DC Rainmaker put together an excellent list of tips for getting good swim data with the Suunto Ambit 2, but I guess the technology is pretty similar in all these watches, so it should be good for the V800 too:

Link to ray's list

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I did my first pool session yesterday with the v800. I swam 1000m in a 25m pool and it tracked flawlessly. I only swam freestyle (cause that's the only one I know how to do) and wore the HRM during the session. I wear the watch on my non dominant hand, the left and my push offs were solid but nothing like I'd do if I was racing. I'll try flip turns and see how it affects tracking next time I'm at the pool.

The length of the pool should have no bearing, its probably just to give you the length you have swam correctly and the average speed etc. My issue is with the turns, that it can't detect that I have now turned. Sometimes it tracks it really well, but for the most part it just does not work. I wear it on my left wrist also. If I push off harder, my goggles come off...yes, they are on tight as can be.

Mine did not cooperate today. It counted more or less 1 length for every 2 that I was doing. My push-offs were as strong as possible to keep the HR belt in place. And I was happy for a while cause it just started to behave the other day :(
Maybe I'm not much of a swimmer but it's sad to hear from tech support that my swimming style is wrong and if I want to use swimming metrics I have to swim in a different way (they don't tell what way).
I hoped Polar would work to improve swimming recognition but it does not seem so :(

Exactly, they do not say how to swim. I do not think it is the actually swim style that is the problem, I think it is the turn that is the problem. I do a open turn, but it still does not see it.

For me it's also stroke counting. There were times when lap count was ok, but never the stroke count.
I believe it needs to be worked on. Not everybody is Michael Phelps. Sad Polar tech support thinks otherwise.

What kind of push off from the wall are you getting? I have no idea what the V800 is looking for, but I assume it's something like: stroke - stroke - stroke - somewhat stationary while turning - relatively long time gliding from the wall - stroke - stroke - stroke.

You should be out near the backstroke flags before starting to pull again.

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The question is, does it look for a long push off, or a short one? Mine is stroke - stroke - stroke - hit the wall - turn- push off not too far- stroke - stroke - stroke.

I suspect that it's looking for a relatively long push off, at least compared to your stroke.

I haven't seen a V800 yet and don't know how it works or what it displays. But does it have a current distance display while you are swimming? Does it increment at every turn? ie: you start it shows 0m, after you turn, it shows 25m,etc. I would try swimming a length, turning, pushing off the wall and gliding for as long as possible while watching the display and see if it updates.

I don't want to criticize your swimming without seeing it, but I have seen people turn and push off the wall with their head practically out of the water, and their arms start moving almost before their feet have left the wall, and I can see how that could mess up the computations.

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I certainly tried swimming with a strong hard push off and deliberate long glide it still does not count the lengths correctly. Spoke to the local rep in and was advised to do a factory reset and try again.. will try tomorrow again

Too long time without strokes after turn causes the watch to show rest time instead of "Swimming".

I recently bought the V800. I am very pleased with the quality of this product and I understand that rolling out new functionality takes time (I used Garmin before this and although they are ahead on functionality, they are also way ahead on bugs)
One thing that bothers me, though is the way intervals are handled. I would like the V800 to automatically trigger a manual lap when starting a new phase. For example, if I run 4 x 1000-meter, with 1 minute rest in between, I would like to be able to see 8 laps once completed. Now I cannot even manually press lap as the pop-up menus in between the phases are blocking this.

EDIT: I just played around with the simpler interval timer that you configure directly in the unit and noticed that it displays the laps exactly the way I meant. Would be great if the more complicated one you configure on the flow-website would do the same.

hi all….i have question couse i bought my v800 and i have 1 problem…i play tennis a lot…i saw in settings you can change feel of the screen on touching..before i had normal..so every time i hit with my left wrist my body when i play tennis watch is vibretion…i switch off this option and my watch still give me vibration when i hit a little the front of the watch…and when u play tennis its not so nice…please let me knnow..what i should do….


thanks a lot Michal

Yesss! This is what I mean with the first item in priority 2 in this list.
Ideally though it would be optional (you can set per phase whether it triggers a manual lap or not).

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In the setup of the sports profile you use for playing tennis, just deactivate the TAP-feature.

To do that, in Flow

• Click on your name -> Sports Profiles
• Select the profile you are using for tennis -> click Edit
• Scroll down to "Gestures and Feedback"
• Set "Tap" to "off"
• Save & Sync settings back to watch
  

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unbeliveboooouulll:))))))))))


thanks a lot…without you man i was in deep ……:)))


take care

Swam again last night (I do Master Swim three times per week). 250 yard freestyle warmup, only counted 75 yard. I made sure I pushed off hard and long, not success. It seems to do okay when I did 15*50 yards. The damn watch is so unreliable it pisses me off. My stroke technique is like it should be for freestyle (we have a swim coach watching us). The problem I have is that I have no time to just test the watch, since the pool is quite full before our practice.

Have you had someone else try it?

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No, I have not, but it is my next step. We have people in our group that are real good swimmer since their college days.

There's a behavior that also alters the swim distance. If you were to swim say, 50% of a 25 yard length pool, and decide to switch to breast stroke from crawl stroke midway due to a crowded master's swim lane - you get a new length added to your watch (e.g. you swim 25 yards total but got counted for 50).

On the garmin 910, it counts as 25 but it's recorded as a "mixed stroke"

Hi,

I'm a newish/terrible swimmer and it works ok for me. I would guess the watch is more looking for a lack of motion
for the laps. Try doing a non-flipturn swim and see how it works. If that doesn't work then there is definitely something
up with your watch.

/Lars

I do not do flip turns. I do open turns.

This is not me, but I do a similar turn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsNofd1KRfs

I normally open turn during my swims and have yet for the watch to miss a lap/length using that method. However, this past weekend I tried some flip turns (my flip turns are complete crap BTW) and the watch missed a few then. It really does seem to be about technique. I'm going to let a few of my friends who are much smoother and faster swimmers than myself try out the watch during a session this week and see what data they get out of it.

I've used my V800 for a week now.

Does anyone know how to add completed training sessions (where I did not wear the V800 for) to the diary in polar flow?
(I swim weekly indoor, without the watch, as cross training for the runs.)

I would like the recovery status and training load to be realistic. Having said that, after my run today the 10M with hard intervals I ran are in the diary, but the recovery status has got me only scraping off the bottom. Doesn't give me a time when to train next either.

Good Job on getting Android support going. I just did my first sync with my Sony Xperia Z1 compact!
Now let's all enjoy New Year's Eve and then make stages compatability happen!
Whoot-whoot...
#V800 #gettingthere

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