Product Review: SportCount 90010 Swim Lap Counter/Timer
If you are like me you will find yourself more often than not at the local gym swimming for 45 - 60 minutes. During this time you try to come up with creative forms of entertainment or really stupid ideas (see Translation Tuesdays). Another item you try to tackle is how to count your laps. I’ve see many creative ways of trying to accomplish this task but my newest secret is the
SportCount 90010 Swim Lap Counter/Timer.
This little gem I got for a Christmas present. It’s small, waterproof and easy to use. It is basically a ring that you wear on your index finger. You then use your thumb to click the rubber button to count each lap. It is also water resistant up to 50 meters
Using the swim counter could not be easier. It only has one button. Hold down the button for about 5 seconds to turn on the watch. You then click once to start the timer and then each click after that serves as a lap counter. My only issue is remembering to click the lap counter after each lap but I am more concerned about total swim time then number of laps. You can see a demo of it
here
The display is crystal clear and easy to read (even underwater). As you swim the display will show your total swim time. When you click the lap button the display will change to show you your current number of laps. This will show for about 5 seconds. After that time it will show you your last lap time. After about 5 seconds the display will go back to showing your total swim time. When done swimming hold down the watch for about 5 seconds and then the watch will show you your fastest, slowest and average lap time.
This little watch could also be useful as a lap counter and timer for other sports (like running laps on the track, transitions times, etc). The simpler (counter only model 90040) I could find useful in applications where you have to do a lot of counting. I had to count thousands of fish, insects, bugs, etc during my field biology days and this gem would have been a god sent. It would have saved me the time of tick marking each item and would be waterproof it would not get destroyed it in the rain, lake, stream, etc.
My only complaints are the following:
1) The many models of the watch can cause some confustion when ordering. (See
here for a comparison). I have the Combination SportCount (90010). I would also recommend getting that model or the SportCount Chrono 100 (90000).
2) The model I have lacks a pause feature. This would be VERY useful. The Chrono 100 does have a pause feature but it cost $10 more and at $49 it’s too expensive for me.
3) The little watch costs $29 which seems a little pricey considering how cheap it is to make watches these days. My mother-in-law bought me the present and laughed that she paid so much for something so small that looks like it came out of a Cracker Jack box. But I have used it enough to make it worth the cost. It is well constructed and designed.
4) SportCount’s website looks very amateurish (unprofessional) so if you are unfamiliar with the product you could be turned away prematurely. Also their email address is with an
AOL.com domain
. That is a big no-no turn off. Real unprofessional since you already own the domain name just add an email address under that domain name.
5) Sometimes I wish the last lap time would show up quicker after you register the lap.
Overall, I have to say I love my new gadget. It works just as advertised. I now know how long I’ve been swimming, how many laps I have completed and how long it took to complete the lap (and other useful information). I would highly recommend the product.
