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

[Twinz]

-Just finished my first run with my second Ionic. My "average" heart rate for the whole 3.38-mike run is listed as 158 which seems a little low for the 8'52" pace, but well within the range I would expect.

**However** it also claims that my max heart rate was 204 and my minimum is listed in the low 120's. The minimum heart rate came around the middle of my run and stayed in the 120's for almost a mile.

I seriously doubt I am physically capable of either of those heart rates at that pace.

[Denodan]

Been reading that Apple and the Samsung gear fit have far better heartrate accuracy than any of the fitbit or garmin watches out there.

seems the fitness watches have fallen well behind, so whats the point of a fitness watch when the Samsung and Apple do a bettet job?

[Denodan]

seems all the fitness watches are crap. yet the funny thing is the apple and samsung watches which are not really made as a fitness watch but smart watch first have the most accurate hr monitors, which is why next payday getting the Samsung gear sport which accuracy is right up there with the apple watch.

certainly better than any of the leadi ng fitness watches. sure both samsung and apple have there dropout moments and no watch is perfect, but cracks me up that a watch, not made for fitness in the first place trumps any fitness watch. And not only is the Samsung gear sport cheaper than the ionic and far more accurate hr monitoring

[elot]

Just to set a few things strait.

1) Before the Ionic, i had a Samsung Gear Fit2 (yes fitness tracker) and it was worse with the HR then the Ionic. It only did now and then a HR check and not almost constant like the Fitbit does. In my case the Ionic is spot on with the HR, because i have a medical HR monitor and did a comparisen of the Blaze (from my wife), the Ionoc and the medical HR monitor.

All three were very close (Ionic had 1 bpm more then the other 2) to each other.

2) Samsung has a bad battery and if you use the same functions as the Fitbit or the Pebble watches (i had several Pebble Smartwatches before the Samsung), then you may be lucky if you get 24 hours out of the battery.

3) Samsung has no good automatic adjustment of the screen brightness, which means you keep adjusting the screen brightness during the day by hand.

And so are there a few other options that are not as good as my Ionic or my wife's Blaze.

So be sure to read enough reviews and make sure you know what functions you need, before you buy something else.

[Piskins]

I think the point made was that at higher heart rates the inaccuracies occurred, not sitting on the couch (why would you want an hrm for that?).

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[Twinz]

Resting heart rate is useful information, so I would like it to be accurate.

Also, I posted this in another thread but this seems to be "the" thread for the heart rate issue, so I am copy/pasting here:

I read a review on the Fitbit Blaze last year where it was criticized for not reponding to quick changes in heart rate. I never cared because it worked well for my use, (Running) but I can't help but think the current software is trying to too hard "catch" quick changes in HR and exaggerating wildly in the process. 

I use a data-logger for motorsports that reports what the car is doing as it is driven around a track. It uses algorithms to "smooth out" the raw information from various sensors but it will display raw data when told to do so....the Ionic HR data looks a lot like the crazy stuff my car's data-logger spits out when asked for raw, unfiltered data.

The two scenarios my be apples and oranges, but seeing how good software can turn wild raw data into useful and accurate information gives me hope that Fitbit can, and will, fix this with software.

[Denodan]

How tight you do the strap up will effect how accuratel your heartrate is.

Want better more accuracy HR's. Then either get an apple watch, or Sansung gear. Seems these too watches, which are not even  fitness watches but smart watches have much better HR sensing.

I myself am getting the Samsung gear sport as its right up there with heart rate accuracy and compares nicly with thr apple watch as being the most accurate watch. So sick of in going issues with ionic and the gear sport is a great subsitute and a lot more versitle.

I find it do strange that none of the watches made for sports have accurate hr sensors, yet watches not accually made for sports are practally spot on.

Thats not to say the apple and aamsung are akways spot on, and have their dropout moments, but do overall a nuch better job than any fitness watch and the samsung gear sport is a bit cheaper then the ionic

[Twinz]

I will be happy with the HR accuracy Fitbit provided with my Blaze and Charge HR. Both worked fine in the HR department. Fitbit is perfectly capable of HR accuracy that serves my needs...they just need to make it happen on the Ionic.

[Kelsterr1]

Totally agree! The Blaze has no issues on HR for me.  I am glad they are aware of the issue and working on a fix, and the issue wasn’t the people using it! Will wait for a fix in the meantime went back to my Blaze. 

[Twinz]

After looking at the HR graph from my last run, I realized that the second half of the run looked more like the runs I would take with my Blaze. (Stable and around the same BPM) I was thinking the primary difference for the second half of the run was that I was sweating pretty good at that point. (I'm in SW Florida)

I started today's run after running water over my wrist (as some have suggested) and the Ionic behaved just like my Blaze! - No weird spikes and heart rate numbers that matched my effort. I consider this a nice bandaid until Fitbit gets this sorted out, but It's still not acceptable as a final solution.

[Blackperl]

My ionic hear rate is very accurate for me I never seen high spike when looking into all heart beat history even running on the treadmill my heart rate peak is 174 which is the same as treadmill machine, so I can say my ionic heart rate always spot on with treadmill machine (I check with treadmill every 30 seconds).

My Ionic firmware is  27.31.1.16 (Thailand), this is the 3rd day I've used ionic. So I'm curious that the problem you all faced is about software or hardware version.

If I face any heart rate problem, I will reply this again.

[YFG]

Some personal observation info to add to this thread...

I recently moved from a Garmin Vivoactive HR where my HR info appeared to be 95%+ accurate. I've had my Ionic for a week and the HR info is obviously bad. My resting HR is 60 and I just finished a 30 min 12min/mi (I'm 65) run and my Ionic shows me at 70 HR which I absolutely know is wrong. I now realize why during other activities i thought the calorie burn/count was off. It's because the HR readings are off and that plus your other profile info drives the calorie data. Bottom line..........I may return this device since my primary goal is fitness which involves knowing my heart rate and tracking my calories. I wish I had known in advance how bad the HR tracking was for the Ionic...i would have chosen the Apple Watch 3 even with its poor battery, no sleep data and higher price....very disappointing.

[Denodan]

Get the samsung gear sport. Better than apple 3 watch. Found it better than my ionic

[SunsetRunner]

Just want to add my experience to the mix here. I returned my Garmin Vivoactive 3 for the Ionic due to the Garmin buggy software. However, where the Garmin  was incredibly accurate vs my chest strap for HR reading, the Ionic on my first run was way too high right from the get go. Said I was at 180bpm at my first stride when I know I'm always around 140-150 for the first 1/2-1 mile (flat) or so. Tightening the strap is a no go since the one that comes with it is horribly uncomfortable as is. And the Garmin felt looser than the Ionic already. 

Not a good start to me next Ionic I must say. 

Resting HR seems ok though.

[mbcastle]

kayak83,

Your experience is the same as mine: HR spikes to around 180 immediately when starting a run. Mine eventually settles down around 4 miles into the run, but today it spiked back up again later in the run. I tightened the band, which seemed to solve my issues when walking, cycling, etc., but it's wildly inaccurate when running. HR reading seems fine when resting. I'm hoping that the hardware is ok, and this will eventually be solved with a firmware update, because other than the HR while running I'm really liking the watch.

[SunsetRunner]

I'd say it's not a good indication they haven't fixed it yet after months of it being released, unfortunately. But I hope I'm wrong. I had the same experience when I tried my wife's Blaze a while back when I was debating switch from  Garmin FR239 + chest strap to a wrist band HR. I assumed all wrist based HR were just inaccurate but the Vivoactive 3 proved that wrong. 

Surprising too, as all the reviews I read we're positive on the HR monitor.

[Denodan]

Well after seeing reviews comparing the apple watch using hr strap abd Samsung Gear Sport the Samsung was only 3 bpm differince. Apple and Samsung have been shows to be almost as accurate hr monitoring as using a hr strap. The only thing with these is for light to moderate actives are fine. Really push them and skip and cannot keep up.

Both apple and samsung were not perfect as some actives the apple skipped readings and other times the samsung had troubles, but for most situations almost as accurate as using a hr strap.

[Blackperl]

To be honest I've never faced inaccurate or high spike heart rate during workout. I use ionic everyday for ourdoor running,  indoor treadmill and spinning for both automatic and manual exercise mode.

For workouts I always  wear ionic tighter than normal the ionic position is about 2 - 2.5 fingers from wrist bone. The heart rate of ionic always spot on. 

[LeBrok]

@mbcastle

" I tightened the band, which seemed to solve my issues when walking, cycling, etc., but it's wildly inaccurate when running. HR reading seems fine when resting. "

Exactly my experience too.  Resting HR is always good, tightening does help and works for walking and cycling, but often doesn't work with running.  I suspect it has something to do with more vigorous arm movement during running, confusing my Ionic.  I'm going to wait one more month for a fix, otherwise I will request replacement.  Seems that most of Ionic watches work fine.  Perhaps it is just faulty series?

[SunsetRunner]

I tightened the band once during my run and the only difference was that it was horribly uncomfortable! I don't know why they decided to redesign the wheel with this clasp, but I digress...I have the sport band on it's way. Hopefully it's better.

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@LeBrok wrote:

@mbcastle

" I tightened the band, which seemed to solve my issues when walking, cycling, etc., but it's wildly inaccurate when running. HR reading seems fine when resting. "

Exactly my experience too.  Resting HR is always good, tightening does help and works for walking and cycling, but often doesn't work with running.  I suspect it has something to do with more vigorous arm movement during running, confusing my Ionic.  I'm going to wait one more month for a fix, otherwise I will request replacement.  Seems that most of Ionic watches work fine.  Perhaps it is just faulty series?

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