Long time watcher, first post.
I go swimming a fair bit at the beach and also am oncall.
Does anyone know of a wearable device that I can use that will notify me of a call on my phone (from as long a distance as possible) while I'm in the (salt) water?
I'm not really into the fitness tracking etc stuff - so just the cheapest/simpliest would be the best!
Cheers
connect to a real loud siren or a strobe light … but may upset other beach goers.
Perhaps you could employ a mime to signal you when you get a call?
The range of my Pebble (Time Steel) is around 15~20 meters INDOORS. I live in a multi-level home and it can also connect between floors.
But I've never tried testing it outdoors.
You might want to try the very basic black Pebble then. According to the Pebble Blog
Both the original Pebble and Pebble Steel are water resistant up to 5ATM. This means that Pebble is able to stay on your wrist as long as you don't go deeper than 50 meters under water.
So feel free to wear your Pebble in the shower, in the rain, while doing dishes, or while fishing, swimming, snorkeling, whitewater rafting, etc. Just keep it above 50 meters and please also be aware that Pebble is only water-resistant as long as the seal remains in tact. For that reason, please do not press the buttons while Pebble is submerged.
If you do take Pebble with you in saltwater, please be sure to give it a rinse with fresh water shortly afterward. This will help prevent the salt from damaging the finish of your smartwatch or salt crystals from drying in button crevices and making them sticky or immobile.
At 10m you would experience 2Atm..as in the water, plus the atmosphere itself. So technically 5Atm water resistance is only 40m. Not going to be an issue for many though.
The problem is that smart watches won't work over Bluetooth because of range issues.
Solution is to get a cheap Chinese phone watch and year long ALDI long life plan. When at beach, set your phone to divert to watch phone number.
This is a very clever solution.
Thanks, there's also very cheap Chinese function phones a bit larger than lighters but you would get the idea. Just divert calls.
Not a bad idea. Grab a cheap phone and a cheap sim to divert it to when swimming. I wouldn't go chucking a iPhone in there though.
Not sure about the watch phone idea - I mean do they even still exist??
Some smartwatches can be used like a phone (3G and all). Though I probably wouldn't want to swim with those ones on.
they are perfectly fine for iphones etc, well and truely waterproof - theres lots of brands at anaconda, wildearth etc.
even for ipads http://www.wildearth.com.au/buy/sea-to-summit-tpu-guide-ipad…
Waterproof phone + sports armband phone holder … thingie-ma-bob thing/
Your phone will not have reception underwater.
You can get call notifications on Fitbit HR. You'd still need to phone with you. So it would either need to be tied to you, or the board.
Id get a waterproof hard case - like a pelican. I dont trust those soft cases.
Do you expect to be called while swimming?
The garmin vivosmart and vivoactive are both sufficiently waterproof as to be suitable for swimming (fitbit seem to be rated for quick showering only) And both can receive smart notifications via bluetooth from the garmin connect app on ios/android/windows 10 mobile.
Unfortunately water blocks the bluetooth connection while swimming.
My only suggestion would be for a small phone in waterproof pouch, which you would need to place under a swim cap at the back of your head for best reception. Combine with a block list when swimming or maybe a unique ringtone for work to filter out false alarms.
You should also be able to track your swim with a gps app on the phone if you wanted
Just to reinforce how badly water impacts wireless communications,I swim daily at my local public pool, and while my vivosmart will stay connected over 30m and through 3 concrete walls in AIR, it drops out under 2cm of water with my phone only 2m away.
The back of your head is the best place for connectivity while swimming (except backstroke, hence the phone in the swimp idea
Your problem is going to be the distance your bluetooth can transmit/receive, especially underwater. unless you are just wading in the shallows I think you are out of luck.
Your better bet would be to connect to a real loud siren or a strobe light … but may upset other beach goers.