All comments on the board ...

[Drec]

Appear to have a raft of reliability and reporting issues.

I am wondering if the best course of action is to lobby Fitbit directly for a more universal and sustainable fix, because quite frankly, this is beyond super irritating.

I do not know how many other folks use this device like I do - recovering from a major surgery event - but to have such a great dip in the reliability of data is causing me some very serious concern.

Cheers,

[N8teGee]

Hi @Drec.

What are the issues you are facing with the device and what data do you believe to be unreliable?

[bobdob]

Keep in mind that people are going to come here when they have problems, not to sing the praises of their Fitbit. So it's not necessarily a representative sample of people's general experience!

[Drec]

That's exactly what I'm after, compiling all complaints on performance and tracking then going back to Fitbit with a broader picture.

For example, I just finished a 10k step walk. It usually takes me between 75&80 minutes to complete, my heart rate is usually solid between 110. -  125bpm, giving me between 75&80 elevated and logged minutes.

Today, time was about the same, however the charge 6 only logged 29minutes, which is ridiculous. A couple of times when I looked at the tracker, it had dropped down to 80bpm while my pace was 16:47/mile.... How is this even possible? I'm sweating for @#$_& sakes, and it stays there to boot!

Consolidated complaints are the way forward in order to get google to address the flaws withing the hardware/software.

Cheers,

[Drec]

Heart rate tracking is at the top of my list.... Too much fluctuation, and clearly wrong data when exercising and sweating.

Cheers,

[Mcav75]

What you are describing is fundamentally survivor bias. People rarely come along and post that their Fitbit is working exactly as intended.

However, outside of Google Wallet, my Fitbit charge 6 is working exactly as intended, especially heart rate monitoring which works particularly well for me, tracking accurately for my workouts that include stationary bike, HIIT, and weights. It also does an excellent job of tracking my steps and sleep. 

Further more, I'm charging it once per week, cc and it is going on the charger at 20%.

So far, it is the most reliable wearable I've used since I started in 2014. I've checked it against a good quality, dedicated heart rate monitor, and it kept pace with it admirably.

That's not too say that people are not experiencing issues, and some of these will clearly be faulty hardware or software issues. It's just worth noting that what you see here is not all there is.

[Z-Nine]

I haven't had issues with heart rate monitoring. I've compared it to my sp02/heart rate finger monitor and is fairly close. There could be several possibilities why you are getting inaccurate readings. A couple that come to mind is the tightness of the band around your wrist or even potentially a faulty sensor.

I've done a few tests of it's tracking during workouts and largely seems to function okay. For example of a treadmill run:

 

 If you are having issues with your Fitbit not logging exercises correctly (like through automatic detection) then I'd recommend starting the walk/workout manually through your watch so it tracks the entire duration until you pause/end it on the watch as well.

Edit: I would also recommend resetting your Fitbit once in a while on the watch itself. Sometimes always-on technology can get wonky just like smart phones. You can do so by scrolling to settings on the watch itself, then from there scroll down to reset. Especially do so if you are noticing erroneous or unusual behavior.

[Drec]

Interesting... I am having a different experience. This is an hour and ten minutes walk, didn't change pace because I was on a track.

You can see it completely drop off...

 

rop off...

[Z-Nine]

It is possible you may have a sensor issue or maybe some other obscure issue. Have you noticed inaccuracies in it's tracking throughout the day when not exercising? What have you tried so far?

[Drec]

Tried moving wrists, resetting it, adjusting the strap, seems to be very inconsistent, especially when walking.

This was an hour walk yesterday:

 it only tracked 17min of heart zones, and what it did track, was all over the place.

Then I got on the elliptical for forty minutes, and it seemed way more accurate.

 but still all over the place.

So, I'm not sold that the sensor is bad, my thinking is the software is somewhat processing differently than the charge 5 does.

Perhaps I should get another charge 5?

Cheers,

[Drec]

Another data point; 42 minute walk, no heart rate zones, 8 minutes of elevated heart rate.

I think what is bothering me the most is that because the heart rate data is so wrong, it has a negative impact on calories and overall cardiac health.

 i mean, how do I spike into vigorous, but trend downwards during the exercise cycle?

[Drec]

And another data point; 65 minute walk on a track this am.

Again, it clearly drops the heart rate, then picks it up, then drops it again. 105 minutes of exercise that would usually log 110/115 bpm (historical data), but it's not doing that....

I'm moving pretty good too. Another thing I just noticed was that it didn't log my sleep last night correctly and cited not being able to get heart rate data...

I think this is interesting in that it is fairly accurate about when I went to bed, and got up, but for some reason the heart rate data is missing.

I'm going to reach out to tech support and copy them this thread and see what they have to say...

Cheers,

[Drec]

Should also add that normally, if I wasn't trying to figure this mess out, I would have exercised straight from 0330 to 0630.

[Mcav75]

I really doubt you are doing anything wrong with your watch, but it seems very much like it's faulty. 

Here are a couple of my workouts, one on a bike and the other with weights. 

 

It's tracking extremely well for me.

[Drec · Accepted solution]

I was in touch with Fitbit support today and we did a hard reset, and they opened a ticket, so tomorrow morning, when I go to the gym, if it's not working again, then I'll know something is up.

Gotta say though that I did 21000 steps today and got a total of 35 zone minutes, so I'm a little suspect....

[Drec]

Apparently Fitbit is too - they're exchanging the unit, and I'm back on the tried and true charge 4, which has the added bonus of counting floors.

Today, I got on the rowing machine with the charge 6 and it didn't register, which I thought it did. 

However, did a walk and got some pretty crazy heart data, I sent to them, no questions that it's faulty.

Now I'll be curious to see how long it takes to get the new charge 6.

 Cheers,

[Mcav75]

I'm glad you are getting a replacement. The HR graphs show quite clearly that something has gone awry.

[Drec]

Went back to my charge 4 while I wait for the replacement.... Rock solid...

Charge 4 for the win! It does appear there is most certainly something wrong with the 6, this is what I usually see.

Cheers,

[Drec]

Damaged unit was delivered today, curious to see how long the replacement takes to get back to me...