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Is this the only Garmin watch that measures HR while swimming?

PierreJohnson
over 5 years ago

The title says it all. I would like to know if Swim or Swim 2 are the only Garmin watch to measure heart rate under water, while swimming? Does the Fénix 6 have this function ?

If Swim is the only Garmin product line to have this funiction, why is it so? Is this just a way to have you to buy several watches? I bought a Garmin Vivoactive, and my only disappointment was precisely this point, that it cannot measure my heartrate while I'm swimming.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 4216382
    4216382 said:
    so even if i ve paused the activity i want be able to see my HR ?

    That's correct. The OHR sensor stays off until you stop and exit the swimming activity.

    4216382 said:
    So only the FR245, vivoactive 4 and Fenix 6 series are able to look at your HR, during a swiiming workout ?

    I'm not sure if this list is complete (I think the 945 is missing), but generally only some very latest models with the latest optical sensor allow to use optical HR sensor while swimming.

    With your F3, the only option is to use a suitable chest strap.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to tmk2

    Do you know if the FR245 has open water swim mode as well with the latest firmware update ?

    Thanks for your answers by the way!!!!

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 4216382

    It does not, by the looks of it.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have the vivoactive as well (version 3) and it does not measure HR while swimming. Initially it did but then Garmin switched it off during one of their software updates, supposedly because it was unreliable and they did not want to be confronted with support issues and claims because of it. As far as I can tell, the Garmin Swim 2 still uses the same HR monitor as the vivoactive 3 so it beats me why they switched it off for the vivoactive and switched it on for the Swim 2, unless they want to sell a few more Swim 2........

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I have the vivoactive as well (version 3) and it does not measure HR while swimming. Initially it did but then Garmin switched it off during one of their software updates, supposedly because it was unreliable and they did not want to be confronted with support issues and claims because of it. As far as I can tell, the Garmin Swim 2 still uses the same HR monitor as the vivoactive 3 so it beats me why they switched it off for the vivoactive and switched it on for the Swim 2, unless they want to sell a few more Swim 2........

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to wdwd
    wdwd said:
    As far as I can tell, the Garmin Swim 2 still uses the same HR monitor as the vivoactive 3

    No, it doesn't.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    From this wiki page I guess all Forerunner 45/245/945 (released in 2019) are using the same "3rd generation optical heart rate monitor" thus could support swimming with HR on. Just curious if anyone knows more about this.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to tmk2

    How do you know? What is the difference?

    On the website I can only see they both use the "garmin elevate optical heart rate sensor".

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Yes, they use the same OHR sensor. In 945 HR monitoring during swim is already allowed. But 945 is much more expensive. 245 lacks OW swim, 45 lacks swimming function completely.

    The question is what do you want to use the watch for? Garmin will not give the features for free...

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to wdwd
    wdwd said:
    How do you know? What is the difference?

    The Swim 2 has the 3rd gen elevate sensor, similar to all recent garmin wearables, while the va3 has the older 2nd gen. Notable difference is that according to garmin the 3rd gen is better suited for underwater operation, and this is why some latest watches that utilise the 3rd gen sensor can do hr measurement for swimming, while none of the older watches with the 2nd gen sensor can do it.