Garmin HRM-Swim Heart Rate Strap

Garmin HRM-Swim Heart Rate Strap Info

Diehard Garmin users have been waiting many years for a solution to capturing their heartrate while swimming. The long wait has come to an end with the introduction of the Garmin HRM-Swim. The HRM-Swim is a strap that addresses those holy-grail questions like how do you keep the strap in place while in the pool? and how can it work while under water?

First important point to note is that Garmin has designed this strap specifically for swimming in enclosed pools. That’s not to say that you can’t use this in open water swims; it’s just that it solves one of the biggest problems swimmers in pools face, especially if they are accustomed to doing lap intervals: keeping the strap in place. Garmin has designed the strap to be a bit thicker with a tacky back surface. The sleek, non-slip strap stays in place even after vigorous wall push-offs. No longer will your swim-specific strap become a belt after your first half lap. Since the proper fit of this strap is essential, Garmin has taken the unusual step of including an extending strap so that it can accommodate the petite and the large-lunged alike. Consequently, it can fit chest sizes ranging from 23” to 57”. Importantly, the material has also been developed to be resistant to pool chemicals, increasing its durability and lifespan.

The strap works off of ANT+ technology whereby the strap is paired with a supported Garmin device (FR920XT, Fenix3, Epix), and then records your heart rate under water. As soon as you are out of the water, which includes when you lift your torso out of the water at the end of a lane mid-session, the strap syncs up with the watch so you can immediately see what your results are. You’ll get your real-time heart rate, interval summaries and the stored heart rate through the session. But you should note that a major difference between this strap and the HRM-Tri is that the HRM-Swim does not support the Garmin Running Dynamics, so if you are planning on using this while training for a triathlon, just be aware that you won’t have access to those metrics on this strap.

The Garmin HRM-Swim strap has a water rating of five ATM and the battery life is 18 months based on three hours of swimming per week. It weighs 2.5 ounces