Name: Cold Metric: Plunge, Ice Bath, Sauna, Contrast
Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Author: ColdMetric

Sauna, plunge, sauna, plunge - saved as ONE activity.

Most trackers need a separate timer for every stage, so a hot and cold set ends up as six activities you piece together afterwards. Cold Metric runs the whole set. Set your cold and hot halves once, choose how many rounds, and get in. Every round saves as its own lap, so Garmin Connect and Strava show the cycle the way it actually happened.

Between rounds the watch waits for you. Getting out of a barrel and walking to the sauna takes however long it takes, and counting that as sauna time would make the round a lie. Press when you are in position and the next round starts. It buzzes at every changeover, because you cannot see or hear a screen with your wrist under water. Start with the sauna or the plunge - your choice.

PICK WHAT YOU ARE DOING

Ice bath or cold plunge, sauna, cold shower, or breathwork. Each carries its own sensible range and presets, so you are not dialling half-degrees at 85C or scrolling past sauna durations to log a 90-second plunge. Count up or down, set on the READY screen.

SEE HOW YOU RESPONDED

Open Last session from More, the last entry on the opening screen. After a plunge it shows your cold response: how far your heart rate spiked and when, when it settled, and how low it went. In a contrast set, the watch shows your heart rate against where the round ended while you rest, and keeps it at one and two minutes of rest. It also shows Garmin's own stress score and Body Battery from before the session and the half hour after, on watches that keep them. Numbers only, no verdicts.

BREATHWORK

A session in its own right: box breathing, four seconds each of in, hold, out, hold. A circle grows and shrinks with your lungs and the watch taps you at each turn, so you can do the whole thing with your eyes shut.

IT REMEMBERS

Your last twenty sessions, weekly cold time, average, highest and lowest heart rate, your coldest and warmest, and your daily streak. Cold time is counted separately from sauna time. A milestones page tracks sessions, cold time and streak. One press on the opening screen repeats your last session exactly. Streak and last session also show on the glance.

Want a greeting? Type your name once (More, Your name) and the opening screen says hello. It stays on the watch, and it is off until you add it.

FEELS RIGHT IN THE COLD

Buzzes at halfway, ten seconds out, and at every transition - patterns you can tell apart by feel alone.

STOP WHENEVER YOU WANT

Press START during a session for Resume, End the current round, Save and finish, or Discard. Ending early still saves everything you did up to that point.

A REAL GARMIN ACTIVITY

Every session saves as a genuine activity under its own name, with duration and heart rate, and for an ice bath the water temperature you entered and your cold time. Contrast rounds save as laps. If Garmin Connect is linked to Strava, your sessions go there automatically.

ONE PURCHASE

No subscription, no account, no upsell, nothing held back behind a second app. Nothing is transmitted anywhere - your sessions live on the watch and reach Garmin Connect the way any activity does.

BEFORE YOU USE IT

Cold water carries real risk, including cold shock response, impaired ability to swim, and hypothermia. Never plunge alone. Get out if you feel unwell. If you have a heart condition or any medical concern, speak to a doctor first.

Breathwork is box breathing, deliberately. It does not pace hyperventilation-style rounds: over-breathing immediately before immersion can cause you to black out in the water.
Cold Metric is a stopwatch and a logbook. It is not a medical device and gives no health advice.

Known issue: some watches on 18.x software, including the Venu 4 and vívoactive 6, can restart mid-activity. Since 1.5.1 Cold Metric takes heart rate from the recording, which avoided it in testing on a Venu 4. The cause is in Garmin's software and has been reported. Still restarting? Email support@coldmetric.au.