Sport Watches for Open Water Swimming Support

Garmin Swim 2

• Exceptional for GPS tracking during open water swimming
• Good for pool workouts and tracking
• Limited functionality beyond swimming

Apple Watch with MySwimPro app

• Reliable for lap count
• Less clear accuracy for open water and trail runs

Garmin Forerunner Series (e.g. 255, 265S, 745, 945)

• Works well for open water swimming
• Issues with GPS accuracy on some models

Garmin Instinct Series (e.g. Instinct, Instinct 2)

• Good for tracking open water swims with GPS
• Durable design, suitable for surfing

Suunto 9

• Can be used for open water swimming with better reception
• Not budget-friendly unless bought second hand

Coros Pace 3

• Good bang for the buck option
• Positive review from DC Rainmaker

Other Mentioned Models

• Garmin Epix Pro: Excellent GPS accuracy for open water; button durability issues
• Wahoo Element Rival: Loved for open water swimming
• Amazfit Band 7: Mentioned positively for open water swim tracking
• Nogiii: Reliable option for open water swim tracking
• Garmin Vivoactive 4: Liked for swimming and more activities
• Garmin Fenix Series (e.g. Fenix 6, Fenix 7): Great for OWS and pool with additional tracking capabilities
• Garmin Venu Sq: Works well with added open water swim app
• Garmin Swim Series (e.g. Swim, Swim 2): High praise for GPS tracking, suitable for open water

Pros and Cons as Per Comments

• Pros: Reliable GPS tracking for open water, durability, additional activities tracking, accurate heart rate monitoring (especially with additional chest straps or HRM-Pro)
• Cons: Issues with GPS accuracy on some models, limitations in tracking non-traditional strokes or activities like CSS or finning

General Tips for Open Water Swimming

• GPS Watches Limitations: Watches have issues getting GPS fix every stroke
• Buoy Usage: Mount the watch on a buoy for more accurate tracking
• HR Monitoring: Use chest straps for accurate heart rate monitoring
• Swolf Accuracy: Swolf may not work well with non-traditional strokes
• Differences With Indoor Swimming: Consider differences in stroke types, limitations with traditional swim metrics

These summaries are based on feedback from users and are meant to provide insights on various sport watches for open water swimming support.