High heart rate spike error

[Linz16]

 I'm posting this here in case it happens to anyone else.

I upgraded from a Charge 2 to a brand new Charge 6 about 6 weeks ago. For the first 2 weeks it was great.  Then, every few days, I started getting buzzed by the device to tell me I was earning zone minutes while I was sitting still, and the device was showing a heart rate of between 180 and 220bpm.  This made me panic but by the time I'd managed to check my pulse manually, the fitbit was quickly dropping from 210, 180, 170, 140 then back to normal. I didn't know if my racing heart was being caused by a medical issue that the Fitbit had detected, or the anxiety of seeing 210 on the device.

It kept doing this so I did some research and found a lot of similar posts here and in various other places on the web.  I did all the troubleshooting, restarting, checking positioning, cleaning the device daily, but it continued to tell me i was having these 'episodes', so I saw a Doctor.  He was concerned enough to order blood tests and a 24 hour ecg.  I was extremely worried by this time. 

Fortunately the Fitbit did it's crazy heart rate thing while I was wearing the 24 hour medical grade device so I knew I was going to get an answer either way.  I had to wait a week for the results, a very stressful time waiting to hear if something was wrong with my heart.  The results proved that the spike shown on the Fitbit graph did not happen. My highest heart rate was 130 during the 24 hour period at a totally different time of day when I was exercising. 

I contacted Google support who were actually very helpful and suggested I try resetting the user data on the device. I hadn't read about this in my previous research. So I have done this, it's only been 2 days so I don't know if sucessful or not. But it's something to try if you're also experiencing this and have proved it isn't actually happening. The 'clear user data' is under settings/device when you swipe down from the clock face (make sure you sync first and be aware you have to pair the device again with your phone but you shouldn't lose any data).

I'm disappointed to say the least. I used a Charge HR then a Charge 2 for many years, no issues like this, it seems those old 'legacy devices' were more accurate?! I thought the C6 was state of the art?

If the suggested solution doesn't work I'll be wanting to return the device.  The whole episode has been really stressful and I know I'm not the only one this has happened to. I'll update this post with what happens, in case it helps anyone in the future.

(Important: if you think there's a problem with your heart please see a Dr, don't assume it's a glitch unless you've compared your heart rate using another reliable method especially if you experience symptoms.) 

[agrifab]

 I have the latest Inspire and this just happened to me today?  

[Linz16]

I am wondering if some kind of update, either to the app or the devices, is causing this as there are so many recent examples.  I've seen many similar posts on Reddit too.

I am also wondering if somehow the rate is being tripled? In my example above I was relaxing but had just eaten so my HR was in the 70s, 3 x 70 is 210.  Yours looks similar. Equally I've had spikes from 60, to 180, back to 60, tripled again.

It is worrying that Fitbit/Google don't seem to be taking this seriously, if it's a known bug they should be informing all users and advising them to do the reset. Before I reset mine, I'd got to the point where I was scared to look at my HR chart! 

[agrifab]

Well I reset mine and we'll see what happens. I've had spikes like this before as high as 180 but was contributing it to my Long Covid diagnosis this past winter when they started showing up. Maybe it's the app or device as you say. 

[mostlyharmless2]

Mine had this before, then quit for several months, then this the other day. Freaked me out because it caught me off guard. My daughter is a paramedic and she calmed me by telling me I'd lose consciousness if 210 was real. Fitbit needs to fix this! It almost sent me to the ER. No symptoms at all! I was going to bed and glanced at it. I didn't sleep much.

[Linz16]

Hi, after trying the 'fix' they suggested, mine was fine for about 2 weeks. I thought it was fixed.  But then this yesterday. 

Totally fed up with it now.  I opened another support call with Google yesterday as I need to return the device now, it's not fit for purpose and it causing me a lot of anxiety as well as messing up my stats. Someone 'senior' was supposed to contact me today but needless to say they have not.

 

[YachatsMike]

I used to get these all the time.  They looked like measurement errors to me.  I started cleaning the back of my watch just before I exercised and making sure I was wearing my watch a full two fingers above my wrist.  The problem went away.

[agrifab]

Thank you, I'll try this. 

[Linz16]

Unfortunately I tried all of that at the start of the saga and it didn't work. My device is just faulty but trying to get Google to help is fruitless.