Charge 2 heart rate way off

[benhexx]

I just got finished with a hard stationary bike ride. My FitBit showed on average 40-50 fewer beats per minute than the stationary bike's sensors. For example, when my heart rate on the FitBit was 95, the bike showed 140 etc.

This was hard ride and know my heart rate was closer to 140 than 95. This is a huge discrepancy, which results in fewer "active" days, something I have complained about before.

Is my unit broken? I make sure to wear it high on my wrist during activity as suggested. Is the FitBit known to be that poor at measuring heart rate?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[AlvaroFitbit]

@benhexx Welcome! It's good that the community is growing! Sorry to hear that your Charge 2 isn't reading your heart rate correctly. I suggest you clean the back of your device with cotton and rubbing alcohol and restart it. Also check these tips to improve the heart rate reading on your device.

Let me know how it goes.

[benhexx]

I did as you instructed. This morning's stationary bike ride was no different. A hard ride got me just over 90 bpm while the bike reported over 130bpm.

Just now, walking across campus I was up to 116bpm! Ludicrous.

Having done some research I realize now that the heart rate capability just doesn't work. I wish I had known before I purchased the unit. I'll be more careful next time.

[AlvaroFitbit]

@benhexx thank you for your update and sorry for the late reply. Since the issue persist please let our Support team know for further assistance. You will get an email from them.

Let me know how it goes.

[Ocean234]

The same thing happens with me when I'm on the treadmill.  I manually check my HR and it's 125-135, but my Charge 2 says maybe 105.  It jumps around a lot, sometimes reaches my actual HR, and then often drops down down down to 80-something when it's useless at counting as active minutes, correctly determining calories burned etc.

The other day I wore my son's Charge 2 (which works properly) and mine at the same time while on the treadmill with the following results: (see pic).  Never mind the cardio and fat burn (other fitbit belongs to my young son, so our HR target ranges are very different).  But notice the differences in average HR: 113 vs 122.  See the erratic recording of my device's HR data vs the smooth lines of his?  At one point his registered a HR of 132 and mine 112!  I manually verified the 132.  Again, I wore 2 Charge 2s, doing the same exercise.  This accounts for all variables ("movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication" as per fitbit) with the only difference being the fitbit device.

I'm working with some courteous Fitbit agents to get the problem resolved.  But it does seem to be a problem with the Charge 2 (in fact this occurs not only on my original but the replacement they sent me which I returned).  I would like to know if others are experiencing this and how you resolved it.  Typical resets aren't working.  Thanks.