Heart rate issues while on the treadmill

[Krissy15]

I’m curious. Anyone else have issues with getting or maintaining their heart rate while in treadmill mode on the watch? I have a Fitbit charge 2. It seems to only really get and maintain HR in workout mode.

[MarreFitbit · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @Krissy15! I've found by cinching the my Charge 2 down one notch and sliding it up toward my wrist I get the most accurate readings.

As you may know, 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 as well.

I'd like to start saying that your tracker can have difficulty finding a signal, typically due to the tracker's fit. For example, wearing your band tightly may constrict blood flow in your wrist and affect the signal. We recommend experimenting with how high you place the tracker on your wrist. When you're not exercising, wearing the tracker just above the wrist bone--as you would a watch--typically works fine. However, moving the tracker up a couple inches can be helpful during high-intensity exercises or exercises that cause you to bend your wrist frequently. If you haven't already done so, please review our recommendations for wear and other tips shared by @SantiFitbit. 

If you're wearing the tracker correctly and the heart rate setting isn't turned off, try changing the setting (either Auto to On or On to Auto) and then syncing your tracker. The change won't take affect until you sync. If heart rate doesn't seem to start tracking correctly, try restarting your tracker.

Try the recommendations and let me know the outcome! 

[Delboy_Lee]

My Charge 2 Treadmill mode works fine & monitoring HR in Auto for over 40 minutes in a single session.

[Krissy15]

Sent from my iPhone

[Krissy15]

Thanks for the detailed post. I’ve however done all that, I’ve also reset watch, left HR monitor on continuously and I always have the most issues when using the watch while in treadmill mode. It either doesn’t read or can’t keep reading the HR. While in other modes it’s better but still really hit and miss with performance.

[Williams089]

Yes, I am having the same issue. Did you find a resolution

[Krissy15]

No I haven’t sadly.

Sent from my iPhone

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome on board @Williams089! Have you tried what I posted here?

If you both @Krissy15 and @Williams089 are still having discrepancies during the treadmill workout, I've found by cinching the my Charge 2 down one notch and sliding it up toward my wrist I get the most accurate readings. 

I'd like to recommend you not to compare the heart rate tracked with your Charge 2 with the results from the treadmill or any other different heart rate monitor, because they will be a little bit different due to the technology that all of them are using. For example, Charge 2 uses PurePulse, which is the only heart-rate technology to offer automatic, continuous wrist based tracking for all-day health insights and workout intensity. It is uniquely designed to measure heart rate all day, with always-on optical heart-rate sensors that still maintain extended battery life. PurePulse allows you to accurately track workout intensity and calorie burn with finely tuned algorithms that provide insight through interactive charts and graphs. 

[Krissy15]

I appreciate the help but I’ve tried every possible thing and still doesn’t pick up HR / picks up inconsistently in those modes on treadmill. It’s very frustrating.

Sent from my iPhone

[Williams089]

I agree, same thing for me. Have started using workout mode to get a proper reading 

[Krissy15]

Yes! Only one that properly works.

Sent from my iPhone

[Dave8]

I do HIIT KB workouts and the Charge 4 doesn't have a preset for it, which sucks. I started "treadmill" recently because I hated seeing the scattered GPS map on my workouts and learned it can't track my heart rate accurately (80 bpm when it should have been 140+). After a week of frustration I went back to "outdoor workout" and it instantly was able to recognize the workout. Actually, I switched up mid session. Before the switch I was constantly taking it off to clean off sweat, but that was incredibly cumbersome. Something is off with the treadmill presets ability to read HR.

[Krissy15]

Highly frustrating! I went to an Apple Watch, but realized I’m more of a fitness watch person. Trying Garmin, but missing the fitbit app and simplicity. Accuracy is important to me so I’m extremely unsure to try fitbit again. If I do it’ll be the Versa 2, but unsure if I should bc the flakiness I had in the treadmill mode on charge  2. I did all the things to troubleshoot never worked right.