Heart rate monitor not accurate during exercise

[Admroe]

Hi, so I bought my first ever Fitbit  (Charge 3) as a way to help me measure and monitor my level of activity (mainly at the gym). I need to keep my heart rate at a constant rate for fat burning.

Wore it today for the first time at the gym and it just sat at no more than 80bpm. I checked using the gym monitor and I was up at 140bpm. How can something called a Fitbit that is supposed to be about monitoring levels of activity be so inaccurate? 

PS: after about 30-40 minutes of session it suddenly shot up to 150bpm.

I’m hoping this was a one off and net time it is more accurate otherwise I think I’ll have to be emailing Fitbit directly.

Is this a common issue and if so has anyone found a way to increase accuracy?

thanks

[Emlis]

I am not comparing it to other devices but to my actual heart rate and I am wearing it in correct spot. I never had this issue with Charge 2

[Emlis]

I am not comparing it to other devices but to my actual heart rate. I am wearing it in the correct spot. I had Charge 2 for years and NEVER had this problem.

[SunsetRunner]

No, I understand that. That was their reply to me comparing it to my chest strap. Which is not a medical device.

its made by Polar. Used to measure heart rate during exercise. Used by athletes for all types of exercises.

Also, all of the "wellness" that they monitor is based off heart rate. So if the heart rate is inaccurate, well their wellness algorithm is inaccurate. 

[dcc2013]

Hey people, this discussion has been going on for more than a year. The Charge 3 does NOT work as a heart rate monitor. Period. Full stop. Move on.

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks for your wonderful insight. It is truly appreciated. 

I haven't even had my charge 3 for a year. So perhaps I wasn't there for

the beginning of it.

If it does not measure heart rate accurately. Literally every function of the device is flawed except telling time and steps.

You knew that though right?

[Luked78]

I do find the sleep tracker useful, it does seem to measure baseline heart rate pretty well but I bought it measure my heart rate under physical stress, ie to test my fitness like the name fit bit suggests but certainly does not do

Sent from my iPhone

[aliciasv]

The thread continues because new people keep discovering this and we're seriously disappointed since this was one of the primary reasons many of us bought it. If we'd been warned about this, we would have made a different choice. We were misled and we're seriously distressed that Fitbit has not seen fit to correct this. Contacting them has only gotten lame responses that we're not wearing them right, which is nonsense. There's no apology and no effort to solve the problem.

[RAYRAY5520]

My charge 3 seems to drop off after I start sweating no matter how high on the wrist of how loose or tight I have it. Pretty worthless other than counting steps.

[DeanoHa]

Has my charge 3 about 6 weeks. Initially it was perfect for heart rate during vigorous excersise but recently it's just getting stuck waaay to low, showing around 100bpm when I'm at 150, sometimes as low as 80. I've loosened it, tightened it, slid it up down, even spun it to the opposite side of my wrist but nothing fixes it.

Looks like it is going back.

[Luked78]

Send it back now, go and buy a Garmin or some other brand. Spend a little bit extra get a much better product

Sent from my iPhone

[AlexE111]

I've given up on it being an accurate heart monitor during exercise. I bought a heart monitor chest strap device for that and given the charge 3 doesn't even send notifications, it is effectively now a glorified step counter and watch. 

Waste of money

[duaneh]

I always run outside and I've had the same problems getting an accurate reading. Tried all of the "recommended" techniques. Maybe my wrists are too slim or I flex them too much. I also noticed that the reading was close when running in the shade, but way off when running in sunlight (as if I could have 185 BPM peaks when I'm not pushing very hard). Finally have a solution that works for me. Make the band as long as possible and push the device as far up my lower arm as possible, ends up being a hand width up instead of two fingers. Then I cover it with a sweat band to keep the sunlight out. Haven't had a problem since. Does look kind of weird when I

[virtualoren]

I've seen this exact same issue with the Fitbit Alta years ago. And more recently with my new Charge 5.

Neither is able to discern a HR above 160, they would always read high heart rates as 130. When using the Alta, I was predominantly into cardio, so it was completely useless. I threw it away because it wasn't worth the $9 to replace a broken wristband.

After 4 years of avoiding their products, I bought a Charge 5, and it seems they never fixed the issue.