Ionic is showing high heart rate

[SteHo]

Everytime I start a run the heart rate goes incredibly high, up to 180bpm when I know its really only approx 130.

Sometimes it comes down to the correct HR after 5-10 mins, other times not.

If I stop the exercise and return to the watch screen the HR reading is accurate. For example, in exercise mode I had a reading of 180bpm, when going into watch mode the HR reading went straight to 120bpm. So I don't think it's the sensors.

I've read lots of similar comments and no real solution from fitbit.

A real shame as it means I'll go back to Garmin next time. The problems with the Ionic will lose fitbit a lot of loyal customers. 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @SteHo! Thanks for sharing this with us. How are you wearing your watch? When doing high intensity workouts it is recommended to wear the watch high up your wrist. From 2 to 3 fingers from your wrist bone should be fine. Also, it is needed for the tracker to be loose on your wrist. If it is too tight, there may be inaccuracies. Please check this article for more details.

I'll be around if you need further assistance! 

[SteHo]

Hi, I've read this standard reply so many times and it does not solve this problem. If I keep the watch in exactly the same place on my wrist and continue with the same intensity the HR recovers but sometimes it takes 10-15mins. If I keep it in same position and continue at same intensity but stop recording in 'run mode' and switch just to watch face then the HR is accurate.

It's nothing to do with watch placement or tightness. 

But thanks anyway. 

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for getting back @SteHo! Let me share my personal experience; usually when I've done HIIT I get less heart rate average because I stop every 2 or 5 minutes to change the activity and then the average heart rate is lower. This doesn't mean that the intensity of it is less, but since I'm stopping and not doing the same thing for a longer period the heart rate is changing a lot and at the end that's why I get a lower number. 

Remember that the heart rate is measured every five minutes as you can double check on your Dashboard. Because it's an average and not minute by minute data. 

You can also try wearing it higher when you're doing a very intense activity and check that your Fitbit isn't getting loose or getting down on your wrist. You may want to try higher than two fingers as shown on the image. 

 

With high-intensity interval training, P90X, boxing, or other activities where your wrist is moving vigorously and non-rhythmically, the movement may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate. Similarly, with exercises such as weight lifting or rowing, your wrist muscles may flex in such a way that the band tightens and loosens during exercise. Try relaxing your wrist and staying still briefly (about 10 seconds), after which you should see an accurate heart rate reading. Note that your tracker will still provide accurate calorie burn readings during these types of exercise by analyzing your heart rate trends over the course of the workout.

Give this a go and let me know the outcome! 

[SteHo]

Thanks again MarreFitbit for getting back to me so quickly. 

The problem is at the beginning of running. HR goes from resting (say 60bpm) to 165bpm or more immediately. It's not high intensity, it's gentle rhythmic exercise (easy running) with no wrist flex and very little foot strike impact which could be felt at the wrist.

Are you saying that the HR only takes an average every 5 minutes?

Thanks

Steven

[JasonPaul]

I just "upgraded" from a Fitbit Surge to an Ionic Adidas edition and I would also like to add I am similarly getting extremely high heart rates with the Ionic.  My Surge would typically show my average heart rate around 135, which matched my chest strap readings.  Now with the Ionic on easy runs I am showing heart rates of around 165-170, pretty much throughout my entire run from beginning to end.  I've tried all the suggestions around how to wear the watch on my wrist and I've restarted my watch and also done a Factory reset.  I also just chatted online with a Fitbit rep, who said tole me this is a known issue for which they don't know when a fix will be released.  Now I'm seeing through my online searches that this has been an ongoing issue and I'm really disappointed.  I loved my Fitbit Surge and I thought the Ionic was good, but this heart rate issue for me is a big problem and if it's not fixed I'm considering switching to Garmin or some other brand.

[SteHo]

I've given up on using my Ionic Adidas for heart rate during running. It's really not fit for purpose. I use it for resting heart rate but that's it. I no longer display HR on my stats during runs as it was spoiling my run.

It'll be Garmin for me in future. 

[EdsonFitbit]

Hello everybody, thanks for visiting the Fitbit Community.

Our team is aware that some users are reporting heart rate readings higher than it should be at the beginning of an exercise, but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future. We'll continue to monitor the situation, and keep our team informed of the impact to you and other users. I understand that this isn't the resolution you're hoping for, but rest assured we're always working to improve Fitbit products.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

[JasonPaul]

Hi,  I just wanted to mention that my experience is different ... it says my heart rate is a lot higher than it should be not just at the beginning of my run, but for the ENTIRE run.   So I have easy runs logged on my Fitbit for over 45 minutes where 95-100% of my run was over my max heart rate.

Since it's not exactly the same problem, could my Fitbit be defective?

[EdsonFitbit]

@JasonPaul Thanks for the update.

Your experience would fit into the issue our team is currently investigating even though is not exactly the same. Hopefully we get news soon. Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Keep on stepping.

[JasonPaul]

An update,  I got an accurate heart rate reading today for most of my run.  I wore the watch right under the wrist bone, made it really snug so that it doesn't move at all on my wrist (although I thought I read somewhere that it's not supposed to be on too tight).  Also wore a chest strap to compare.  The readings were really close between the ionic and the chest strap, but then at one point about halfway through my run the Ionic shot up to some crazy number again (jumping from around 125 to about 185).  I hypothesized that my sweat was probably causing slight sliding movements of the watch on the wrist and causing the bad reading, so I tightened the watch on my wrist even more even though it already felt really snug.  Shortly afterwards the heart rate reading on the Ionic went back down and matched my chest strap and was fine for the rest of my run.

So for me, to get an accurate reading I have to wear it really tight and it cannot move at all on my wrist, not even slight movements resulting from my sweat making the watch a little slippery.

This is what my reading looked like yesterday:

This is what it looked like today:

[MikeR417]

Here is a summary of the issue I experienced with the heart rate tracking on my Ionic.  On June 11 my Ionic started to display erratic readings of heart rate while walking (2-3 mi.) and hiking.  My heart rate would either drop by 20-40 beats, or show a double dash.  I know my heart rate could not drop that quickly because I have a pace maker that controls the rate of decrease. This problem occurs not only in the sports app, but also when with my normal watch face WHILE WALKING AND HIKING.  It is not related to a particular watch face, but also occurs with a basic FitBit watch face. There is no issue with monitoring heart rate when not exercising.

I did several factory resets, deleted all unnecessary apps, downloaded the new version of the phone app, turned off GPS, turned always on to on and then to off, did soft resets, and turned it on and off several times. Tried several positions up and down my wrist, on the inside of my wrist, up near my elbow, loosened and tightened the band. Nothing worked.

I was curious as to why my trusted Ionic after 1-1/2 years was giving me inconsistent heart rate information while exercising.  When I first got my Ionic I had compared the watch readings to my Polar H10 chest strap, and then later to the cardio clinic when I had a stress test.  Both showed it to be very accurate. So I was surprised when it started showing inconsistent results or failed to read when I exercised. My non-exercise heart rate is consistent and correct when compared to a chest strap.

I performed several factory resets, and it did not fix the problem.

I then ordered a new Ionic from Amazon.  It had the same issue!  Continual non-exercise heart rate readings are correct, but when I use the exercise (running or walking) app the watch shows variability or drops the readings.  I returned that one and ordered another, second, watch.  That too had the same issue. Brand new watches out of the package with the latest update fail to properly read/detect heart rate when exercising.  I also reactivated my old surge, worn at the same time as the ionic, and that did not show the erratic heart rate data. Reading the Forum I see that I am not the only person having the same issue.

I agree with opening the watch to incorporating third party HR sensors.  I love my Wahoo - very accurate and can be placed above the elbow.

Fitbit may see a mass exodus.

MikeR

[TMcN]

Same issue. Was working fine then stopped reading HR altogether. Tried restarting multiple times then had to do a factory reset. Now HR readings are ridiculously high. Very, very frustrating. As other people have said, I will be ditching Fitbit for Garmin. 

[SunsetRunner]

Looks like this is a feature requested a long time ago. I found 2 threads. The oldest is from 2014.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Pair-Fitbit-devices-with-other-sensors-like-ches...

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Ability-to-use-Chest-Strap-Heart-Rate-Monitor/id...

It may be worth voting however with threads this old and with a total of nearly 750 votes if nothing happened till now then I don't expect any changes. I believe Fitbit hardware isn't designed to be able to work with external sensors and it would require to release another device that has such capability.

edit: I have removed the third link as it was a different feature.