Versa 2 - Heart Rate spikes early in a workout

[keything]

I recently switched from the Ionic to the Versa 2 and I found that when I track a workout, the Heart Rate has a spike early in the workout before it levels off.

I do 30 mins on the exercise bike at a steady pace every morning.

This is a typical Versa 2 workout:

 

And this is a typical Ionic workout I have in the past:

 

I bought the Versa 2 because I thought it had advanced HR monitoring but it does not appear to be the case.

[MrMarv]

@keything -

First, do you reclassify a Versa 2 "Workout" exercise as a "Stationary Bike"? The reason I ask is that I do not see Stationary Bike as an option on my Versa 2.

Secondly, is the "unreasonable" heart rate shown in the exercise duplicated in your app's heart rate tracking?

Keeping the above in mind, as a test, may I suggest the next time you get on the bike, you do not initiate an exercise, and when you are done, sync your device and check out the heart rate track in the app.

The reason I have stated the above is that I have found both the "Treadmill" and "Workout" exercise apps have issues with heart rate reporting - very low spikes when treadmilling (under resting heart rate of 63 bpm). From two days ago, 57 bpm 15 minutes into a 45 minute session at 3 mph, whereas my app shows heart rate for the 45 minutes to be between 85 and 103 bpm (granted, those are 5 minute averages in the app). But can you imagine a 68-year old man with a viral-damaged heart dropping below resting heart rate when walking at 3 mph?

I have seen similar results in the "Workout" app, where the heart rate is normally inflated, versus the deflation in the "Treadmill" app, Which is why I asked if you had reclassified a "Workout" as "Stationary Bike".

I have also let the device "auto-recognize" a walk when on the treadmill and saw no stumbles in heart rate reporting, leading me to believe that the devices internal exercise applications are at fault.

[keything]

Hi @MrMarv ,

Thank you for your thoughts and help.  I am indeed tracking it as a workout and then reclassifying it as a Stationary Bike activity.

I'm not sure what you meant by "duplicated in your app's heart rate tracking". I'm using Fitbit and the hr graph is from the app itself.

All that said, I never had this problem when I used the Ionic.  It was a consistent rise and then a plateau.  I am seeing this early spike consistently with the Versa 2.  In fact, this morning, I wore a chest HRM strap along with my Fitbit and you can see the variability in the Fitbit HR compared to the chest strap (using MapMyFitness).

 

My thinking is that the HR capture in the Versa 2 is questionable, which means the calories burned is questionable and the calorie counting is of course now questionable.  

[keything]

@MrMarv , I will try your suggestions as well.  Thank you for providing them 👍👍!

[MrMarv]

@keything -

Actually, I think you can forget my recommended test. I have supporting data already.

What I meant by "duplicated in your app's heart rate tracking" is in the heart rate tile for the day - not the track shown in the exercise record.

You may not see the granularity you need using that info, as those graphs average HR in 5 minute buckets. My apps HR graph that matches the Treadmill exercise I posted earlier. The dip in the heart rate in the exercise occurred at approximately 2:59 pm. No huge dip because of the 5 minute averaging.

A couple years ago, I created a "custom exercise" called "TEST HR" that I use to report on short periods of time where the granularity can be as tight as one second. I logged an exercise that started approximately 13 minutes into the treadmill exercise for a length of four minutes (the 57 bpm shows for 5 seconds):

So my Versa reported the dip, included it in the exercise record and the daily heart rate data. But did I really have a heart rate of 57, or did the Versa 2 sensor mess up or did the exercise app mess the sensor data up?

Just a little bit ago, after my second treadmill session of the day (life of a retiree!!!), I decided I will perform another treadmill test during tomorrow morning's session, using the "Walk" app on my iPhone since it doesn't have "treadmill". I'll post the results here tomorrow - and yes I know one test isn't final, but I sure am curious because nearly all of my Treadmill exercises initiated on the Versa 2 show this anomaly.

Until tomorrow.

[keything]

@MrMarv curious to see the results of your test.  I just checked the HR graph for the day and you are right...  Even though my workout said I had a Max HR of 170, the pane only shows 153 as the max around that time.  Must be the 5 min granularity.

It's disappointing that the Versa 2 HR is not reliable because I bought it thinking it would be better than the Ionic...

[MrMarv]

@keything - 

Started this mornings session with a Versa 2 initiated Treadmill exercise for 30 minutes. Stopped the exercise with the treadmill continuing for another 30 minutes. I had hoped it would auto-recognize the second 30 minutes as a walk. I have had walks on the treadmill auto recognized in the past, but had only performed the same tests with a 5-minute break between and with the walk first. I did not get a walk recognized this time, so I created a "Test HR" exercise for the period.

I had a reported 68 BPM seconds before starting the treadmill exercise and the exercise track starts with that. After that it gets a little crazy. Remember, my resting heart rate is 63 and I regularly manually test the device when just sitting at my desk - it is always correct. Just took a 15 second break from typing - 16 beats in 15 seconds and my device was showing 63. Close enough for me. And I occasionally test it at other rates during the day with good results (must be the Geek in me).

Back to the exercise with time into the exercise and the reported heart rate.

• 00:23 - 55 bpm - remember my resting hr is 63 and I am walking at a 3 mph pace.
• 01:37 - 53 bpm
• 02:30 - 84 bpm - expected
• 07:51 - 151 bpm - 1 beat below my "max" (I'm 68 years old) and I stepped on the rails and manually took my pulse (count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4) - 92 bpm - once again expected.
• for most of the rest of the exercise bpm ranged between 94 and 107 which is reasonable.
• 25:30 - 62 bpm - once again under resting hr
• last four minutes ranged between 84 and 102.

My 30 minutes as "just walking" had some issues, as well, but not to the degree the treadmill exercise. With a low of 62 and a high of 96, the reporting was much smoother but averaged lower than I expected.

And I walk the same way as I normally walk, except maybe a little more "structured/formal" when walking at a measured pace on the treadmill. Old training is hard to break. even after 40-plus years. Think of Marines in parade formation, walking with arms swinging naturally, hands cupped with the pad of the thumb lightly pressed against the first knuckle of the index finger. I just seem to assume that posture naturally, especially when on the treadmill.

Oh well. I'm done testing. At least for today.

Good luck.

[keything]

Pretty thorough test @MrMarv !  At 7:51, you had a HR of 151, but was that expected?  In the end, what was your  conclusion about the accuracy of the versa 2?

I ran a simpler test and used the versa on one wrist and a Google watch on the other.  And again, the Versa seems "off"...

Versa 2:

Google watch:

 

The versa 2 eventually settles in but early on, the HR is really off...

[MrMarv]

@keything -

No, 151 was not expected. The manually taken 92 is expected and most of the exercise reported my expected range of 84 - 110.

And according to the statistical download from my Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) on June 5th of this year, my heart rate never hit 140 since June 3, 2019 which was the last download,  and rarely was it above 120. Approximately 87 percent of the time it was below 110.

So, no, I don't suspect it really hit 151 on the 17th.

According to the exercise record my heart rate ranged between 140 and 151 for 1:41 (07:24 to 08:46).

I have reported here on the boards that I believe the Treadmill Exercise App is Flawed on the Versa 2. I even had a "Community Legend" state the I shouldn't use the device for Treadmill exercises because "everybody knows" FitBit devices can't count steps on treadmills. Of course not if you hold onto the handles with both hands. But let the wrist with the device on it swing freely, the device counts steps with 99 - 100 percent accuracy - believe me I've tested it, just like I test everything else that I need to depend on.

[wolfpackwx]

I've noticed the exact same thing when doing my indoor trainer with my road bike! It is frustrating because sometimes my max HR happens during this time and so that value is not a true result. I have a chest HR monitor that I also use that does not show this. I too am using ng a Versa 2...