HR on Charge 3 not accurate DURING TREADMILL EXERCISE APP

[MrMarv]

First off, I am a big supporter of the Fitbit devices and their firmware programmers - not as much of a cheerleader sometimes for their app and web development teams (probably Project Leaders and Quality Insurance or maybe the people that push them to market too soon), but I still respect them.

And for the most part, the Charge 3 has been holding its own in the bpm area - when it says 108 and I count 27 beats in 15 seconds I smile. And it rarely disappoints me.

Until I put it into exercise mode, that is.

And I have held off until the latest firmware update came through last night so I could run another short test.

Last night and tonight I performed two treadmill exercises, 14 and 7 minutes in length at 2.2 and 2.5 mph.

For the first exercise last night, I did my normal 50 squat reps and crunches and by the time I took a short break and hit the treadmill at 2.2 mph my HR was up to 100 and increased to 137 (low to mid peak) by the 5 minute mark. All expected; I'm not a youngster, after all. At 6:10 it was at 100 and ten seconds later, at 63 bpm!!! Huh? It started a little climb but by 8:30 it was at 61 bpm. This is for a 66 year old male with a pacemaker/defibrillator with a resting heart rate of 68 to 72. I ended the exercise after 14 minutes at a recorded 111 bpm.

And the chart of the activity definitely shows those three minutes as being under fat burn zone of over 77 bpm.

This evening I performed no pre-walk exercises, unless you count helping clean up after dinner, and started my session at 86 bpm. At 2:00 into the walk I was down to 74 and at 1:59 I was at 71. Up to 84 at 2:20 and back down to 66 at 2:35. From there on, with me increasing the pace to 2.5 mph at 4:00 and 3.0 man at 6:00, it quickly made its way back to fluctuating between 101 and 114, finishing at 104 bpm at 7:00. 

What the heck? There is no way I'm going to drop lower than 90 bpm in those scenarios. I didn't stop to take my pulse manually during those two abnormalities, but trust me, I will tomorrow.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

Original poster edit - Moderator did not clarify, but rather muddied it up.

[MAC-1206]

I suggest you do a comparison heart rate using a “polar” chest strap to get an accurate reading. If your charge 3 is similar you can be confident that you are healthy. If you way 200 pounds you probably have good strong bone. 🙂

[Shoneyp]

Yes I’m having exactly the same issue. Charge 2 was excellent. Charge 3 at rest shows accurate heart rate but when exercising it’s way too high 

[Jay4321]

Believe me when I say nothing works to fix the HR reading. That's the problem with having a single sensor and not being able to keep the display on. You will notice once the display goes off and on again the readings wrong. 

[TinaMarie73]

So in other words when my resting heart rate is in the fifties it probably really isn’t?

[Jay4321]

Resting HR is fine, its when you doing high intensity compound exercises. Actually just got off the Elliptical machine which has perfectly functioning HR sensor, prior to the recent updates the charge 3 matched the machine 98% of the time.  However today  it rarely matched and I checked the reading often over the 30min high intensity workout. The readings I got from a recent  15km hike was shocking. 

[TinaMarie73]

Sorry to hear that’s it’s not working right. I don’t do real intense exercise other than walk at fast pace. I was worried about resting heart rate being to low cause everyone says normal is 60 to 100. I hope that you can find out why it’s not working right.

[Jay4321]

You should check out this link https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/atrial-fibrillation/bradycardia 

Maybe you will find some answers. 

I'm hoping for a miracle update that will fix this device. 

[jjfreeman2]

All,

I would not trust the FB3 for heart rate, particularly if you have a
medical condition(s).

I returned mine and got an current generation Apple Watch that has been
certified as a legit Afib (single lead) ECG and does a great job on heart
rate monitoring.

[TinaMarie73]

Thanks for replying I appreciate it! When I look at my app. I don’t see how there’s so many resting heart rates all in the same minute. It doesn’t make since. It can be 50 for 5 seconds and 53 for 10 seconds and 54 for 2 seconds 55 for 10 seconds and then 57 for 5 seconds then go up to 60 all in the same minute. Then graph for that minute will say 52. It’s all confusing. It needs to be explained differently. I look at first graph I think resting heart rate is more 50 then I look at second graph after clicking arrow show resting heart rate 57.I know it’s supposed to be 60 to 100 normal. I’m just new to these devices and like I aid very confused.

[SinfuI]

Hi all,

I am new to any HR/ pulse watches but sadly i am really dissapointed and also considering returning mine.

I just tried working out on a crosstrainer with my new C3. When checking HR on the C3 the HR display was grayed out and showed what seemed to be a ‘constant/unchanging HR number’ of around 84 bpm.

This seemed incorrect, so I used the crosstrainers sensor to double check. The crosstrainer showed HR of 137 at the same time. 

Interestingly, when i kept lighting up the C3 screen, the grayed out part finally changed to the more familiar white look with the beating heart and after a while the HR caught up with my actual HR and managed to display the same HR as the crosstrainer.

When I checked the HR log in the app later, it shows gaps and unlogical drops in the HR recording.

I feel like when the screen stops being lit up, it does not actively track. 

I have also noticed that the stairs function is wildly ‘optimistic’.

[Jay4321]

This is exactly what I've been trying to explain to the fitbit crew. This is a common problem many Charge 3 owners are experiencing. Even suggested providing an additional sensor if possible. 

They only offered to replace the product which is not a solution. Everything else works great, except for the intended purpose I purchased this device for. 

[MAC-1206]

I also bought the charge 3 for the purpose of monitoring my heart rate. I am considering buying a polar to get an accurate reading. The charge 3 has a great count down timer for doing laundry. 😐 

[MAC-1206]

I like the way you described “wildly optimistic”. Makes me feel good anyway. Haha!

[SinfuI]

I keep finding faults in this thing. The C3 is synced but the alarms have a mind of their own about when I should be waken up with an alarm. (Tried changing it different ways - still faulty).

Seeing how long the HR problem thread has kept going without any actual help from Fitbit, I assume they will

give out C4 at some point with the promise of ‘new and improved HR sensor’ and keep ignoring the obvious problems C3 owners are facing.

[Rcorbin]

Charge 3 does not keep accurate heart rate compared to my Charge 2...what do I do.

[Jay4321]

Welcome to our world with Charge 3, unfortunately this device has difficulty keeping up with sudden spike in HR. Sleep tracker works pretty great and extremely useful. I always set my workouts to weight training,  even when doing cardio at gym. Got to constantly monitor your reading incase it drops too low, if so remove the device dry your hand and wipe the sensor. Completely off when hiking but the gps works great for distance and map. The worrying concern is the mobile software is getting worse with every update as with user interface and connectivity. 

[Rcorbin]

How come I have not seen one Fitbit person in here? So do they just don't care about this product and ripping people off?

[Jay4321]

They did try to assist, for dark skin people it's even worse. If only there was a way to attach an additional HR sensor. Look eventually you get use to it. If like me you expected an accurate HR monitor that gives you correct HR readings all the time through, this is not it. 

[Mochi101]

I am having the same issue. HR tracker works all day except when I record an exercise. Then it says there is not enough data. However when I go to HR the data is there. How can I get it to associate the data with the exercise I enter?

[MAC-1206]

I tried changing my exercise to weights and it works now when I am doing cardio and high intensity exercise.

Someone recommended it.