Advice wanted on exercise watches, especially those with a swim function

[Homemadehopeful]

Just that really. Do you have one? How good do you find it? DS has had the Fitbit Ionic but it keeps breaking. Currys have been great about changing it but the third watch has now just stopped charging. He is very careful with it, takes it off for rugby (and NERF wars at his mates house!) He trains a lot (swim / bike / run) We are thinking about switching to Apple watch 3 as he now has an iPhone.

All experiences gratefully received!

DH has a Garmin which he rates. I'd ask him which model it is but he's away training this weekend with it on his wrist of course!

Very few watches have a proper swim tracking facility - i.e. can do both indoor and open water.

I would forget the Apple watch, it's not going to work for someone serious about training. I would go for a Garmin (Forerunner will do running/cycling. If you want open water tracking you'll want one of their triathlon models or maybe a Fenix) or a Suunto. Ambit 3 Sport or Peak was the standard for a long time but the Spartan seems to be a good watch now. I have an Ambit 3 Sport, £150 on Black Friday 2 years ago. It's a good time of year to buy tech.

Thanks that's really helpful, I'll have a look at those.

The Apple 3 does have an indoor swim option as well as an open water swim option though.

I’ve got a Garmin Vivosport and I really rate it. I don’t swim often admittedly so not a great expert on that but whenever I have used it for swimming it’s been spot on accurate. It does everything I want it to do and is straightforward and easy to use. My DH and DD both have one too and we’ve never had any breakages/faults.

I have a Garmin that does swim/bike/run and talks to my bike sensors. Its pretty accurate in the pool and outside, and has lasted really well.
I never see anyone seriously training with an Apple watch. The triathletes and open water swimmers all have Garmins or Suunto

I’ve got an Apple Watch and as I wanted something that was basically an all rounder and never comes off my wrist. It’s OK at swim tracking, fine for knowing how many lengths you’ve done if you are just swimming a constant stroke and it was pretty much in agreement with the course length for this years open water swims but it really doesn’t get it if you are doing drills or changing between strokes a lot. It’s also cranky about responding to touch once it’s wet so pausing it if you want to or changing anything. Then when you finish a session it’s hard to end the session until you’ve got it dry so it’s adds time you don’t want and counts washing my hair as several extra lengths!

CMOTDibbler I do use my Apple Watch for triathlons because as I mentioned above I wanted one all rounder but I can see why others don’t use it if they take training and racing more seriously. You have to dry it off after swimming and manually change modes between each leg, which is time you don’t want to waste if you are the kind of person that doesn’t stop to put socks on!
The advantage to me is that I can also wear it every day so it tracks all my activity from everyday steps to triathlon days.

The Fitbit Charge 3 is good for land and swimming.

I have the Charge 2 and love it! I'm planning on getting the Charge 3 for Christmas.

I wouldn't recommend an Apple Watch if he wants to properly track swimming - I love mine; but I'm a casual swimmer and even I get annoyed about the little nuances! It doesn't track fantastically and it needs pretty good drying before and after use.

I'd go with a proper exercise watch; if I had my time again.

I have a Garmin 735 and it’s really good for both pool swims and open water swimming. It also does running and cycling plus lots of other sports. You can use it for multi sports - preset ones eg triathlon which is actually 5 “sports” - swim,T1, bike, T2, run. You can also make lots of custom single / multisport profiles.
The battery lasts for several days. I’ve had mine a year and it’s still looking like new despite having a hard life - lots of sport, lots of outdoor manual work (farmer). I really rate it and I also like the Garmin app.

I’ve got a garmin Fenix, which I only ever seem to take off to charge. I’ve not used the swim function, but it’s been swimming lots (with my kids, hence not using the function!). It’s linked up to apps on my iphone. I use it for mainly running/biking...it’s great.

I’ve got a garmin vivosport which I love, don’t use the swim function though but it’s accurate for other stuff. One plus point is the fact it only needs charging every 5-7 days.

Another vote for the garmin vivosport - it's great for running, cycling and swimming and has a really long battery life.

I changed from an Apple Watch to a garmin vivoactive and I love it. I don’t swim, but I run and cycle, and the Apple Watch just didn’t cut it, especially when it got wet (the touchscreen would become unresponsive). I wear my vivoactive every day so it’s completwly replaced my Apple Watch.