Looking at swapping my old old 920xt for a Coros Pace 2. Mostly for swimming and OWS. Some running. Anyone have thoughts or experience on Coros vs Garmin? If anyone specifically has experience with the Garmin Swim 2, I’d appreciate that as well.
Thanks.
Edit: Suunto also considered.
For what it’s worth only Apple watch and Garmin 945 support the Form goggles which are pretty cool for OWS.
If I remember correctly not a lot of people have been impressed with the Garmin Swim 2.
Just got a Coros Pace 2 primarily for running. Been a longtime Garmin person but my 735xt was dying and I didn’t want to pony up $600 for a new watch right now. I like the integration with Stryd. GPS picks up quickly, but my GPS tracks leave something to be desired, not awful but when I’m on the main loop of Central Park, I seem to be off the route more often than not, especially during the curvy sections. Nothing insanely bad but not as good as I would’ve hoped. I live in NYC so admittedly not the easiest for GPS watches. Only 10 or so runs but I’ve had 7.5mi runs be off by almost 0.10mi, which never really happened with my Garmins but certainly seems to within industry “standards.†I’m not using pace/distance from my Stryd, so GPS is used just to record my route. I like the app for setting up the screens, I don’t like the little dial to navigate the watch (need to turn the lock off or else it’s unusable). Navigating during an activity is way worse than doing so with a Garmin. Maybe I’ll get used to it… we’ll see.
After a couple weeks, I could see myself getting used to it and staying with it. I could also see myself saying “screw it†and buying a newer Garmin down the road. For $200 it’s a good value. i hope it gets enough traction to put some pressure on Garmin, et al, because the $600 for a sports watch seems a bit excessive.
im thinking the same, cant find much info about the coros and its pool swim features though
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As a related note, if you want to use a Garmin Varia on the bike, it works great with most of the upper-end Gamin models including 945. My 945 is fully supported, with moving dots, color changes, and beeps for the Varia. Not sure if the Coros will do that.
I went from from a Fenix 5 to the Coros Apex. Mainly for enough GPS Battery life for the Leadville 100. But after a few weeks, I never looked back. Does basically the same functions as the Garmin, now has POWER (simulated but still), battery life is insane, I just ran 12 hours in the Grand Canyon and I’m still over 60% of battery life left. lighter than the Fenix5, less $$$. Yes I miss a screen or 2 from the Garmin, but the watch works. The app is great, syncs up so fast as well as to my Strava and Training Peaks. Well worth a look.
im thinking the same, cant find much info about the coros and its pool swim features though
I just did my first swim with the Pace 2 today. It worked fine, but I don’t use a lot of features. What, specifically, would you like to know?
It correctly counted strokes, gave me a distance alert every 20 lengths, recognized my stroke as freestyle (I don’t swim any other). Optical heart rate sucked, but they all seem to in the water. If it does automatic rest detection, I don’t know how to use it. No support for drills as far as I know. Post swim analysis seems to have everything expected.
For what it’s worth only Apple watch and Garmin 945 support the Form goggles which are pretty cool for OWS.
If I remember correctly not a lot of people have been impressed with the Garmin Swim 2.
If I had the money…currently wasting money on flight school during a pandemic and the worst travel slowdown in history, so budget is a priority.
For what it’s worth only Apple watch and Garmin 945 support the Form goggles which are pretty cool for OWS.
If I remember correctly not a lot of people have been impressed with the Garmin Swim 2.
If I had the money…currently wasting money on flight school during a pandemic and the worst travel slowdown in history, so budget is a priority.
Garmin just works for me, see no reason to change because it does what it does so well.
In the not too distant future there is a very cool app coming to the Apple Watch that can do things that have never been done before with a watch for swimming, I am lucky enough to be beta testing it presently and it is worth the hype. It will also be coming to Garmin as well (maybe a bit delayed from the Apple Watch but not far behind hopefully).
But I also have to say, for day in day out just get in and swim…do you really need all the extra’s that higher end watches provide? All the old school swimmers on here will tell you how they never swim with a watch and just use the pace clock…
Make sure you look at the deals on Amazon Prime day. The 935 is dirt cheap.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/10/amazon-prime-day-best-sports-tech-deals.html
For what it’s worth only Apple watch and Garmin 945 support the Form goggles which are pretty cool for OWS.
If I remember correctly not a lot of people have been impressed with the Garmin Swim 2.
If I had the money…currently wasting money on flight school during a pandemic and the worst travel slowdown in history, so budget is a priority.
Garmin just works for me, see no reason to change because it does what it does so well.
In the not too distant future there is a very cool app coming to the Apple Watch that can do things that have never been done before with a watch for swimming, I am lucky enough to be beta testing it presently and it is worth the hype. It will also be coming to Garmin as well (maybe a bit delayed from the Apple Watch but not far behind hopefully).
But I also have to say, for day in day out just get in and swim…do you really need all the extra’s that higher end watches provide? All the old school swimmers on here will tell you how they never swim with a watch and just use the pace clock…
I am an old school swimmer. Because of where I live and covid, I don’t have a pace clock or team to swim with. I swim a lot of open water. I don’t really need or use it in the pool as anything else other than a large, easy-to-see stopwatch. I don’t use any of the metrics. I’d just like to have a rough idea of my HR during longer OWS. I know underwater optical is less than ideal, but when I stop, I can shove the watch tight down on my wrist to get accurate ideas.
For what it’s worth only Apple watch and Garmin 945 support the Form goggles which are pretty cool for OWS.
If I remember correctly not a lot of people have been impressed with the Garmin Swim 2.
If I had the money…currently wasting money on flight school during a pandemic and the worst travel slowdown in history, so budget is a priority.
Garmin just works for me, see no reason to change because it does what it does so well.
In the not too distant future there is a very cool app coming to the Apple Watch that can do things that have never been done before with a watch for swimming, I am lucky enough to be beta testing it presently and it is worth the hype. It will also be coming to Garmin as well (maybe a bit delayed from the Apple Watch but not far behind hopefully).
But I also have to say, for day in day out just get in and swim…do you really need all the extra’s that higher end watches provide? All the old school swimmers on here will tell you how they never swim with a watch and just use the pace clock…
I am an old school swimmer. Because of where I live and covid, I don’t have a pace clock or team to swim with. I swim a lot of open water. I don’t really need or use it in the pool as anything else other than a large, easy-to-see stopwatch. I don’t use any of the metrics. I’d just like to have a rough idea of my HR during longer OWS. I know underwater optical is less than ideal, but when I stop, I can shove the watch tight down on my wrist to get accurate ideas.
Then if that is what you are after, and HR is a priority, I strongly recommend the Apple Watch as the heart rate tracking is really good in the water and you can see it real time. Many other systems don’t show you it in real time (ie a heart rate strap) as it saves it and sync’s later. The GPS tracking of the Apple Watch in the open water is good as well.
The Form Goggles need something else to make them work (ie watch etc) but myself and a few others have tried them and despite the assurances re the fit we have not found them great fit wise and also the field of view leaves a bit to be desired…easier to show than describe but certainly there are a few unused pairs of Form goggles sitting around where I live now…
im thinking the same, cant find much info about the coros and its pool swim features though
I just did my first swim with the Pace 2 today. It worked fine, but I don’t use a lot of features. What, specifically, would you like to know?
It correctly counted strokes, gave me a distance alert every 20 lengths, recognized my stroke as freestyle (I don’t swim any other). Optical heart rate sucked, but they all seem to in the water. If it does automatic rest detection, I don’t know how to use it. No support for drills as far as I know. Post swim analysis seems to have everything expected.
Have you used it in open water yet?
For what it’s worth only Apple watch and Garmin 945 support the Form goggles which are pretty cool for OWS.
If I remember correctly not a lot of people have been impressed with the Garmin Swim 2.
Can you expand on “not a lot of people have been impressed?” What sort of issues have people had?
The only issue is the price. Not only is a series 6 $500, but I’ve then got to add a data line to my plan.
I’d just like to have a rough idea of my HR during longer OWS.
It’s always risky to extrapolate from one’s own experience, as optical heart rate from the wrist can vary quite a bit from individual to individual, but from my experience:
Coros: D (mostly unusable)Suunto: D (mostly unusable)Polar: F (totally useless)Garmin: C (sometimes usable)Apple Watch: B- (occasionally fails)
If you’re more interested in reviewing your heart rate after the swim rather than during it, an excellent option is the Polar OH1 worn on your googles with the included googles clip. In my experience, it gives excellent results. Another possibility is either a Suunto or a Garmin with the appropriate heart rate monitor chest strap that can store data and forward to the watch later. Although, again, this data will only be available after the swim.
Edited to add:
With respect to chest straps, for open water, either the Suunto Smart Heart Rate Belt or one of the Garmin HRM-Tri, HRM-Swim, or HRM-Pro is fine. But for pool swimming, I’d only recommend the Garmin HRM-Swim as it’s the only one that stays put during turns. Its fabric is also specially formulated to resist chlorine degradation.
I just did my first swim with the Pace 2 today. It worked fine, but I don’t use a lot of features. What, specifically, would you like to know?
It correctly counted strokes, gave me a distance alert every 20 lengths, recognized my stroke as freestyle (I don’t swim any other). Optical heart rate sucked, but they all seem to in the water. If it does automatic rest detection, I don’t know how to use it. No support for drills as far as I know. Post swim analysis seems to have everything expected.
Have you used it in open water yet?
I have not.
The only issue is the price. Not only is a series 6 $500, but I’ve then got to add a data line to my plan.
Apple Watch Series 3 is currently available for $169 from Amazon. You don’t need a data line for a non-LTE watch, but you do need an iPhone. (Android not supported).
Can you expand on “not a lot of people have been impressed?” What sort of issues have people had?
Like most Garmin products, the Swim 2 firmware/software is incredibly buggy. And the bugs are really stupid. For example, the distance alert correctly works when set for 10 lengths but not when set for 20 lengths. Automatic rest detection is a joke. Distance (lengths) doesn’t work, but Lap Distance (lengths) does. And so on. You can browse the Garmin forums to get a taste. The core functionality works, but the watch is just an enormous pain in the ass to actually use.
The only issue is the price. Not only is a series 6 $500, but I’ve then got to add a data line to my plan.
Apple Watch Series 3 is currently available for $169 from Amazon. You don’t need a data line for a non-LTE watch, but you do need an iPhone. (Android not supported).
Good lookin out. I might snag one, test it out, knowing amazon returns are generally easy.