Heartrate stops working, mainly during workouts

[Christy1011]

I am getting very frustrated at my brand new Alta HR. I bought it for the sole purpose of the HR monitor to use during workouts. Here I am, 15 minutes into a workout and I have had to stop 10 times to wipe off my wrist and the back on the FitBit to get the HR to work again. I am tired of this. I spent way too much money for a product that does NOT work for the intended purposes of purchase. HR is IN THE NAME. Please tell me there is some way to remedy this or I would like to get rid of this product. 

[Christy1011]

I am having the same issue. I am doing INTENSE HIIT intervals. I can barely breathe, but my HR is saying 120. I get to 120 walking my dog. It is NOT 120. Also, been working out for 30 minutes at this rate, dripping sweat, and it still says 0 active minutes. I feel like this was a bad purchase all around. 

[NellyG]

I have joined both posts together as it is against Community Guidelines to poat the same issue in multiple places. I hooe you can find a solution.

[Jo9]

Hi. Do you wear it higher up when you work out? The little information leaflet that came in the box suggests wearing it at least two fingers above the wrist bone when exercising. Hope this helps 

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there @Jo9. Welcome to the Community Forums! 🙂

Whenever it comes to using your tracker to track your exercise sessions, you do need to place it a little higher up on your wrist for a more accurate reading.

As with all heart-rate tracking technology, whether a chest strap or a wrist-based sensor, accuracy is affected by personal physiology, location of wear, and type of movement.

For all-day wear when you’re not exercising, your tracker should usually rest a finger’s width below your wrist bone and lay flat, just as you would wear a watch. Fitbit’s PurePulse heart rate tracking system is designed to be most accurate when the tracker is worn on the top of your wrist.

For improved heart rate accuracy keep these tips in mind:

1. Experiment with wearing the tracker higher on your wrist during exercise. Because blood flow in your arm increases the farther up you go, moving the tracker up a couple inches can improve the heart rate signal. Also, many exercises such as push-ups cause you to bend your wrist frequently, which is more likely to interfere with the heart rate signal if the tracker is lower on your wrist.
   
2. Do not wear your tracker too tight; a tight band restricts blood flow, potentially affecting the heart rate signal. That being said, the tracker should also be slightly tighter (snug but not constricting) during exercise than during all-day wear.
3. With high-intensity interval training, P90X, boxing, or other activities where your wrist is moving vigorously and non-rhythmically, the movement may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate. Similarly, with exercises such as weight lifting or rowing, your wrist muscles may flex in such a way that the band tightens and loosens during exercise. Try relaxing your wrist and staying still briefly (about 10 seconds), after which you should see an accurate heart rate reading. Note that your tracker will still provide accurate calorie burn readings during these types of exercise by analyzing your heart rate trends over the course of the workout.

All this information can be found in the help site if you'd like to search for any other specific thing.

Anything else you may need, let us know!

[LAlvis]

I am dealing with this same issue and am very frustrated! My Alta reads my HR fine until I get on the stationary bike. As soon as my HR begins to climb, long before I begin sweating, it quits reading it. I move it up and down my wrist, take it off and on, wiping it and my wrist, tightening and loosening it, and it still won't read my heart rate for more than a minute or two. When it does register long enough to get up to speed,my HRis in the 150s and 160s. This is really a pain. What is going on? I have tried all the suggestions above.

[FY123]

I have exactly the same problem - on the rowing machine and on stationary bike. The heart rate monitor keeps on dropping the reading and just gives me a “—“ readout. I can sometimes get it back by fiddling, changing wrists, hitting it (in frustration!) or undoing and redoing the clasp... but I’m doing it at least every minute or so after the initial 10 or so minutes. It’s so frustrating!!! 

[TriBallistic]

That was helpful. 👍

[Halahalan]

Same problem with my Charge 3

[VenaF]

I’m having the same issue with heart rate stop working at 20 min into my workout, and I always wear it 2 finger above my wrist, I find the only way to get it back working is to wipe my arm of sweat AND wipe the fit bit of sweat, give it a few seconds to air dry as well and than slap it back on. Sometimes this works sometimes it doesn’t not. I bought the charge 3 for $179.99 plus tax canadian. I feel like for this price it shouldn’t need coaxing to work. 

[Halahalan]

I do the same and it’s so frustrating to have to keep doing this mid workout. And even when the heart rate’s back on it’s still miscalculated! My heart would be pounding and my fitbit would show 109 bpm excuse me but no way. 

[Britmwb]

It's all about sweat. That's what's stopping it. I have tried the two fingers up, wearing it tighter, wearing it looser... everything, that didn't do anything to fix the problem. What worked for me is that I bought a cotton wrist sweatband, cut out a square, put the sweatband over my Fitbit and the display fits in the square so I can still read my heart rate and workout time. 👍🏻

Do it and I swear it'll be a game changer. But make sure it's a cotton one and not any other material otherwise it will not soak up the sweat and your Fitbit won't read. I made the mistake of buying a 10 pack of sweatbands that were not cotton, they didn't do anything and my heart rate stopped reading halfway through the workout. This just happened and made me enraged. Yes, I know it's very first world problems, but my calorie tracking means a lot to me right now. And even though I know my body still burned the calories I like seeing that progress in numbers. 

[chendy1024]

Same here... On a bike or rowing machine it says my heart rate is a steady ~75 when it's actually 130-140. They don't care as long as people keep buying their crappy devices.

[captainbadass]

agreed, mine does this too its absolutely **ahem**. complete rip off

[bwhitt133]

I have the exact issue with my brand new Versa 4.  I bought it for the sole purpose of tracking my heart rate during workouts and despite the fact that exercise machines or a manual test of my heart rate reveals I am in the 140s, the watch never goes above 90.  I've tried wearing at different positions on my wrist, as suggested by FitBit and the moderator here and it does absolutely nothing.  In the process of initiating a return.  If they can't get a HR smartwatch to work during exercise, they should stop making products.

[Lthedb]

I have the exact same problem with my Inspire2.  So frustrating.  I think (hope) that when I go on my laptop after my workout to check on how I’ve done, the report is accurate.  But at the highest intensity of my workout, I never get an accurate readout.  Usually it shows nothing or something obviously too low (ex: 107) to be true.   

[VenaF]

Yeah it’s pretty common that they stop working at highest point which is so frustrating. I complained about it and they gave me a new tracker, but it didn’t resolve.

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[Vmudgil]

Having same issue, HR showing up but just stops working during workout