I am getting my Apple Watch Series 2 today!
I do a lot of lane swimming - mostly 25m pool, rarely 50m pool.
I have taken some training with the Triathlon club and I do realize that with drills, stroke count and stuff probably won't be ideal. BUT - the bulk of my own swims are long distance swims - usually 1km - 40 lengths.
I have a LOT of gizmo's for lane swimming.
I really love the Sport Count - for tracking my lengths - every length you tap a button with your thumb. It's a little ring thing on your finger and you press a button with your thumb. (Older versions used to display the "lap" count for 2 seconds and then the length (lap) time (for example "26.2s") for about 4 seconds, so you could read it when you push off the wall underwater if you wanted to and see the count of your laps and the time for the last length, and then it would revert to the total time (which I would usually never see because I'd be swimming!). The old version of the Sport Count was awesome, but they wear out eventually, and the new one I have unfortunately displayed the lap count for like 10 seconds! Useless if you want to glance at it to see your last time for a length. This device allowed me to fine tune my efficiency in the water - I got feedback on every length letting me know if i went faster or not. If I spend less exertion and still got a fast time, I knew I was doing something right. By using the Sport count and a little coaching, I ended up being a pretty darn good triathlon swimmer. (not really saying much, since actually triathletes mostly can't swim! Which I liked a LOT and brought me into the sport of doing Triathlons actually!). OK - whatever - just sharing in case there are other swim nerds out there. The new version of the Sport Count device isn't as good as the old version of the Sport count. I called them and asked them to fix the timing issues - but hopefully I'll now be able to use the Apple Watch Series 2.
OK - another device I have that I rarely use was the Finess Aquasport wristwatch or something. It was pretty cool because it could do STROKE COUNT. This is where I think we are going to see the Apple Watch 2 shine. It should be possible to get the Apple Watch 2 to identify the type of stroke and do the Stroke Count and Swim Golf numbers while you swim. I hope this comes to reality - maybe from what I am seeing here, the Watch series 2 already has it! Hoping! The Finness aqua sport was fairly good, but the charging hassles and hard to read display meant I used it only a few times per year - mainly for a 5K yearly swim thing, and some special times when i was really working hard in the water. I have too many gizmos, and the stupid base for charging often got lost and tangled. Bring me the Apple Watch Series 2 please! I have the Apple Watch original one - and it has been useless for swim tracking. The 2 apps that were out for it just made me angry how stupid they were. Let's hope with Apple Watch Series 2 we truly have the start of some good swim tracking with motion sensing of stroke and counting of lengths/laps etc. etc etc.
Other devices. I had the Finness Aqua something bone conduction headphones. I bought that one twice. I used them for several years over hundreds of swims. Sound quality is not great, but they did work and it was OK. They last about 100 swim sessions without any maintenance but eventually water and chlorine means it's time to get a replacement.
The best underwater sound comes from Swimman. He waterproofed the iPod Shuffle (glue or silicone), and made his own headphones which have excellent comfort, water seal, and awesome bass! I use these religiously. Can't swim without them! When the headphones get old, or the shuffle gives up the ghost, I quickly order another set! I think the guy who invented these sold the company to a guy in Australia. Make sure you get the ones with their own headphones. There are guys selling almost the same thing, but they have poor headphones. The headphones this guy makes are worth paying for. Google swimman - they have a few different names for basically the same thing these days - search until you find the black headphones with the white things that go into your ear canal. The sound membrane is in a tiny box and the sound (Bass) gets amplified through a black tube I believe - this is why these headphones sound as good as the fancy expensive beats headphones etc IMHO. They truly are great headphones, and will transform your swims.
I abuse all my gear and any water gear will crap out eventually - I don't care - I just buy more. Rinsing? Drying? Forget that. Just abuse the hell out of it and see how long it lasts is my philosophy.
OK - what other gizmos? There is some sort of "tick tock" thing you put on your hips to audibly give you feedback for rotation in the water - never tried that one yet, but probably very good tool. I forget what other gizmos i have tried.
OK now I want to say some stuff about the Apple Watch Series 2:
1. Sounds like it's waterproof - it is waterproof guys - why all this talk about "resistant" - it's 50m depth water resistant. That's deeper than you as a human will ever go unless you are a pro scuba diver with helium gas training and stuff! Am I right or am I right?
2. The motion sensors could be very very important to app devs to fine tune and get the right algorithms to detect the type of stroke automagically.
3. Will GPS work indoors? I wonder how these things know you have turned around? The Finnis swim watch did it - I think they put in a lot of work to do it without GPS. Probably using the motion sensors and a little faking and guesswork.
4. Reducing your stroke count per lap is a hallmark of efficient long distance swimming. If you can do 25m with less strokes (like 12 or 14), it's better than if you are needing 18 strokes to get across the pool. If you do measurements comparing speed and stroke count, you will have some powerful training information!
5. I hope when I push off the wall and look at my Apple Watch Series 2 underwater it will tell me my last length time, and my lap count and also my last length stroke count! I hope the guys who made the swim app had some good swim coaches help them! Hoping hoping! We shall see - maybe tonight!
6. Giving this next idea up for the devs out there - contact me if you want help. Open water swimming. Use the GPS and some bluetooth LED arrays inside the swim goggles to give feedback for "left" or "right" so the open water swimmer does not have to slow down for sighting. ADDITIONALLY, could use the GPS to have a gang of swimmers make a peloton for drafting in open water - all this without actually having to lift your head to sight! You have the leader swim with GPS guidance and his "friends" can patch into him and follow behind drafting and saving serious energy and gaining serious efficiency! Someone else out there must be aware of this possibility. I'd like to be part of it if you want a helper or investor.
7. Swimming is one area of fitness that badly needs automation for tracking workouts. I'd look like a true athlete if my swims were added to my runs and bikes on the record! Please bring us good swim tracking done right!
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