Poolmate

If you are like me and daydream when doing endless laps then losing count is annoying. I often swim 2 to 2.5 miles of our pool without a break so keeping count whilst trying to focus on technique is difficult. The poolmate really does what it says on the tin and so far I've found it to be very accurate. Even when doing long strokes it never misses. For these sessions it's brilliant and if that's all you need it for it's a four star bit of kit. I've only given it 3 stars however as it's also a bit of an annoying little device. For instance, on those long swims it would be nice if you could set it so that it beeped after say every 10 lengths because as you can imagine, with not having to count you have no idea how far you've gone or for how long you've been swimming without stopping to look. The reason I've only given it 3 stars though is the other functions for when you are doing intervals and the like. The stop button doesn't stop the time unless you press it twice and then the whole thing resets. Pressing it once puts it into pause mode. Ok I suppose if you want so many seconds between intervals but I prefer to work off a set time. For these type of sessions my Timex IronMan watch is much better. Personally I also don't think scrolling through the options and settings is very intuitive and takes some fiddling with. Looks wise I wouldn't wear it for normal daywear. It looks cheap compared to other digital watches. In summary, if you want a watch to just count laps then get it. If you want one for varied workouts wait for the mark 2 to come out.

My Pool Mate arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to try it out. I practised with it in house first, using swim like arm movements, so that I was familiar with the controls. I don't usually swim on Saturday mornings, but I don't usually have a new toy to motivate me! The Pool Mate worked perfectly. I was able to pause it when I was having short breaks - this is very easy to do. At the end, there was a log for the overall swim and also logs for each set of the laps I did. These are automatically stored, but can be deleted if you don't want to keep them. I'm a recreational swimmer who is trying to improve fitness, so it's going to be very useful to chart my progress as my strokes, speed and stamina improve. My efficiency is way below average at moment (no surprise to me) so the only way is up. I use a heart rate monitor when exercising and always know how many calories I'm burning during other exercise and now I know what I'm burning during swimming - excellent. It was great not to be counting lengths all the time. I'm very pleased with this product.

I've been swimming with the Poolmate for about a month now and on the whole I'm very happy with it. My swimming has improved significantly, partly because I've been able to accurately track my times, speeds and stroke efficiency but probably more because I'm not having to count my laps which leaves me free to concentrate on maintaining good form.

The Poolmate isn't without its quirks, as many reviewers have mentioned, but I've been able to minimise or work around all of them quite easily. I shouldn't need to say that you need to have the Poolmate tight on your wrist. Not so tight that it's uncomfortable, but the watch shouldn't move around on your wrist during your stroke. The most significant issue I've encountered is the Poolmate's tendency to 'drop' laps. Basically this happens when the watch fails to detect that you've finished one length and started another. It's a good idea to periodically check that the watch has an even or odd lap count at the right end of the pool. If it's wrong, then that means it's dropped a lap so just carry on and add an extra lap to what the watch says. All your figures will be slightly out, but your time will be correct which for me is the most important.

Chances are you can easily minimise the likelihood of the Poolmate dropping laps by changing the arm you wear it on, though. The watch seems to detect the end of one lap and the start of another by registering a stop in motion, followed by a pause as you kick off and glide to start the next lap. When I started with the Poolmate, I wore it on my left wrist, like I would a normal watch, but soon realised that because I take my first stroke with the left arm, I was shortening the amount of time the Poolmate had to register that 'glide' phase. By wearing it on the right wrist, it gets an extra half-second or so and now it almost never misses a lap.

A few minor technical hiccups shouldn't put you off this device though, as it's a great training aid and probably the next best thing to having a swimming coach. It's an innovative device and there's nothing out there yet that can do what it does, so a few minor limitations are to be expected.

That said, there are a couple of things that prevent me from giving the Poolmate five stars. Firstly, it just seems to cost a bit too much for what it is. It's essentially a waterproof digital watch with a motion sensor and some simple software and I think Swimovate are being a bit cheeky charging £70 for it. Secondly, the Poolmate Pro option costs twice as much for the same watch with a microUSB port and a bit more basic software. Thirdly, the battery is only expected to last for one year, at which point you're supposed to send it back to Swimovate to "ensure it remains watertight", the cost of which, judging by the rest of their pricing, will likely be a gross inflation of what you'd be charged at your local watch repairer (who would almost certainly do just as good a job).

Bottom line, if you're a keen swimmer and want to improve then the Poolmate is very effective and worth what it costs. If you're more casual about your swimming though, you should have a think about how much you want to spend on the Poolmate and its replacement batteries, and be sure you're going to get enough use out of it to justify the price.