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Forerunner 945 - Unable to Map Open Water swims

Former Member over 4 years ago

Hi, am new to the 945 but purchased specifically as recommended for open water swimming. Have been on two lake swims now and although the watch is capturing the basics such as Time, distance and Calories etc it is not capturing the swim on maps. The app shows the Start point and Finish point on a map but does not capture any of the actual swim. Am I missing something obvious, would be very grateful for any help? Malcolm

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0 seilogramp over 4 years ago

Depends on the stroke you're using. Freestyle would have the best chance of getting the most accurate GPS track. Other strokes, such as breaststroke, where the watch is underwater for much of the time will have poor results.

0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to seilogramp

OMG! Really!! Very much appreciate your response but have to say that is very disappointing indeed. Purchased this watch specifically due to a recommendation from Garmin for Open Water Swimming. Had no idea its ability to track would be diminished if slightly underwater - after all its recommended specifically for Open Water Swimming!!

0 seilogramp over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

I am no OWS expert, but reading these forums, that is my understanding. Unless for some reason you have settings on the watch, such as Ultratrac mode, which should not be enabled.

Could you share a link from one of your OWS activities from Garmin Connect Web? You'll need to make the activity public, at least temporarily.

0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to seilogramp

Thank you very much. I have also tried contacting Garmin direct via Messenger. Attaching a link from a swim activity below

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/6009326703

0 jmto over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

Had no idea its ability to track would be diminished if slightly underwater

It's called basic science. "It is well known that the ordinary Global Positioning System (GPS) fails to provide location and time information under water. The reason is that the electromagnetic signals from the orbiting satellites are heavily damped in water and hence can not be detected by the receiver in most cases of interest."

ieeexplore.ieee.org/.../6003649

0 Dr Phil over 4 years ago

Read this:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=AnrKqtOX8FAzmF9yXaIXe6

0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to jmto

Perhaps it is indeed "basic science" but Garmin advertise and sell this watch as ideal for open water swimming. They even recommended this particular watch for Open Water Swimming. Slightly misleading to put it mildly.......

0 e7andy over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

It works great for tracking front crawl. When I swim long distances of breaststroke I hold the watch above the surface every 100 meters or so until I get a position and then continue to swim.

If you swim mostly breaststrokes you can put the watch under your swim cap.

0 jmto over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

You haven't given any reason it would not be for Open Water Swimming. I think it is and so does Garmin.

Unfortunately there are some basic physics limitations it to work like you think it should work, especially underwater, but it does not make it any more suitable/ideal for Open Water Swimming.

There are no other watches that would be any better or more suitable/ideal for Open Water Swimming.

0 timtammittee over 4 years ago

I think you might have mixed up "going swimming in in open water" with the Olympic sport "open water swimming" where front crawl is the only stroke that anyone would ever use.