It seems like every day, there’s a new smartwatch on the market. And while many of them are great for everyday use, not all of them are built to withstand a nice dip in the pool.
If you’re looking for waterproof smartwatches that can stand up to your rugged lifestyle including frequent swims, we’ve got you covered.
The water-resistant devices we are going to talk about today can collect real-time swim data and help you through your swim by gauging how much work you have done.
Top Picks
1. Garmin Swim 2 – Best Overall Swimming Watch
The Garmin Swim 2 is our favorite swimming smartwatch for several reasons. First of all, it’s suitable for both pool and open water swimming. You can select in which mode you want to swim and you are good to go. It is covered by a 5 ATM water rating which is important for it to be a swim watch.
The battery life on this is decent. It lasts for 7 hours in smartwatch mode, 13 hours in GPS and 3 days in pool mode. It has a color display of 1.04 inches which is non-touchscreen.
In the pool mode, you can get the distance covered, stroke count, stroke rate, and swimming efficiency. In open water mode, you can get all these plus the average pace since it uses the integrated GPS for lakes, rivers, and oceans.
It even has advanced features like pace control and drill logging, which can be really helpful for some people who are looking for more accuracy.
This one also comes with underwater heart rate monitoring features. It estimates the heart rate during swim sessions.
It also is compatible with the Garmin fitness app. Garmin Connect gives Garmin swim 2 users full access to track, analyze, and share their health and fitness journey with the community. It’s a free service that comes with Garmin swim watches.
Overall, this is is one of those few smartwatches that are made purposely for swimming activities. If you want to wear it as a daily driver, the minimal outlook and the always-on display won’t disappoint you.
2. Moov Now – Best Budget Swimming Watch
If you want swimming watches without any strain on your wallet, this is the one for you. Moov Now is a great device for pool swims as it measures all the important metrics.
It has an astounding battery life that will last you around 6 months. It’s a really comfortable watch for your fitness, but it does not have a screen.
Its functions include lap counts and analysis, workout duration, stroke type, and stroke count. It can even give you the distance covered per stroke and stroke rate. All these can give you an amazing personalized experience.
It connects with your iOS or Android devices, acting as a swimming coach. It can give insights into your laps and help you build endurance to be better.
And to make you even better as a swimmer, it will give you tips on your swimming strokes and turns. And when you need a break, the app will help you optimize the rest period.
It can’t give you real-time feedback, but once you are done, you can check them on your phone. It can also give you training advices without needing any other third-party apps.
3. Garmin Forerunner 945 – Best Performing Swimming Watch
Garmin Forerunner 945 is the most feature-rich swimming watch in our opinion. This one is waterproof for up to 50 meters and has a waterproof rating of 5 ATM—which is great for pool and open water swimming.
Apart from the fitness functionalities, it’s packed with smartwatch features as well. It can last up to 2 weeks in smartwatch mode, 10 hours with GPS and music on, and 60 hours in UltraTrac mode.
The screen is a 1.2 inches non-touch screen with a display resolution of 240 x 240 pixels — which also is an always-on display. You can play your favorite music on it with Deezer, Spotify, or amazon music—while you are swimming.
It has a heart rate monitor, oxygen sensor, thermometer, altimeter, barometer, and pedometer, just to name a few, that can give you incredible details about your swimming session. All of these play a great role in giving it many performance monitoring features.
The GPS tracking is great for outdoor activities like to swim in the open water. The fully colored onboard maps also make sure that you know where you are going without getting lost.
This thing also has incident detection, where it will send a message to your emergency contacts if you are in trouble through the paired IOS or android phones.
Overall, this is a great multi-function watch and definitely a good one for swimming. The sleek design and the comfort also allow it to be worn as a regular smartwatch.
4. Polar Ignite
Polar Ignite is capable of doing both pool and open water swimming. More than most swimming watches, it’s water-resistant for up to 30 meters under the water—making it great for serious swimmers.
The screen on the watch is a touch screen display showing you all the important data you need. It can run for 17 hours, including heart rate monitoring and workout tracking time. It can last 4 days in watch mode and still with the heart rate monitoring going on.
The Accelerometer, Calorie Tracker, and Optical heart Rate measuring add a new depth to the product when it comes to fitness tracking. It can also measure the distance covered and the route you are taking while you are swimming.
It can even keep accounts of how much you are sleeping to ensure when you swim, you can give it all of you.
And to help you do calorie tracking and sleep tracking, the polar flow app is really helpful, handy, and easy to use on your phone.
The FitSpark daily training advice will also allow you to get the proper exercises for the day based on your recovery — to help you get the best results in the pool.
Overall, this smartwatch is suitable for a short pool session. There are some problems here and there, like the absence of an always-on display. But they are definitely not deal-breakers.
5. Apple Watch SE
The Apple Watch SE can serve you well as your daily swim buddy. It is water-resistant for up to 50 meters. However, it should only be used in shallow depths and not in presence of high-velocity water.
This one comes with a touch screen retina display of 44 or 40 millimeters diagonally, whichever you prefer. And the battery life of the watch is roughly 18 hours, based on your usage.
The watch can be great for pool swims, and open water swims both. It can show you the average pace, duration, stroke types, lap counts, pool length, and track your splits and auto sets. In open water swimming mode, it can track your splits.
Your total workout time divided by distance is the splits, and your swim time and rest time separately are called autoset.
The heart rate monitor helps you determine how many calories you have burned even under the water while you are swimming which can be a big deal for a lot of people.
Its integration with the iPhone also helps in studying the swim data. You can even receive calls taking breaks from the swimming sessions from the watch itself.
6. Fitbit Versa 2
Fitbit’s a popular company for making great fitness trackers. And this one is no exception. It’s a great smartwatch that you can wear during your swimming sessions since it is rated swim-proof up to 50 meters.
The watch has a 1.34 inches always-on display — and that’s touchscreen as well. Versa 2 has a battery life of around 2 days of regular use.
It has GPS, a heart rate monitor, and a sleep meter to help with your fitness. The Fitbit app also helps keep track better.
You can easily do your swimming in the pool and open water like lakes, rivers, and oceans and track your swimming. And there is a low risk of you getting lost in the open water since you could be tracked with the GPS.
Also, this one can help you get the laps, pace, distance, and lap time in your sessions—which comes in real handy.
The sleep meter can help you get enough sleep to recover, and a heart rate monitor can keep your pulse in check to help you be a better swimmer.
And its smartwatch functionalities let you check your texts from the watch without needing a phone. You can even upload around 300 songs on the watch.
The calorie tracker tells you how many calories you have burned, pushing you in the next swim that you go for. However, it’s not a designated swimming watch.
7. SUUNTO Core
SUUNTO Core has an unique set of features. The altimeter is one of them. It can withstand the water pressure up to 100 feet deep water. However, to track swimming with full accuracy, you should not take it below 30 feet.
The battery life on the watch is really good as well. It can last you anywhere from 1 year to 1.5 years depending on your usage. There are features like compass and backlight which tends to consume a little more battery.
This thing has an altimeter, a barometer, and a compass to provide you with the confidence that you need when you are swimming out. You don’t have to worry about the watch.
The barometer can help you determine any change in the air pressure warning you of any storm or calamities coming in your direction.
This can be instrumental in warning you about the weather so you don’t go for a swim in a risky area.
Being lost in the water is scary. To help you with the directions, the watch also comes with a compass. So, you can be free of worries even in unknown places.
And if the temperature is getting too high, don’t worry. It can perform ideally even at 60 degrees Celsius temperature.
However, it’s not a dedicated swimming watch. As a result, it lacks almost every one of the major swimming-specific features.
8. Apple Watch Series 7
The Apple Watch Series 7 is a great watch to take in your swimming. You can take it in the pool or even the ocean since it can take some shallow depth swimming of 50 meters. It even has a water lock system to keep water out of the watch itself.
The battery life on the watch is impressive as well. It can go for up to 18 hours after a normal day of use including an hour-long workout session. The display comes in two sizes 45 millimeters and 41 millimeters. There are cellular and non-cellular variants available.
It has both pool and open water swimming modes. It can determine your average pace, the distance crossed, the stroke type you used, measure calories burned, and average heartbeat.
And it can do all swimming. In pool mode, it can track the autosets and splits and count laps. While in open water mode, it can track the splits. Combine it with an H2O Audio Interval, you would have a nice setup for music as well.
And its integration with the iPhone makes it really easy and accessible to see all the details at a glance with no complications.
If you have any texts to reply to or call to receive, you can do that with the Apple Watch Series 7 easily without needing the phone. There’s even a full keyboard here.
Overall, it’s a great smartwatch that you can use for swimming. But it can be a lot more expensive than the other swimming watches making it less accessible.
9. Amazfit GTS 3
Amazfit GTS 3 has a water resistance grade of 5ATM, which roughly means 50 meters under the pool or the ocean.
The battery life of the watch is pretty good, too, being 12 days on power saver mode. But if you are using the heart rate monitor and the always-on display, it goes down to around 5 days—which is impressive as well. It has an HD AMOLED display with 341 PPI making it vibrant.
GPS in the watch comes in really handy in tracking your swimming activities. The heart rate monitor works as you swim, and it seems to be pretty accurate. The blood oxygen saturation monitor is great too.
The heart rate monitor and SPO2 sensor can help you to gauge the overall condition of your health and set your goals accordingly.
Also, this watch supports the Zepp health app, which is really helpful in tracking your progress and getting to know your next steps. However, you can’t really see texts or pick calls up from the watch.
But on top of the Zepp health app, the watch has support for third-party apps, which can be really helpful for some of the features that the Zepp app can’t provide.
Overall, this smartwatch is more suitable for casual swimmers and it’s a little hard to suggest to the professionals.
10. TicWatch Pro
The water resistance on TicWatch Pro is unparalleled being IP68 rated. And to make things even better, it’s certified by US military standard 810G to withstand harsh environmental conditions.
The battery life is really great too. It can last from 2 to 5 days in smart mode and up to 30 days in essential mode. The display is a 1.4 inches dual-layer display—which allows the battery to be long-lasting.
It’s great for a pool session, but it should not be used in harsher situations like in an ocean, or diving. To swim in the pool, it even comes with a pool mode where it can repel the water from getting in.
TicWatch pro even has the google assistant installed in the watch to help you navigate the watch through voice when you are swimming. And in the middle of your pool session, if you have to see texts, you can do that too.
It even comes with a sim installed. So, don’t be worried about cellular support.
The watch can measure your heart rate when you are swimming with really good accuracy. And if any unusual heartbeat’s detected, it will send you notifications to warn and stop you.
The sleep tracker is also really good. You can check the depth and quality of your sleep from your phone through the Mobvoi app. This will help you estimate your needs.
This is a great watch, but at the end of the day, it’s only good for casual swimmers. Professional swimmers might require a lot more features and precision.
11. Fitbit Charge 4
Fitbit Charge 4 is capable of withstanding water up to 50 meters deep. This watch was designed to be taken to the pool, lake, or even the ocean without any sort of worries.
The battery also lasts a long time. Usually, it will give you 7 days of usage. But if you continuously use the built-in GPS, it can be over in as less as just 5 hours. It has a small rectangular display.
The exercise app has a swim mode on the watch. With the tracker, you can measure the duration of the swims, the pace, distance, and length. This can give you a good idea about your swims and push you to be better.
The built-in GPS plays a great role in helping with open water swimming making sure you are being able to route your swim session.
To help you with that, the Fitbit app also helps a lot in keeping track of your swims. It gives you personalized data based on your workouts to help you tailor the perfect plan for yourself.
Premium subscription even offers you guided programs and steps to follow to help you get better.
It also helps with getting the heart beat and average blood oxygen saturation.
Overall, it’s not a bad smartwatch to swim with. Even though it lacks some functions that some pros might want, including stroke rate and types.
