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Swimming can be a very lonely, but rewarding activity. There are not too many sports that offer you a full body workout that is both muscular and cardiovascular. Not only this, but when compared with other physical activities, swimming is very soft on your joints. Running can only be done if you have knees that are able to withstand heavy impact over a long period of time. Swimming is not like this, which is why we see so many people from older generations in pools around the country.
With that being said, many people take swimming more seriously and want something which records their progress. There is not a singular best watch to track swimming activities. But there are many fitness watches with dedicated apps and programs which monitor your lap times and allow you to compare data from previous sessions. This article will give a good overview of various swimming watch reviews so you are more informed to make the best personalized purchase, rather than an overall pick that is best for everyone.
Depending on how active you are, will change your requirements on what you want from your potential watch purchase. Someone who swims once per week and wants to keep track of their progress may get by with a simple Timex ironman and will find that this is the best watch for swimming laps. On the other hand, someone who is into various sports such as triathlon may use a smartwatch for swimming, which can also be used in various other exercises such as biking or running.
Table of Contents
Features Required For A Good Swim Watch
Waterproof
It should go without saying. If you’re swimming in open water, a pool, or any body of water on the planet, your watch needs to be waterproof. When choosing a waterproof watch for swimming this is generally of no worry. Waterproof watches are very easy to find since this feature was invented in 1926. Since then a lot has changed and almost every brand makes waterproof watches due to the convenience of having this feature.
Stopwatch / Lap Timer
Having a watch with a swim lap tracker is extremely useful. If you swim in a pool regularly, you will know that time can deviate greatly between a fast lap or a slow one. Not only this, but you can time your entire session using splits and see when your times begin to fall off from start to finish. Another benefit of this is having a lap counter watch, by using this function you will be able to have a concrete record of how many laps you’ve done and how long you’ve been swimming, rather than relying on your own brain.
Ruggedness / Durability
This is not 100% essential for a swimming watch. Generally, fitness watches that are made for activities such as running or swimming are designed to be durable. If you’re just swimming laps around a pool, it’s not likely that your watch will pick up any wear and tear compared to a regular environment. With that being said, we have included options that are durable, as the last thing you want is to scratch your watch on the side of the pool and ruin it.
Lifespan
When buying any watch for any activity, you want to know it can last. There is no worse feeling than spending a lot of money on something, only for it to break a few months later. Thankfully, there are many great brands that produce great quality watches for swimming. These reputable brands have a solid track record of making reliable watches that last for a long time. Therefore you need not worry about this feature when buying from the list below.
Heart Rate Monitor
Purely an optional feature. Some people want a fitness watch for swimming which can track statistics such as heart rate over a prolonged period of time. Others may want a simple digital model that is essentially a swimming lap counter watch.
Having a heart rate monitor on a swimming watch is useful so long as you’re willing to look at the data. Some people enjoy doing this and can compare peaks and troughs in heart rate throughout a long session. Other people just take a quick glance. As long as you’re going to get something out of using a HRM, there is no problem buying a watch with this function, since in modern day this technology is relatively inexpensive.
Vesatility – Can Be Worn Outside The Pool
If you’re wearing a waterproof digital watch, or even a smartwatch that is suited to swimming, this is not where its functionality ends. Everyone has seen other people wearing watches such as Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and Fitbit smartwatches when out and about. This is because modern smartwatches have various apps and functions which are not limited to swimming. In fact, this may be 1% of what the watch offers. Of course, you’re mostly looking for a watch that works best for swimming, but this does not detract from having a smartwatch that is useful for everyday life. Features such as Google or Apple pay are especially useful if you’re regularly wearing a fitness watch.
Best Watches For Swimming
Garmin Swim 2
Arguably the best fitness watch for swimming, the Garmin Swim 2 was designed purely with this sport in mind, not as an afterthought through a 3rd party app. This is clearly noticeable with all of the features contained within the smartwatch. The Swim 2 is ideal for pool swimming, but can also be used in open water such as the ocean, rivers, or lakes and has a handy GPS feature if this is needed.
One of the few true heart rate swimming watches, the Swim 2 has a plethora of tracking attributes including pace, stroke rate, stroke count, and drill logging. Obviously, the watch is designed for water based activities, but is not limited to this and can also track other sports such as running if necessary.
Fitbit Charge 4
In terms of fitness watches, the Fitbit is considerably cheaper than brands such as Garmin, Apple, and Suunto. This is mostly because the Fitbit is not as “smart” as these devices and will require inputs such as pool length before you begin your workout. Whilst this may be annoying for some people, the monetary saving is likely worth it for all but the wealthiest of swimmers.
Another good thing about the Fitbit is that you can wear it all day, this is not a bulky watch that is going to annoy you – in fact you’re likely to forget that you were wearing it. Lastly, Fitbit comes with the usual data analytics found in other smartwatches and also makes use of a GPS and Heart rate monitor if required.
Timex Ironman
Worn by navy seal Jocko Willink, the Timex ironman is clearly rugged enough for foreign environments, so is certainly tough enough for a swimming pool. In all seriousness, this watch is a pretty good budget choice for swimming. It has a split timer that can record up to 30 laps – so should be useful enough for almost everyone.
Being an Ironman watch, this model has up to 100m water resistance, which is again deeper than any swimming pool on earth, so easily meets requirements. If needed, the ironman also has a 100 hour chronograph, which would be useful if you were testing just how long you could swim for without stopping. Lastly, Timex is well known for its indiglo feature – which is essentially a backlight. This allows you to view the time displayed on the face in even the poorest visibility conditions.
Swimovate Poolmate 2
One of the best swimming trackers in terms of non-smart digital watches is the poolmate. As you can tell by the name, this watch has specifically been designed for swimmers and is not something that was a second thought.
The key features of the poolmate are metrics such as distance covered, calories burned and laps. In addition to this, the poolmate allows you to keep up to 50 swimming sessions stored in its memory. Whilst this isn’t much compared to a smartwatch, it is very good for a digital timepiece. Not to mention this is significantly cheaper than any swim-based smartwatch you can buy.
Apple Smartwatch
Clearly not a swimming smartwatch, any Apple watch from series 3 upwards is fully capable of being used in the pool. There are more swimming based apps than you will ever need for Apple iOS, most of which are free and very simple to use.
The main benefit of buying an Apple watch is that it’s not used 100% for swimming. Even if you’re an avid swimmer, it’s unlikely that you’ll even spend 12 hours per week in the pool. If you did, there are still 156 hours left in the week in which you will be doing other activities. The Apple smartwatch allows you to make easy payments and take phone calls, this is not something that many other Swim based watches offer.
Suunto Spartan
Suunto is a brand that was created for use in the toughest of environments. The watches made by this Finnish brand had to withstand submersion in water at arctic level temperatures. Therefore, Suunto will not let you down if you’re measuring lap times in a local swimming pool.
The Spartan is as tough as its name suggests and was designed to be a fitness and sports smartwatch. If you are a fitness fanatic, this is a great choice since it has built-in apps for over 80 sports (including swimming of course). Given that this watch is reasonably expensive, it does of course come with the ability to measure heart rate, as well as a very solid GPS.
Stopwatch For Swimming Coaches
Finis Stopwatch
The Finis stopwatch is ideal for swimming coaches. Worn around the neck, rather than on the wrist, the main feature of this stopwatch is that it stores up to 300 laps of memory. This alone makes it one of the best non-smart swimming tracker watches available. The ability to go through lap times whilst the stopwatch is running is not a feature that many digital watches offer.
One drawback to this stopwatch is that it is not waterproof. In fairness the stopwatch is water resistant, so the odd splash of water is not going to ruin it. However, you should be aware that if this were to drop in the pool, that would likely be your last use of it.
