Heart rate accuracy

[RatedE]

Curious to know how this compares to other devices in terms of heart rate accuracy. One of the most frequent complaints with the current lineup of wrist-based heart rate monitors (and not just Fitbit) is how they aren't quite as accurate as chest-based monitors...and how you often have to wait 10-20 seconds while exercising to allow your device to "catch up" in order to get an accurate reading. Wonder if these new sensors will address that...I think that could be a huge selling point for the Ionic.  

[swimfan]

And the biggest question of all - will it track my heart rate while swimming? I don't care if it is 100% accurate, just close enough. .

[ErickFitbit]

@RatedE Building on our groundbreaking PurePulse technology, we’ve made enhancements to the algorithm and sensors in Ionic to make it our best continuous heart rate tracking device yet. PurePulse is enhanced for greater accuracy during high-intensity training for exercises like cycling, intervals and running.

[shipo]

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@swimfan wrote:

And the biggest question of all - will it track my heart rate while swimming? I don't care if it is 100% accurate, just close enough. .

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Here is my SWAG answer to your question:

• Short version: Yes.
• Long Version: Under the assumption the Ionic is "waterproof" enough to survive swimming, it will also track your heart rate while in the water.  I say this because when I run I sweat profusely on warm/humid summer days; so much so I've had cars come back by me and tell me they had to engage their wipers due to the amount of sweat which got slung off my arm as they passed.  Said another way, the region under my current Surge is frequently so very wet it couldn't possibly be any wetter even if it was submerged; even still, my Surge successfully tracks my heart rate in such conditions.

[swimfan]

What about the sensor during swimming? Will it just shut off or will it try to track my heart rate anyway? From reviews of fellow swimmers the iwatch 2 does a decent job and I was literally about to switch (my b-day is next week) from the Surge that I've had for over 2 years now. 

[swimfan]

Good to know @shipo - I've not tried to swim with my surge - but like you I am a sweaty person when working out on dry land. The surge has done a fantastic job. My question is if I tell the Ionic I'm swimming will it automatically shut down the purepulse or will it just keep tracking heart rate. There are watches out there that do shut down when in swim mode. It is darned annoying. Swimmers have heart rates too. 😜

[shipo]

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@swimfan wrote:

@Good to know @shipo - I've not tried to swim with my surge - but like you I am a sweaty person when working out on dry land. The surge has done a fantastic job. My question is if I tell the Ionic I'm swimming will it automatically shut down the purepulse or will it just keep tracking heart rate. There are watches out there that do shut down when in swim mode. It is darned annoying. Swimmers have heart rates too. 😜

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I'm thinking there is no reason to shut the LEDs down when swimming; that said, making sure the Ionic is snug to the wrist will probably be all that much more important when it comes to accuracy.  On my Surge I've noticed if I don't remember to snug my tracker down before my run, the sweatier I get the more erratic the HRM readings.

[ErickFitbit]

@swimfan @shipo Using the new Swim Exercise mode, Ionic will track laps, length, duration and calories burned in real-time so you can view your stats directly on your wrist during your workout. (Heart rate will not track while swimming.) If you don’t use the Exercise Mode, Ionic will automatically track your swim with SmartTrack when you’ve been swimming for at least 15 minutes and then record your stats in the Fitbit app.

The optical sensor does not record data when the device is in swim mode because refractions from the water can impact the heart rate reading. This is currently standard for smartwatches during water workouts.

[shipo]

Thanks for the feedback Erick, I'm wondering how much the HRM would be impacted; I mean, given how wet I get when I run I cannot imagine my wrist being any wetter when swimming than when running.

[swimfan]

Thank you Erick for your response. If I understand what you said correctly then if I don't put it in swim mode and start/stop swimming periodically it might grab my heart rate while I swim - until it figures out I am swimming. I'm cool with that. Frankly I don't care if it is 100% accurate, I just want to have something. Friends have stated that the Apple Watch only gives you an average HR for your swim. But even that is something. 

If I put it in swim mode then I am choosing not to have the HR. I assume it will re-start the HR once I stop swim mode. That is nice since I frequently forget to restart the HR after swimming and have frequently gone hours with it off on my surge.

Thanks again!!! This on is definitely in the running. I just need to see how large it is on my wrist. Being a female that is a consideration... 

[linhin]

So is it likely to be a significant improvement on my Charge HR?  The heart rate tracking on that is not just mildly inaccurate but wildly so when doing intense exercise - e.g cycle up a steep hill, chest monitor says heart rate 160+, FItbit Charge HR says 109!  It does seem to be particularly the more intense exercise that the Charge HR simply doesn't cope with.How would the Ionic improve on this? 

[SunsetRunner]

@linhin

As far as I've used it, the ionic's hr information has been the most accurate of the fitbits that I've had (charge hr and alta hr).

[mrborenstein]

Not for me. The Ionic has been terrible compared to Surge or Chest Strap.

[ijob007]

I think the heart rate monitor is super accurate and my first fitbit. I've had the gear s2 for a while and the readings on that were sporadic and all over the place particularly when exercising.The battery would often die after a day when the hr was utilised.

The ionic having constant readings is amazing and exercise sweat hasn't really effected it much and battery is now on day three with half left!

[mrborenstein]

Like I said, my experience has been different. I ran 5 miles today on a treadmill with a chest strap and the Ionic. I'm in fairly good shape and I was running at a 9:30 mile, which is very slow for me. The average HR from the chest strap was 125. The Fitbit recorded 163. No way my HR was that high with  peak of 198 ! In addition, the sleep function is also way off. I'd be walking around like a zombie it I had actually slept the time recorded. That being said, I remember when I first started using the Surge, which has been on my wrist constantly for the last 2 1/2 years. It had some wild reading but worked great after a few firmware updates. I remain sanguine that updates will improve everything. I really like the watch. It looks nice but I have to agree with some of the comments I've seen. Loading music was a nightmare but I finally got it to work and it's very cool. The fact that the watch face has to be double tapped or wrist flicked is a bit annoying. I'm really glad that the band can be replaced easily. I'd still be using the Surge if it wasn't held together with super glue.

[linhin]

thanks for various views - hope that the optimism that it will improve if not initially great are right and think I will probably give it a go.  Have also found the sleep function poor on the Charge HR and hoped it would be better with Ionic.  Certainly agree changeable strap would be good - I have had 2 Charge HRs fall apart at the strap/face join. 

[Kas13]

I just got the ionic. I haven’t exercised with it yet. But it is terribly off with me just sitting here. The blaze was more accurate for me than this. Saying my heart rate is 49 and I measured at 61. Not optimistic this heart rate monitoring is very good yet 

[Martinefski]

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@ErickFitbit wrote:

@RatedE Building on our groundbreaking PurePulse technology, we’ve made enhancements to the algorithm and sensors in Ionic to make it our best continuous heart rate tracking device yet. PurePulse is enhanced for greater accuracy during high-intensity training for exercises like cycling, intervals and running.

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This is not based on reality at all, I know for a fact the ionic is absolutely horrible at tracking heart rates on ellipticals and stair-steppers. I have now seen it be off by well over 70 beats, which is exactly how bad the Blaze was.

What you are saying is just sales add speak.

[ghostzr]

I'm with you. I love surge so much but the band went bad and I can't replace it. I've been communicating with fitbit people but it seems they never came up with a conclusion why my heart rate is achieving 196 or something that is totally top my max (aka 220 - my age) - in that case I should've felt really really bad but at the moment it was just during a chatty slow paced run. I moved the band upper and I'll test it again. But the problem is why moving it up is more accurate than down? And exactly which spot is the 'accurate ' spot?