Has anyone tried using there Garmin to measure an open water swim, if so what method did you use to keep it dry?
And did you feel it was accurate?
thanks,
tfun~
Garmin in a zip lock bag in the swim cap is the method I have heard used the most often.
Do you have access to a boat. It would prob work in a boat. I use my garmin gear in my boat to measure my open water swim courses but have never had my 205 in the water.
There are no boats allowed, it is a man made lake in a park.
tfun~
I use a Garmin here in Brockville to measure the swim course in a boat on race morning. Have done so for the past few years. Ya I’m that guy!!! I’m going to be pit bitch this year though so don’t blame me if it’s wrong;)
Now being that you can’t have a boat where yau are, you could always swim like I do with your head out of the water. Thus just strap it on and away you go;)
Or put it in your swim cap, although I believe the Garmins are somewhat water resistant?
I do it often.
I put my 305 in 2x ziplock bags and on the back of my head under my swim cap. There has never been any water on the garmin at the end of the swim, and even if there was, it is hard to imagine it would be any more than the equivalent of a light rain.
I think the distance is pretty accurate. Who knows though I guess. Seems to get reception the whole swim.
M
They claim the Garmin 305 is waterproof. Also, I didn’t realize the gps would work when under a swimcap.
water resistant, NOT water proof
.
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet, i will so give it a shot and report back. Do you take the wrist straps off to make it smaller to fit under the cap?
tfun~
I’m not saying it IS waterproof, but if you look on the Garmin website under “specs” it says Waterproof? “Yes”
Yes, it says waterproof (IPX7)…you need to read all that you see and understand what that means
From the manual:
“The Forerunner is waterproof to IEC Standard 60529 IPX7. It can withstand immersion in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes. Prolonged submersion can cause damage to the unit. After submersion, be certain to wipe dry and air dry the unit before using or charging.
NOTE: This product is not intended to be used while swimming”
You should also note that static immersion in 1 meter of water is not the same as swimming in 1 meter of water, the swimming is much harder to seal against.
Garmin do seem to have very good customer service though and there are numerous testimonials on this forum where people who did swim with them and killed them got warranty replacements.
If the next generation is waterproof then it will really be a killer device for triathlon. I like my forerunner 305 but do not race with it for this reason.
I don’t know others experience with the site, but I started using mapmytri.com for my distances. I like the site, easy to use especially for open water swims.
So if I accidentally drop my Garmin in a glass of water for 25 minutes I should be okay? Great.
Not sure if this is what you are asking about but if you are measuring a fixed course rather than just measuring how long a particlar random swim you are doing is, I’m pretty sure the Garmin wrist based units have a navigation mode that will measure the distance from a current location to any saved waypoint (my handheld Garmin unit does this). If your unit will do this, you do not have to have the thing on while traveling between two points to measure straight line distance. Just save a waypoint at the start of your swim course, turn it off then the next time you are at the other end of your line (today, next month, whenever) turn it back on when you get to the mark take a fix. If you are placing the mark, just keep moving until the distance is what you want then drop your marker.
A glass of water, yes, a big gulp soda, maybe not 
.
Swam with it in bag under swim cap extensively in Eleuthra and it worked pretty well. You can still access the buttons through the cap - at least the front two.
I have tried the ziplock under the cap thing in training. It seemed to be okay (probably more accurate than my navigation) but I don’t have a reference point.
Because the Forerunner 305 seems to be highly water resistant (e.g. no problems during heavy rains or from very sweaty workouts) but not very water proof (based on the Garmin warnings), I have decided to try a new approach. I plan to wrap mine in parafilm (a lab version of saran wrap) and wear it on my wrist. The film should protect it from forced water (the type it would get from your wrist hitting the water) and the unit should be fine if any risidual water gets in. I plan to test this out this weekend. This would make it a lot more convenient to use for a race. Any thoughts?
Seems like it might be easier to just open the case and drench the innards with super glue a la SwimMan
.
A quick splash or a few drops won’t hurt it. I’ve quickly rinsed my Edge 305 off under the kitchen faucet when it gets covered with sweat/gatorade etc. after a long ride.