I don't want focus on lap counting only to enjoy my swimming. I had a Huawei smart band in the past. It was around 27 USD and counted my laps perfectly. This VA5 was x10 of the Huawei's cost but not able to give me the same result. It is more then frustrating.

    For running and cycling it is perfect though but I  don't understand how Garmin is not capable to solve this issue. I've found a 7yo comment about this issue and still we get this for our money.