Inflated heart rate reading

[jtlapp]

PLEASE READ BEFORE RESPONDING. Don't just react to the photos. I wore the Charge 2 by itself and the Ionic by itself before doing this test. It was their crazy differences that inclined me to then put them on at the same time -- and the crazy difference remained. Further experiments revealed the true source of the problem, as I explain in my updates below.

I've been wearing my Ionic for a few days. The heart rates I see are not similar to those I saw on the Charge 2. I can be standing in place typing at the computer, look at my watch, and see a heart rate of 130.

I decided to put some juice in my Charge 2 and go for a walk with both. I took 14 photos of the watches over the course of a hilly mile. The heart rates were only once the same. They often differed by 10, with the Ionic higher. And sometimes the differences were crazy. (See images below.)

I tried making the Ionic extra snug half-way through the walk, but the readings remained crazy. For example, I could be at 100 on the Charge 2 and 120 on the Ionic upon cresting a hill, and then hit 90 on the Charge 2 and 150 on the Ionic upon subsequently reaching the bottom of the hill.

Is something broken, or am I doing something wrong?

UPDATE #1: After more testing with a second Ionic and the present Ionic worn higher on the wrist, I found that the Ionic and the Charge 2 more closely agree on the HR when the Ionic is worn at a distance from the wrist bone. Fitbit recommends that it be worn at least two fingers above this point. Because Fitbit also recommends that the Ionic be worn loosely, Fitbit's own recommendations imply that the device will not give a reliable HR while walking with the hands swinging down at the side. Even so, the Ionic usually reports higher numbers than the Charge 2 when worn higher on the wrist. Finally, at least one person is happy with their HR numbers when the Ionic is worn low on the wrist.

People have also replied to this thread with their own experiences getting unusually high HR readings on the Ionic. I don't mean to summarize their findings here.

UPDATE #2: Apparently it is known that the devices can interfere with each other when worn on the same wrist. Mind you, I wore one device and got crazy numbers and multiple devices and got reasonable numbers on all by the bottom watch. The purpose of the test was to find out if the watches were broken. What the test told me is that the watches were not broken, but are more accurate higher on the wrist. The test told me that despite any interference there might have been. (Besides, I'm unable to peform the test on both wrists, because one hand must hold the camera.)

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[wzahid]

Ionic heart rate reading has a problem and need to be fixed.

It gives wrong reading and spikes after few minutes of my run. I use zephyr chest strap  for more than 5 years with charge hr and charge hr2 they used to give same reading for years. Now... Ionic is realy off by 20 to 30 beats and it spikes up for unknown  reason. Fix it please.

[shipo]

@wzahid, this is a widely reported issue; I'm quite sure the Fitbit folks are working on it.

[wzahid]

I hope FITBIT can fix it soon ... I am thinking of returning Ionic back.

[shipo]

@wzahid, in the grand scheme of things, is it really that big of a deal?  What if I told you it would take, say, six months before a fix was released, would you still return the tracker?

[wzahid]

I bought it to monitor my heart beat during my exercise ... since it
failed... it will go back...

[Danceman]

Hi to get a fit bit with HR to monitor sleep you have to disable the HR auto off feature in settings.

[LeBrok]

Same problem here.  My Ionic shows HR 20 beats higher than my Charge 2.  During today's run had my average rate at 170 and max at 210, and I'm 52!  Should have been 150 and 170 respectively.  At rest it shows 80 instead of 60.

[Danceman]

Worth doing some testing. I tried shaving off all hair under the watch. This helped. The position and tension of strap too. Having two on same arm means one is in the less good position. Wearing a proper chest monitor will give you the correct figure. Try swapping positions and arms and see if you ever get correct reading. I recon you need it tightish but it must not effect blood flow. I have the blaze which locks on a single position but the thinner watches move around. Goodluck
Colin

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

[LeBrok]

I'm wearing my Ionic same way I wore my Charge 2, and it was alway accurate.  This and so many people complaining means that we have some substantial problem with Ionic "going crazy".  This should be addressed quickly by the company.  Surprisingly the heart at rest measurement works fine.  Other things like sleep analyzer works great every night, and I love the flyer and music storage connection and many new options.  I love my fitbit!   Just the crazy fitness HR drives me nuts.

I just looked at my heart rate when sitting and typing and is at 66, where I would expect it.  Yesterday it was 88 in same situations.  It was also accurate on my spin bike two days ago, in agreement with HR monitor embedded in my bike, maybe showing a bit too high HR at the end when I was driving it the hardest.  But was crazy yesterday.  Perhaps, my morning running decalibrated it for the whole day?

[wzahid]

ionic is not reading HR correctly, I use chest strap HR monitor and Ionic
is 30 to 50 points off. Shaving or positioning is not helping. FITBIT
need to fix it or it will go back soon.

[SunsetRunner]

Hmm... measures fine. Chest strap (blue) vs. Ionic (red). The graph is over a 11 mile run... Sometimes it glitches right up front (worse than seen here, but even the chest strap has glitches) but that is only if I fail to wear it properly and it settles down shortly. There's a slight delay from the chest strap (pretty standard given the location differences), but it's been pretty solid. And I've tested it compared to Wife's finger SpO2/HRM sensor (for her asthma), and it's rock solid. 

Not sure how Fitbit can "fix" something that seems to work for many of us.

[LeBrok]

That's great that it works for most users, ZenGardner, so there is hope for the rest of us.  Perhaps company can narrow it down to a faulty series in production, or thick skinned people throwing the reading off, or something like this. 🙂

I noticed that this morning it was reading my rest HR right, but this evening it is off by 20 now.  

[bkuglich]

I'm seeing the same thing as everyone on this thread and I talked to support about this issue a month ago and they acknowledged the problem. What is really disappointing is the lastest firmware looks to have made it worse, not better. Now I get crazy HR readings at the start of my run and randomly in the middle versus just in the start like before the update. 

Fitbit - please fix this or it goes back. This is crazy to have something that has been in the marketplace (wrist based HR sensors) for years and have such an acute problem. I had a vivoactive HR for two years prior and never had issues like this. Never had to think about where to position it on my wrist or shaving my wrist or anything else. It just worked and that's what needs to happen here too. It needs to just work. 

[LeBrok]

Yesterday, I was on my spin bike, and Ionic worked well from beginning to the end being in close agreement with my HR on my spin bike.  Even when I went full bore at the end it showed maximum HR correctly at 172.  The cherry on a top was that it tracked my spins/steps  almost well, shortchanging me about 10%.  This from just slight wrist movement on a steering wheel.  Charge 2 coultn't do that and I had to wear it on my leg to count the steps/cycles. (I found one spot on my leg to show HR fairly close, as on my wrist).

However, today I took it for a run.  It was great first 3 km, but then HR went nuts jumping up and down, and maxing at 206.  Maybe mine gets decalibrated from vigorous arms movement?

I wore it tight last two days.  There is some improvement but still malfunctions.

Also the GPS stopped working after 6 km for some reason.  Maybe, because battery was low?  Though it went dead only 6 hours later, without alarming me about low battery.

Hopefully the fix is coming soon.

[LongRunNick]

I agree the HR is pretty erratic. My solution, I wear my Garmin VVA3 on one wrist with my Garmin HR strap. I wear the Ionic on the other wrist and have HR turned off. I download to Garmin Connect and Smashrun. The Ionic supplies the music, while Garmin continues to be my go to for running.

Oh, just went over 88,000 miles of road running.

[Rrovar]

Mines the same if my bpm were what it says I'd be dead lol

[RandomUser99]

I have also been getting some crazy readings since the update. The watch measured me at 208 bpm at once point during a run.

[LongRunNick]

Amazing, did an EZ 10 miler this morning. Garmin VVA w/HR strap measured 131. Ionic was close avg HR 134. Who knows?

My max HR is around 181-183. That at 74! 

Pandora app was FUBAR this AM. Had to remove and reinstall. Gee, Running was a lot easier when we didn’t have all this tech):

[Rrovar]

Tell me about it I got that worried iv booked to see doctor thought I was on my last legs! Put my partners surge on and was around 10 bpm different just on resting

Sent from my iPhone

[LeBrok]

Again, I did a test on my spin bike again, with Ionic fairly tight on my wrist.  It worked great all the way.  Steady spinning at 70 rpm with heart rate 130 to 140.  When I pedal without resting my arms it shows 140 when resting arms and upper body it is 130.  It was within 2 bpm from HRM on my spin bike.  

The 164 bpm is a sprint at the end.  No creasy 208 at all.

As you can see it assessed about 3,900 stepps/spins.  Not bad, only 10% short from actual.  This is calculated from small wrist movement, even with hands on handlebars.  Amazing.

Looks like it goes crazy only when I'm running.  Rest, walk, work, sleap, most other exercises is working great.  I'll try to reset it before next run on Saturday.  We'll see if it helps.