Ionic Heart Rate Accuracy

[Kat_W]

Has anyone else noticed that the Heart Rate sensor is very inaccurate?  Currently my Ionic is showing that my heart rate is in excess of 120, while at the same time my pulse ox machine (a medical device) is saying it's 82.  The Samsung health app is inline with what the pulse ox is saying.  I'm not sure if I have a defective Ionic or if others are having the same issue. ( Note: Sorry if there are any spelling errors, I am tryping around my cat, who has decided to sit directly in front of the screen)

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[bbarrera]

I really like Fitbit, but I can't say Fitbit is "light years ahead of the competition" as stated on previous page. Fitbit introduced multi-sport tracking with Surge about 3.5 years ago, and the company is still very much focused on steps and stepping activities.

The app and dashboard are attractive and compact, but without any real depth - try and find out how many miles you ran last week or last month. Really nice 'all in one' app for tracking calories and general health, but true fitness tracking features are virtually non-existent.

[Kierownik]

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@bbarrera wrote:

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@Denodan wrote:

Never seen so many negative comments or moaning about a product. Some of us have no issues and the majority maybe no issues either.

If this was the case fitbit would be out of business.

Sure there are some here having issues, but do you need to be so negative?

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Almost everyone I know in the real world that owns a Fitbit simply doesn't care, and hasn't bothered to verify accuracy. The one guy I know that has compared it to a chest strap, he knows his Surge isn't very accurate while cycling but is pretty good at tracking HR while running steady state. 

I disagree with you about Fitbit going out of business for this reason, because in my experience in the real world (not the online world), most people only care about steps, or step challenges, or using it as a "weight watcher," or checking out resting heart rate, or think the exercise HR "looks right," or think its cool seeing sleep stages data (which Fitbit's own research shows is hit or miss on accuracy). Just one example - my sister-in-law cuts hair in a salon, some days she gets 10,000 "steps" while cutting hair. But she focuses on the step count while walking in the morning, and pretty much ignores all the other features of the Alta HR. Thats enough to motivate her to walk 45 minutes pretty much every morning Monday - Friday.

Its human nature to overlook and dismiss issues, if you are generally happy with something. The Fitbit app has a really nice dashboard, making the circles green motivates some people.

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Unless you're someone like me who's really serious about fitness, working out 6 times a week, counting all the calories, ensuring good sleep times and patterns etc etc, then fitbit is almost useless. It will record your workouts, but the burnt calorie count is a different matter. Because heartrate monitor on ionic simply sucks you can't trust the numbers that it shows. 

The only thing that ionic does good is sleep tracking. Seriously, I tested different devices and when it comes to sleep Ionic is unbeatable. 

Moderator edit: word choice

[erikkai]

It is all about how you use the tool. I workout every day - from martial arts to spin to yoga to running to weights. I find if I adjust my Ionic to the exercise in terms of how I wear it, then the readings are mostly spot on. And I agree. The sleep tracking is great. It’s really improved my sleep habits ten fold. Also the cardio fitness score has provided me insight into pushing my workouts harder.

Like any tool, there are limitations. A decade ago the portability and reliability the Ionic offers wasn’t possible. So I am thankful that I can access the rich data and ecosystem as I train for obstacle races and triathlons.

But you are right. Most folks want to log active minutes or steps and that motivates them to be healthier. That alone makes the Ionic a success in my eyes.

[bbarrera]

@erikkai I have no problem recommending the Alta HR or Charge 2 for people that respond to Fitbit motivation, after all, it worked for me 4 years ago. Ionic is harder to recommend. Over-simplifying, the Ionic is 2x the price vs AltaHR/Charge2 and on basic/activity features adds little more than a better screen.

As a long-time Fitbit user, I've failed to find any value in sleep tracking. Why? I have a family and a demanding job, wake up at 4:45am during the week to squeeze in a 60-120 minute workout. Go to bed as early as I can manage, given my other responsibilities. To be honest, I get more "insight" about my sleep from Sleep Cycle app on my phone because it tracks snoring (due to allergies and body position in bed).

As a weight lifter and cyclist, logging 6-12 hours a week, I've failed to find any "rich data" in the Fitbit world. I train hard and I recover hard. All of the key information about progressively increasing my training load/stress, and increasing fitness levels, is completely missing in the Fitbit world. I've written about VO2max in other posts, put simply its the maximum amount of oxygen your body can transfer to working muscles. Its primarily determined by your genetics, although being inactive will decrease the score. If you are runner/cyclist/swimmer and already in good shape, VO2max doesn't respond well to training. Vaguely interesting, like knowing your IQ score, but not of much practical value.

Would love to see Fitbit move beyond steps and basic health tracking.

[erikkai]

@bbarrera very insightful post though I would have to disagree with you on a few key aspects. The data Fitbit provides is light years ahead of the competition though I do see room for continued growth. I also find sleep tracking to be very accurate and insightful. Snoring isn’t an issue for me but I can see that could be a missing data element. Thanks.

[pointy101]

@bbarrera Vo2 max is important to me ,I have to pass a yearly medical and the pass is gaugue on your VO2 max score from a test I am required to complete ,while.i feel the test we have to complete  is flawed ( for other reason) Vo2 max is a good indication of how someones fitness/ stamina level is 

[erikkai]

Is VO2 monitoring really a realistic capability that you expect Fitbit to provide for given the traditional way a VO2 test is administered? Just curious.

[bbarrera]

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@erikkai wrote:
The data Fitbit provides is light years ahead of the competition though I do see room for continued growth.

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@erikkai You are quite fond of saying light years ahead, specifically what data are you referring to?

The Fitbit app has a nice compact presentation of some health/fitness data, and filling the green circles is a great visual if you are trying to increase basic activity level. While Fitbit is good at tracking basic health data, I can (and have) tracked that on other platforms. Having used all the major platforms, I fail to see how Fitbit is light years ahead. The Fitbit app is definitely easy on the eyes, but lacking in depth.

[bbarrera]

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@pointy101 wrote:

@bbarrera Vo2 max is important to me ,I have to pass a yearly medical and the pass is gaugue on your VO2 max score from a test I am required to complete ,while.i feel the test we have to complete  is flawed ( for other reason) Vo2 max is a good indication of how someones fitness/ stamina level is 

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@pointy101 that is pretty unusual, what do you do?

If you are fit, VO2max is useful to compare the aerobic endurance *potential* of two athletes. But muscular endurance and lactate threshold are another ballgame - my cycling VO2max of 39 has been borderline fair/good for past 4 months and I can tell you there has been some noticeable differences in muscular endurance over that time. In fact my best 2+ hour cycling climb this year was in January, when I had a lower VO2max of 37. After a short break from training, starting with higher VO2max, I could barely finish 36 minutes of intervals at 90% power output as my 2 hour efforts in January.

VO2max is a flawed measure of stamina. Its not even a measure of general "fitness" - it is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can deliver to working muscles. Some people call that aerobic fitness, hence the confusion with general and sport-specific fitness. Put another way, if you are genetically gifted with an excellent VO2max but have been sedentary, a well trained athlete with only good VO2max can beat you in an endurance race.

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey @bbarrera, @Kierownik, @erikkai, @pointy101! It's great to see that you're sharing your comments and feedback regarding each one's experience with Ionic. Your continuous participation is always welcome to the Community as this helps other users as well. 

If you would like to learn more about VO2 Max, just check this article What is my cardio fitness score?. 

See you around! 

[bbarrera]

Starting with Fitbit What is my cardio fitness score? article, the first link in "What is VO2 Max" takes you to this page:

https://med.virginia.edu/exercise-physiology-core-laboratory/fitness-assessment-for-community-member...

and they offer another testing service for Lactate Threshold and on that page it states (my emphasis in bold):

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"The lactate threshold is a good predictor of submaximal fitness (e.g. what exercise pace can maintained over a prolonged period of time without fatigue), and depending on overall fitness level, is reached between 40 and 90% of an individual’s VO2 max.

Lactate threshold (LT) training is a popular method of improving endurance performance. Recreational and serious athletes may use their lactate threshold to determine how to train and what sort of a pace they can maintain during endurance sports."

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which is what I've been saying, improving my Lactate Threshold is straightforward and results in practical gains in the amount of time I can push hard on long climbs, or ride fast for 5 miles instead of 2 miles. Other fitness platforms have you do field testing and use that to define training zones and plans.

VO2Max is kind of interesting to know, mine tells me I'll never be a world class endurance athlete. But in just 4 weeks of sweet spot training I am able to easily raise lactate threshold, without any increase in VO2max, and that allows me to ride faster and longer. 

[dannywood]

Indeed the VO2 is an extremely helpful number. Using the ionic now for a few days and not convinced on the heart rate accuracy. Which is the basis for VO2 max.  I also observe jumps and it seems to lock into the cadence first . Steady state measurements seem okay though. I suspect the ionic is too heavy causing motions during running. Other than that I like it. May have to return it though because of inaccuracies. These issues are reported from the beginning so I assumed they were fixed. Maybe the Hr tech is inferior compared to Garmin which I experienced before .

[hakaman]

Today I experienced the same problem while running with Ionic. I used Surge and Charge 2 for years and I'm always around 120 bpm. Now my average was suddenly 182!!!! Same run as a have being doing for years. Also the heartbeat graph on the app is unusually flat. I don't have much confidence in the Ionic that is now 6 days 'old'.

[YFG]

Return it. I can tell u that 6mos in it doesn’t get better.

[BamIAm]

@hakaman, I tried to make both the Versa and Ionic work for me, but ended up returning both for refunds.

Currently using the Garmin Vivoactive 3, a much more polished product.  The only trouble I have with it is a heart-rate software "correction" when I'm sweating heavily.  That goes away completely when I wear it inside the wrist during my timed walks.  The GPS is very accurate, and the overall build quality makes the Fitbits look like toys in comparison.  Got it for slightly more than I paid for the Versa.

I think the Charge 2 was the pinnacle of Fitbit's engineering.  Stuff that comes afterwards looks to me like they swing and miss.

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey Everyone! Once again, I appreciate that you're sharing your comments about Ionic's heart rate. Your voices are being heard, we're actively reviewing your responses and providing feedback to our product development team. 

If you're experiencing a heart rate reading that's higher than it should be. I would recommend to make sure you're following these tips to get an accurate reading. If you've done but still not getting an accurate reading, rest assure that our team is aware of this issue and working to resolve it. 

Thank you for your understanding. 

[Mark2018]

@SilviaFitbit
But since month I can't see that our voices are being heard!
Otherwise every user here in the community can see improvements!

Until now: No improvement! No bugfix! Only new version numbers! 😞

Would you be happy with such service, with such an not accurate working product?

Your tips are not helpful, I'm sure every user knows how to restart and so on.

And new user are seen what other user have done.

A few day Fitbit products are working OK, and then next problems.

How much resets do we have to accept per day/week/month?

Fitbit team is aware of this issues, ok, when will it be solved?

What is the plan?

Hopefully Fitbit is going to correct the software and fix all problems mentioned in all communities for all Fitbit products.

That's the only thing I'm interessted in.

To have a accurate working Fitbit product!

Thank you for your help and your understanding.

[SunsetRunner]

After last update I see no HR more often than ever:

Usually, during and shortly after high intensity exercise the HR reading disappear for a while. Usually just for a few seconds but there was an occurrence that took almost 4 minutes for HR to reappear.

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey there @Mark2018! Your feedback is totally appreciated and this helps Fitbit to continue providing feedback to our product development team. I can't confirm how much time it will take to resolve this issue, but I can assure you that our engineers are working toward a resolution. 

As soon as I have more information about this issue being resolved, I'll make sure to post it here. 

It's great to see you around @SunsetRunner! I appreciate the pictures you've attached. I would like you to restart your Ionic and make sure you're properly wearing it because if you're doing a high intense activity this could be the reason. 

Keep me posted! 

[Pyewacket]

I’m having same problem on my ionic. I get readings of 170 bpm when I’m doing a TRX workout. I’ll get reading of 190 bpm if I’m jogging. I confirmed these readings were inaccurate the old fashioned way (counting my pulse). In addition to the inaccurate readings during exercise, it’s also not even able to get a reading half the time. I’ve tried everything from putting it in different spots on my wrist, tightening/losening the band, cleaning the watch/my wrist - it’s just not all that accurate. So while I like the fitbit overall, I have learned to take the information it gives with a grain of salt. I continue to excercise the way I did before I had the Fitbit - by body feel.