Real water resistance

[SirJacobus]

Hello,

I am planning to buy the Galaxy Watch soon (46mm) and I wonder what does the 5 ATM value really mean, since the actual water pressure depends on how fast do you move with the watch, which type of water you swim in and so on.

The official description states that normal swimming means no danger but where is that threshold after which the watch could get damaged? (especially in chlorinated pool water).

I am asking because the articles I went trough sometimes slightly differ in their description of atmospheric pressure levels and I´d like to be sure what that "shallow depth" really stands for - I know that diving to the bottom of an usual swimming pool (3-4 meters) would probably killed the watch in a few seconds but will it withstand for example 1-2 meters for a brief amount of time? Sometimes is quite uneasy to pay attention to what are you doing, mainly with a group of friends who might be prone to "push you under water a bit" if you know what I mean or if you want to jump from a lower-level springboard...

Thank you for any advice.

 

[arunma]

So I haven't gone swimming with my watch yet. I plan to, but havent gotten the chance so far. Here's what I've read on Samsung's website:
- Chlorinated water and salt water are OK. Just rise the Galaxy Watch in fresh water when you're done.
- You can swim with it, you just can't scuba dive with it. Remember, to damage the watch, the pressure of the water over your moving wrist would have to be equal to the hydrostatic pressure at 164 feet. Since it's designed for swimming, a water damaged watch is eligible for a warranty replacement (that last part is speculation).

 

[SirJacobus]

"You can swim with it, you just can't scuba dive with it. Remember, to damage the watch, the pressure of the water over your moving wrist would have to be equal to the hydrostatic pressure at 164 feet."

Exactly - but I am wondering what is the maximal safe depth for the watch to submerge if you are doing rather rapid underwater movements - I guess a relative calculation could be made to reach an estimate of average depth but I am no advanced physicist or mathematician to be able to calculate an average hydrodynamic pressure But to be honest, I believe that to do such calculation, a solid research would have to be performed: 1. to measure the average maximum speed of moving hand 2. to determine the most exposed and most vulnerable locations on the watch 3. and so on... I realise that my question is probably too theoretical and hard to answer because I don´t think that many owners of the watch would agree or decide to put such an expensive device at peril

 

[sonnnet]

I can't answer your question about depth, I'm afraid. But I swim breaststroke 'underwater', ie just below the water's surface and the watch is absolutely fine. I was pleasantly surprised that heart rate tends to track constantly (at least as good, if not better than when I'm out running). Also the length counter was spot on. I hate counting lengths, and now I don't have to!

 

[jimjam_arch]

With the length counter, do you have to pre-program the length/distance, or does it sense the turn?

 

[sonnnet]

Default is 25m which also happens to be the length of my gym's pool. But you can change that in settings to whatever you want. I suspect the watch uses both distance and its accelerometer to get an accurate reading. But I don't know that for sure. I just know it works.

 

[sonnnet]

Another theory would be that it just uses the accelerometer and it would then make the simple calculation of turns detected x pool length you've inputted for total distance which is in the stats below as you'll see.
(I'm not a great swimmer as you'll also see!)

 

[sonnnet]

But then again, how would it know if you've swum 2 lengths? From number of strokes maybe. Hmmmmm, you've got me thinking now! But as I said, input pool length and it will work!

 

[Greymire]

We were at a Ski resort for two days this past week. I swam with it every day and had it in the hot tub as well. No issues. I thought the two little water droplet symbols that appear were sort of humorous. I do enable water lock prior and run the sound to eject water a couple times after.

 

[sonnnet]

We were at a Ski resort for two days this past week. I swam with it every day and had it in the hot tub as well. No issues. I thought the two little water droplet symbols that appear were sort of humorous. I do enable water lock prior and run the sound to eject water a couple times after.

Good stuff. I agree about the droplets graphic and also the blue watery graphic on the watchface. If you didn't know, you'd be petrified water had gotten in!
I find it takes a couple of ejects to get the water out too. I've discovered in the settings for water lock, there is an 'eject water' function that plays the tones for much longer. Having said that, it's no biggy to run the regular one twice.

 

[skatergirl]

I have a question: If the water lock is not turned on and you go in the shower or swim, will the watch be damaged?

 

[sonnnet]

No, it won't. Waterlock doesn't protect the watch, it just makes the screen inactive. When you are swimming or the shower stream is falling on the watch, the watch can interpret this as touch and you could end up 'pressing' all sorts.
The eject water is a really good feature though because it pushes water out from the speaker grill and I guess stops it staying inside and doing potential damage.

 

[Greymire]

I have a question: If the water lock is not turned on and you go in the shower or swim, will the watch be damaged?

no

 

[Greymire]

See.. The above post already corrected me.. We were typing at the same time. Lol

 

[sonnnet]

See.. The above post already corrected me.. We were typing sat the same time. Lol

Jinx!
You can still press the buttons - ie long press the home key to deactivate it, of course.
But I would agree, it's best to avoid pressing the buttons while you are submerged. There will be seals on the buttons, but they will be weaker than the seal of the case. I have a mechanical chronograph which is pressure tested to 200 meters, but I still try not to press the pushers when I'm underwater. I think it becomes more of a risk as the watch gets older.

 

[skatergirl]

No, it won't. Waterlock doesn't protect the watch, it just makes the screen inactive. When you are swimming or the shower stream is falling on the watch, the watch can interpret this as touch and you could end up 'pressing' all sorts.
The eject water is a really good feature though because it pushes water out from the speaker grill and I guess stops it staying inside and doing potential damage.

So, does the water get pushed out when you turn water lock back off?

And thank you for the great explanation and thank you, too, Greymire.

 

[sonnnet]

So, does the water get pushed out when you turn water lock back off?

And thank you for the great explanation and thank you, too, Greymire.

Yes, it does. The vibration of the speaker while it's bleeping pushes it out and you can even see the spray coming out onto your wrist. It's very cool!

 

[skatergirl]

Yes, it does. The vibration of the speaker while it's bleeping pushes it out and you can even see the spray coming out onto your wrist. It's very cool!

I am going to try it very soon.

 

[arunma]

I guess a relative calculation could be made to reach an estimate of average depth but I am no advanced physicist or mathematician to be able to calculate an average hydrodynamic pressure

Ironically it just so happens I'm a physicist. That said, the calculation is actually pretty simple. My back of the envelope estimate is that at the surface, you'd need to be moving your hands at 70 mph to exceed the pressure tolerance.

 

[sonnnet]

Ironically it just so happens I'm a physicist. That said, the calculation is actually pretty simple. My back of the envelope estimate is that at the surface, you'd need to be moving your hands at 70 mph to exceed the pressure tolerance.

That's very impressive!
Is there any way to estimate how deep you could go with the watch?