Heart rate accuracy during intense activity

[LokeMT]

Context: Wrote to Fitbit about the Ionic HR dropping during intense activity, how I correctly worn the  Ionic and counter check the faulty HR reading against a Blaze worn at the same time.

See itbit preposterous reply (Pasted below).... so now I am left with a a glorified fitness tracker, good only for sedentary lifestyle monitoring 😡

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On 8/31/2019 11:58 AM, https://contact.fitbit.com wrote:

Hi Loke,

Thanks for letting us know about this issue. We’re aware of it, but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future.

We currently don't have any repair centers that could cater the needs of your Fitbit Ionic.

We are also uncertain about providing a replacement as it might not fix the the problem.

We'll continue to monitor the situation, and keep our team informed of the impact to you and other customers.

We understand that this isn't the resolution you're hoping for, but rest assured we're always working to improve our products.

We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.


Sincerely,

Jabez D. and the Fitbit Team

--

Reply directly to this email to update your case. #32029099

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Moderator edit: Subject for clarity

Moderator edit: Format 

[RicardoFitbit]

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

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and personal experience with your Ionic device here in the Community Forums, I totally understand how frustrating this situation can be for you. The feedback that was posted is really appreciated because we are always striving to improve the Fitbit experience with our products and services. If you have any additional questions about the information that was provided by our Customer Support team in your case, please contact them back for more information and details.

Let me know if you have any additional questions, I'll be here.

[LokeMT]

Seriously, this "empathy without solutions card" played here are just plain annoying and "hollow" from both the Fitbit's Tech support and Moderators.

Ionic is a flawed product as evidenced by the numerous threads about the myriad of problems shared here from hardware to firmware etc etc.

Moderator edit: Format 

[LokeMT]

I received yet another reply from Fitbit's customer support. (Pasted below)

Here's the problem:

1. Separately, I have Jabez, Leonel & Annie replied.

2. Only Jabez acknowledged that is a issue with the Ionic watch itself in the first reply.

3. Leonel & Annie are just assuming that we users are "real idiots" regurgitating template replies on how to wear the fitbit when I already made it clear in my emails that I knew how to wear the watch properly and that the HR drop of the Ionic was countered checked against using a Blaze worn on my the other hand.

4. It seemed the answers from Fitbit are regressing in content made worse by Annie who does not seemed to even be bothered to read the case history.

5. Annie even suggested I get ideas from this forum and here you advise me to seek customer support?? Nice Ping Pong game making the user the Ping Pong Ball....

6. Fitbit responses - Like some religious cult evading hard questions and going round in circles..

Well done. No wonder Fitbit is losing market share and stocks are dropping given the service and products...

Regards,

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Hi Loke,

Thanks for getting back to us.

Heart rate can be affected by several factors including air temperature, stress level, physical body position, and medication use.

If you were exercising when you noticed discrepancies in your heart-rate readings, the type of exercise or the position of the device may be the cause. See our help article for more information: help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1565.

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you. We very much appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. The best place to make your voice heard is the Ideas board on our community (community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Requests/idb-p/features). Please take a moment to visit and give us your feedback. 

If you find that a similar suggestion has already been made by another member of the community, you can vote for their idea and add your comments.

We hope this helps. Let us know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Annie R. and the Fitbit Team

[RicardoFitbit]

Your reply and update are appreciated @LokeMT, sorry for the delay in responding.

I appreciate the information and details that were shared in both of your posts regarding the inconvenience you experienced with your Fitbit Ionic. Since you already contacted our Customer Support team regarding this situation, my best advice will be to contact them back if you have additional questions about the outcome of your cases with them. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback in the Community Forums, your post is helpful for us to evaluate our procedures.

Don't hesitate to contact me back if you need anything else.

[Chkaloon]

I think the Ionic HR reading technology is just not suited to intense workouts. It seems to do OK for resting heart rates and sleep detection, but if you do things that get you above 120 bpm, other than running (which has its own issues because of the arm swinging probably), it will NOT be even close in my experience. Various chest bands and manual checks show I'm 145+ during a hard workout, and the Ionic never gets above 115. I think the FitBit "team" realizes that their hardware just doesn't cut it for these situations but they don't really want to admit it directly for their flagship device.