The Top Swimming Trackers In 2019

As a team of tech nerds and geeks, we test and review a whole range of health sensors and trackers. As we are already halfway through the summer, we had the chance to try the latest bunch of swimming watches and trackers. We have our favorites, but we dove into the water-resistant wearable market a bit deeper to bring you the widest selection. Now, you can splash into the pool with the best wearables for swimming.

The three challenges of swimming with trackers

Throughout the years, we could distill the characteristics that make fitness trackers, sleep sensors or devices for monitoring vital health parameters great, as we have tested countless sleep sensors, sleep apps, or wearables. In the case of swim sensors, three challenges are necessary to overcome. For a starter, the sensor needs to be waterproof, not just water-resistant. Well, it seems to be obvious at first, since the gadget has to function underwater, but it is not that easy to produce a waterproof tracker as it first sounds.

Secondly, it’s really difficult to analyze movements in water: counting the turns, recognizing the swimming style, measuring vital health parameters. For being able to measure this complex set of movement, Apple gathered data from more than 700 swimmers and over 1,500 swim sessions and sends GPS data from your wrist to nearby Satellites.

The third challenge of swim tracking is measuring heart rate in water, while the usual method for measurement doesn’t work in the pool. The majority of trackers use a series of green lights that flash against the skin to detect changes in blood volume to generate those beats per minute (BPM) readings. Therefore, chest straps might be better solutions than wrist-worn wearables. So, there are plenty of problems to overcome when you design a swim tracker, but let’s see the best swim watches and trackers in 2019 on the market.

1) Garmin Swim

US consumer electronics company, Garmin, introduced this tracker specifically designed for swimmers. It measures lap count, it is able to take into account the exact size of the pool, recognizes all four strokes, and uses gamification to motivate users to perform better with the SWOLF score. SWOLF, a combination of “swimming” and “golf” combines your stroke rate (which you want to keep low—as in golf) and overall speed.

Swimmers recognized it as one of the best wearables for this sport on the market, although there are some downsides: you don’t have any GPS tracking, and you cannot measure your heart rate with it.

2) Polar A370 fitness tracker

During the summer of 2017, Polar announced its latest fitness tracker – promising to track basically every activity from running through swimming until sleeping. While it does not concentrate specifically on movement underwater, the gadget is water resistant to 30 meters, and it is completely suitable for swimming and bathing.

However, the company warns users that water may prevent the wrist-based heart rate measurement from working optimally. Yet, it will still collect your activity data from wrist movements during your pool time. Based on reviews, I would rather say, though, that Polar A370 is about to become your occasional swim buddy instead of your trainer for crossing the Seven Seas. But, if you combine running, swimming or indoor training, and you are looking for a fitness tracker able to measure your performance in all three, Polar should be your choice.

3) Suunto Smart Sensor

The Finnish company offers a strap for tracking swimming and any other sports where the use of smartphones or watches is not convenient. The Smart Sensor itself is a tiny little Bluetooth heart rate monitor that clips into the chest strap and is able to store heart rate data while you are doing your strokes and turns. It is water resistant up to 30 meters and very light. It is one of the best straps on the market in terms of aesthetics and comfort.

Whatever sport you do, the Suunto Smart Sensor promises to measure your heart rate with great comfort and accuracy. While swimming, the sensor stores your heart rate data and transfers it wirelessly to a compatible Suunto sports watch or Suunto Movescount App.

4) Moov Now

If you have aversions towards chest straps, you should consider testing Moov Now for swimming. It is a multisport wrist-worn wearable, which you can also have on your ankle while practicing the butterfly moves in the pool.

The company promises to capture and analyze your motion in 3D space and offers an unusually durable battery. Moov Now does not need to be recharged, its battery should function for 6 months, and then the user can replace the battery for a new one. The wearable recognizes your swimming style and automatically tracks your laps, time, distance, pace, and strokes. Moreover, it gives you swimming tips for becoming a real pro. An instant get for anyone who practically lives in water!

5) Fitbit Ionic

Of all the brands of fitness trackers on the market, Fitbit is the best-known, and for good reason. Fitbit Surge helped me change my lifestyle after I suffered heavy muscle injury, while the Fitbit Blaze had all the potential to become the one wearable to combine activity and sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring and stress release function, only the smart alarm is missing. So, the company could not allow itself to let down swimmers. They didn’t. They created Fitbit Ionic.

The smartwatch on your wrist has a huge advantage compared to all the swim trackers listed above. It has a huge display so you can not only log your swim sessions but monitor them in real-time. The biggest competitor of the Apple Watch Series 3, Fitbit Ionic is waterproof up to 50 meters, and tracks swim workouts with stats like lap counting, duration and calories burned.

6) Apple Watch Series 4

The Apple Watch has been performing as a swim tracker since it became water-resistant in 2016, but with its latest operating system, the Apple Watch Series 4, you also have a lot of features specifically designed for swimmers – e.g. a heritage from the Series 3, set detection.

It knows when you rest at the pool’s edge and then uses that information to divide the workout into sets of laps, showing you how far and long you swam in each, what stroke, and your rest time. However, it has some limitations, for example, it cannot log kicking drills. For that, you might want to try MySwimPro.

The Apple Watch uses its own smart algorithms to recognize and take note of the strokes of swimmers of all skill levels, as well the calories they’re burning. And as already mentioned before, its development process involved gathering data from more than 700 swimmers and over 1,500 swim sessions. Amazing device for swimmers!

7) Misfit

The company’s smartwatches, fitness trackers, apps, and accessories state their mission unambiguously. They aim to combine elegance, intelligence, and wellness – and they succeeded with every one of their pieces. Just look at their hybrid smartwatch and their fitness and sleep tracker for swimmers!

The Misfit Shine 2 tracks laps and swim distance, steps, distance, calories, light and restful sleep while at the same time it is stylish and perfectly designed for every occasion. Moreover, its replaceable battery lasts up to 6 months.

8) Huawei Band 3 Pro

It’s a low-cost fitness tracker with features usually present in pricier bands, but it is water-resistant to 50 meters, the best you’ll find in one of these trackers. This makes it suitable for swimming, and there are no flaps to worry about before you get in the water.

From the screen of the device, you can choose pool swim or open water, and while tracking your activity in water, it can detect the calories burned, the number of turns, and in the end, you get a SWOLF score just as with the Garmin Swim. Moreover, the outdoor mode uses a GPS, too. This all adds up to the Huawei Band 3 Pro becoming a cheap, while handy alternative for swimmers. Who could say no to that?

9) Swimsense by Finis