Ionic heart rate discrepancies

[zipcode]

Often, as I begin a cardio w/o, the HR reading is much higher than 'normal' for the first 5-10 mins. It settles back down to the correct range after a bit but of course the initial readings badly skew the overall results. In 'higher', I mean 25 pts +/- higher than what is obviously the correct rate. At other times, it will start in what is obviously the correct range and seemingly measure accurately throughout the entire workout.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[CindyMFitbit]

Hi there @zipcode. 

Thanks for taking the time to share what you've experienced with your Fitbit Ionic. Differences between heart-rate readings on your device are likely due to wrist or hand position. Make sure the back of your device is in contact with your wrist and that your band is snug.

Note that several factors can affect heart rate, including air temperature, stress level, alcohol or caffeine intake, immune response to illness, and medication use. For more information, see What factors can affect my heart-rate reading on my Fitbit device?

In addition to this, I suggest trying a restart on your device by pressing and holding the back and bottom buttons for 10 seconds until you see the Fitbit logo on the screen, and then release the button. 

Hope this helps. 

[rahulganatra]

hi. i have been using fitbit for 4 years now so i do understand all the standard operating procedures of snug, not too tight, higher up the wrist etc etc. also all factors affecting hr is known . However, there are issues with ionic quite a lot of times. just a day back started my run and i exactly know how my hr will pan out during the run but in first 2-3 mins it peaked to 186 adn i had to pause to let it come down to normal level before restarting the run. its a big hassle when you do such a thing during the run and this problem is with ionic for quite some time as highlighted by many people

do you have any specific comments or answer to this except your standard response as above?

[zipcode]

Like many others I'm sure, I'm very familiar with the positioning of the Ionic and certainly understand the differences that can be a byproduct of those types of issues (plus the others you've mentioned).  In my case, positioning etc. is always almost exactly the same, thus the question about the wildly changing HR readings that often accompany the early stages of the workout. As noted, sometimes, this does not occur but of course the result of the inconsistency is that you 1) have to check the readings continually which is inconvenient at best, and 2) unless you can extrapolate into the final read outs, you have no idea if they're anywhere near accurate overall. So, it kind of becomes a best guess situation which is unfortunate for this kind of workout 'aid'.  Hopefully, Fitbit will be able to correct/fine tune these functions via updates etc. It would help!

[zipcode]

PS................I'll try restarting it more frequently.