It’s raining in LA. (really. i know. shocker.) Since I’m already wet, I headed over to the pool. I ran on the treadmill for 3 miles. The Garmin was in Run mode. Heart rate was picked up right away by Garmin and displayed right away. I wore the Mio and the Garmin on my left arm. My Mio Link worked great with my Garmin 910 XT. I noticed that the the treamill also picked up my heart rate. But the threadmill reported about 20 bpm higher than the Mio! The Mio has 5 levels, which is adjustable in the iOS Mio Link App. I set the Max to 170. The Mio has a five color LED. It blinks in the color of the zone you’re in.

Then, I got adventurous and jumped in the pool. I had my Garmin 910XT in Run Mode and swam for for about 20 minutes. The heart rate was getting picked up great. The Mio and Garmin were on my left arm. I ended the Garmin workout and reset the watch. I changed to Open Swim mode. I tried to change the display settings, but the Garmin 910 XT Swim Mode doesn’t have heart rate display options, so it doesn’t detect or collect heart rate while in swim mode. I printed out the Strava views for (1) treadmill run with heart rate from MIO, (2) Swim with Mio but in “Run Mode” (3) Swim with Mio but in “Open Water Swim” mode, with no heart rate data.

It was a triumph, because I’ve never known my heart rate while swimming. Seeing the Mio’s LED color is enough to let me know my heart rate zone. I’m jazzed about that. In the future I’ll have to pick if I want the heart data to be recorded in Run mode, or the swim distance recorded in Swim mode. Ack!

Garmin needs to add the heart rate functionality during the swim mode. Garmin doesn’t have a chest strap that works in the water, so that’s probably why they turn off the heart rate function in the swim mode. Lame.

Swimming in the Rain with Mio Link.