Heart Rate higher than actual Heart Rate

[BTyale-man]

I have been using the Fitbit Charge 2 for about four months now, I wear it 24/7 except for when I have to remove it; (for as short a time as possible)

All functions have been working great for my needs, recording and preforming as expected,

I have even compared the fitbit Charge 2 to my Polar RS300 using a chest strap including another device for heart rate monitoring

As i said all have been great

BUT over the last few days; and only when I start to jog (be it slow or otherwise) the charge 2 quickly shows my heart rate at 10 to 70 beats higher than my actual heart rate is.

Like this morning I was doing a slow continuous jog to maintain my heart rate around 90 to 95 yet the Fitbit showed the HR at 167 and would drop to 115 then back up to 160 plus,

when I stop jogging and walked the Charge 2 HR would quickly drop to match my polar device

I have tried changing wrists resetting, etc,etc with same results

Starting to believe a fault with the Charge 2 device.

Ian.

[HeydyF]

Hey @BTyale-man, let me give you a warm welcome to the Community! I appreciate the time you have taken to try some tips to get more accurate heart rate results. Beside that, I'd like you to take into consideration that your heart rate may be affected by any a number of factors at any given moment. Movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication use are just a few things that can affect your heart rate. Different medical conditions and medications can impact your heart rate. If none of these factors seems to be affecting your heart rate, let me know. I will continue assisting you. 

I'll be around! 

[BTyale-man]

Hi HeydyFitbit,

   Sorry its been a short time to respond, much has happened. 

while I am aware that many things can affect the heart rate at any given time as it can also with blood pressure, however it matters not what can affect the heart rate because it cannot cause two or more monitoring devices reading the same heart rate at the same time to be 20 to 80 beats per min different. This also includes using a portable ECG machine which is a medical device.

The electrical firing to cause the heart to beat and the pulse felt is the same with the pulse being the result of the heart action from the heart action.

      Like I said I thought it may be fault with my fitbit charge 2  BUT i worked out different.

My better half was using a fitbit charge 2 to help monitor her heart rate  but found it was up to 50 bpm too slow (charge 2 said HR = 80 but Portable ECG said it was 125); her second problem was in the daylight she could not see the charge 2 face even when trying to shield it to see;

As a result she had given up on the charge 2 device; gone back to other means to check her HR and wearing a normal watch for the time of day;

As for me, I took this chance to wear two fitbit charge 2 at the same time (tried same wrist and both wrists plus wearing my chest based Polar RS300; doing this to compare all three with spot checks using the portable ECG device and finger pulse checking,

my comparison checks showed the fitbit charge 2 is of no use to me; 

when I walked both fitbits showed the same pulse, increase  my walk speed or do anything else the fitbit showed up to 50 bpm different between the two fitbits, in some cases either fitbit would show my HR at 165 while my actual HR was at 85 to 90 bpm. 

Like how can a fitbit count a faster pulse than the heart is beating?

I also noticed the step count between the two fitbits were also out by 500 steps in a day.  On one day at lunch time my fitbit was 200 steps less than the second fitbit yet by 6 pm my fitbit was 450 steps more then the second fitbit;

I compared the two fitbits over a week and found everything to too far different to be useful 

Using a device that has a 10% error is one thing but the error is too high for any type of use.

Due to the cost of the devices it is pointless to try another; 

as of today both fitbits have been set aside;

will continue using my Polar RS300 , and other ways to track.

It would have been nice if the fitbit worked, but not to be for us.

Thank you for you time.

Kind Regards

Ian,

[utalice]

I have found my Fitbit showing my heart rate as high as 165 when it was actually around 80. I have to reboot it to get it to show the correct HR. I found so many errors with this product, then I probably won't buy another one. I have bought both of the Charge units, the first and second one they produced, but I'm very leery about the third due to all of the complaints. You'd think that the technology will get better, not worse, especially considering the cost of a FitBit.

[SunsetRunner]

Ian, 

Thanks very much for your posts.  I’m finding the same problem with my Fitbit Charge 4.  It tends to read much higher than my actual heart rate when I do any kind of exercise.  Fitbits like these should not be used by anyone who plans to use the device for athletic training, or to monitor health.  They aren’t remotely adequate for either one.  I’m surprised this doesn’t come out more in product reviews!

[SunsetRunner]

Hi HeydyF,

As BTyale-man indicated, this seems to be a product issue.  I see the same discrepancy in heart rate between the Charge 4 and my actual heart rate two model upgrades later.  The devices are telling people that they are training at heart rate levels that are much higher than they actually are.

[StanRa]

My new Charge 4 is also registering much higher heart rates than my actual heart rate during exercise. It shows a heart rate of 150 when my actual rate is 75.

I didn't have that problem with Charge 3.

What's going on here?

[SunsetRunner]

I've the same experience and, in talking to some elite athletes (which I am
not one of), it's a common problem for most trackers worn on the wrist.
The technology isn't that accurate yet. It's certainly not as accurate as
chest bands that link to smart sports watches. My old Polar chest-based
heart monitor and watch still gives me more accurate Heart Rate
measurements than my Fitbit Charge 4. I don't know that this will change
until new technology is developed.