Versa 2 heart rate is not accurate

[CPGlendale]

I purchased a Versa 2 a couple months ago. I thought it was great that I could record my activities and see summaries following the workouts on the watch face. I immediately noticed my heart rate was hitting an extremely and potentially dangerous peak rate which caused me to see a cardiologist. After doing an echo stress test and wearing a heart monitor for a week I found out the heart rate monitor on the Versa 2 is extremely inaccurate. There was a 30-40 bpm difference in what the cardiologists heart monitor recorded and what the Fitbit recorded. I’m extremely disappointed in the Fitbit inaccuracy as well as the anxiety and cost associated with having to see the cardiologist only to find out everything was normal. Anyone else having this issue?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[EddieB1]

I wear it higher up my arm as suggested and it stays in place for me. Must be frustrating for you if it keeps moving around and I guess that could be a factor in any issues you're having. It's not a natural position but ok just for on the bike. If only the recorded HR would sort itself out.

[Hoofer589]

My Versa 2 has been very accurate for 6 months. But now with the last update 5 days ago, it still has good resting accuracy, but goes way too high during exercise. My Polar strap showed 112 while the Versa was176. Not at all trustworthy. I had given up the strap because of the faith and accuracy of the Versa, but not anymore. Wish it could be fixed.

[BarbK12]

I have the opposite issue. My Fitbit updated on Sunday, and now after doing jumping jacks for 2 minutes, it shows 90 bpm/ below the zone. Before the update, I was getting 150-169. I try to restart it and still not working.

[EddieB1]

Nice work. I will try the same with my polar strap and see if any similar strong correlation. Folks shouldn't have to be doing this though, and not everyone can.

Looking through the replies here, it seems clear a number of people have issues with the reported HR. There are likely to be multiple causes, some of which may be fixable, and  one of which is the technology/software simply doesn't work properly for everyone. I am sure this is just a tiny sample of the whole Fitbit user population. I am wondering  how prevalent this is. If it affects many/most people then it could be.that they are simply unaware or don't care or don't/won't use the forum. It is also possible that those with issues are a minority and out of that group, a smaller minority are aware or care about it. Or any of the inbetweens  Perhaps Fitbit will have some idea of the stats on this but it seems unlikely they will release that info if they have it. If this is a very common problem then Fitbit should be honest about it so when people buy they do so well and fairly informed. Or they should fix it 

 for myself I would not have made the purchase if I knew about these issues.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Lauren55]

My Versa 2 does the exact same thing. It has worked perfectly up until now, everything was accurate. Friday I was running on the treadmill and checked my watch and it said my heart rate was only 130bpm. I knew this was false because I was doing a HIIT session and I knew I had to be in peak heartrate. I put my hands on the treadmill handles and it gave me my heart reading at 201 bpm which was way more accurate because I could barely breathe. I started to frequently check my watch during exercise and it would jump up to 180 bpm and then down to 90 bpm. Very frustrating since I very particular about my heartrate and calories burned to keep track of my fitness score. With this happening my heart rate data is now inaccurate and so is my calories burned.  

[Nanivalelia]

Was is just a new version 2 or a totally different model? I got mine from AMAZON too and it’s been highly inaccurate for me as well and I’m so frustrated. 

[gkbdvm]

Regular version 2 as far as I can tell.

[StarSixtyNine]

Versa 2 from Amazon. I would have to say that it's been more accurate
after a few updates that have loaded since my original post, but I've
also seen reports of 300+ bpm, so when it's accurate, it's useful, but
when it goes off the rails, it really goes. It's gotten to the point
that I just stopped paying attention to the data since it's useless
anyway. If it was wonky on step counting, I'd ditch it, but it's pretty
good when it comes to steps and reminding me to move around.
Good luck!

[KellyJoP]

It’s the versa 2. When I contacted Fitbit about it they said I just needed to update it but that didn’t help that much.
I’ve just stopped relying on my watch to give me an accurate heart rate when I’m working out

Sent from my iPhone

[gkbdvm]

But isn't that the point of the Fitbit

[Hoofer589]

Not new, I had it since May and it worked great until the last update. Then
it went crazy. No help from customer service. Ready to give up and buy a
Garmin.

[Nanivalelia]

Me too.... hubby got a garmin a couple weeks ago and wants me to get one too, he’s tired of hearing me complain. I upgraded from a charge 2 to the verse 2 back in October and it’s been a so inconsistent. I had the charge 2 for a long time and was impressed with the upgrade at first until, I realized how bad the accuracy is. And agin,  I help from support just the stupid canned reply  crap that doesn’t resolve anything.

[Liliana_ibp]

I’m having the exact same problem!

my HR while working out is around 30-40 bpm below since 01/22/2021. 
I’m seriously considering to buy an Apple Watch. 

[JustM.]

I'm in the same boat. It's so consistently inaccurate that I've had to resort to wearing it so tightly it hurts to get a better reading. I wonder what their testing sample was like during the design process, if it was homogenous, that would explain why so many people have this issue. Based on what I heard from support, it also sounds like it's less accurate at different temperatures, not accurate at higher speeds, and not accurate when it's locating your heart rate. I think I'm going to follow the practice of the individual who ran a regression to determine the average inaccuracy rate so that I can at least keep a calculation on it. It's frustrating.

[jrnyfan]

Mine is the opposite. I can feel my heartbeat in my ears so I glanced at my versa2 and it said 99bpm. Then I manually check my heart rate and actual was 132. This is so sad. Maybe only apple watches are accurate. 

[Marniamj]

I'm also seeing inaccuracies. Normally when hiking/running I'd be up to 150 bmp or so, but lately it's only registering 100 or less. Sitting on the couch I'm at 77 when I should be closer to 58-60. When I stop and sit it climbs to 110 or so and then quickly drops. The band is tight against the skin so the sensor should be able to read as usual. I can't really tell when the inaccuracies started but I did just do an update so maybe that's it? Still, super bummed that my fitbit isn't able to accurately log my heartrate. It means my zone minutes and calorie burn don't count. I've had this Versa 2 less than a year, bought direct from Fitbit and I've loved my other fitbit trackers but I might have to switch to another brand if this isn't fixed.

[Parkersspace]

I had that happen today.  Went out for my first bike ride of the season and first since they updated the firmware a bit ago and it had me for numerous portions of my ride at resting type heart rates, not quite resting but walking rates and i'm on a mountain bike single track my heart rate is definitely higher then showing in portions of the ride.  It didn't even increase me to cardio until I was over 3 miles in to my first ride of the season, i know it was way higher for way longer.  I hope it's not an ongoing issue (.  It's been relatively accurate until this ride, I work out daily, but I have hated it since they switched to zone minutes from standard heart rate zones based on age.  I like it to show when I hit normal fat burning levels, cardio and peak based on the standard formula used to work them out with 220 minus age.  Maybe it's time for a garmin, i read the vivo fit is pretty nice.  Oh I did notice that my fitbit was using autopause today and I did not turn that to on, but it somehow changed to the on in the app.  This used to stop the GPS from working right and it wouldn't record the map if it paused.  Now I wonder if it affected the heart rate somehow.  I did notice that it would be on pause a few times while I was climbing slowly then start showing the mph again.  

[Hoofer589]

I've gone to the Garmin vivoactive 4 and really like it.

[AHubFit]

Mine is doing the exact opposite. It worked well before the update some weeks ago. Now I’ll get through a heavy cardio workout and it shows below level when it is obviously not. So basically the heart rate and calorie count is completely useless to me. 

[Ctaylor07]

Same issues here. I had issues with my Versa 2 after about 6 months where the HR was off then shortly after it stopped syncing with my phone. Fitbit Support tried trouble shooting for nearly an hour over the phone and then sent a replacement. Im about 3 months in with this one and the HR is going wonky again. Today it was saying that my heart rate was around 113 and 122 at peak of HIIT reps. When I checked it myself, I found it to be 168. All the reset advice and off/on suggestions have not helped.