Charge 4 not tracking heart rate correctly during exercise.

[Achap86]

My charge 4 will not correctly track or record heart rates and zones. While riding a stationary bike, it gets "stuck" between 105-110 and occasionally will spike up to my actual heart rate. At times it won't even do that. As a baseline, I did the same workout with my old charge 3 (which got lines of dead pixels so had to be replaced) and that one still tracks right. Same tightness, same wrist position, same workout. I've tried restarting the charge 4, unpairing and reconnecting, removing the device from the app uninstalling the app then reconnecting everything. Same result. The heart rate chart shows the major spikes and falls as well. I've used Fitbit since the first charge and this one is by far the most inconsistent. 

[AKAnne]

Same deal for me.  My Charge 4 tracker does not pick up my max heart rate during my aerobic exercise routine. I know I am up in the max HR level during HIIT. I look at my HR on Fitbit and see 93 or something similar. This is frustrating. I have tried both wrists and tightened the band as much as possible. Are others having a similar issue? Advice? I know I have longer periods than a couple of minutes at Max HR level during my 50 minute workouts. (Also, this was not an issue with my older Fitbit.)

[Sondra123]

I am new to Fitbit and exercise trackers. I am surprised by the low heart readings I am getting.

[lnewnam56]

My heartrate isn't tracking all the time when using the exercise app.  It just goes back the resting heart rate showing on the app on my phone and empty lines on the watch.  When is does this at the end of the exercise it shows those minutes as "below zones".  During a brisk walk yesterday of 50 minutes where I was in "peak" zone for 12 minutes, there was 19 minutes "below zones" .  I know this is incorrect because the heartrate would just come and go.  This is quite frustrating because if the heartrate isn't accurate or at least close to accurate, the calories burned aren't either.  Has anyone else had this happen?  It happened a few minutes on my walk, but not as much.  I wondered if the sensors get body oil and sweat and that keeps them from making the necessary connection.

[Achap86]

Hey @Fitbit or admins. Any feedback here? The issue is still ongoing and is a major drawback to this device. For example, went on an interval run this morning. My wife's charge 3 showed her with 35 cardio, 10 peak, and 10 fat burn. This increasingly useless charge 4? 43 minutes of fat burn and 10 out of zone minutes. Do I have a defective device or is this model really just inaccurate? 

[MSinSF]

On March 27 I switched from a Charge 2 to Charge 4 because the Charge 2 was occasionally inconsistent at reading heart rate and showing "peak" activity. Charge 4 consistently shows no or little "peak" activity, even when I'm doing the same walk in the same length of time as before. Charge 2 generally showed 30% to 40% peak during a 30 minute walk (I live on the side of a mountain), and with Charge 4 I'm getting no red (peak) on the daily readout. Today I went out determined to "get some red", taking a steeper route than usual, and after my steep climb at a good pace Charge 4 showed 16 minutes each of fat burn and below zones, 2 (two!) minutes of cardio, and zero minutes peak. It's the opposite of motivating...I wish I hadn't wasted the money on an upgrade, because my Charge 2 still works.

[Ash0414]

I'm wondering if there was any resolution on this?  I am having the same problem.  When I start a spin ride my Charge 4 accurately records my heart rate gradually climbing but as soon as it starts to hit 120 or more it drops out, down to 100, or stops reading.  Then it might come back on at the accurate heart rate for a few seconds but then drops again to an inaccurate heart rate, maybe gets stuck there for awhile, then stops reading.  This happens over and over and over again until maybe 20 minutes in when it comes on and accurately records that I'm 160+ where I've probably been since 5 minutes into the ride. It is SUPER frustrating. I've rebooted etc to no avail. Have Fitbit addressed this at all? 

[MSinSF]

I doubt that Fitbit has addressed the issue. I don't have an objective measure for the heart rate, like an exercise bike readout, but I've noticed that when I do the same walk, in the same amount of time, the heart rate reading can vary a lot. And the zone minutes too. (I live on a hillside, so a brisk walk does get my heart rate up as high as 145 - 150 at times). I'm afraid that since Fitbit was bought by Google, they're all about the data they can collect, and less about customer satisfaction with their product.

MS

[MikeC75]

Just bought a Charge 4 a month ago. Was pleased with step tracking and general heart rate tracking seemed quite good. However, tracking when I'm on my bike trainer is terrible. Keeps losing heart rate with no rhyme or reason which is immensely frustrating as at the moment the bike trainer is my main source of cardio activity.