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Open water swimming accuracy

4878644
over 1 year ago

Hello everyone, I swam freestyle in a lake today a total distance of 800 meters (measured from google maps) and when I checked the distance measured from my fr955 it said 1131 meters. That is over 300m difference which is a lot. I have also noticed that even after I stop swimming to rest in the water the watch always continues to measure distance.

Has anyone encountered this issues? 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Leon

    Hello,

    Yesterday I've made a mistake, disabling laps and waiting for Satellites, won't help.

    When in Google earth click on  "track" and it will show the correct distance, that doesn't match with Garmin.

    Clicking on "start" or "end" in GE, will show distance that is matched with Garmin. This is probably happens because GE takes start and end data from the exported file which is faulty. But track is a calculated from the GPS data which is correct.

    As such, the only way for now is to export from Garmin into GE, open it and to click on "TRACK", NOT on "start" or "end", then manually edit OWS.

    Hope Garmin will fix this soon.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Leon

    I wonder if you have a faulty watch. For sure, you need to wait for the GPS signal to sync. I usually let it saturate a couple of minutes. And of course don't do *** stroke since the watch is under water and will lose the signal. If you stop at any point, keep the watch above water. I have laps and alerts set for every 500yds. If I do an "out and back" I usually tread water for 30s to ensure it "catches up" in case the signal was lost at any point. I never changed the the track not on start or end default settings. The watch is pretty close to spot on to a watch on buoy (and G-maps) when tested, and the watch matches what is in GC. I don't export the data, so I don't know if there are errors caused by that. These tips help: https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=AnrKqtOX8FAzmF9yXaIXe6

    Heart rate is a different story in OW and pool. where sometimes it is correct and other times way low. I have not been able to reproduce "correct" using the same wrist position and strap tightness. It's annoying as it effects measurements such as training effect etc. but it is a limitation in the approach, and I don't want to wear a chest strap.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Andy275

    Hi.

    Watch can not faulty. After all the OWS route is correct and the GPS time/ distance stamps are correct.

    It is a good point to keep watch above the water when taking a break, will try it tomorrow.

    About the heart rate, I do find it within my expectations. One way, recommend by Garmin, is to wear a watch two fingers above the pisiform (watch bone) and keep it tight. 

    Have a good one.