Fitness trackers are great tools for monitoring your progress and performance. This new trend is quickly growing in popularity. You can even take your tracker swimming!
There are many options. However, so many choices can be overwhelming. Which one suits you and your needs? Before we get into that, let’s talk about the benefits that come with wearing a fitness tracker:
- You can set personal goals. Everyone works out differently. So it’s natural to have your own set of fitness goals. This could be an unbroken set of straight, hitting a number of reps or swimming a particular time. Whatever your goal is, tracking your swimming will give you measurables to track and compare.
- It gives you motivation in the water. Swimmers who train on their own need to push themselves when they aren’t with a coach. Having the results of your swim workout in front of you can help. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment having done something measurable in the water.
- You can plot your training. If you are swimming for fun, you don’t need a fitness tracker. However, those looking for a workout or swimming competitively will. Seeing your progress over time can help you plan future training sessions.
- It keeps you accountable. Swimmers often leave early when using the pace clock to track their workout time. In reality, swimmers think they are going faster than t. A fitness tracker eliminates the guessing game. It gives you results that are honest and accurate.
Wow! For obvious reasons, people looking for a pool-friendly wearable look at the waterproof ratings on their device. Pressure tests are measured using ATMs, short for atmospheres. This converts to water depth to make the measurements easier to understand. Each ATM is equivalent to 10 meters (33 feet) of static water pressure.
So What’s The Best Fitness Tracker for Swimming?
That’s a tough question. Hopefully, our list can help you out! We will review a variety of options to help you find the fitness tracker that works for you. There are three main types of fitness trackers:
- Style: Look good and feel good.
- Functionality: It tracks a basic workout.
- Performance: You will see specific stats that come from an intense workout.
Now, let’s review each type of tracker!
Looking for Style?
These fitness trackers are meant to look pretty! Stylish swimming fitness trackers are ideal for casual swimmers. They have the basic necessities for tracking daily activities. However, you might be sacrificing functionality for looks in some cases.
MISFIT Ray
The Misfit Ray is designed for the minimalist. It tracks your fitness and sleep patterns. Stay motivated by counting your steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned, activity tagging and sleep duration and quality. Additionally, it doesn’t need charging, is water-resistant up to 50 meters and can be worn anywhere. This means more data, better insights and powerful motivation.
Use the In-App Lap Counting Upgrade by Speedo to add more features to your Misfit Ray. This upgrade tracks meters and laps swam in 25 and 50-meter pools and counts down a set swim time.
Key features:
- Automatically tracks steps, distance, calories and light and restful sleep
- Vibration alerts for call and text notifications, movement reminders and alarms
- Smart button enabled to control connected household devices
- Swimproof, anodized aluminum cylinder with multicolor LED progress display
- Non-charging, replaceable batteries last up to 4 months
- Reflective band option features a sleek reflective accent that reflects light in even the dimmest conditions — so you can stay safe and in style at all times
Price: $79.99 USD
Waterproof rating: 5 ATM (50 m)
Overall product rating: 4/5
Fitbit Flex 2
Track your activity and sleep using this slim swim-proof wrist band. Additionally, it gives you notifications from your phone. The removable trackers fit in bands, bangles and pendant accessories. It tracks your swimming and exercise patterns, which can be checked in the Fitbit app as well!
Key features:
- Swim proof
- Interchangeable accessories
- Reminds to move
- Smart track
- Call & text notifications
- Long battery life (up to 5 days)
Price: Starts at $62 USD
Waterproof rating: 5 ATM (50 m)
Overall product rating: 4.2/5
Looking for Performance?
These devices are focused on workouts. If you’re looking for more specific statistics, take a look at these devices. Those practicing for a swim meet are sure to love these trackers.
Garmin HRM Swim Wrist
This handy tracker has the word “swim” in the title. So it’s pretty obvious who it’s made for. Its sleek, non-slip strap stays in place, even during wall push-offs. Once you get out of the pool, real-time heart rate, interval summaries and stored heart rate are transmitted to the 920 XT.
Key features:
- Specifically designed for swimmers
- Nonslip strap
- Stores and forwards heart rate data to compatible devices
- Supports heart variability and advanced heart rate features
- Swim interval heart rate statistics
- Non-slip design
- Pool chemical resistant
Price: $107 USD
Waterproof rating: 5 ATM (50 m)
Overall product rating: 4.4/5
S908 GPS IP68 Waterproof Smart Band
Combining outdoor sport and health functions, this fitness tracker is ready for anything. The heart rate and sleep monitor supervise your physical condition in real time. Outdoor sports lovers and swimmers will love this device. GPS can record your movement trace, speed and distance when you run, ride, climb mountains, swim, play golf and so on!
Key features:
- Multiple sport modes
- GPS chip
- Recording trajectory
- Dynamic heart rate monitoring
- IP68 professional waterproof
- Long battery life – consumes less power and can generally standby for 20 days.
Price: $51.73 USD
Waterproof rating: 2 ATM (20 m)
Overall product rating: 4.6/5
Looking for Functionality?
Competitive swimmers look for trackers that do everything they need. This means tracking almost aspect of their health. After all, being prepared for a big race is essential!
Garmin Vivoactive HR GPS Smart Watch
The Garmin vivoactive has a built-in sports app to track your workouts and alerts you to incoming calls and texts. What more do you need? Elevate technology tracks your heart using a wrist sensor. Additionally, the Golf app features a database of 40,000 courses, which gives you shot distances, layup and more. GPS-enabled running, biking and swimming apps record your workouts.
When you swim laps, details stats like total and interval distance, pace, stroke count, stroke type and more are also tracked. The swimming app calculates your efficiency with swolf, which adds the time and number of strokes it takes to swim a pool length. Interval Count lets you seamlessly pause and resume your workout. When you’re done, view your summary data, which shows interval and session averages, overall time and personal records.
Key features:
- 24/7 heart rate monitoring, Elevate wrist heart technology gives you heart rate all day and night – no additional strap required
- Long battery life, up to 8 days in watch/activity tracking mode; X-Large fits wrist circumferences 6.38″ to 8.86″ (162 mm to 225 mm)
- Intensity minutes, monitor your progress against aerobic activity goals recommended by health organizations like the American heart association
- Customization with connect IQ, download free customized apps, widgets, watch faces and data fields. Strap material – silicone
- Smart notifications, set any notification from your mobile device to come over
Price:$193.11 USD
Waterproof rating:5 ATM (50 m)
Overall product rating: 4.4/5
Garmin vívofit
Getting your active steps and standing up are simple parts of staying healthy. The vivofit turns these good intentions into lifelong habits. The activity tracker gives you a personalized daily goal, tracks your progress reminds you when it’s time to move.
Vivofit follows your progress 24/7. Additionally, it lasts over a year without a battery change. The vivofit brand is water-resistant. So you can shower or walk through the rain without a care in the world.
Key features:
- Learns your activity level and assigns a personalized daily goal
- Displays steps, calories, distance; monitors sleep
- Pairs with heart rate monitor for fitness activities
- 1+ year battery life; water-resistant (50 meters)
- Save, plan and share progress at Garmin Connect™
Price: $155
Waterproof rating: 5 ATM (50 m)
Overall product rating: 4.2/5
