Swim drill logging with Galaxy Watch 4

[ursamajor]

When swimming we often do drills (only legs, only one arm, ...) and of course the watch won't be able to know since it can only pick one arm movement. What most swim watches do (like Garmin Swim 2) is they allow the user to manually enter the drill log by marking the start time and end time and then entering the distance covered.
- Can Watch4 do this too?

[Marty313]

If I did not misunderstand entirely, you cannot do this on the Watch 4. I have to warn you that swim tracking is not as good as cycling or hiking. However, you can install the swim.com app, which should do the job. Still, my personal experience tells me that the Watch 4 will not beat a top-rated dedicated swim watch like the Garmin Swim 2. (I have both.)

[Marty313]

Today, I wore my Galaxy Watch 4 Classic on my left wrist and my Suunto 7 on the right while I swam 1.1 km in the local 50 m pool. The Suunto 7 was spot on, the Watch4 had problems and logged 3.1 km!

I began with 2 lanes breaststroke with a flipturn for warm-up. Then 2 lanes superman drill, first on the right then on the left. The first lane is logged correctly, the return lane is broken up. This because the lane was busy.

It gets worse with backstroke. The swimming hall has a slanted roof (silly prize-winning architecture!) so I have to take care not to collide with other swimmers in my lane. I try to keep in physical touch with the lane divider and "stutter" in my movements.

My question: GPS does not work inside buildings and under water. But a magnetic compass should work at all times. Can Samsung use the built-in compass for lane detection? (Or is the compass dependent on GPS?)

[ursamajor]

But does any of those watches allow you to record the drill series manually? 
Garmin Swim let's you do that very easily. 

[Marty313]

I do not think that this works with my Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or Suunto 7. Both watches switch off the touch screen when you are swimming. Garmin has optimzed the use of 5 buttons, which allows you to log drills manually. 

[ursamajor]

It seems only Garmin watches allow the user to log the drill sets.
Every watch could do it since it's just software, no sensor is required. Unfortunately they don't 😞
I guess Garmin it is then.

[Marty313]

You have a point. But I think the number of hardware buttons does play in since you cannot use the touch screen in a wet environment.