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

[ilatimer1]

I've noticed the same problem 🤔. I was walking on the treadmill the other day and it said my heart rate was 209. My polar hr said it was 100.

[SunsetRunner]

Exercising heart rate is also much, MUCH higher with the Ionic than it was with the Charge 2.  I do a workout at my local hospital twice per week, and we have a hospital-grade pulse oximeter, which the Charge 2 was quite close to, just about every single time.  The Ionic is up to 50 points higher than my Charge 2 was.  The Ionic seems to be OK with my resting heart rate, though.

[DT10z]

I would run into the same problem with the crazy high reading. Stopping and allowing my HR to drop to normal fixed the problem. At least for me...

[MassiP]

I had the same issue with my Surge. I solved this by wetting my wrist with a little water and then putting on my watch. Do this before going to the gym or to a run. Again it works with the Surge, I don`t have the ionic yet...but coming soon! 

[MonteC]

Mine has been working good but in regards to HR not so good.   

[Jonathanbaker]

I have experienced issues too with readings over 200bpm. I have observed that the peak is always at the start of the exercise and then it appears to steady itself. However, my average during exercise is still significantly higher than it was on my surge. I don't think the Ionic is as accurate as the Surge in terms of HR.

[shipo]

My first run with my Ionic started with a spike of 215 BPM for nearly the first mile, then it settled down into the 130 range.  Since then I've tightened my band down one notch for each subsequent run and haven't seen the same aberration.

[Pd1972]

"Since then I've tightened my band down one notch for each subsequent run"

Doesn't that hurt a bit eventually? 

I think you're right on the tightness though- HR is one of the things I'm pretty happy with on the Ionic.

[shipo]

@MiamiKids1, under what conditions did your Ionic mis-report your heart rate?

[SunsetRunner]

I believe that I have solved my heart rate accuracy issues.  As has been mentioned here, it was just a matter of tightening the band one notch.  My story went like this:

My Ionic band was always a bit on the loose side, but that's what I interpreted the instructions to be saying was the proper fit to use.  But I have the Charcoal / Smoke Gray Ionic, and I didn't really like the gray band it has -- I thought it was a bit too "conspicuous."  So, I ordered a very inexpensive black band from Amazon, and I was happier with the look.  I was happier with the fit, too -- it was a little bit more snug than the OEM band.  Though, that didn't last very long -- I guess it "wore in" quickly, and after a couple of days, I felt the need to tighten it up one notch, and that felt very good.

Then, today, it was my first day at the exercise program I take with my local hospital, where we have hospital-grade pulse oximeters I usually check three times during the course of my exercise routine, and immediately, I noticed that my Ionic was behaving very much like my previous Charge 2 -- if not right in sync with the hospital's pulse oximeter, it was only off by one or two beats, which I think is plenty accurate.  I continued testing perhaps ten times over the course of an hour -- testing right after doing a "speed up" session in some interval training, testing after I had rested a bit, and everywhere in between.  Every time, it was very close to the hospital's pulse oximeter.

So, I presume this is what the instructions are saying in regard to "pushing the Ionic up on your wrist when you exercise" -- to get a tighter fit, which increases accuracy.  And so on.  But for now, everything is just fine -- I think the fit is far more what I want in the fit of my Ionic, it certainly doesn't feel "too tight," but neither does it feel "loose" by any means.  And I'm definitely not getting any ridiculously-high heart rate numbers.  "Works for me."

[murfpass]

Mine is so bad. I'm literally sitting down with my actual HR at about 60 and my Iionic reads up to 80 BPM. Which for being pretty much still is just insane to me.

[SiGr]

I had issues the first day then I tighened the band.  

Now it seems to work (as good as any optical hr will) pretty well.  It does seem to have issues transitioning from rest to cardio to peak and take s while to get going sometime but on the whole its 100x better than the charge 2.

I also have found I don't need to do the shuffle it up the wrist bs when having hard exercise.

[MonteC]

Mine is way way out during vigorous exercise.  I am 60 years old so these numbers are way off the charts.  This is a 3k trail run, quite steep in places.  It seems to work accurately when resting.

[shipo]

@MonteC, when I see a graph like that my band is too loose.

[MonteC]

Thanks @shipo   I synched it up tight and now have some numbers in the range I expected.

[Kelsterr1]

Same here!  Heart rate when waking shows 180 and resting heart rate very high as well. I had a blaze and it was much more accurate.  I work out and my resting heart rate is around 60 and the ionic has me at 70 even though the heart rate graph indicates it is lower. When you sync and average out the night. Not reliable! May send it back!

[Greythorp]

This seems to be a common issue with the Ionic.  Mine always gives incorrect readings on a run.  I've tried all the fixes mentioned on the forums, tightening the strap, loosening the strap, pushing it up your arm, wetting your arm but nothing works. This £300 device does not work as well as a £36 chest strap and free app from Polar as far as heart rate is concerned.  If the heart rate measurement is unreliable, then how can you trust other measurements (the sleep function thinks I'm asleep when I'm watching TV)?

Very disappointed with it so far.  Will wait to see if any future firmware releases fix the issues but after that it is going on ebay.

[Venkats]

While I agree with inaccuracy part I do not think it is fair to compare with a chest strap HR monitor based on electrical activity / signals.

I do not believe software alone will improve the HR reading issues.

[ihue]

Getting strange HR readings. Seems accurate at rest but shows way off when exercising. Sometimes when I am just comfortably walking shows 168 but when breathing hard going uphill will show like 104!