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Scuba Diving with FR945

Hi everybody

I read on FR945 Owner's manual (page 3):

"The device is intended for surface swimming. Scuba Diving with the device might damage the product and will void the warranty".

But this watch is rated at 5ATM!! I should definitely be able to scuba dive until -20m (actually more, but lets stay on the safe side!!

Was my understaing of 5ATM not correct? What s the issue here?

Top Replies

Leszek Gawron over 4 years ago +4 verified

one thing is a static pressure, and the other is dynamic - just by moving your hand in the water you can greatly increase the pressure on the watch itself.

5 ATM actually is good for swimming only.

All Replies

+1 Leszek Gawron over 4 years ago

one thing is a static pressure, and the other is dynamic - just by moving your hand in the water you can greatly increase the pressure on the watch itself.

5 ATM actually is good for swimming only.

0 8371330 over 4 years ago in reply to Leszek Gawron

Thanks Leszek - this I did not know...

0 8371330 over 4 years ago in reply to Leszek Gawron

Actually.... reading and googling around.... it seems that even normal swimming with a 5atm watch might be unsafe!!!! Is that true?!?!?! I plan to do quite a bit of swimming (about 10/12 hrs a week) on my fr945.........

0 olni65 over 4 years ago in reply to 8371330

According to Garmin themselves it's suitable for swimming and diving into water.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/legal/waterrating-definitions/

0 8371330 over 4 years ago in reply to olni65

ok thx - i hope they re right..

0 Leszek Gawron over 4 years ago in reply to 8371330

Just read it:

splashes, rain or snow, showering, swimming, diving into water, snorkeling

diving into water is mentioned in one breath between showering and snorkeling.

diving into water == jumping head first into the water from the pool edge (this actually imposes a quite substantial pressure on the watch).

NO SCUBA DIVING

The watch has to be usually at least 20 ATM to allow for scuba diving.

Why do you need Garmin 945 10 meters below anyway ? It's useless. You need a proper scuba computer to stay safe.

0 8371330 over 4 years ago in reply to Leszek Gawron

Agreed - it was just to know if i need to actively take my fr945 off before scubadiving (i scubadive quite rarely though).

Otherwise I would have just kept it since i like it so much that i dont really wanna stay away from it.

0 HUMODDA over 4 years ago

If I remember well, the FR935 and FR945 were suitable for swimming and water sports but there was a strict warning NOT to press any buttons underwater as this may impact the sealing and cause leakage eventually leading to damage.

There was some thread either in this or in the FR935 forum elaborating on this specific issue.

0 8371330 over 4 years ago in reply to HUMODDA

This is also a delicate point... b/c if you cant press buttons underwater, you probably also should not press buttons when the watch is wet.. is that right? in that case i m starting to be worried about pool activities.....

0 BeneGi over 4 years ago

This is the same for watches since Ages.

pushing wet buttons ashore is much safer than pushing it under water. If you do it while diving, the pressures add up: static from depth, dynamic from your movement and then the button push. If you do it under the shower, the first two (the big ones) are not there.