It would tell me your kick isn't as powerful/impactful as you think it is.

That said, it would also tell me that your body position is pretty sound.

May mean that your kick is detracting, rather than adding.

Have someone watch you swim with kick & with buoy to point out the differences - are you splaying/scissoring? Is it a 6-beat, 2-beat, etc? Is it "synched" with your rotation/stroke? Do you flatten out your hips when you add in your kick? Do you bend your knees too much or not enough?

Could be many things....I wouldn't worry too terribly much about it unless you know there's massive gains to be made in your swimming times.

If you were :10 faster with the buoy per 100 I would say it's a body position issue. But if you're pretty close, I'd chalk it up to being a front-quadrant swimmer that's got a solid body position.

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AW

I had the same problem where my times were pretty similar with a pull buoy as they were without. I did a lot of kick sets and got better at kicking and now my times are faster without, albeit more tiring.

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I find on my longer swims, my times are pretty well identical, since I'm pretty well using my kick just to keep my legs up as opposed to using them for propulsion.

On my all out efforts, I'll kick hard, and just can't keep up with those times if I'm using a pull buoy.

I either have decent body position or just suck with a pull buoy. I'm around 3-4 sec faster per 100 w/out a buoy.

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Another thing to keep in mind is muscle density of your legs.
Do your legs/hips "sink" without the buoy?
I see this a lot with the stronger bike/run guys when they swim.

Just like cycling, swimming speed is determined primarily by two things: your propulsive power and the amount of drag force provided by the fluid you are moving through.

There have been so many threads on the pull buoy so let's please put it to rest: a buoy prevents you from kicking (thus reducing your propulsive power - bad), and it keeps your lower body in an ideal position parallel to the water surface (thus providing you with an ideal body position - good).

If you're faster and/or the same speed with the buoy, it means either a) your kick is not very propulsive AND/OR b) your body position is producing excess drag while swimming because your legs are dropping and your body is presenting more frontal area than it should. Most likely it's a combination of the two.

So, what to do about it: if you're faster with a buoy, work on your kick and body position in the water. Keep your head in line with your body (don't look up - water line should be on the upper forehead) and don't let your hips sink. Plantar flex your ankles as much as possible and kick from your hips, not your knees. Keep your knees straight. Kick more to get better at it.

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Strava

I am faster by about 15 seconds per 100 meters with pull-buoy. Without a pull-buoy I go last one in our lane, with pull-buoy I am the first... go figure, my kick sucks.