Rowing watch attached to the boat oar scull wrist

[Mike De Petris]

I use a Garming Forerunner 310XT with a strap band and an elastic extender so that I can tie it to a stern wing rigger, or to the footplate/shoe or even to a bike adapter, very easy and safe to put in on and off.

Now I am trying to figure how to use a Garmine Vivoactive 3 in the same way, I want to use an hearth rate chest band, so the wrist reading is not a matter, my questions are:

- will it detect the stroke rate when simply put on the shoe or any support attached to the boat?

- is there any adapter similar to the one I'm using with the Forerunner?

- is it really enough to place it on the oar/scull? Will it be readable in both recovery and drive?

It has a simple 20mm wrist band, it seems strange to me I can't find an extender for the band, a quick strap velcro band or whatever.

What would you suggest to use?

[don Vickers]

I doubt that the Vivoactive 3 will provide an accurate stroke rate if attached to the boat. My reasoning is that the acceleration detection is assuming hand movement as opposed to the boat itself. The watch includes both on water and pretend off water rowing. My guess is that the two activities share much of the same supporting software.

I have seen people with watches attached to their sculling blade and I am quite sure the Vivoactive 3 will detect a decent rate from there and you can have reasonably good visibility from there. I doubt that you can have good visibility on both recovery and drive, however. My guess you will need to pick one or the other. Depending on your planned ratings my guess is the recovery would be the better of the two.

I THINK you can just tighten the watch band on the shaft and it will stay. You might need to place something on the shaft to make it softer like a rubber strap to allow the band to get tight enough so it doesn’t rotate or slip.

Hope this helps,
don Vickers

[Tom Carter]

Does it have to be attached to the oar? I have been using garmin watches for a while sculling and just leave it attached to my wrist and its impressively accurate on rate - the only downside is when spinning it obviously records some crazy high rates

[sander]

I wrote up my experience here https://analytics.rowsandall.com/2020/07/17/rowing-data-from-a-garmin-vivoactive-3-compared-to-nk-speedcoach-gps/

[don Vickers]

As Sander reports, the heart rate detection of the VivoSmart3 is very poor for rowing. As an example I walked about 2.6 k meters yesterday and the average pulse was 96. This morning I did two 6k pieces in a 1x and in both the average pulse was 91. I was not rowing a race pace but at a 3:03 split and was dripping in sweat at the end whereas I worked just a minor sweat on my walk.

My guess is the flexing of the wrists in feathering and squaring the blades may cause the optics of the watch to lose contact with the blood. A while back I tried wearing the watch under the wrist but the results were no better and what little visibility the watch offers on top of the wrist was lost.

The watch tracks distance, split and rate quite well but if you want heart rate a strap seems a necessity.

For what little it is worth,
don Vickers

[Andy McKenzie]

i used to have a Vivosport 3, and its heart rate tracking when rowing was poor, although it worked fine when running. I now have a Vivosport 4 and that seems to track my heart rate when rowing fairly accurately, I presume it has a different sensor and/or software.

Andy

[Wes Kerns]

I have been using Rowing in motion app on my phone. I bought a waterproof case, some acrylic and a blue tooth heart rate strap and good to go.

I get boat speed, HR, catch speed and it logs my workouts.

It does take a little effort to build a firm attachment to the boat (accelerometers in phone wont work if phone is loosely attached) App was ~$50USD plus $10 - $20 for the attachment work. Firm Velcro would work as long as you have a good angle to see the screen. Also, I made a lanyard to attach to my boat to make sure I dont loose the phone if I flip.

the only down side is you only get ground speed, water speed is not available. Speed through the water is available though.

Thanks
Wes