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New watch, latest software, swimming is barely recognized and turns off when I turn

I'm a new user, got my Swim 2 yesterday, updated the software to the latest (2.80) and today I took it for the first swim. Well, I'm flummoxed, it was a big let down. Here's the list of problems I encountered:

  • the watch was switch to "resting" while I was swimming (breaststroke). I realized after a few laps that the screen was black and apparently I had been resting for minutes, whereas I made about 6 laps. This was with Auto Rest enabled. 
  • I stopped the activity, saved it and restarted it. I pushed strongly at the start of the swim then kept an eye on the watch as I was swimming. When I turned at the end of the pool, again with a leg push, the watch went into rest mode and stayed there, even though I was swimming.
  • I disabled Auto Rest, then did a few more laps. It was barely better, out of 20 laps now it recognized 3. 

I don't know what to say. The battery was fully charged.

Any suggestions will be really appreciated.

Thank you.

  • Sorry to say that, but it is time to work on your swimming form. If your swimming stroke is not recognized, or only recognized as a rest, then something is definitely wrong with your technique.

    note:

    if you look constantly at your watch while swimming, it will definitely measure wrong.

  • Yep. You said it all...(specially with your note)

  • I appreciate the feedback but unfortunately it did not explain the behaviour. I talked with two Garmin techs. They said that laps are counted by detecting the pushes against the wall, or more precisely the slowdown, the push in the opposite direction and the glide. After many years of hiking and cycling, I'd venture to say at least the push is reasonably well executed. 

    Since my initial post, I did two more tests in which I started the recording and did not touch it at all nor looked at it except very briefly a few times while gliding, just by twisting the hand, to see whether it was in swim or rest mode. The result is that it detected 5 out of 44 laps in the first session and 10 out of 52 from the second. The watch fails to detect the first turn and then it remains in rest mode, even though the pushes and the everything else was consistent. 

    As for the form, while I won't win any swimming competitions, after a bunch of hours of spent with myswimpro and other YT channels, I hope it's decent enough. Filming is not allowed at the pool unfortunately. 

  • Well, what can we say? The watch works, Really well, the best Garmin to use in the pool.

    Let a friend try the watch and see if it has the same behaviour…if not, it’s your fault, I’m afraid…

  • A bit of an update. I asked a swim coach to watch me doing a few laps and he said that overall the form is ok for a recreational swimmer, nothing fundamentally wrong with it. Gave me a few tips but that's outside of this topic. He said he had a student with a similar problem and the one thing he saw in common was that both of us are doing breastroke with long glides. Perhaps this is what confuses the algorithm. 

    I wish it were better but there's nothing to do at this time so I returned the watch. I may try again when Swim 3 comes out.