Heart rate Inaccuracy

[tiredrunner]

Does anyone else have major issues with the HR sensor not working during runs?  I have followed all the rules of having it 2-3 fingers above my wrist, it isn't overly tight nor is the sensor dirty.  It works through about 60-75% of my run but when my HR gets rather high, it's blank (--).  It is truly frustrating.  I worry that the cal burn nor the HR count is accurate.  Also, how accurate do you suppose the cals on this (charge 2) is?  I am trying to monitor what I am burning a day since I am trying to lose weight but I am concerned that I may be setting myself up for failure if it is stating more than I am actually burning.

[Dominique]

Welcome to the community, @tiredrunner! Estimating energy expenditure with a fitness tracker is not exact science. Just because your Charge 2 temporarily loses track of your HR during your run (and/or at other times of the day) doesn’t necessarily mean calories burned during the 24 hours of the day will be completely off. For one thing, it doesn’t rely solely on your HR: its algorithm also detects your movements and their intensity.

Do you also track your intake? If you don’t, there isn’t much point in worrying about the accuracy of calories burned in absolute terms (you can still use them as a general activity goal). If you do, you’ll be able to figure out by how much calories burned are off based on body weight change. This will take a few weeks, though, so give it some time.

[tiredrunner]

Thank for the reply. How accurate should I expect the tracker to be? I
count calories in very strictly so this is why it was important to me to
know what I am burning. In a day it should be between 500-700 cals. My
intake is between 1200-1500 cals and outtake is 2000-2200 according to the
tracker. Only two weeks in, fingers crossed I will see results this time.
The fat really doesn't seem to want to leave. I don't blame it, I am
pretty fun to be around lol.

[shipo]

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@tiredrunner wrote:

Does anyone else have major issues with the HR sensor not working during runs?  I have followed all the rules of having it 2-3 fingers above my wrist, it isn't overly tight nor is the sensor dirty.  It works through about 60-75% of my run but when my HR gets rather high, it's blank (--).  It is truly frustrating.  I worry that the cal burn nor the HR count is accurate.  Also, how accurate do you suppose the cals on this (charge 2) is?  I am trying to monitor what I am burning a day since I am trying to lose weight but I am concerned that I may be setting myself up for failure if it is stating more than I am actually burning.

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From your description it sounds like you are wearing your tracker too loose.  I've found for an accurate track when I run I need to wear the band one or even two notches tighter than how I wear it when I'm not running.  If I don't tighten the band I get all sorts of wacky results when I'm running.

[tiredrunner]

So I'm back from my daily run.  I have tightened it, wear it three fingers above my wrist, try to wipe the sensor whilst jogging (not easy lol) and still, throughout a short 45 minute jog 40-70% of the jog I will check and it, and it reads --.  I depend also on the reading to know if I am pushing myself hard enough.  Kind of getting super frustrated.  At this point I wish I could return it and maybe try the Garmin version but it's past return date.  Sorry for all my venting, but this is the sole reason I purchased this.  

[shipo]

Hmmm, maybe it is just coincidence, but for the second day in a row, my heart rate graph from my run didn't show a bizarre spike in the beginning.  I wear the Fitbit Ionic and the firmware is still the same late September release I've had all along, so that hasn't changed.  Could it be the Fitbit server side software has been updated to more accurately reflect heart rate readings during the initial stages of a workout?

Edit: I just went back and looked at graphs of my previous 20 runs, of them only 4 showed what I would consider a normal heart rate during the initial mile, and never did I see a normal graph two days in a row, so hopefully Fitbit fixed something.  🙂

[Dewette]

I'm new here. Borrowed my daughter's fitbit to see if I like it so I can ask for one for Christmas if I do. I'm finding it inaccurate as well sometimes. I workout at Orange Theory fitness and wear a chest strap and can see my heart rate all throughout my workout. My peak HR was 162 and fitbit only registered it as 120 being my highest and said I only had 20 some minutes of activity whereas it was an hour class and pretty much balls to the wall from the get go. Even my weight lifting I was at a higher rate because of the explosive movements and what not. My wristband is placed properly and pretty tight (can't see the green sensors when I look up my wrist) although I can tighten it one more hole which I'll try on Monday when I go back to OT. I'm really hoping it's better on Monday because I geek out on this stuff and if the HR is inaccurate then I have a hard time trusting the rest of the features. 

[SunsetRunner]

Chest strap sensors are always more accurate than a wrist band sensor because of how they measure.  

"Unlike chest strap heart rate monitors -- which closely emulate a real EKG machine by measuring electrical pulse -- these devices use light to track your blood. By illuminating your capillaries with an LED, a sensor adjacent to the light measures the frequency at which your blood pumps past (aka your heart rate). Moments later, you've got a BPM (beats per minute) reading."

https://www.cnet.com/news/how-accurate-are-wristband-heart-rate-monitors/

[Dewette]

@comanches Thanks for your reply 🙂 Yes, I'm aware that chest strap HR monitors are way more accurate than any other type of monitor but 40 points?  That seems like an awfully big difference. At my next workout, I'll try tightening the band a notch and maybe putting it a bit higher on my wrist.  While I'm new to a Fitbit I'm not new to fitness and the goodies that help us geek out on our numbers. I wore a Body Media for years and was a strength trainer for years and what not and I'm pretty familiar with the health and fitness arena.