The recently released swim watch adds an open water mode to pool lap counting and other counters which preceding designs have. In changing the functions, Swimovate have DOUBLED the battery life; now lasting 2 years.With a whole host of pool; and now open water features, this watch is adaptable, affordable, accurate, and durable. All importantly, it doesn’t look out of place when not in the pool, and for just £64.99 it’s a bargain gift for a loved one (or yourself) this Christmas.
So what does it do?
- Counts Laps (pool) and strokes (pool / open water ) So long as the pool is longer than 18m, and you do more than 7 stroke on the arm you wear the watch on, it’ll count your laps very accurately.
- Counts Distance (pool / open water): This is raved about in many of the reviews as being highly accurate. In the pool the stroke count is accurate to 99.75%, and in open water 800-98.5% due to varying weather conditions which affect the water.
- Monitors Speed (pool / open water): The watch will give you a time reading per 100m swim, useful for when trying to pick up your speed.
- Shows Efficiency (pool / open water): Through monitoring the strokes per distance. In the poolmate 2 this is calibrated, so shows personal distance per stroke, rather than average, or general. It uses the SWOLF values (Swim-Golf, adding number of strokes to ti
- me swimming length and vetting the ‘score’ against a given guideline).
- Counts Calories (pool / open water) While subjective, as a result of weight, effort, and other variable factors, it’s useful to see a rough guide as to how much cake you can eat after a swim session as a reward!
As well as much
The PoolMate contains MEMS accelerometers (first used by NASA) to capture the motion of your arms. Their software times your swim and calculates lap count, average strokes, speed, calories and efficiency levels so you can work on improving your technique. By monitoring the change in direction and speed of your arm, it is able to log how many strokes you do per lap, and from that, calibrates to show your distance.
As well as the accuracy and autonomy of the Poolmate 2, that it can stand the cold water (for those who are so inclined to swim throughout the winter) is another notable quality. Manufacturers suggest do avoid sudden changes in temperature (such as hot showers) as the sudden change could allow water into the mechanisms.
This well made, well thought out, and thoroughly researched watch is a must have for swimmers; letting it count the laps for you means you can concentrate on letting your imagination run wild, have those songs in your head, or just zone out and relax as you swim- or focus on your technique.
This, and more fantastic christmas gifts, are available at our swimming shop; theswimmingshop.com