Fitbit versa losing calories, heart rate monitor stops working during exercise

[SunsetRunner]

After 2 years of owning a fitbit blaze with no issues, I've upgraded to a fitbit versa and to be honest I wish I hadn't

Looking at the forums, it's clear that the versa isn't fit for purpose and not tested properly as it isn't even doing what it should be

When I left home this morning, I was on 800 calories, then walk to the gym, 1000 calories, I then run 11k on the treadmill and burn around 780 calories.

I've done this Monday to friday for the last 2 years, and the calorie burn above was from my Blaze, and also from my versa, so I know what's what

Over the last week the calories are dropping after syncing and the heart rate monitor is stopping during exercise

Today, my fitbit was showing i'd burned 1820 calories, then I synced it and it went down to 1534 calories

When I tracked my treadmill run, it shows 65mins , when I click on impact, it shows 37 active minutes, meaning there are 28 minutes missing, where I can only guess the heart rate monitor stopped working, and when i'm on the treadmill, I burn around 11 calories in a minute, so 28 mins x 11 calories would account for the missing 300 calories

I've reset the watch 3 times this week, i've signed out of the android app, cleared the cache, uninstalled the app, deleted the watch from my phone

Reinstalled the app, added the phone and upgraded the firmware, I've worn my watch on my wrist, and further up my arm

It's still missing calories and not tracking heart rate, for the money I paid for this watch and it can't even do what it's supposed to, this will be my last fitbit as it's clear that Fitbit don't care as all I'm seeing is instructions to reset watch delete from phone

I've got screenshots but not sure how to add them here

[Marrrmaduke]

@SunsetRunner Can you please post some screenshots.Please see how to do that here. A few comments though, the fact that you ran 60 minutes doesnt mean you actually earned 60 active minutes. Please read about active minutes and how they are calculated here. The "jumping" numbers - e.g. steps or calories - are quite common when multiple devices are being synced. These can include multiple trackers or even simply sync back and forth between fitbit mobile app and fitbit servers.

[SunsetRunner]

So running 11.1k in 65 minutes on a treadmill, surely it would be 65 active minutes and not 37, because i'm active and running for the whole time, i'm not stopping for a rest or anything like that

Apart from the other occurrence this week, i've checked all my treadmill runs over the last 2 weeks and the amount of active minutes matches the time I was on the treadmill, so I don't know why it's changed this week

Still doesn't explain why the calories burned are out by at least 300, my fitbit blaze never did this

[SunsetRunner]

This shows the active minutes matching the time on the treadmill

These are all tracked by starting the treadmill exercise on the watch

[Marrrmaduke]

@SunsetRunner In the first set of pictures, you're in cardio only for 38 minutes plus 3 minutes in peak. This will not give you 65 active minutes. Active minutes are credited only if you hit at least 3METs. You wont do that in light fat burn or low cardio. In the second set of pics, you're over 20 minutes in peak and 30+ in cardio - that explains your 60+ active minutes. Active minutes doesn't mean you run without stopping. Again, I encourage you to visit the help article I linked. 🙂

[SunsetRunner]

Previously the active minutes has always matched the time i've exercised for

This doesn't explain why i'm losing calories, I've compared the versa to my blaze, and today my phone synced and it showed around 1750 odd calories, then it synced again and dropped by 300

My blaze never did this and the calories are inaccurate, based on 2 years of using my blaze and my versa previously being ok

[Marrrmaduke]

@SunsetRunner I can only comment on the screenshots posted. And those speak clearly re your heart rate. The intensity of the exercise is different where your heart is concerned. Re calories, I observe the jumps myself, but it's because I have multiple trackers linked to the same account. All I have to do is wait until everything syncs.

[SunsetRunner]

I've only got 1 fitbit synced 

Just taken these now, I couldn't get a screenshot before sync,  only as it started and then another after I finished on the treadmill, the calories are incorrect.

When will someone admit there is a problem, and there clearly is a problem as I'm seeing more and more posts of the same thing

[Marrrmaduke]

@SunsetRunner All I am saying is that sync is incremental. It goes back and forth several times. You need to wait a while for the numbers to update. The more trackers you have, the longer it might take. Re active minutes. I am sorry but clearly your HR contributed to the difference you posted. I would take several measurements (several exercises) anyways and see how it goes. Re admitting a problem, why would I? I am not a fitbit employee so I am not privy to this sort of information. Furthermore, I never had this problem either. When my calories burnt are lower, it's because my exercise wasn't as intense as usual. Unfortunately.

[SunsetRunner]

I've waited a while after the sync and the calories are still out

The heart rate issue i've sorted, I've got a weak pulse and my resting heart rate is around 42bpm, so I've had to wear the watch tighter, it maybe that the heart rate monitor on the versa isn't as strong, but that's one issue sorted.

As for the calories, i'm still losing calories even after the sync has settled and everything has updated

I know roughly how many calories I burn every day as I walk the same route to the gym at the same time and takes me the same amount of time, I do the same workouts, nothing changes in that respect

There is an issue as I've read on other posts, but i'll take this up with customer services,

thank you for your time 🙂

[Marrrmaduke]

@SunsetRunner hmmmm does this losing happen all the time? I am simply wondering if it was a fluke, data / sync got corrupted etc? If it's only app that is impacted and the data on the servers is ok... Could you please log in to Fitbit.com and check the Dashboard there. The site reflects the state of your data on the Fitbit servers. If calories are missing there, and they are not on your Versa, then indeed the sync got corrupted. Alternatively, if calories on Fitbit.com and app are lower but still present on your Versa, it might take several more syncs to update fitbit.com (servers) and your app. I know it's confusing and I do not like this either.

[SunsetRunner]

I've just logged into the dashboard on my laptop, treadmill shows 770 calories burned, when using the exercise app on the watch and starting the treadmill run from there, this also shows same calories burned on my watch today, but when I check on the dashboard it's 200 calories less, and the calories are less for each treadmill run on the dashboard to what is reported on my watch and when I go into the exercise and check the impact and calories tab on the android app

Just clicked on details on the treadmill run on the dashboard on my pc and the calories there is 770, sometimes is amiss somewhere

*edit*

there's a period of around 15 mins in each treadmill run where it's reporting no calories burned, the rest it's 12 calories a minute, and at the same time the heart rate isn't being tracked or it's reporting half the bpm than what is the actual bpm

[Marrrmaduke]

@SunsetRunner just to confirm, by dashboard you mean fitbit.com opened in the browser not fitbit PC app? 🙂 If yes, that would mean it hasn't synced yet to the servers as Versa obviously has it. Next step would be to check the date stamp of the sync on fitbit.com within the browser.