Fitbit Blaze not tracking Heart Rate

[Shev90]

Just did a workout and noticed half way through that my heart rate isn't tracking, it's just showing as --

Usually I burn 500 calories within the session but ta only showing as 200 because it didn't track

How do I reset/restart or what can I do to fix it?

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

Hi @Shev90

Can you verify that the heart rate setting is turned on in the settings menu on the tracker? There's also a option to shutdown the tracker..

It's also possible to restart the tracker..

Restart the tracker

URL: Click / Tap to open the Fitbit Help Article 'How do I restart the tracker?'

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[Shev90]

Hi

Yes the heart rate setting is turned on

[Shev90]

Resetting it seems to have worked, will keep an eye on it

[SunsetRunner]

*fingers crossed*

Wishing a wonderful evening & a cozy night.

[SilviaFitbit]

@SunsetRunner Thanks for the input . 

@Shev90 A warm welcome to the Community! You may want to check the following details that could impact the accuracy of your heart rate 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:

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.

Note that if you remove your tracker but it keeps moving, for example if you put it in a pocket or backpack, the tracker may display an erroneous heart rate reading. To prevent this by turning off heart rate tracking when the tracker is not in use, log into your dashboard and go to Settings > Devices to turn your Heart Rate Tracking to "Off."

Hope this helps. 

[dewjr61]

When i am exercising, it seems like I need to "prod" the Blaze to start registering my higher heart rate.

I'll start riding; I know my heart rate is 120-130 bit the Blaze hasn't come off what my rate was before I started.  I need to repeatedly "wake up" the watch to get it so start registering higher heart rate. 

Not wha I would expect to have to do wtih this watch.

[SilviaFitbit]

@dewjr61 It's great to see you around! It's pretty weird that you have to "wake up" your Blaze in order to start tracking your heart rate. I would like you to restart your tracker and check if it starts working properly. 

Also, is your heart rate setting on? Since, when you started having this issue? 

Keep me posted. 

[dewjr61]

Yes heart rate is on. Using it now. But pulse is in the 125-130 range. My Fitbit is All over the place. Sometimes accurate. I'll check again a minute later and it says 88. Next time I check no heart rate is shown. Not very useful...

[dewjr61]

And yes I've reset my Fitbit. No help.

This has been an issue the entire 3+ months I've owned this Fitbit b

[dewjr61]

Sylvia-

Here's my heart rate profile for my ride this morning:

As you can see, for much of the ride, my monitor was "hanging out" in the 80s for heart rate. I was periodically taking my pulse and most of the ride should have registered in the 120 +- 5-10 bpm range.

Not sure what to do about this.  I've tried various band tightnesses with no appreciable difference in results.

Thanks for taking an interest.

[bbarrera]

@dewjr61 if you've tried moving up and down your wrist, and different tightness, then about the only thing left to try is putting Blaze watch face on the underside of your wrist.

If that doesn't work then either your Blaze optical HRM is bad and you need to exchange for a new tracker, or your wrist doesn't work with Blaze. Unfortunately unlike some other fitness trackers, Blaze doesn't support connecting with bluetooth chest strap or arm band, so you have a pretty fundamental set of decisions: buy Charge 2 and return if it doesn't work (check store return policy first), buy and possibly return another company's fitness tracker, or keep Blaze and give up on accurate heart rate. 

Cycling is my primary form of cardio workouts, and Surge was not accurate, Blaze was better and Apple Watch even better. However all of them are hit or miss at times, and the nice thing about AW is that I can connect it with one of my Bluetooth chest straps - I only do that at hotel fitness centers when traveling, at all other times (outdoor riding and local gym spin bikes) I take my bike computer to gym, put on chest strap, and use bike computer to record workout as it also works with other sensors - cadence, speed, and power meter. Plus my bike computer has a vastly better ecosystem for automatically syncing to other apps and websites.

[alfbro]

Whether  I am walking/running using my Garmin with my chest strap hrm and GPS, OR walking on a treadmill and using the treadmill hrm and my Garmin, the Blaze is anywhere from 15-30 or 35 bpm lower - totally not working right.  Same thing when riding my bike. 

[RedneckPiper]

I have the same issue.  Occasionally I will look down and see the same thing.  What I usually do is wipe the sweat out from under it and do a quick adjustment and within a couple of seconds it comes back on.  I tend to wear mine a little bit too loose at times.  Combine that with sweat and perhaps a little excess hair on the arms and the fix tends to be just an adjustment for me.

[SunsetRunner]

 Hi I just bought FITBIT HR. I don't really exercise much. I have the HR setting to on. Will it still take my heart rate.  My doctor is wanting me to wear this consistently so we can monitor heart pattern. 

[SilviaFitbit]

It's great to have you here @SunsetRunner! As soon as you're wearing your tracker all the time and the heart rate is always on. It will show heart rate data in your Dashboard. You can also wear it at night, so it can properly show the resting heart rate. You can learn more about it by checking What should I know about my heart rate data?. 

Hope this helps! 

[alfbro]

I find it is very, very sporadic and does not accurately report HR.

[SilviaFitbit]

It's great to have you here @alfbro! Have you checked the advice provided here What should I know about my heart rate data?. Also, if you can provide me with more details about when your tracker isn't showing heart rate data. Are you doing anything different? When does it started happening?

Keep me posted. 

[Felecia1]

Thank you.  Restarting it worked.  I will keep an eye on it.