Blaze HR sensor Vs. Charge HR sensor

[RC914]

Are the heart rate sensors better and more accurate in the blaze compared to the charge HR?

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[SunsetRunner]

Agreed, for everday stuff it's good. I wear the Charge HR and am happy with it. However, for high intensity workouts, optical wrist monitors are not as good as chest strapped ones. Think it's due to either sweat fouling the sensor (possible) or more likely they are unable to distinguish/monitor/analyse contractions of blood vessels at high bpm.

I've had both of Microsoft's Bands and now the Charge HR (and soon the Blaze) and as soon as HR got up above 160/170 chances were the tracker would lose it at some point. As I do rowing, used to do spin and cycling and have a HR max 195, so frequently hit the 180s, this can and does cause a problem. I used to have a Polar but the battery died and I never replaced it. I'm also not zone training at the moment, so not an issue for me.

[Rich_Laue]

I have read some very good articles from independent testing of the HR, ands it's acuracy

[SunsetRunner]

@Rich_Laue I have no problem with its accuracy for everyday use. However, when doing high HR activities it is also documented that wrist based optical HR sensors' accuracy can go out the window.

[bbarrera]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

However, for high intensity workouts, optical wrist monitors are not as good as chest strapped ones. Think it's due to either sweat fouling the sensor (possible) or more likely they are unable to distinguish/monitor/analyse contractions of blood vessels at high bpm.

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Some optical wrist monitors do better than others. High intensity workouts are challenging for several reasons, including wrist movement, arm movement, and sweat. In addition the size of the Charge HR allows light in, and light is one of the arch-enemies of optical HRM. Finally we've seen that Fitbit PurePulse was initially designed to filter out any rapid changes in pulse. There are detailed reviews on the Internet (and in Surge forum) that clearly show PurePulse unable to track changes when doing interval workouts. I haven't seen those issues with Mio Fuse and Apple Watch, so the problem of tracking rapid HR changes is not universal to all optical HRMs. 

[FelixFive]

@Rich_Laue Earlier you wrote, "I have read some very good articles from independent testing of the HR, ands it's acuracy".  What you just posted doesn't sound very good...? 

Also, just curious, you have no problem with accuracy during 'everyday' use. What really is the point in 'everyday' use? I mean, just checking your heart rate randomly through the day?? 

[stacy_19201325]

For people trying to acheive overall fitness, they should expect to see a drop in resting heart rate over an extended period of time, just like a drop in weight occurs when one goes from couch potato to "very active." 

[SunsetRunner]

@FelixFive "everyday use" means being able to wear it all day, everyday and track HR consistently during activities and rest, to gain an understanding of how resting HR is moving and fitness improving. It's good for comparative assessment.

Where it's not so good is for serious training modes, interval training, HR zone training and more specifically anaerobic HR rates. In these instances the optical reader lags behind a chest strapped monitor for accuracy and benefits.

That said, at the moment I'm not doing any serious training and don't want to have to wear a chest strap but there are times, on my rowing machine for instance, when I'm pushing myself and I wish the wrist sensor was a little bit better. Interestingly, yesterday I did 30 minutes with finishing HR 176bpm and the Charge HR tracked flawlessly. I'd moved it to 3 fingers from wristbone and tightened one notch. I also dimmed the lights in the room. 🙂 I'm still experimenting with it, as I've only had it a couple of weeks (used to use a polar chest strap linked to my Concept 2's PM3 but the battery died). Hopefully I've cracked it.

[Rookey]

lostlogik: I'm sure you know, but there are some YouTube vids on how to change the battery on Polar cheststrap. I did mine but made a hatchet-job of it. Taped the center portion of strap and works fine. I ordered the Blaze (have owned other models) specifically for HR and connected GPS. From my research, shows there is +/- 7 BPM variations. I'm not a hard core athlete though, so I can probably live with it.

[AdamPow]

I would love it if a FitBit representative could clearly address the question of whether the optical heart rate monitor has been inproved in the Blaze as compared to the Charge HR. 

[EmersonFitbit]

The technology itself is very much the same, but we're always working on improvements accross the board for our HR trackers. @AdamPow

[SunsetRunner]

The software might be improved but my Blaze has not failed to have the HR show on command while my Charge HR would show "--" multiple times a day so I am thinking that the Blaze DOES have better capability for the HR.

[Martinefski]

I noticed yesterday that actually during exercise my blaze was missing quite a few beats per min. As many as 50 or 60 ( stairstepper ) 20 to 30 on the elliptical, but as soon as I would stop it would show a much more accurate number. 

I tried tightening the Band and did an adjustment on my wrist without much change. I hope this gets fixed with a firmware upgrade, my charge HR seemed much more accurate.

[SunriseGirl]

The Blaze lays much better on my arm than the HR did (I have very narrow forearms), so I don't know if this is why I get way better heart rate readings...very rarely do I get the --, and usually only briefly compared to the HR.

[Mississippirn]

Well I am a RN and it is not working.  LOL  If I counted HR like the Blaze does I would be out of a job.

[PaladinGuy]

When it's working, I find the Blaze to be fairly accurate for HR. However, I get very incorrect readings during intense exercise. I'm almost positive that this is caused by sweat. If I stop and wipe my arm and the sensors off, it improves again. Obviously, it's not ideal to have to do this during exercise sessions. There are just too many variables that can impact the accuracy of optical heart rate monitors on the wrist. I'm not a triathlete, but I like to gauge my exertion and intensity with my BPM. I'm now almost certain that I just need to get a chest strap again.

[Kev-bm]

I'm having the same issues. I'm thinking of different positions I can put it that may give better, more reliable results

[CoffeeDiva]

Since most of us here agree that our Blaze and Charge are not accurate when we sweat or exercise at high bpm, wouldn't it be great if we could wear a chest strap and it would "talk to" and override our wrist tracker while we are wearing it?

[Kev-bm]

While it is frustrating that the heart rate monitor is not accurate on my blaze during high intensity exercise. I don't believe resorting to wearing a chest strap is the answer for me.
I chose the blaze solely because I didn't have to wear a chest strap !!! I feel it would defeat the point of having this type of heart rate monitoring.
I don't know what the answer is. So I feel Fitbit should invest more in there R&D to find a solution. But going backward is not the answer for me

[Martinefski]

Yeah just like gps for distance tracking.

[RC914]

I agree. The hr sensor isn't good. I switched to the garmin vivoactive hr and its much better.