Charge 3 heart rate not accurate

[SunsetRunner]

While fast walking (heart rate ~105), my Charge 3 shows suddenly 165, than 5 sec later 192 and even 203. After stoping the walk, it suddenly indicates 75 and than comes back to 103..... What can I do to solve that problem? Impossible to get a correct training mesure like this.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SueEden]

I too am having the same problem with my charge 3,  which I didn't have with my charge 2.  I've tried resets, switching the heat rate option on my teacker off and on again (resetting inbetween), swapping wrists, moving the location it's positioned on my wrist, loosening/tightening the strap.  And still I have a heart rate of 140-160 while watching tv or lying in bed (neither of which were heart rate raising in any way!).  My usual resting heart rate had been around 58.

I am having a replacement sent for my 2 month old charge 3 for a different problem (screen corruption) so I hope the heart rate problem doesn't happen with that.  But after reading all these posts I'm not too hopeful. 

[pnsgoda]

I too had a replacement Charge 3 and the heart monitor was still
inaccurate. It's an issue with the Charge 3 software. I bought an Apple
Watch instead and will never own another Fitbit.

--
*May your day be filled with many blessings.*

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[PaulyPaul]

Love how this is marked "solved/answered" and folks still having issues.

Most have moved on and dropped Fitbit. We did.

Fitbit devices especially the FB3 are more of a toy type gizmo, that will give you a very rough idea of what your HR is over a the past few days.

If you want much more accuracy and to use for training or working out, go with an Apple Watch. More expensive and yes you have to charge every 24 hours but it actually works the way Apple claims.

For more serious monitoring and week long battery life go with a Polar Vantage. About the same price of an Apple watch but made for athletes and people who are serious about true HR measurement during exercise.

[lmy]

Yes I thought same thing... Issue resolved🙄. no it was just dismissed.
I am wearing Fitbit Alta again... its almost 3 yrs old but works fine...
the Charge 3 was a "gift" through my insurance company and I was soooo
excited. Well that lasted about 2 weeks when I started noticing it wasnt
working right.
When my Alta wears out, or maybe sooner, I am getting an Apple watch.
Fitbit does not stand behind their products anymore, not sure if that's
their new business plan, or they know they'd go broke replacing all these
crappy devices.

[Nicojj]

Was running on treadmill 6mph and FB3 showed my HR was 113. When I changed out of my gym clothes FB showed a heart rate in the 130s. Makes no **ahem** sense. 

[SueEden]

Yes I think I'll have to change from Fitbit too.  A pity really as I've always liked the presentation of the data on previous versions of Fitbit trackers.  But completely useless if it's not accurate

[Virgil]

Fitbit also replaced my Charge 3. The new one had the same problem. At the beginning of a workout using one of there exercises (let's say "Workout") on the Charge3 ie. Just warming up my heart rate goes up to 150-160. I measured it myself (I can do it) it is 95-100. IF I don't specify an excercise the heart rate reading is 95-100. Something is wrong with the programmed excercises on the device.

Any ideas FITBIT?

[Garyho119]

Charge 3 is completely bull**ahem**...and support not doing anything to solve this problem...Fitbit is going down...very disappointing...how can this be a solved problem..I see lots of people complained about this problem on charge 3, they are completely **ahem**ed themselve up! Good by Fitbit! Good luck to whoever still a royal fans to Fitbit! I used to be one of them, but not any more

[Virgil]

Anyone besides myself wonder  why Fitbit doesn't respond on this forum about the problem. I was riding a stationary bicycle today. Fitbit reported my heart rate was 200.

I'm 79 Years old. I should lave died of a heart attack. The machine showed HR was 97.

[lmy]

Wouldnt matter, they all answer with the same canned response that
basically we dont know how to operate our Fitbits.. they just ask if you
have it on correctly, and give a set of directions to reset the device....
i reset mine so many times i lost count.
I got out my old Alta and wear it... when it goes out, I' treating myself
to an Apple watch. When I first started with Fitbit, the device was
great, but the bands were garbage, but at least then customer support was
great tol, now, nope. they got our money, that's all that matters.

[Kingy0409]

I have the Charge 3 and it has started acting up in the last month.

Basically, very inaccurate HR readings. Or no heart rate registering at all.

Tried doing everything the standard customer representatives advise - nothing has changed.

From reading other complaints, it seems these products have a 10 - 12 month lifecycle before they start acting up.

Time for the Apple Watch or a Garmin me thinks. 

[Virgil]

My Charge 3 began inaccurate high pulse reading almost immediately. Especially when on one of there "activities". Fitbit replaced it and the problem still exists. Yesterday I was doing some light warm ups and it showed my purse rate at 200. I'm 79. Should have been having a heart attack.
Something is wrong with their algorithm and they don't seem to care or can't fix it.

Sent from my iPad

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[lmy]

Yeah mine was messing up from beginning. I called 3 different times and
they offered no exchange even when I offered to upgrade and pay difference,
they all said there was no replacement or upgrade offers and told all the
mumbo jumbo about reseting it, i got my olf Alta out and am still wearing
it. When it goes out, I am going to the Apple store. Fitbit lost me,
after 5 years of satisfaction, I guess they decided I wasnt worth keeping
as a customer.

[Rob_88]

TL;DR try turning off the heart rate motoring, adjusting the screen brightness setting and then turning the heart rate motoring back on.

So I had been experiencing the same issues mentioned here and tried all of the usual things without success... my charge 3 was a present and so trying to return it was going to be difficult. After a couple of days I was getting desperate and recalled that the weirdness happened to coincide with me changing the screen brightness setting. I had found the auto brightness to be too bright so changed it to normal. Only realised that the HR monitoring was bonkers the next day when my sleep was not tracked. 

In any case, after I realised the coincidence I turned the HR monitoring off, reverted to the auto brightness and then turned the HR monitoring back on. This work for like a few hours... only one setting left: dim... I repeated the process but changed to the dim setting and 10 days later it's still working!

Hopefully it's a permanent fix and maybe it can help others. 

[Virgil]

I've noticed that my heart rate is totally wrong, too high, when I'm doing warm up exercises. In these exercises I'm moving my arms from up to down and side to side, but with no extreme motion. Just slowly. HR goes from 85 to 130-150. To test this theory I put my arm (the one with the Fitbit) in a sling. Did the same exercises and my HR stayed in a reasonable range. So in my case is arm movements. If anyone has noticed Fitbit doesn't ever respond to our concerns.

Sent from my iPad

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[SueEden]

I found resetting my Charge 3 - several times! -  eventually got the heart rate to register correctly. 

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[SunsetRunner]

I love how this post is still going after 2+ years of people saying, “no it’s not resolved!”

My wife and I both have Charge 3’s and they’ve always been hit or miss on the heart rate accuracy. After lots of troubleshooting I’ve come to realize there’s simply a quality or design issue.

After the most recent firmware update both our trackers now run 20-30 bpm higher than actual (based on pulse rates). It’s fairly consistent too.

Fitbit would be better just to acknowledge the problem instead of blaming the customers.

I’ve seen them say using an off-brand band could cause it - which is pure snake oil. Given the variability of the human wrist, any comment about the band also is an admission that the tracker will only work with wrists of very specific circumferences and anything in between would simply not work - but I guess that doesn’t make for good marketing material.

The bottom line is these devices just don’t work reliably. Buying a newer model would only be rewarding a company for releasing an inferior product.

We’re switching to something else.

[dcc2013]

Yes it’s defective, no question. Raced to market for corporate financial results 3rd Qtr — two years ago, right? I assume you know Google has made offer to purchase the company subject to regulatory review (which is not going well). So don’t expect any answers from Fitbit now. I have Apple watch.

[Virgil]

Well, I agree that the Charge 3 shows 20-30 pulse rate too high. I determine this by comparing it with my Apple watch 4. As well as measuring my pluse on my wrist. Apple wins.

Sent from my iPad

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Mimi2girls]

Sunset Runner you got the apple watch and like it?  Is it more accurate than charge 3?  I will be driving and look down and my charge three will say 126, I know there is no way it is 126.  Just curious as to what you think.