Incorrect Heart rate measurement - Charge 4

[mstinagray]

Just did a workout with my new Charge 4 and my polar chest strap. I was so hoping the good reviews of the HR functionality of this Fitbit were true, but alas, it still cannot track HR properly. If it were only a little off, I would be okay, but same workout with Charge 4 = 115 bpm/avg and a high of 163 with 214 calories burned. Polar measured 155 bpm/avg, high of 188 and 378 calories burned. I hate wearing all this gear, but guess I still have to. So annoying! And yes, if adjusted the strap.

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity.

[mcdough]

I've done ALL of the suggested solutions and still the HR tracker is not consistent.  After reviewing all of these posts about the Charge 4 and its HR issues it appears that this is a KNOWN issue to the company yet nothing is being done to fix.  I was even told that an upgrade may be in the future (when I bought the Charge 4 over 6 months ago) but the recent upgrades have done NOTHING to fix the issue.  I, too, have had multiple Fitbits (starting with the FitBit One - and as a 3rd or 4th upgrade I have the Charge 4.)  Not overly impressed.  I did try the Sense but found it too cumbersome and didn't track any better.  I exercise 7 days a week and like to monitor my activity.  Just today, after having the Charge 4 for less than 6 months the strap has broken at the buckle.  So now I need to decide - buy a new strap or just scrap the Charge 4 and any future Fibtbits completely?  Yes, I've discussed this HR issue with Tech - but their only solution was to retry and retry all the previous suggestions - not helpful at all (or try to sell me on upgrading to a Sense - with a small discount from Fitbit. No thanks)  I chose the Charge 4 because of its compact size yet it had options for monitoring my activity.  

[Newbie71]

I had the same issues and the result was that it was determined that my device was faulty and to return it for replacement. I fear that it actually behaves the same as all the other Charge 4 devices and I will have the same problem with the replacement once I receive it.

[RBParker]

That unfortunately was my experience. I sent the charge 4 back twice for 2 replacement cycles. It didn’t help. It really is too bad because they used to have an awesome product!!

[ChrisB1966]

The common thing in all the accuracy posts is that people go and get other devices. Really disappointing that the Google buyout did not bring an outreach to customers.  They could have fixed things, even if it had cost them big now, to gain repeat sales.

PS. to say this is 'Answered' like other critical posts is just wrong.

[SunsetRunner]

Yeah they sure like merging things into answered threads, to make it seem like there is no problem, at least this thread is still open for replies, unlike certain other threads that are used to clean up things. This post is also likely to vanish, so I am not sure why I write it...

Also hilarious to choose a thread with the answer being redacted, very great answer that, yep...

[eldavimost]

Can someone tell me what was written in the comment considered best answer?

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-4/Charge-4-Inaccurate-heart-rate/m-p/4637291

-----------------------------

So I guess the HR tracking is much better then, I'm glad.

Can you comment on how good is the sleep tracking compared to the fitbit?

I'm comparing my Charge 4 with my gf's Garmin Vivosmart 4 and I see the following differences:

- The garmin sometimes says I'm in REM when I move, while the Charge 4 seems to never do that.

- The fitbit catches way more times where I'm awake during the night (they say it's normal even though you don't remember, as long as the total awake time is 10-15% or so, which is what I get with the fitbit). They seem to be spread all around the night and in total is about 10% of the night, while the garmin just shows 1 min awake per night.

I would love to know if the Venu is better at sleep tracking, that would help me move to Garmin!

[jleahjj]

Hi I have the exact same issues, I can be running along and be in the peak zone and then it will just drop out and be in resting heart or fat burn or cardio.  Just taking a sip of water can send it completely off the reading. I really wish they would just fix this problem. Has anyone tried an Apple Watch?

I have been a Fitbit user since the very beginning and this is so disappointing. But I will say, I have gone from 180 pounds to 130. I am 5 foot six and 63 years old. I feel like I can run all day and I’m disappointed that Fitbit can’t keep up with me.

[Mimamoma]

Just posting to say I have the same problems.

Intense workout this morning, checked my charge 4 and it was ~100bpm.

Checked my pulse and it was 150+.

If I move the fitbit around I can sometimes get it to measure 120bpm, if I hold it in a specific place sometimes it will jump up to 150bpm and get seemingly accurate readings, but will drop back down as soon as I let go. 

Pretty frustrating, going to look at returning it as it's pretty useless if I can't get an accurate reading. 

Has anyone tried wearing it on the inside of their wrist out of interest? 

[mcdough]

Yes - no different result. Pretty disappointed with this model but outside of return window so I’m stuck with it. Probably my Last Fitbit product (this is my third and I’ve really liked them up to this point)

[charleskn]

I love how they redacted the best answer - NOT!

My Charge 4 was quite good, within the normal limits of a wrist based tracker. Anyone expecting chest strap accuracy from a HR monitor on the wrist needs to check their head, not their heart. That said, I use a Charge 4 and a Polar arm band, and mostly they agreed fairly well. The resolution of the fitbit heart rate graph is pretty low, so that also skews the comparison. I found the Charge mostly had difficulty following fast changes in HR, during things like HIIT, but overall, it was OK.

Recently, it has gotten bad. I warm up with about 10-15 minutes of one minute jump rope sessions. During these, my Charge says my HR is in the peak zone and it will read something like 145 bpm, but manually checking my pulse, I can tell it is well below that, and then I check the tracker again, and it has suddenly dropped to something like 85 bpm, in the span of 15-30 seconds (this is not that fast of a fast recovery!). This repeats for a while, but then things seem to level off. At the end of my workouts, I do some cardio, and the Fitbit tracks pretty closely with my Polar for the steady state cardio.

You can see this at the far left of the Fitbit (top) and Polar HR graphs, where the Fitbit is reading just under 150 bpm and the Polar is reading a much more accurate 110-ish bpm.

This is a new problem, which has crept up after a lot of resetting of my tracker for some other issues.

[FitKL]

I've been posting about my own problems with inaccurately high heart-rate readings under the subject "Charge 4 heart-rate readings WAY too high." I didn't realize earlier that it was still possible to post to this thread.

Something else odd I've noticed in connection with this issue: The heart-rate graph under "Exercise" in the Fitbit app shows significantly different highs than the heart-rate graph under "Heart Rate" (where you can see your heart rate for the entire day) for the same time periods. The "Exercise" graph is reporting much higher highs than is the general "Heart Rate" graph. I wonder if this discrepancy provides a clue as to what is going wrong with the heart-rate readings during exercise. I sent a bunch of screenshots to customer support yesterday to illustrate the problem.

[Ann_E_W]

I am getting my money back - I'm returning the Charge 4. Same issues as you guys - astonishingly shocking inaccuracies with the Heart Rate (HR)! One example: When climbing a VERY steep hill my HR was 115 with the Charge 4...??? With my old Inspire my HR on the same hill was 132 - 145 depending on my speed. Not to mention the HR just not working at all, even without wrist movement - it just blanks out. Other times I'll have a HR spike to 175 when casually walking. I've done EVERYTHING they say to do to fix the HR issue on the Charge 4 & nothing has worked. I thought I was opting for a better quality with the Charge 4, but yikes! I thought I had a lemon until I found this discussion board. My old timey Inspire never had any of the issues this new one has. Is Fit Bit going to fix this? I'd love to have a larger watch face & a few extra bells & whistles, but only if I can get an accurate HR with it.

[claudiu.cosar]

i used to worn a garmin vivoactive band and admit it very much depends on the types of training one does. what i mean is that on garmin for instance the running was the most accurate, the most, not the best however....but it's annoying to have this level of variation between the correct and what fitbit/gamin informs....

i just switched to a fitbit charge 4 now  from that garmin band, and i noticed that on garmin my RHR was ~ 51/52, but on my C4 it shows: 58....that's a pretty huge difference i would say....

but again, the types of exercise seem to be using different HR calculation algorithms and this is weird, but for instance on weight lifting/calisthenics my garmin showed: ~88 HR and this was WRONG since i could hear my heart pumping hard, but with fitbit C4 it shows that i am closer to reality around: 115 HR...

the only thing annoys me is the RHR till now...that difference ....

@AlejandraFit please talk and escalate this issue to the developers and please do not post dumb advices like: did you tried to restart it? .....

[Susanna_Jones]

I know this post is about a year old but I have gone through looking for support because I'm currently having the same issue. My resting heart rate is between 65 and 68. A new Fitbit replacement Charge 4 gave me a RH as high as 208 on runs three times. I didn't even know it spiked that high until I came home and saw it on my phone because I did not feel completely worn out. I called my doctor the first time and she said to monitor it because it was a one-time thing. So it happened two more times and I had blood work and a heart test done. The results were normal. There is one more test to go but I'm starting to suspect the problem is with the device, not my heart. I had my hand on my pulse the third time my rate got in the 200s. That range was around 150. I'm just curious how your situation turned out? I have been very frustrated with a lack of response from customer service. I would think they would want to know how my tests turn out.. I would also add that I wore a Charge 3 for 3 years and never had a heart rate in this range. My first Charge 4, that I wore for 6 months before it broke, did not register these rates either. It was just the new replacement. I feel like I work just as intensely with spin classes as I do with running and my heart rate never goes above 160 and I can only sustain that rate for a short amount of time. But 208 on runs??

[ChrisB1966]

Hi, I'd say the most likely thing is the replacement Charge 4 is just not as good as the first one. Running will always get closer to your true Max Heart Rate than other exercise. Have you tried a tighter tension on the strap to keep the sensors in good contact with your wrist. As with many on here I just use my Charge 4 for a general trend/sleep information and I have a Polar H10 chest strap if I need precise information. Don't know if you paid for the doctor's tests but Fitbit should either say it is not a medical grade device (maybe they do) or at least appear interested when 'odd' readings lead people to seek medical advice. 

[jleahjj]

Hi, I have completely given up on Fitbit support. My heart rate when I am running is 200 or 0. Fatburn Cardio and Peak when I’m running the same rate. Support has you go through useless procedures and then will send you another device with the same problem. I try to get the amount of time I want to run and steps and hope I’m achieving what I think I am. If you find a solution, I would love to hear it. By the way, whemn I talked to support they told me that this problem is VERY rare. I guess we’re unicorns. 🦄 regards, JJ

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad

[RBParker]

I gave up on the charge4…..still using my charge2 …. wondering about the newly released charge5….don’t know if I dare as I have read that you can’t send it back.

[Susanna_Jones]

Thank you for taking time to respond. I have tried all of the recommendations several times. So I charged up my old Fitbit Charge 3 that I used for three years until 10 months ago. I recently wore the new and old simultaneously on a 3 mile run. Something is wrong, see photo below. I would also add that the Fitbit Charge 4 high 200+ spikes on three different occasions came on a replacement watch. I bought a Charge 4 in in February 2021 and it broke after 6 months. The replacement arrived in a plastic envelope with no instructions. This seemed odd to me because my other Fitbits had always come in a nice box with a manual. I contacted Fitbit and was told the reason was to save environmental packaging or something along those lines. However, now I cannot help but wonder if the replacement had actually been already used at some point. High spikes came the third day I was wearing it. I'm going to need to try a new watch. And I'm honestly sad to see Fitbit go...it helped me lose weight and stick to a good exercise program. But these numbers confirm I'm using a faulty device. And I cannot help but wonder what else is malfunctioning besides heart rate discrepancies.

 

[mcw53]

The heart rate monitor on my Charge 4 sporadically spikes into the peak range for no apparent reason. I take an identical 5 mile walk almost every day. Today, it registered 7 minutes in the peak zone and 5 minutes in the cardio zone (see the 1st screenshot). This has happened 3 or 4 times in the last couple months. This is an easy walk that almost never reaches the cardio zone (the 2nd screenshot is typical).

 

[ChiefH60]

Spikes like this COULD be PVCs. I have PVCs regularly and they will definitely drive a heart rate monitor a little nuts. A lot of people have them and never know it, according to my cardiologist. No, I am not a doctor. But you might want to consider mentioning it to your doctor at your next physical exam. You do have an exam annually, right!?!? Oh, and if you take a multivitamin that has chrome in it, try another multivitamin. It CAN exacerbate PVCs. Keep walking! It works!