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

[Mimi2girls]

You didn't like the charge 3?  Is apple watch more accurate!

[Ya-ya]

Currently having the same issues ... Sigh 😓

[Gouldy]

Such a shame that the heart rate sensor on my device, in common with many others, suddenly stops working properly for no apparent reason. If I believed my resting pulse was 185 I’d be off to the GP straight away. My usual pulse rate has always been 45 to 50 but now is showing as 165 to 185. The device worked well for 6 months but now is almost useless - a waste of money I think!

[Rob_88]

To be clear, this only solved the issue for a couple of weeks. The issue returned, followed by a gradual but eventually complete failure of the green LED at the back of the device. The failure of the LED has its own threads too. My charge 3 is now an expensive watch/odometer and I no longer use it for anything. If somehow you made it deep enough into this thread and are considering getting a charge 3, please don't.

[SunsetRunner]

My wife just bought me the Apple Watch SE Nike version and so I'm no longer a Fitbit user. I've been using it for about 2 weeks. Overall, the heart rate is more accurate though I do still notice very occasionally it'll go nuts and say my heart rate is like 180 when I'm sitting down and it's clearly NOT 180. I think that has a lot to do with the inherent inaccuracy of measuring heart rate through the skin - but it's not nearly as bad with the Apple Watch as it was with my Charge 3.

Before you make the switch keep the following few things in mind...

• The Apple Watch will burn it's battery WAY faster than the Charge 3. They told my wife at the Apple Store that it would last about 18 hours - I've found that I'm getting about 36 hours (and I play with it a lot). But it all depends on how much exercise you're tracking, that drains it quicker.
• You will be disappointed that there's no way to display your current step count on the face of your Apple Watch (weird right?) but you can do it if you have a 3rd party app. I always used Pacer on my phone before I had my FitBit and so the watch can read out my Pacer data onto the watch face so there is a way, just not using the native Apple Health app.
• The Apple Watch does a lot more than the Charge 3 - it's hard to fairly compare the 2 really because their intended purpose is quite different.
• The heart rate seems more accurate on the Apple Watch.
• Tracking exercises on the Apple Watch is much better - I use Endomondo and it syncs with the watch perfectly and I've never had the problem of workouts just stopping on their own like I did with the Charge 3.
• There's no Apple Watch that's as small and convenient as the Charge 3 - if you don't like a full-sized watch face, then you won't like the Apple Watch and should stick with your Charge 3.

Hopefully, this helps anyone who's thinking of switching. It was a good move for me, but it's really not the best move for everyone.

[Simonrp]

My does a similar thing, should I worry? I've been wondering for some time if my heart is okay.

[pnsgoda]

I stopped using Fitbit 2 years ago because of the issues. I have an Apple
Series 6 watch and will never buy anything else.

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

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Virgil]

The heart rate inaccuracy is a bug that Fitbit will not address. They know about it but do nothing. Oh, and hello to the Fitbit monitor that reads these messages. She deletes anything that mentions other remedies for the consumer other than complaining.

Sent from my iPad

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[SunsetRunner]

I posted many times about heart rate issue. AMusingly a few users actually gave me crap telling me to quit whining. LIke this thread, the moderators disappeared. They clearly read the thread, they edit posts, but offer no solutions other than the routine answer. If you contact customer support, they give you the EXACT SAME reply, and direct you to the articles. In my messages to support, I told them up front I tried all of those solutions, and referenced them. THey then sent me links to those articles.......horrible. 

I was also told how this was not a replacement for medical devices, and that they offer tons of other health information. Problem is ALLLL of the information that fitbit gives you in the app and such, is based off heart rate. So when thats wrong, all the info is wrong.

I work in healthcare, im super active. 

Right now  my heart is:

via chest strap: 59

via pulse oximeter:59

Via manual testing:59/60

fitbit charge 3: 72

but man those sensors are accccccurate.

Google around for information about fitbit. There's been lawsuits, a billion customer service complaints etc. THey truly are a company that once they have your money, they dont care

[FitNateBit]

This is not a solution and has not been solved.  Most of us have already gone through the troubleshooting pages, tried multiple things to fix the issue.  With the amount of people reporting the same issue this is clearly a failure in design or manufacturing.

I would suggest everybody having this issue apply for a refund through Fitbit as there is no fix and Fitbit are doing nothing to fix it.