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Which models have the pool swimming functionalities/features at least as good as the ones from Garmin Swim 2?

6650605
7 months ago

Hi!

My Garmin Swim 2 is done due to a design flaw (the 2nd watch in less than 4 years), so I decided to look for another model that is at least as good and accurate in measuring pool swimming as the Swim 2.

I rarely swim in open water, so I don't really care about that.

Which models would you recommend?

Thank you in advance.

  • 0 7 months ago

    I don’t think that Garmin includes different accuracy in measuring swimming parameters in different models.

    Rather, we are talking about the number of these parameters and functions for swimming.

    If you don’t look at the expensive Phoenix and others, you’re left with Forerunner and Vivo. For me, the 5 buttons of forerunners are important, in the water this is important.

    Among them is the outdated FR55 - with a small display and a not very capacious battery and the smallest set of functions,

    the next in price are FR245 and FR165.

    It’s more complicated here,

    FR245 has been discontinued - this is a minus, but it has a large non-Amoled screen (a plus for me), and supports custom workouts in the pool. FR165 - new, with an Amoled screen, no support for custom workouts in the pool.

    I chose 245, I don’t regret it.

    The next 255... are already significantly more expensive, but fully support the Swim2 functionality including open water and external HRMs.

  • 0 7 months ago

    I went from the Swim2 to the FR265 and love it. It has every feature that the Swim2 has, with the exception of support for the older HRM Swim strap. The OLED screen has fantastic visibility under water... I was always happy with the MIP screens but now I am an OLED convert.  My battery life has been 7+ days pretty consistently. The additional health/smartwatch features are also a big upgrade.  

    The FR165 is the same list price as the Swim2 but is missing a few other features like custom workouts, alerts, CSS.  If the 165 was available when I bought the 265 I probably would have just gone for the 165, but now that I have the 265 I really like the additional training features that the 265 has. But I can see most Swim2 users being happy with the 165.  

    btw, I had a similar "design" issue with my first Swim2. I couldn't get the strap off and ended up breaking it in a way where it couldn't be replaced.  I ended up getting a refurbished Swim2 but that came with scratches on the screen and a well used battery.    

  • +1 7 months ago

    Thank you guys for your inputs.

    The FR 165 caught my attention, but unfortunately the swimming feature 'countdown start' is a must have for me. They're not gonna add it, right?

    Similar story with the 'pacing alert (pool swim only)' feature: www.garmin.com/.../

    Actually the FR 255/255S is in the same price range as the 165 (165 is 173€, 255/255S MUSIC is 285€ in the EU). The only plus for the 165 I'm seeing right now is the release date, but I might be wrong.

    EDIT: If I go for the 255/255S, what about the two available sizes? Is the bigger 255 more annoying during swimming?

  • 0 7 months ago in reply to 6650605
    6650605 said:
    If I go for the 255/255S, what about the two available sizes? Is the bigger 255 more annoying during swimming?

    Depends on the size of the wrist, if not large, then of course it could be inconvenience, if not, then 10 grams of weight are not felt at all, everything is better visible on the big screen, +2 days of autonomy.