Heart rate accuracy during walks.

[SunsetRunner]

Dear community,

I'd like to request some help with my brand new Ionic. I know the heart rate problems are widely discussed over forums, but I've encountered a problem i haven't read about here.

Heart rate during sleep and rest (sitting, etc.) is accurate, but each of my walks ends up reporting 90-115 bpm. It doesn't have to be a long walk, I'm just taking a quick (in terms of time, not pace - it is a slow walk) stroll (2-4 minutes) and after the first minute, Ionic starts to report +90 bpm, stopping at about 115. I have a second tracker that reports accurate heart rate (about 80). My manual calculations also show mostly 80 bpm. I am sure that I am not hitting above 100 bpm that is being reported by Ionic. What's strange - during my runs Ionic is mostly accurate with showing bpm, excluding some dropouts after 2-3 kms where the watch reports 20-30 bpms lower for a minute or two, then gets back to correct values.

I tried wearing it as shown in the instructions - one finger above wrist bone, two fingers above or even higher. I tried to wear it loose or tight. Nothing helps, any walk that lasts longer than a minute or two starts to show really high bpm. It looks like it is connected with movement. Stopping for a minute makes the bpm to stabilize on ~90-100 bpm, then suddenly it drops by 10 to 80 and then quickly further to 70-65

The problem is - this affects my calories burn heavily. An ordinary day in work, where I do between 5-10k steps ends up in almost 3k calories burned and I know this isn't right. I need accurate calorie burn and it was what I expected to get after getting Ionic.

Ionic is brand new (4 days old) bought directly from fitbit. Software version: 27.32.10.20

Please advise.

[SilviaFitbit]

It's great to see you around @SunsetRunner! I appreciate the time that you took to share the experience that you've had with your Ionic and heart rate information. 

It's pretty weird that from one minute to another it shows different heart rate readings. I would like you to double check that your personal information is properly entered on your profile, this can affects as well the calories burned that you're getting. 

In regards to the heart rate information that you're getting, confirm that you're following the tips provided on this article What should I know about my heart rate data?. After you've checked the above, try restarting it and continue monitoring the data you're getting. 

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

[SunsetRunner]

Dear Silvia,

Thanks for answering.

I've double checked my personal information and I'm sure they're correct. Only thing I have on auto is stride length.

I did the restart procedure and I will monitor the bpm as advised. I will answer this thread later on with my findings.

Edit:

I forgot to add that first thing I did was reading the article You mentioned and tried all proposed solutions there (about wearing the tracker). I've also tried different variants of walking and even walking in my house doing circles gives me an elevated heart rate.

[SunsetRunner]

I'm back with some new tests and unfortunately, the reset didn't help.

I'm posting pictures of my today walks I've made to show the problem I'm facing.

You can see, that I have waited before starting to walk to show that my HR was stable. Soon after I started, my HR started to raise quite fast to reach ~100 or even higher BPM. During the walk I have checked my HR manually and it indicated rather ~80 bpm. I am sure I have not exceeded 100 BPM as the tracker indicates.

First two walks were tracked with ionic placed approx. one finger above wrist bone. The third walk was two fingers above. You can see that after I stop, HR is stable high for a moment and then begins to drop rather fast to the desired value.

I'm also aware that wrist-based hr technology has its limitations and delays, I'm fine with that. But having +20 BPM higher during a casual stroll is a lot. My second tracker (Microsoft Band 2) indicates 80-85 during this type of activity and is much closer to reality.

Thing is, I'm doing a couple of walks of this type during my work day, and almost every walk gets me into fat burning zone, which messes up my calorie stats. As I said earlier - Fitbit indicates that I'm burning about 3k cals each day sitting at my desk and doing some walks, essentially without breaking a single sweat. This is kinda high.

Can I receive further help?

[DavideFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hello @SunsetRunner, thank you for all the details you've provided and screenshots about heart rate information, I've gone ahead and sent your information to the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. You should be getting a reply soon, please keep an eye on your inbox. 

[LK_P]

Hi sunsetrunner, was this complaint ever resolved for you by fitbit community? 

It is really strange that I am also having the same issues with my fitbit device. Pretty much everything you said in your complaint is exactly my situation. I basic walk from my living room to the kitchen and around the kitchen sink can get my device HR up to 125bpm then rapidly drops down to 80 then 65 once I sit down. This definitely messes with the reported calories burn a day which is usually over 3k. I thought this problem was specific to my device. I have used other pulse ox devices and manually checked as well and those are usually within normal range.