Green flashing LEDs?

[Yerroon]

HI Everyone,

one thing that bothers me about my Blaze is that every once and a while you see the flashing green LEDs peeping from underneath the device (I was told to not close the bracelet too tight). An inconvenience mostly at night... As I saw the Ionic has a different setup for HRM I was wondering if the green lights flashing is not/less visible?

Kind regards,

Yerroon

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

From what I've read, the design of the sensors is much more snug. Also as light leakage is one of the causes of reading errors, and it is stated the Ionic is more accurate, I'm guessing there won't be that much leakage.

[SteviK]

From what I have read the Ionic will have red lights, maybe the green will not be used as much?

From https://www.pcmag.com/review/355777/fitbit-ionic 

"In terms of hardware, the Ionic has one notable difference from previous Fitbits. If you flip it over, you'll see an array of three LEDs—two red, one blue—in addition to the customary green optical sensor. That's a noteworthy change that opens the Ionic up to more medical use cases. Currently, most trackers use green light to measure heart rate, but red light can give you a more accurate read, as well as measure a host of other biometrics. For example, red light is used in pulse oximeters to measure SpO2, or blood oxygen saturation. While Fitbit didn't reveal any concrete plans for these sensors, it recently updated its sleep tracking features for the Alta HR, and in Montauk confirmed its interest in sleep apnea—which can be detected through monitoring SpO2 levels."

[SunsetRunner]

I consider to replace Charge 2 to something that can actually read my HR but I'm hesitant to pay £300 to find out the new watch is not able to read my HR. Charge 2 isn't ( even now when I'm typing this reply I see two dashes instead HR ). The more I think of it I lean towards changing for another brand.

[shipo]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

I consider to replace Charge 2 to something that can actually read my HR but I'm hesitant to pay £300 to find out the new watch is not able to read my HR. Charge 2 isn't ( even now when I'm typing this reply I see two dashes instead HR ). The more I think of it I lean towards changing for another brand.

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I don't know about where you're located (UK?), but here in the States there is a 45-day money back guarantee.  You might want to try it, and if it doesn't do any better (it should given the vastly superior red LED technology used), send it back for a full refund.

[SunsetRunner]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

I consider to replace Charge 2 to something that can actually read my HR but I'm hesitant to pay £300 to find out the new watch is not able to read my HR. Charge 2 isn't ( even now when I'm typing this reply I see two dashes instead HR ). The more I think of it I lean towards changing for another brand.

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If you feel the HR accuracy is no good, you're probably only going to be satisfied with a chest strap. Most wrist based optical monitors suffer the same issues. However I'm hoping that Fitbit's new design will be more accurate. Enough to be trading in my AW2 for one.

[SunsetRunner]

@shipo it started happening when my resting heart rate went down. To me, it looks like there's a problem with very low HR ( like 45 and below ). I'm located in the UK.

@SunsetRunner it' not the accuracy I have a problem with 🙂 When it works, it does work quite well and I find it accurate enough ( I compared it with other HR monitors including, for example, pulse oximeters ). The problem is that it simply doesn't detect my HR. I presume, as mentioned above, Fitbit has problems with detecting low HR values. I did check my wife's Charge 2, to rule out the possibility that my tracker may be faulty, but results were the same. While it detects her HR with no problem, there is no reading for me when I'm not active ( sitting in front of the computer, traveling on train etc. ). Maybe new model will be more sensitive.

[Yerroon]

Will you please not hijack my thread?

[SunsetRunner]

I expect my problem may be related to yours so I joined and as far as I know the new Fitbit has little more sophisticated set of LEDs including better skin penetrating red LED ( maybe it will work as a support LED as it has problems on its own like being used in motion ). The profile of the new watch looks like it may avoid light leakage but still wearing it too loose will always leave some gaps for light to escape and produce false readings. The bottom profile looks similar to Charge 2 ( beveled ) and C2 doesn't suffer from light leakage unless you wear it really loose. I don't expect Ionic to be any different in that matter. About accuracy and LEDs, my point is that skin absorbs green light. I am curious if red LED will support green one exactly at improving HR accuracy. My apologies if it looks like I hijacked your thread. It wasn't an intention of mine 🙂

[shipo]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

@shipo it started happening when my resting heart rate went down. To me, it looks like there's a problem with very low HR ( like 45 and below ). I'm located in the UK.

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Ahhh, try creating a "Custom Zone" for your heart rate; when I first got my Surge I had a lot of issues with it tracking my heart rate and I'm routinely below 45 (my current RHR is listed as 41 and last night my rolling 5-minute average hit 33).  Given I can also handily exceed my calculated MAX heart rate during a race or while climbing a long grade, I created my Custom Zone to range from 30 to 180.