HR during exercise wildly inaccurate

[SunsetRunner]

Ever since the most recent Ionic update, my HR during exercise is very inaccurate. As soon as I choose an exercise and start working out, the HR grays out and displays no reading. Then when it does finally display a heart rate, its way low. I'll check it frequently while working out, and sometimes it will jump from say 98 to 160 in a matter of seconds. It's become completely unreliable for exercise exertion tracking.

I never had any issues prior to this last update. How I wear the watch, the exercises I do, the duration, nothing has changed but the update on my Ionic. I've tried stopping the exercise and restarting it, restarting my watch, shutting down my watch and restarting it... Nothing seems to resolve it.

Anyone else having these issues since the update?

[BKMD]

Yes, me too. That's why I'm browsing this forum. Tried a factory reset, then reinstall at the weekend. Seems to have cured the issue for now. 

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks BKMD. If you don't mind, give a few days and report back if it seems to be resolved. Greatly appreciated!

[BKMD]

No need to wait days. Just out of the gym and heart rate monitoring is not working. Greyed out on display, and LED doesn't seem to be flashing. Comes back on then off again after a few seconds. 

[SunsetRunner]

Well that's awfully discouraging. Too bad there wasn't a simple way to revert to the previous firmware. It worked just fine prior to the update.

[SunsetRunner]

Here's an example of the inaccuracy that happens with every workout now - Keep in mind I maintain the same pace for the duration of the workout, and all previous tracking reflects that.

[MikeR417]

Yes, I am having the same issue. I posted a note earlier.  The last time I got good consistent HR data was the update in Dec. 2018.  I requested I be able to roll back to that OS.  Who needs all the other bells and whistles if the watch cannot accurately display HR.

Mike

[SunsetRunner]

Mike, I completely agree. Heart rate monitoring is my primary use for the device. If I can’t rely on that, it’s worthless. 

[t.parker]

I had this problem regardless of the firmware since I bought Ionic. HR during the workout was always wrong. The more intense the workout, the less accurate HR. I ended up getting an external HR monitor (belt) which I started using for workouts. Eventually, I got a different watch that could connect to the belt. It had similar, although the less severe problem with wrist HR. Then I had an option to use another monitor and still use the watch to log. And Ionic did what it does the best - died after 1,5 years. Note that the wrist HR isn't easy to track during vigorous workouts which involve lots of very dynamic movements. Wrist HR can even pick up your cadence and with the current tech, there is no way to properly filter the noise out and some error will occur. That's why pretty much all serious sports watches can pair with external monitors. Just not Fitbits.

[SunsetRunner]

Mine was completely fine until immediately after the update. But like you describe, the more intense workout the worse it is. For example, it seems fine for "walks".

Your new device doesn't happen to be a Polar is it? That's what I've been eyeing up anyway. The Ignite to be exact.

[t.parker]

In my case, walking was registering too high HR (compared with the chest strap). It was never really spot on.

Currently, I use the Garmin Fenix family, however, I was considering Polar Vantage V. What I like about Polar is Polar Flow (web, not the app). Before I changed my watch I've been using the app PolarBeat to register HR with the chest strap but there was no way to transfer logged data into Fitbit so decided to change the watch. Now, I just pair the watch with either strap or PolarOH1 (optical but the measuring is spot-on) and get results I want. For all-day measuring and regular use outside of my training, I use wrist HR which is good enough.

[SunsetRunner]

The issues I’ve been having, along with the recent Google purchase announcement has led me to the decision to migrate to Polar. I’m going to hold out for a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal, but ultimately will be getting a Polar Ignite. 😞

[Op2686]

Fitbit emailed me and said it was a problem on their end that they’re working on. That was about a week ago. At this point I’ll probably make a switch to something else. Fitbit doesn’t seem to be making this a priority. 

[MikeR417]

I went back to my Surge and it too had the same issue, which is surprising since it had been very reliable in the past. Last week I purchased a Versa 2, and it also had the same issue. I have tried different watch faces in an further effort to get them to work, and each had the inaccurate heart rate to greater or same extent. BTW, the Versa 2 was worse than the Ionic.  This has me really puzzled.

Out of curiosity, what phone do you use???? I am wondering whether an OS update to my Samsung s10+ phone could be the cause of the inaccuracy. It is the only explanation I can come up with for so many devices having this issue - it is not the Ionic, but the version of android.  Please weigh in on this!

I got a Samsung Galaxy watch this weekend, and it is accurate. However, their phone app for displaying heart rate is terrible. I am trying to find a way to download/import into another database.  The Fitbit dashboard is very well done compared to other apps I have looked at, and I did really like all the other features of the Ionic

I am getting a new/different pacemaker in a month, and need to record HR data to compare with previous data.

Mike

[SunsetRunner]

I'm using an Apple iPhone. I've been told the app "RunGap" can export data from fitbit to import into a new app. That's my plan once I get my Polar Ignite.  I may get the polar chest strap as well just for even more accurate heart rate data during workouts.

The Polar Flow dashboard is similar to Fitbit, but I have really enjoyed the Fitbit app's dashboard thus far.

[SunsetRunner]

Well, I made the jump. Bought the Polar Ignite and H10 chest strap on Cyber Monday. Sad to see the fitbit go, but I think it was the right decision for my use case. 

The Ignite has been more than I could have asked for. As a fitness and sleep tracker, with the Polar Flow app it has been phenomenal. Heres a comparison of how much more precise the heart rate monitoring is. 

This was during a weight lifting session, I can even see from the heart rate graph each set in my exercises due to the peaks and valleys.