Activity trackers are becoming more and more affordable. And for athletes, this is a good thing. Having the ability to track your heart rate, distance traveled, and calories burned in real time is a huge benefit.
While any fitness tracker is sufficient for an athlete who is a runner or weight lifter, the same does not hold true for an athlete who does most of his training in the water, such as a swimmer.
If you are are someone who spends a lot of time exercising in the water, it behooves you to have a waterproof fitness tracker.
However, finding a waterproof activity tracker for swimming can be more difficult than it initially appears. That's because most fitness trackers are advertised as "water resistant", which means that they are able to take a splash or two but are not completely submersible.
With the above in mind, you will want to look for a fitness tracker that is labeled as "waterproof". This means they are 100% sealed to prevent any water leaks. Additionally, all waterproof activity trackers for swimming will have an ATM rating, which means they are rated to withstand a certain depth. So for instance, a waterproof rating of 2 ATM would mean that the device can withstand a depth of 20 meters.
There are also a few different kinds of fitness trackers. Standard fitness trackers will contain a acclerometer chip, which will track your progress by detecting movement. We recommend purchasing one with a heart monitor function, especially if you are a swimmer or cyclist. Waterproof fitness trackers with heart monitors are a little more accurate for fitness tracking purposes.
With the above in mind, we have assembled a guide below with many of the latest popular models. We have divided this guide up by price point and features, so you can make an educated decision about the best waterproof fitness tracker.
Our Favorite: Polar Loop 2
This might be one of our new favorite fitness trackers. it is a definite improvement over last years polar loops both in aesthetics and capabilities. We liked that fact that it can be paired with the H7 heart sensor (sold separately) for heart rate tracking capability.
We did a lot of different activities on this during the few days that we tested it and it with a lot of syncing and desyncing. The battery lasted about 3 days or so. Additionally, the charging is very quick on this device.
The device is stylish and very comfortable. It loops around your wrist with ease, and the LED display can be seen through a band on the outside. These LEDs will give you a visual indicator of your activities during the day.
The device also carriers all of the standard fitness tracking features: steps/calories, sleep, and exercise through its polar flow app. Although not at responsive as the app that our Fitbit came with, it was still very good and quite accurate.
The only downside to the device is that you must purchase the H7 sensor for heart rate monitoring.
The Best Waterproof Fitness Activity Trackers
We have created a small table below and filled it with the best waterproof fitness trackers. Hopefully this guide will help you make an informed decision about the best waterproof fitness trackers that fall within your budget. All of the trackers on this list are meant mostly for water activities, such as swimming. Swimmers spend an extended amount of time in the water, however most pools are not more than 10 - 20 feet deep. If you plan on using a fitness tracker for a more intensive purpose, such as diving, than it is best to opt for one with the highest possible ATM rating.
When we were testing out different products and conducting our research, we found a lot of confusing information about water proof activity trackers. Many manufacturers will use the terms "water resistant" and "water proof" interchangeably. Furthermore, almost every fitness tracker we looked at had an ATM rating. But when we dug a little deeper we would oftentimes find out that the product in question was not actually fully waterproof. We found that many were simply splash resistant or sweat resistant, as per the manufacturers website.
Although it was a painstaking process, we managed to find a great deal of waterproof activity trackers for swimming specifically. Rest assured that all of the trackers on this list are fully submersible.
Polar Loop2 | Misfit Shine | Mio Link | Moov | Lifetrack C300 | TomTom Spark | Runtastic Orbit | Mio Alpha | Misfit Flash | Garmin Vivofit | Basis Peak | Garmin Swim | Aqua Pulse | |
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ATM | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
Heart Rate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | ✓ | ✓ | | ✓ | | ✓ | ✓ | | ✓ |
Sync | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | And/IOS | PC/MAC | PC |
Battery Life | 3 Days | 6 Month | 1 Day | 6 Month | 6 Month | 1 Day | 6 Days | 1 Day | 6 Month | 1 Year | 4 Days | 1 Year | 1 Year |
Type | Band | Band | Band | Band | Sport Watch | Smart Watch | Band | Sport Watch | Band | Band | Sport Watch | Watch | Earpiece |
GPS | | | ✓ | | | ✓ | | | | | | ||
Review |
Our Top Picks
Although they didn't quite make the cut, here are a few or our other favorite waterproof fitness trackers for swimming.
TomTom Spark
The spark is a new offering from TomTom that we really like. The unit has a small profile and the front face is one of the slimmest we have seen, at least compared to say the Mio or the Fitbit surge.
The TomTom is a great device for music fans, it will sync with your Apple device and allow loading of your music files.
It is also fully waterproof up to 40 meters, which is a must for any swim workout. In addition to the standard tracking features, the TomTom also includes a built in heart rate monitor. If that's not enough, you also get GPS.
The Spark has a great heads up display, allowing for a dizzying array of (about 60) customize able metrics.
Garmin Swim
When it comes to swim tracking, the Garmin Swim has the competition beat. The swim has one of the more simpler set ups of any device we've seen, simply add the length of your pool and number of laps and click start.
The GS is quite adept at recognizing your swimming strokes, we tested fly, back, and breast and it recognized them without a hitch.
The GS generates very extensive reports, including a weekly swim log. One neat stat we liked was its SWOLF score, which is kind of like a swim efficiency rating.
The Swim is unfortunate very simplified - it contains only a accelerometer. It does not include a heart rate tracker as it is more of a swim focused watch.
Aqua Pulse
The Aqua Pulse is a niche device that is a great fit for swimmers. It is totally hands free. With the earpiece in place, the device will continuously broadcast your heart rate into your ear. And there's no need to worry about water - the Aqua Pulse uses bone conduction to rely its data to you, negating the need for an earbud.
The lack of a chest strap is a great benefit, making it far less likely that the device will fall off and cause you to stop mid workout to retrieve it from the bottom of the pool.
Unlike the Garmin Swim, the Aqua come standard with a heart rate sensor.
Garmin Vivofit
The Garmin Vivofit is a solid fitness tracker. It does not have a swim tracking function, however it excels at all other types of tracking and its slim profile makes it ideal for weight lifting. The Vivofit has a very sharp display that is readable in complete darkness. The button placement and feedback are excellent.
The Vivofit boasts a 1 year battery life and runs off of a small coin cell battery.
We felt that the rubber connector on this one is very comfortable despite its large profile. The clasp is very secure and did the unit did not fall off during our tests. Read Review >