Heart rate not accurate!

[Ahmedsaad]

My charge2 heart rate is 67 during  hard exercise and i can feel my heart beating fast?! 

Realy i have concerns about charge2 heart rate and how app calculates burned calories? 

[dubhbas]

Make sure the back of the tracker is clean, it's on tight enough and it's resting properly on your wrist. It might not be making proper contact. 

[JeanMR]

My problem is that it records a low average heart rate, around 65 bpm. That's impossible because I have a Pacemaker that is set to 60 at night and 70 during the day, When I check my pulse during the day, it is higher than 70 -- 75 - 90. Sometimes it spikes to 120 for a few minutes.

Must be something to do with the settings.

[Lejeune2]

Hi fellows,

Same thing happening for me.

Sometimes Fitbit charge 2 seems to ignore my HR variations i.e displaying 67 BPM on my orange zone where it should show at least 150 BPM.

Moreover the tracker lost the signal of my pulse a the end of a  3000m run.I assume to much sweat might have misguided it.

Any tips to improve the led cardio tracking work would be appreciated, thanks.

[schmict]

I notice mine loses signal when I flip my wrist to check my heart rate which is off by at least 20 bpm, then it drops out for awhile.  I noticed looking at the graph after a steady brisk walk that every time I checked..4 times...the rate dropped to about 90 on the graph and took about 3-4 minutes to recover yet another inaccurate heart rate.  Then it calculates an average that is much lower than reality.  If you are interested in accuracy of heart rate zones during exercise, this is not the technology for that.

[MarreFitbit]

Hello everyone, thanks for stopping by @schmict @Ahmedsaad @Lejeune2 @JeanMR @dubhbas!  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 3 times in a row.

Try the recommendations and let me know the outcome! 

[Lejeune2]

Hi everyone,
Some infos,after a few weeks of use the issue with the Heart rate tracking
(displaying "--") seems to be related to fast changes in my pulse.
i.e when stopping after a sprint or when climbing a slope fast on bicycle
Would an update of the charge2 firmware help?
Regards


Bonjour à tous,
Quelques informations après plusieurs semaines d'utilisation :le problème
du suivi de la Fc vient principalement pendant les changements (brusques) .
Ex :sprint puis arrêt .
En vélo: montée rapide d'une côte
Le tracker aurait donc du mal à gérer les variations rapides et importantes
du pouls.A voir si une amelioration est possible par le firmware.
Cordialement


Garanti
sans virus. www.avast.com

<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

[MarreFitbit]

Hey there @Lejeune2, it's great to see you here! As I mentioned before, accuracy is affected by personal physiology, location of wear, and type of movement.

Have you tried the suggestions shared here?

Keep me posted! 

[JeanMR]

The problem isn't with my fitbit tracking my heart rate. It's that when it gives me the average bpm it is impossibly low. Like 63, when the fitbit itself gives readings of 70, 80, even as high as 140 at times.

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for getting back @JeanMR! As you may know, resting heart rate measures your heart beats when you are still, and it can be an important indicator of the health of your heart. According to the American Heart Association website, “the average resting heart rate is 60-80 beats per minute, but it’s usually lower for physically fit people.” This is because, “active people often have lower heart rates because their heart muscle is in better condition and doesn’t need to work as hard.” Also, the average resting heart rate rises with age. For more information, see the American Heart Association's All About Heart Rate article.

Resting heart rate refers to the heart rate measured when you’re awake, calm, comfortable, and have not recently exerted yourself. Your tracker estimates your resting heart rate by measuring your heart rate while you’re asleep and while you’re awake but still during the day. Therefore, for best accuracy, wear your tracker to sleep. Note that your minimum heart rate during sleep is typically lower than your resting heart rate.

For more information about general questions when it comes to heart rate tracking, you can take a look at this article.

Please let me know if you need anything else!

[Lejeune2]

Thanks for your reply MarreFitbit,

Yes I tried those suggestions.For info
The tracker typically lose track after I stop my run .
That means passing from running position to nearly idle stance and my pulse dropping fast.
This "--" display may last between 30s and 1 mn

Quick changes in Fc apparently disturb the Tracker.
Hope this may help identifying the problem
I'll keep experimentating until then.

Best regards

[MarreFitbit]

Thanks for getting back @Lejeune2! For all-day wear when you’re not exercising, your tracker should usually rest a finger’s width below your wrist bone and lay flat, just as you would wear a watch. Fitbit’s PurePulse heart rate tracking system is designed to be most accurate when the tracker is worn on the top of your wrist. 

Experiment with wearing the tracker higher on your wrist during exercise. Because blood flow in your arm increases the farther up you go, moving the tracker up a couple inches can improve the heart rate signal. Also, many exercises such as push-ups cause you to bend your wrist frequently, which is more likely to interfere with the heart rate signal if the tracker is lower on your wrist.

With high-intensity interval training, P90X, boxing, or other activities where your wrist is moving vigorously and non-rhythmically, the movement may prevent the sensor from finding an accurate heart rate. Similarly, with exercises such as weight lifting or rowing, your wrist muscles may flex in such a way that the band tightens and loosens during exercise. Try relaxing your wrist and staying still briefly (about 10 seconds), after which you should see an accurate heart rate reading. Note that your tracker will still provide accurate calorie burn readings during these types of exercise by analyzing your heart rate trends over the course of the workout.

Note that if you remove your tracker but it keeps moving, for example if you put it in a pocket or backpack, the tracker may display an erroneous heart rate reading. To prevent this by turning off heart rate tracking when the tracker is not in use, log into your dashboard and go to Settings > Devices to turn your Heart Rate Tracking to "Off."

Give this a shot and let's see how your heart rate is now.

[JeanMR]

Thank you for your response.

I do all these things. My heart rate when I am wearing my fitbit is not
the problem.

My pacemaker sets my heart rate for 60 at night and 70 during the day.
It never goes below 70 when I am awake. My heart rate is generally over
75, sometimes even 110.

I don't see how the average can be 63. It must be a software problem,
not a fitbit problem..

Jean

[schmict]

It is a fitbit problem...the software is fitbit's.  Terribly inaccurate on everything it claims to do, from steps to calories, to sleep, to floors, to heart rate.

[AJUR]

Hello,

I have the same issue since last week. 

When I am still at my desk at work, the heartrate goes from 56 to 120 and to 100. I can feel my heart beat and now for sure 100 is NOT the correct heartrate. 

When I switch of the heart rate and sync, I wait for a few minutes before I put back the setting to AUTO and sync again. After this the heartrate is back to normal +- 60 BPM. 

When the heart rate is high, while it should be low, I also get active minutes but they do NOT count because my actual heart rate is way lower!! 

More and more often there are things that are not working correctly on the tracker.

Please check and launch a new update. Not only for this but also for the sleep tracker, active minutes etc. 

[JeanMR]

Dear Runner:

I think you are right. I also think I am going to stop losing sleep
trying to adjust it.

It's still useful for giving me a general idea of how much I am walking
and for making an 80-yr-old look cool. I love it when a kid smiles and
waves their Fitbit at me!

Jean

[wgs247]

I had good success using a wristband not over the watch, but between the watch and my hand. It creates a buffer that dampens the motion and maintains the position of the Fitbit.  I compared he results

[Mst1]

Hi

re the average heart rate calculation when you have a pacemaker

is working for me  Just a bit higher than the average between night and day rates

My problem is I am not getting Sleep Stages recorded, despite putting in a Custom Zone to pick up the low strings on the Pacemaker

[JeanMR]

I often get snatches of sleep recorded, one or two hours. I delete them
all. If there is one that starts at the right time I keep it and change
the ending time to the correct one. Otherwise I log it manually.

It usually works fine, but it is a pain to remember to record the satrt
and stop times. Often when I can;t get it to work I have start and stop
times both reading PM or some other problem with the dates. Or the
battery needed charging in the middle of the night.

[Tdub1993]

Im a distance runner and recently just got the Charge 3 for christmas and Im happy with its features so far. Except, it is also giving an innacurate bpm rating. The first day it was giving what seemed to be accurate ratings, averaging between 50-65 bpm. Today, it has averaging me between 70-95 bpm. But through out the day I’ve been manually counting my heart beat for 1 minute and I am counting between 49-55 bpm. This is normal for me since I do excercise consistently.

I have tried adjusting the watch, I’ve tried rebooting it several times. Turning the heart rate setting off and on again and I’m still getting these readings.