Heart Rate Inaccuracy

[Walkingfordays]

I have tried all the fixes for the hr monitor and have concluded that it is just junk if you actually want to use it to work out. Not only is it terrible inaccurate a good part of the workout, if you sweat, it drops the hr completely. Not happy about spending this much money for a glorified step monitor.

Moderator edit: post content and thread title.

[jharla1]

No issues at all here.  In fact I think the heart rate monitor has even been improved over the Charge HR.  Sometimes at very peak heart rate (on both devices I've had) it can be a bit off, but anything below 160 it seems to track just fine.  You have tried I assume wearing it higher up your arm while working out (and tighter as well).

Sorry you are having problems.  Seems like you just wanted to vent, so yeah... 

Moderator edit: content

[Walkingfordays]

Yes, tried higher up, lower, tighter, looser, other arm, dominate, non dominate, reset . Do I want to vent? Well, yes. $199.00 paid for a device that says it does something I specifically wanted and it fails to do that. For petes sake, it can't give an accurate heart rate for a treadmill workout at no more than 4 miles an hour.

[jharla1]

Have you contacted support with your issues?  I'm sure they would try to walk you through everything you tried, but there is a very small chance it is specific to your device and I imagine they would swap it out with another Blaze to see if there is any change.

Not sure what else to say.  You can call it junk all you want but you are the minority.  Very pleased with mine, and as evidenced by the reviews, so are others.

Might want to leave that bit out if you contact support. 

Moderator edit: content

[MikeS1971]

The technology they use to get heart rate from the wrist just isn't ready for consumer use. It seems to be OK for a resting and low impact exercise heart rate, but anything above that and its useless. My Charge HR and Blaze consistently read incorrect heart rate or no heart rate at all while I run. No matter how it's positioned. But it will read heart rate with it removed from my wrist and sitting on my desk.

[bbarrera]

@Walkingfordays return it and move on. Optical HRM on the wrist is tricky, for me Fitbit PurePulse works fine on resting HR but inaccurate while exercising (cycling and weight lifting). Only a few companies so far have gotten it right, and they optimized devices for accuracy during exercise. Fitbit is focused on 24x7 HRM and long battery life, if it works for you great, otherwise if you want accuracy then I recommend you return and move on.

[jharla1]

cardio and lifting here, no issues.  Seriously, none.  Compared to an apple watch that I had at one point, the heart rate functions on the Fitbits have been amazing.  And as I noted in my first post to this topic, there was a marked improvement when going from Charge HR to Blaze.

Yes I have experienced some misreadings when going way up in peak heart rate, but anything sub 160 it tracks mine near perfectly.

Seems works fine for some, and then there are folks like yourself.  Not sure why the difference.  Perhaps build of the body, arm hair color, etc.  Who knows.  But I'm perfectly happy with the Blaze.

[MikeS1971]

I don't think the way heart rate is read on the Charge HR and Blaze is any different. Both are equally inconsistent. Both are inaccurate at higher intensity workouts and both have severe dropoffs the more active you become.

[jharla1]

Forgive me for my lack of source as I don't have time to look at the moment, but I am near certain it was acknowledged they improved the tracking of heart rate on the Blaze vs Charge HR (likely software side).

I noticed an improvement over an already satisfactory performance.  Sorry you have issues with yours.  Again I don't have that problem.

[bbarrera]

Tech junkie here, I have Surge and Blaze and AW (and a lot of other stuff too). The AW is a bit more accurate, but all 3 of them 'wander' enough during cycling (I ride fast/hard and train in very specific zones) to make it pointless for my usage so I still put on chest strap. Under barbells and dumbbells all 3 are totally inaccurate, in the 60-90bpm range when I'm actually in 110-150bpm range. Go read the DCRainmaker review of Charge HR, Surge and Blaze, the example HR charts illustrate exactly what I'm seeing. Or read Wareable.com Blaze review - "useful" is subjective - if you do zone training like I do then optical HRM isn't there yet. And again the wareable.com review matches what I see with optical HRM on the wrist.

[jharla1]

I find it amazing that I post that I have no issues with heart rate monitoring save for when I get to the 160 area and folks come out of the woodwork to tell me I'm wrong.

I'm stating what I specifically experience.  I weight train regularly.  The heart rate monitoring is extremely accurate.  Complete a set, look at the watch, it has me in the 120s bpm or wherever I am for that particular set depending on how heavy, reps, etc.  Could I really be within 5bpm of that?  Probably so.  But I have never had it off by something as ridiculous as 30 to 60 bpm.  The Apple Watch?  Absolutely, nearly every single time.  That was useless for tracking of anything.

It is obvious to me some have better experiences than others.  I guess I fall in the category that experience good results.  I'd imagine I'm in the majority camp, as the vocal minority post their complaints way more frequently than those that have good experiences (which is why yelp is useless).

If I was doing some high intensity workout like you seem to do with cycling and hitting targets, of course I'd default to the ol' chest strap.  But for me it works just fine.  It's very accurate when doing weight training.  You obviously don't have the same experience, that's fine.

God forbid someone posts something positive on a internet forum about their experience with a product. 

[MikeS1971]

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@jharla1 wrote:

I find it amazing that I post that I have no issues with heart rate monitoring save for when I get to the 160 area and folks come out of the woodwork to tell me I'm wrong.

. 

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I dont think people are saying you're wrong, they just have a different experience. There are countless posts in the FitBit forums about inaccurate heart rate readings. And lots of posts agreeing. Posts on the opposite end of the scale are hard to come by. Heck, I have yet to come into contact with anyone in the real world who has a FitBit with HR monitoring that has said they feel its accurate. 

[Walkingfordays]

We get it, you're happy. I am not having that experience. I want to love this device, but that isn't happening. Yes, I have contacted support .

[fudge22]

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@jharla1 wrote:

I find it amazing that I post that I have no issues with heart rate monitoring save for when I get to the 160 area and folks come out of the woodwork to tell me I'm wrong.

God forbid someone posts something positive on a internet forum about their experience with a product. 

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For me, I have rarely had issues with the heart rate not reading correctly even when doing heavy exercise. I repeatedly have run at an average fo 150-160 bpm and the heart rate is always recorded correctly. When I speed up, it goes up. When I slow down, it goes down, just as expected. It has even tracked me up to 170 bpm. It recorded a full half marathon correctly without any troubles as well as multiple longer runs that I have done. I keep track of my heart rate constantly thoughout the run to make sure I am keeping pace with what my body is indicating. It is a good indicator of my fitness level.

Sure, every once in a while it will have troubles with picking up the heart rate, but not on a regular basis. A little fidgetting and it's back on track. Usually if that happenes after the run I turn off the tracker a couple of times for 30+ seconds and clean it and it's fine. But literally that has only happened to me like maybe once a month and usually not on a run. 

All in all, some trackers have a harder time picking up the heart beat. This varies person to person and many factors can contribute, not just the tracker itself. How you wear it, how much you sweat, how tight you wear it, all enfluence how well the heart rate monitor will work.

As someone suggested, contact support. If it consistently doesn't record heart rate during workouts (shows the --) then maybe the issue is indeed with the tracker. Support can help you out. I suggest phone call as opposed to email. 

[silentium]

Heart Rate Tracking - Running versus Weight Lifting

You cannot compare the HR tracking while running with the HR tracking while doing weight lifting. 

When you run or do other cardio exercises your HR rises and falls consistently.

When you do weight lifting your HR will rise and fall sharply and suddenly. This is what optical HR monitors have issues with (this is also true for the Charge HR).

My experience is that the Blaze is accurate and will show a reasonable reading during weight lifting sessions. However, it has a significant lag until it shows the correct figures. This lag can be between 10 to 60 seconds depending on the exercise. If you flex your arm muscles a lot (e.g. dumbbell exercises), it will take longer - if you do abs, it will adjust significantly faster (lag of maybe 5 seconds). This can be an issue if you want to work out in zones. Also, you will not track the HR peaks. My HR usually rises to 130 bpm when lifting and the Blaze would start tracking my HR correctly after maybe 45 seconds when my HR is back down to around 100/90 bpm. When I go for a run, the Blaze is accurate and there is almost no lag at all.

I have read various reviews (also comparisons Blaze versus chest strap) and the reviews confirm my experience. Like someone said a few posts above, there are only very few trackers which actually work well for weight lifting - unfortunately, there is none that looks as attractive as the Blaze.

So, I think it really depens on what you want from the tracker.

Charge HR versus Blaze HR

I have used the Charge HR for about one year and tested the Blaze for about a month. These are my findings:

• The HR graph using the Blaze has a lot more spikes, while the Charge HR produced a smoother graph
• My resting HR using the Charge HR never changed during the day; using the Blaze, I often see my resting HR moving up or down about 2 bpm throughout the day. This made me believe that the Blaze measures my RHR more accurately and there are actually calculations happening in the background - however, sometimes, I see the resting HR of a prior day changing... how is this possible? I never noticed this while using the Charge HR
• When going for a WALK (normal, slow walk) in the evening, the Blaze sometimes shows 130 to 150 bpm for a couple of minutes and then returns to "normal" numbers between 70 and 90 bpm. I am unable to explain those spikes. I would be able to notice a sudden rise of my HR from 70 bpm to 150 bpm... I have never noticed this using the Charge HR and it makes me doubt the general accuracy of the Blaze HR monitor

I do love the Blaze and I am a big supporter of Fitbit. However, I will return my Blaze since I feel uncomfortable with the Blaze's HR monitoring throughout the day - not just when exercising. This is a shame because the Blaze with a leather strap is a lot more comfortable to wear than the Charge HR and looks quite classy with a suit in the office.

[bcalvanese]

Here is a link of a comparison of the Blaze and Garmin fenix3 with a chest strap heart rate monitor.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Blaze/Comparing-Blaze-To-Garmin-fenix3-walk-activity/m-p/1391713#M19...

You either have a defective device, or it's some type of physical thing.

Are you wearing it correctly/

Do you have too much hair where the HRM is touching your skin?

Tatoo?

Some other physical thing that may cause the HRM  not to read correctly?

[silentium]

Are you referring to the spikes when walking?

I am wearing it correctly as per the instructions. Normal amount of hair and also light, no tattoos and I am thin. I don't even sweat during these walks.

[adammiarka]

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@bcalvanese wrote:

Here is a link of a comparison of the Blaze and Garmin fenix3 with a chest strap heart rate monitor.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Blaze/Comparing-Blaze-To-Garmin-fenix3-walk-activity/m-p/1391713#M19...

You either have a defective device, or it's some type of physical thing.

Are you wearing it correctly/

Do you have too much hair where the HRM is touching your skin?

Tatoo?

Some other physical thing that may cause the HRM  not to read correctly?

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Blaze will have no issues with walking or running.  Anything outside of steady state (like HIIT or lifting), it will fall apart.    The only optical sensor that I have seen to at least try to keep up is the Polar A360.   🙂

[Walkingfordays]

It starts off reading fairly well during the treadmill workout, then it just looses its mind. It is up to 20 beats too low or just ramps down lower and lower and loses it altogether. Not hairy, lol, and no tats.

[Walkingfordays]

Just an update. After resetting numerous times, standing on one foot with my tongue out, changing arms (again) and praying to the Fitbit gods, this morning the blaze seems to have shown up for work. The hr monitor was only a few beats off the chest monitor AND it didn't just drop off to never never land while in the middle of the workout. If this continues it could be the beginning of a love affair. Tomorrow's workout will tell..