My Ionic heart rate monitor is inaccurate

[Mike2222]

My Ionic heart rate monitor is waaaay off when I work out.  As soon as I start running, it immediately jumps to 160-180, when my actual heart rate (measured either manually or with another device like the treadmill heart rate monitor) is actually closer to 110.  This happens every single time I run.  

Aside from this it appears to work normally (though it reads about 10% higher than my manual reads).  The funny thing is that my old Surge developed exactly the same problem when it was about 18 months old (it had worked perfectly until then, but then started giving crazy heart rate readings when I exercised).  

Has anyone experienced a similar problem?

[jivehonky]

@SunsetRunner I agree that allowing for the integration of a reliable chest strap would be a great idea.  I.E. Polar.  I get what you are saying about the lack of reliability in an optical HR sensor, but this doesn't explain why with another version of fitbit tracker (Surge) I used to get more reliable HR data. I have had mostly good experiences with customer service, but recently have been disappointed. It is a waste of time to receive less than competent service as you experienced, and it is a waste of time when they tell me: "This is a known issue." and offer no time frame and no alternative solution.

[Wilf18]

I agree with you, my Charge HR was accurate but the Ionic is not except when walking or other normal activity, maybe they are trying to put too many features on their tracker at the detriment of the basics. I also feel that customer service is now relying on the excuse 'it is a known issue but there is no known solution at the moment' without trying to find a solution!Sent from Samsung tablet.

[Wilf18]

The more people that are getting touch is an indication that there is a major problem with the Ionic, an inaccurate hr monitor is worse than no hr monitor and unless Fitbit sort out the problem they will start to lose market share.Sent from Samsung tablet.

[1209surf]

This issue has nothing to do with how I have been wearing the device. It worked fine for four months and has now been inaccurate for the past month. I've restarted it several times to no avail. Yesterday I swam one mile and it tracked my heart rate at 70 BPM the entire time. Based on what I've read on the forum, this is a product deficiency that Fitbit has no solution for. Please advise how to return the watch under warranty for repair or replacement. 

[Wilf18]

I llook forward to seeing their reply.Sent from Samsung tablet.

[GraceGFitbit]

Hi @SunsetRunner, @jivehonky, @Wilf18 and @1209surf, thanks for stopping by! @Shadymilkman33 welcome to the Fitbit Community! I greatly appreciate your feedback, it is always useful.

I'm really sorry to hear that this inconvenient you're experiencing with Heart rate persist and I thank you for the time you took to share your thoughts with us.

Our heart-rate tracking technology, known as PurePulse, is specially designed to give you a more complete picture of your health and fitness. As with all heart-rate tracking technology, whether a chest strap or a wrist-based sensor, accuracy is affected by personal physiology, location of wear, and type of movement. Heart rate can be affected by any number of factors at a given moment, including movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication use. 

You can also try moving your device to your other wrist.

I confirmed you @Wilf18, @1209surf, @jivehonky and @SunsetRunner have already contacted our Support. At this time further assistance it's from Customer Support  as they can look into this issue and provide you detailed information about your options. I thank you for your patience and working through these troubleshoots!

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any more questions, comments, or concerns.

[Wilf18]

Today I spoke to customer services, after trying it on my other wrist with no success and I was informed that this was an ongoing issue and fitbit were working on it. Considering it was over 4 weeks ago that I drew this to their attention they do not appear to be making much progress to resolving it, or it is too difficult to resolve and it has been kicked into the long grass!

Moderator edit: Removed personal information.

[GraceGFitbit]

Many thanks for taking the time to make updates about this situation @Wilf18.

We truly appreciate your comments, feedback like yours help us to constantly improve our services. 

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Have a nice weekend!

[jivehonky]

Unfortunately Fitbit has been losing market share for a long time since they were early to the party, all they could do was lose market share in the fitness tracker/ smart watch market. I am not a fan of Apple product for many reasons and am very unlikely to ever buy another of their products, but if they made a wearable that was compatible with Android they would immediately take a huge chunk of market from everyone including Fitbit. So some of the market share Fitbit still holds is just by default. This space is ultra competitive and unless your tech is solid and rapidly evolving, you will get chewed up and spat out. Fitbit is showing us that their tech is not so solid and their ability to evolve is not exactly cat-like. Their stock price history already indicates this. In order to sell a good number of devices this past holiday season they drew people in at a lower price point primarily with the Versa, as opposed to adding power and function. I hate to say it, because I really like this product and this company, but it looks like the writing is on the wall. The only thing I see that may save this company is finding a way to "monetize" their users other than just selling product, but I'm pretty sure I and most users will find just about any attempt to "monetize" us further to be offensive.

[GraceGFitbit]

Thank you for getting back to us @jivehonky. As mentioned before it's very important for us to read what are you experiencing. 

If you still having doubts about the resolution provided you can always contact our Support Team again for further assistance with this. They can gather more information and provide you with different solutions to get you back on track.

We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily fitness goals. Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving the Fitbit experience. 

I'll be around if you have more questions or comments. 

[Wilf18]

Dear Grace, After your last email I followed your instructions and tried my Ionic on the  other wrist, But there was no improvement so I contacted customer services. After going through all the procedures I had gone throughs and all they could advise me was that it was a known problem and the technical department was working to resolve it! This has gone on several weeks now so it appears that either it is an insuperable problem or the technical services are not working to resolve the problem. I know other Ionic users are having a similar problem, I am interested if any other models exhibit this anomily?

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[jivehonky]

So you are saying call again? If you don't want to create frustration in users, don't suggest that they call multiple times for the same issue. LOL.

---

@GraceGFitbit wrote:

Thank you for getting back to us @jivehonky. As mentioned before it's very important for us to read what are you experiencing. 

If you still having doubts about the resolution provided you can always contact our Support Team again for further assistance with this. They can gather more information and provide you with different solutions to get you back on track.

We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily fitness goals. Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving the Fitbit experience. 

I'll be around if you have more questions or comments. 

---

[Wilf18]

It is like vicious continuous circle contact you, you advise contact customer service, they say there is a known problem but no solution, you contact us saying if we are not satisfied contact customer services and we go through the same procedure again. FRUSTRATION. Either sort out the problem or admit the product is not fit for purpose!Sent from Samsung tablet.

[GraceGFitbit]

Thanks for reaching out and providing your concerns @Wilf18 and @jivehonky. I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing this situation. 

Support can look into this situation and evaluate further to provide an option. Thanks for your understanding and for sharing your experience on this thread. 

I'll be around if you have other questions. Have a nice weekend!  

[Wilf18]

Dear Grace,Will support contact us?

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[jivehonky]

I think she is saying support will look into it further if we call. Which isn't true either since we each were told that support had looked as far as they could when we called. And why wouldn't they?  Isn't it their job to use all the resources to help a customer the first time they call?

---

@Wilf18 wrote:
Dear Grace,Will support contact us?Wilf LaidlerSent from Samsung tablet.

---

[GraceGFitbit]

Thank you very much for your responses @Wilf18 and @jivehonky. 

As I mentioned before I confirmed that you both have already contacted our Support Team. I made them aware of your concerns and they'll be contacting you again very soon via email. 

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any further questions, please let me know!

[Wilf18]

Dear Grace,

This is the reply from Customer Services and my response to it. Incidentally
the thread with 425 items was actually close in mid 2018, I wonder why.

Regards

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[GraceGFitbit]

Hi @Wilf18, many thanks for keeping me aware of the situation. 

I just confirmed with our Support Team that you get in touch with them yesterday. I recommend you to continue the assistance with they. 

Thank you for your patience and loyalty to Fitbit. If you have any further questions, please let me know!

[ralonso-mori]

sorry, I couldn't upload an image.