My Charge 5 loses my heart rate when I sweat.

[SMMAC]

I recently swapped out my Inspire HR for a Charge 5 and am not satisfied with the results. The Charge 5 loses my heart rate when I sweat. If I wipe off my wrist and my device, it will start reading my heart rate again, but will lose it again within minutes if I'm still sweating.

[DavideFitbit]

Hello, welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @SMMAC.  

Thank you for sharing that you've been experiencing this inconvenience with your Charge 5 device. 

Before considering other options, I would recommend performing a restart and to follow all the instructions in this article to improve the accuracy of heart rate information, this has been useful to other users who have experienced something similar. 

Let me know if you continue to have this problem during your workout and if you experience this often. 

I'll be around. 

[SMMAC]

Restarting did nothing to resolve the issue. Following the instructions regarding placement of the device on my wrist made the problem worse and also meant I had to have my sweatshirt sleeve at my elbow, so my sleeve couldn't interact with the touch screen of the device.

So, yes, I'm still having problems during my workout and this has happened every single day this week.

[Wibby]

That can be annoying.  Does it lose it for a long time?  What kind of workout are you doing when it happens? It might make a difference and people might be able to chip in with advice or fixes they've found.  

In my case, when I was jogging outdoors when it was really hot, I was sweating a lot and had to tighten both my Charge 5 and my G-Shock a notch as they started sliding down my wrists.  The sliding can mean it loses direct contact with your skin and can stop measuring your heart rate.  I've found that once I reached that sweat level and that tightened position, it carried on reading it without any problems despite me continuing to sweat. 

I've also noticed that if I do weight training with a glove on, certain moves will slide the Fitbit off the optimum position, even though I'm not sweating much at all, and I'm annoyed as I have it set to Always On just for weight training because I want to see what my heart rate does.  Just as I'm about to stop to fix it, it slides back into position and fixes itself.  It seems to just last a few seconds for me and isn't that bad really.

I can see how it would be really annoying if it kept happening for long periods of time.  Maybe other people can share when it happens to them and what/anything they've found to fix it (if they have).  I hope you get a solution.

[SMMAC]

I walk/hike for about an hour each day. I wear my Charge 5 lower on my wrist and as tight as it will go to minimize how much it fades out or stops. If I wear it in the optimal position it will read maybe half of my walk. If I wear it lower it reads about 90% of the walk, but the reading is not reliable. For example, yesterday I was half an hour into a challenging hike, sweating heavily, heart pounding, and my Charge 5 read a heart rate of 109. I cleaned it off and the heart rate climbed steadily without me changing anything else and then I was in peak. About a minute later it lost the reading entirely.

So do I just need to get a replacement under the assumption that the flaw is with this specific device and not the whole series?

[Wibby · Accepted solution]

Hello again,

I'm just a Fitbit user like you, but I would say that if you've performed the trouble-shooting and it didn't work, send it back and get a new one.

The Charge 5 is supposed to be able to measure your  heart rate when fully-submerged in water, so should be able to deal with sweat.  I'm guessing it's just that specific device, rather than the whole series.  I also haven't seen other people swoop into the thread saying it's happening to them, so that's what's making me think it's a problem with yours.

That being said, if you are a profuse sweater, it might be worth wiping the back of it every hour or so when you're outdoors exercising, as mine needs that sometimes.

Good luck with the replacement!

[SMMAC]

Thank you.

[Pam3511]

I've been using my Charge 5 for seven months & it just started doings this when I sweat. I have a sport band with it and didn't have issues before. So frustrating when you're in the middle of a run! 

Will try the troubleshooting tips. Thank you for posting this!

[Melon98107]

I just started using the Charge 5 and I am experiencing the same issue. About 20 minutes into my workout it loses heart rate reliability. Drops to low 100’s when I’m clearly around 150. I’ve even tested it on a treadmill, accurate, until I’m sweaty.

[DavideFitbit]

Hi everyone, I appreciate all the feedback and comments that you've shared so far about this issue with your Charge 5. 

It seems that you already tried all the basic steps to improve the accuracy of heart rate information. In this case, if you already followed the recommendations mentioned here earlier and you continue to have the same problem, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team so they can let you know how to proceed. 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. You can click here to get connected.

See you around in the Community. 

[Nate-thaniel]

By the off chance that you are still having this issue, I think I might have a fix for you. I was having the same issues with my charge 5, I even followed the troubleshooting steps for it to stop working again. After cleaning my fit bit sensor off, I then tightened my strap 1-2 notches. I tried to take away the possibility of any reflection off my sweat as possible….and it worked. I did would check my pulse manually then compare it to my Fitbit and for the hour I was working out, it was spot on. Hope that helps you or someone else! 

[Pam3511]

Thanks for the reply. This fix doesn't help. I added alcohol to my gym bag and clean it before & after my workout. Doesn't help at all. I also tried the athletic band - still loses heart rate. 

I did try the fabric bands. The hinge on them gets a better fit for small wrists. Works better, but doesn't resolve it. 

I don't think the Charge 5 is designed for performance runners. Especially not those with small wrists. If you're a woman, don't buy it. It doesn't fit right on a small wrist. The Luxe is an option (I've tried that model too), but it doesn't have the GPS for runners. 

[JEM3]

Thanks for the suggestion. Now that the Virginia summer weather has moved in, when I run or bike, my GPS signal is lost shortly after my arm gets sweaty.  When I run, it seems to still record the mileage correctly, but when I bike, then nothing gets recorded after GPS is lost. I have my phone with me.  If I'm biking or running, I'd rather not have to stop to wipe off my arm, only because I'm still sweating.  So I will try your suggestion and hope it works!  This is my second Charge 5 and I don't recall my first one having this issue.