Heart Rate accuracy

[MikeR417]

Attn Moderators:

I had posted back in July and August of my difficulties getting the heart rate data being inaccurate during exercise.  I won't repost the issues I had, and all that I went through working with support to document the issue and try their suggestions to get accurate reporting. I had managed to get the heart rate to be accurate during exercise for most of the exercise.  However, after the update to 4.X OS the heart rate is all over the place all the time.  I am exhausted trying to get an accurate heart rate. 

The last time my watch functioned accurately was with the update that was rolled out December 2018. I would like to roll back my watch to that update and see if my watch will again function as a heart rate monitor. Can support help me do this?

Mike

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity 

[RicardoFitbit]

Hello @MikeR417, it's nice to see you again participating here in the Community Forums, welcome back.

Thanks for your post and all the information that was shared, I totally understand how frustrating this matter can be for you and thanks for troubleshooting your Ionic prior to posting too. To better assist you with this, can you please expand on the difficulties you're currently experiencing with the heart rate tracking feature of your device? Is your Ionic recording elevated heart rate information when you're not performing an activity and the contrary when you're exercising? With which exercises you experience accuracy difficulties? Lastly, how often you experience this accuracy concern?

In the meantime I receive your answers, please check our help article: How do I improve the accuracy of my heart-rate reading on my Fitbit device?.

Looking forward to your reply. Don't hesitate to ask me any additional questions you may have.

[MikeR417]

The issues are the same as befoe: The watch is slow responding to start of exercise, then rapidly drops HR to the 90s when I am at 140 (chest strap monitor) and repeats this 5-8 times throughout the exercise, and then when I start cooling down it decreases heart rate and never recovers.  It does this while walking at a fast pace and when hiking, which are the only exercises I do.  This happens every time I exercise.

Mike

[RicardoFitbit]

Thanks for your reply @MikeR417.

I appreciate the details that were shared with me, certainly your device isn't recording heart rate correctly when you perform an exercise. From time to time the Ionic may have trouble finding a signal, usually because of the fit of the device. For example, wearing your tight tracker can tighten blood flow in your wrist and affect the signal. We also recommend experimenting with the height at which you place the tracker on your wrist.

When you are not exercising, wearing the tracker just above the wrist bone - as you would with a watch - it usually works well. However, moving the tracker up to a few inches can be helpful when doing exercises or high intensity exercises that often bend your wrist. If you have not already done so, please review our recommendations for use and other tips here.

If you wear the tracker correctly and the heart rate setting is not disabled, try changing the setting from ON to OFF and vice-versa. The change will not take effect until you synchronize. If the heart rate still does not seem correct after synchronization, try restarting your device. 

Let me know if you have any additional questions.

[MikeR417]

Ricardo,

Thank you for your reply.  It is not how I wear the watch, I know how to correctly wear the watch to get accurate readings.  I have tried several steps to turn on and off the HR and re-syncing.  You can search for my communication with yourself and customer service on this issue. 

My question is can I roll back the OS to last December?

Mike

[MikeR417]

Ricardo,I would like to roll back the updates to the one one in Dec. 2018. Can you arrange for this to happen, and if not who do I speak with and how do I contact them?

Mike