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735xt open water swimming with breaststroke

4946733
over 3 years ago

I've got into open water swimming so decided to upgrade my watch from a forerunner 30 to the 735xt to get better distance accuracy.... 

I used my 735xt for the first time tonight and I did 2x750m loop and 1x450m loop. My watch said I did 43yards. 

I only swim breaststroke. I've read that the watch does know the 4 main types of stroke, of which one is breaststroke so I don't understand why it doesn't pick up my distance??

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Yes, the watch can detect breaststroke in the pool. Unfortunately open water swimming can only be tracked during freestyle (or butterfly) on all watches (not just Garmin). The hand must come out of the water each cycle to get a GPS fix. The GPS signal cannot be read under water. If you pause during your swim, keep your hand above the surface or it may lose the signal and miss the rest of the swim.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Andy275

    Hi Andy, thanks for this. Do you know how it can track breastroke indoors? I would have thought it would be the other way around with being indoors and getting GPS signal? 

    If I attach it to my hat/float would it auto pause because it isnt on my wrist? I tried this with my forerunner 30 and it was forever autopausing.

    (I think I need to go for quite a few swims to test all the options Joy)

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 4946733

    Indoors it uses accelerometers that are activated when you turn. So it counts pre-defined lengths rather than tracks distance directly. Yes, you can put it in your swim cap. But it is easy to accidentally pause it by hitting the button. You can turn autopausing off (default). The very best way is to attach the watch to a swim safety buoy (or put inside). It is by far the most accurate method for tracking distance (and it is best to swim with a buoy for open water anyway for visibility and in case you get a cramp etc.). Or just swim crawl, which is much faster. ;-)

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    Hey, I only swim breastroke too. I've been open water swimming for years. I fix the garmin in the back of my head (in my goggles strap). I lose stroke dynamics but I can see the exact path.