Heart rate inaccurate

[Wills66]

I have started using the Fitbit blaze to track my heart rate for training.

For the first month or so it worked wonderfully, and it has tracked my resting heart rate to be 41 bpm (which is correct!).

However, I have found over the past few weeks that suddenly the tracker stops tracking my heart rate throughout parts of the day, and for some reason thinks my resting heart rate is now 47 bpm, which is a considerable jump!

I have tried using this whilst exercising, and in the beginning, this has worked very well; whereas now, when I am exercising, the tracker seems to think that my heart rate is at about 80-90 bpm when I am pushing it flat out.

Clearly, something is wrong, but I can't figure out what. I have been washing the back of the tracker with water, and have even used the soft bristles on my toothbrush to clean the tracker, yet nothing seems to help. I am left with a Fitbit which tells me my heart rate is way too high if it reads my heart rate at all!

What should I do to resolve this problem?

Thank you very much for your help.

[Udmg]

My guess the heart rate monitoring has a slight delay making real time tracking inconsistent however the end results are recorded nicely during the time stamp in your app. 

[TerryFit]

Thank you however I do not understand your comment...

what do you mean by "the end results are recorded nicely during the time
stamp in your app"??

regards

Terry

--

[RatedE]

It might read for a few seconds after you take it off but it shouldn't do that for terribly long. Seems like there's a bit of a lag between when it starts and stops getting a reading. I'd suggest restarting the device if you find that it reads a heartrate while not on your wrist for a very long time....

[grabr]

Same problem as many others on this forum thread.  During moderate exercise, the Blaze records a much higher HR than my chest monitor.  Also at times, it loses the HR completely and just shows dashes.  Because I must monitor my heart rate closely per cardiologist instructions I am continuing to use the chest strap monitor but it would be much more convenient to just use my Blaze which is why a bought the Blaze in the first place.   I hope the Fitbit moderators on this site continue to pressure the engineers to find a fix.   

[Bnice]

I have the same issues with my Blaze. Until recently it worked reasonably well. I now get the most ridiculous heart readings i.e. 185 when my heart rate is between 70 and 80. I also accumulate active minutes when I’m moving. 

Its no longer an ‘activity-tracker’ it’s a ‘make-it-up-along-the-way-tracker’ 

What’s going on?

[TerryFit]

Yes I can understand how you feel. I finally gave up and got rid of my
Blaze and refuse to buy the new iOnic until users start to give it or any
other Fitbit model a resounding YES, so far I don't hear that!

--
Terry Rimmer
*Photo Digital Solutions*

[DGressette]

Ha. I love my Fitbit for daily things like calories burned, steps, sleep, etc (definitely not for food entries 😏). However, when I work out... I usually put my Blaze on the charger and put on my Timex HRM. It's way more accurate when working out. I just add that info to the exercise log. 

It's kind of sad when you think about putting your Fitbit down and putting on different brand bc it's way more reliable. 

[teeblaze]

thats a good idea! i love it too besides the inaccuracies. i wont buy anymore fitbits after this, for $200 id want my device work but clearly the moderators stopped commenting on the forum...lol

[Eddiebas]

I tried these suggestions with little success. The watch first worked really well now it's performing poorly. Inany cases it's 30 to high or 30 too low to actual. 

Can sweat get insidw and screw it up?

[Silvercode]

By the way, my Blaze isn't recording high HR for me during workouts. Fitness equipment monitors give a heart rate up to 20% higher than my Blaze, which doesn't show an increase even after 5-10 minutes of increased intensity.

I am curious how I am supposed to move my strap 2 inches (or so) up my arm.

My arm is bigger than my wrist, so my strap is looser (luckily I got a large band). Looser strap means it slides down to my wrist.

If I tighten it to stay in place, that goes against your suggestion to "wear it more loosely".

I guess if I wear it higher on my arm, I will end up wearing it loosely...

Am I supposed to get a velcro strap to help keep it in place on my arm?

I'm confused.

[TerryFit]

Hi
I would forget all this ridiculous suggestions made by Fitbit that you
should move the band up your wrist and arm etc... I found this useless
information and is yet another example that Fitbit just doesn't have the
right technology sorted out on their fitbit range.

Why would you use a wrist band in any other position that the most
comfortable for you as you would with a watch etc?

I got rid of my FitBit and will not replace it until FitBit get their
technology working reliably and accurately under all reasonable conditions
and that includes using it while exercising.


regards

[coolsenior]

 have the same problem,  some workouts my monitor reads 156 (which is in my custom setting) but results show 201!! not good for anyone but especially not this senior

[TerryFit]

I like the whole Fitbit culture and Fitbit will get me back the moment they fix this.... or unless Apple get it right before Fitbit.

[atormena]

Unfortunately your recommendation did not work and, sincerely speaking, the way to use Blaze does not solve the issue of inaccuracy in HR reading.

I mean that using the tracker higher on my wrist, not wearing too tight, stopping workout for 10 seconds or don't move my arms while exercising obviously DO NOT solve the problem... it would be more honest on the part of Fitbit to take responsibility for the product development flaw and somehow solve the problem and not exonerate itself from liability by saying that the user should use the product differently.

All those situations should be prevented before releasing this product for us to buy... 

For that reason, I am not convinced that the new launch of Fitbit works better than this.

[TerryFit]

Hi

Not sure why you are replying to me with your post...... I didn't give any
recommendations on how to wear the band?? In fact I felt that the FitBit
recommendations on how to wear the band were totally useless for me.

regards

--
Terry
​Fit​

[atormena]

Sorry Terry, that was a mistake. I intended to reply the person who sugested me to do that. Regards, Anderson.

[TerryFit]

All good no problems thanks for replying Atormena

[atormena]

Hello Alejandra, unfortunately your recomendations did not worked and obviously do not solve the Heart Rate monitor issues. Regards, Anderson

[MKMP332]

I am new to Fitbit, but found immediately with my Blaze that the heart rate was not recording accurately while doing cardio work.  I followed all the tips I found on the forums, and still no success.  I cannot wear the band two fingers up from my wrist because of an extreme taper to my "Popeye" forearms.  The watch ends up loose on my wrist in about 30 seconds!  I started to wonder about something, and this obviously wouldn't be for women, but I have quite hairy arms (and wrists).  My Blaze will show 80 BPM when the Precor machine I am on is showing 140 BPM!  I then used the timer on the machine and my fingers on carotid artery for 20 seconds and the Precor was obviously more accurate.  I then wondered if the extra "fur" on my wrist was interfering with the signal getting accurate readings.  I decided to turn the Fitbit around to the bottom side of my wrist, and voila, it was consistently within 1-2 BPM of the Precor machine.  I decided to do a little "armscaping"...lol.  I took my trimmer with a #1 guard on it and went to trimming!  So far, so good.  It seems to be working fine now.  If you aren't comfortable with trimming, you could always wear on the underside of your wrist, but the gesture will obviously be backwards for the face to turn on when you rotate your wrist to wake it up.   

[TerryFit]

Hi
what an ingenious suggestion well done and I am sure this may help some
Blaze users.

However, the reality is you should not have to do this for an expensive
product from a large International business.

But, full marks to you for trying to find a solution.

--
Terry