Swimming Metrics Question

Distance, time, strokes, pace, calories. no swolf.

Great. I’ve been trying to find this out for ages. No information published anywhere!

Does it autodetect the stroke used or do you need to tell it prior/later?

And does the HR still work during the swim mode therefore report HR too?

trying to buy my wife an activity tracker she’ll actually use/wear. Has to look good, which this does, and provide some level of useful swimming metrics otherwise it’s pointless as that’s her “sport”. She only swims recreationally but has been interested in a wearable for ages, to see where she is. She used to be competitive when younger, hence wanting useful features.

The manual is a good source of information - http://static.garmin.com/pumac/vivosmart_4_OM_EN.pdf

This is a basic device so don’t expect too much in the way of features. No indication that it will auto detect stroke. HR in swim mode is not available on any Garmin device unless it is capable of pairing with an HRM-Tri or HRM-Swim.

The manual is a good source of information - http://static.garmin.com/pumac/vivosmart_4_OM_EN.pdf

This is a basic device so don’t expect too much in the way of features. No indication that it will auto detect stroke. HR in swim mode is not available on any Garmin device unless it is capable of pairing with an HRM-Tri or HRM-Swim.

Thanks but I had already checked that. Did you check it yourself? It’s pretty useless and only mentions laps... this watch is supposed to give detailed swim metrics for pool use only according to Garmin’s website (https://support.garmin.com/en-GB/?faq=oxpDS1HWGf1HtWitgrdTy6), hence I was interested to see the above answer which states it gives the other metrics.

please, if you don’t know the answer, why reply? I’m looking for someone who actually uses the watch for the swimming functions and maybe able to answer from experience. I’m not a Garmin newbie... I have had several cycling Garmin’s and a fenix 3/5x, so know there are limitations but as usual with Garmin not all information is easily found before purchase!

My apologies.

I found the swim tracking to be terrible compared to my previous fitbit. It overestimates the number of lengths by an average of 10%, and the touch screen becomes nigh unusable when it's wet. Each subsequent firmware update has made it even less responsive.

Interesting and useful info. Thanks. My wife would get annoyed by that. Perhaps swim metrics on a “pretty” wearable just aren’t there yet then.