Inaccurate heart rate Charge 5

[Sparrow68]

The heart rate monitoring in the Charge 5 is terribly inaccurate with exercise. It often take several minutes to figure out that I’m exercising and my heart rate has been quite elevated for some time. Then, with strenuous exercise, it simply doesn’t pick up the higher heart rates. I’ve manually checked that I’m above 185 and the charge 5 reads in the 140s. Is there any way to get a more accurate heart rate out of this device or is it I it useful for general monitoring?

Moderator edit: format

[DavideFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @Sparrow68.  

Before considering other options, let me know if you already tried restarting the device using the three pulse restart method mentioned in this article. 

In addition to the restart, please make sure to follow the recommendations listed in this article to improve the accuracy of heart rate information and check the information mentioned here about other factors that could affect your heart rate reading, as this has been useful to other users who have experienced something similar. 

Hope this helps, I'll be around. 

[Sparrow68]

Well, I tried everything to reset and reposition to get a more accurate reading. Yesterday I did  an interval workout where my heart rate was between 150 and 190 for 30 minutes. Fitbit concluded that I’d exercised for 23 minutes with my heart rate reaching a maximum of 148 for only a couple of minutes. I’m beginning to think this device is pretty much useless for tracking real exercise. It’s okay for an easy walk and seems okay for general heart rate tracking, but as soon as my heart rate is above 150, it can’t perceive it. I was really hoping it would be useful in this way, but I think I’m out of luck!

[Krsheets]

I have noticed the same thing.  I "upgraded" from a Charge 4 and have noticed that the Charge 5 doesn't seem to track my heart rate as accurately.  It also has been not tracking my sleep score some nights.  This is annoying as I thought that the Charge 5 was supposed to be better with regard to tracking heart rate.  It was one of the reasons I upgraded.  I am terribly disappointed.

[DavideFitbit]

@Sparrow68 @Krsheets 

Thank you for sharing that you've been experiencing this inconvenience with your Charge 5 and that you already tried all the recommendations mentioned earlier. 

In this case, since you already tried the restart procedure with the charging cable and you continue to experience the same problem, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. They will let you know how to proceed. 

The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. 

See you around. 

[Strcrsd]

So far I’m getting the same experience. This product is useless. Also I tried switching arms bunch since I have tattoos, it does give me a reading at all.

[Krsheets]

I did have some luck with changing bands.  I didn't like the band the fitbit came with and got a "sports" band off of amazon.  It seems to fit better on my wrist now.  The fitbit does still lose my heart rate at times, but it is less frequent than before the band switch.  I got my band from Amazon.  I got three of them for $8.  Don't waste your money on the fitbit bands, they are more expensive and in my opinion not worth the difference in cost.

[Eajluni]

I have had similar issues to these users and when I contacted customer support they told me “not to compare the Fitbit HR measurement to other heart rate monitors” such as when I monitor my pulse manually. They said there was nothing they could do for me, extremely frustrating. 

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, thank you for your replies, and welcome to the new users in the Community, @Strcrsd @Krsheets @Eajluni. 

I appreciate all the feedback that you've shared about this problem with your Charge 5. Please know that all your comments are greatly appreciated and the team continues to work to improve the quality of products and services. 

If you haven't done so already, please make sure to continue the communication with the Customer Support team so they can let you know if there are any options available for you.  

[Strcrsd]

At this point the inconsistent readings render this product completely pointless for activity tracking, calorie tracking, etc... Id like to be sent another product if this one is defective, or id like my money back.

[DavideFitbit]

@Strcrsd I'm sorry to see you're still experiencing this inconvenience with your Charge 5. Thank you for all your comments and feedback about this. 

My best recommendation is to try the steps listed here for tips and suggestions. If the inconvenience still persists. I recommend that you contact our Support Team for further assistance. You can click on the link provided in the thread above or click here to get connected.

The Support team will let you know how to proceed and provide you with the next steps. 

See you around. 

[jchapman13]

Same experience here.  It’s like it just defaults to a “standard” hr around 105-110 for 10-15 min and doesn’t read my actual hr then it will “miraculously” realize I’m exercising and then jump to the correct hr of 140 or so and be fine for the rest of the workout.

I workout 6-7 days a week and adjust, adjust, adjust the band on my wrist trying to get it to read the correct hr for the first 5 min. then just give up and accept the fact that I won’t get “credit” for that part of my workout.

This is probably my 6th or 7th Fitbit and so far the worst for workout hr tracking.

[DavideFitbit]

Welcome to the Community forums, @jchapman13. 

Thank you for sharing all your feedback and that you've been having the same inconvenience with your Charge 5. 

Could you please confirm if you already tried all the steps mentioned here earlier? Let me know if you see any improvement, as this has been useful for other users. 

I'll be around. 

[Sparrow68]

Davide,

I see a lot of people are struggling with this issue. For me, and for several others replying to this post, we have tried all of the steps to get the fitbit to read heartrate as accurately as possible. It simply doesn't do it. It takes several minutes to notice that your heartrate is elevated, then seems to read fairly accurately for heartrate up to 150, but anything higher than that is hit or miss, and usually far off the actual heartrate for the period of exercise. When I am doing hard interval workouts, where my hearrate is between 170 and 190 for 30-90 seconds and then falls below 140 in a similar rest period, the fitbit reads incredibly low- giving me an average heartrate in the 130s. But my heartrate won't even go down to 130 during the rest period. It is just a terrible tool for tracking exercise duration and heartrate.

Is there anything Fitbit can do in the design to make this a useful tool for athletic people? I really want it to work, but it just doesn't.

[jchapman13]

Davide, yes, I’ve tried all the steps to remedy the hr issues. Reset the unit on Tuesday and it seemed to do good on a bike ride yesterday.  Today on the treadmill after 15 min of my hr actually being in the 140s, my Charge 5 never got above 110 or so.  I reset it again while on the treadmill and started the workout over, it started reporting about 130 for a minute or two then dropped back down under 110 for another10 min or so before it finally shot up to my actual hr of 144 and then reported correctly for the last 20 min of my workout.

[Missy1978]

Hi everyone,

first time poster here! 
I have found the trouble with my Charge 5 is the resting heart rate. It used to be great but the last week or so it has been climbing a lot higher then normal. Perfect example, I was driving this morning, heart nice and relaxed and my Fitbit HR went into cardio! So up over 131 while just sitting there. Gave me 12 zone minutes that I didn’t earn! I was starting to worry that something was going on with my heart but when this happens, it never feels like it’s racing or pounding. That’s just what my Fitbit says! 
It has turned me into a chronic HR watcher! Contemplating not wearing it at all anymore! 

I have just done a reset so I will see how it goes the next 24 hours! 

cheers

Missy

[mmazzini1]

No worries, mine does the same 🙂

[Missy1978]

Its so very frustrating! Hopefully the restart sorts it out 🙂 

[mmazzini1]

Don’t want to seem pessimistic…but i doubt…but after resetting it did happen less frequently. Good luck with yours!

[Missy1978]

Well that's poo!! See how we go I guess 🙂