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

[AlanR03]

This is me exactly! 

[svencr]

I'm having the same problems. Initially used during Schwinn Airdyne exercise. The hr  might initially popup at 83, then it wouldn't display. Got off the bike and my used my pulse rate device and it was over 150. I thought the arm motion might be the problem.

I now use an Echelon spinning bike. Same problem. Watch basically shows around 84 , goes blank, shows 120+ then drops to 83, goes blank, then shows 156 (BTW- 156 is my 100% hr for my age). Very dangerous!

And where is the Fitbit moderator? Where is the support help?

[Davidlev]

Didn’t work for me. My heart rate is showing slower even during intense workouts. 

[AlanR03]

Yes where is the moderator?
I have been back and forth with customer help. They are very responsive but
have no solution. They would like to blame the customer, that we are not
wearing it correctly. Well I am wearing it correctly, for sure and still
poor measurements. It also doesn’t record the seek data is is supposed to
collect. What a waste of money this was.

[mathenyhe07]

Mine too. I bought a Versa 2 after the HR failed on my versa after about 3 years. This one is terrible. I wear a second monitor at Orange theory and the rate is 30-40 beats slower on my versa than the OTF burn. Previously they were exactly the same. 2000m on the rower and it says I at 86 bpm. I rebooted and it is only worse. 

[JustM.]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6107736/

Here's a meta-analysis that looked at 67 different studies to examine the overall effectiveness of fitbit as a device. Here's what the researchers concluded:

"Other than for measures of steps in adults with no limitations in mobility, discretion should be used when considering the use of Fitbit devices as an outcome measurement tool in research or to inform health care decisions, as there are seemingly a limited number of situations where the device is likely to provide accurate measurement."

I've been looking into ppg technology in hopes of making the watch work because having to spend ten minutes troubleshooting my watch during my workouts was getting frustrating. Clean it - switch the hr on and off - hard reset - reposition, over and over and over. Doesn't put you in a good frame of mind for exercising. It doesn't look like there's a guaranteed way to make it work. The only way to improve it at this point is to innovate. An internal QC device that can measure the strength of the signal, maybe. Something that could tell the user the watch is picking up a poor hr signal? I don't really know what can be done to fix it. 

[AlanR03]

Yes, maybe not accurate enough for medical use but it sure should be
accurate for exercise! Today I tried a factory reset and still no
difference. Maybe there are physiological reasons it won't work well with
some of us. If that is true, and I am cynical enough to think so, I
suspect Fitbit has known about this issue. Maybe now that Google owns the
company they will find a software solution.

[svencr]

Thanks for the link JustM.

I did a Tabata Spin workout this morning. I had reset and cleaned the watch, and positioned the band according to the two fingers distance exercise suggestion. Initially, the readings appeared accurate, and it displayed in the 140's.Good. However, later it wasn't picking up/was wrong readings. Tabata workouts raise the hr for 20sec  on, then you recover for 10 sec, then repeat. I wasn't getting readings. I adjusted the band to three fingers above the wrist bone. I got accurate readings.

Suunto site says: During exercise
Test the fit – the key is to wear the watch as high up on your wrist as possible, and to prevent it from sliding down during exercise. A good indicator is to wear it about 2 fingers above your wrist bone. Again, make sure you wear the watch tight and evenly against the skin.

Wear the watch higher than your wrist bone.
This is useful especially for those who have skinny wrists, as you need to find the areas of skin with more blood flow in order to properly use the OHR.

Optical sensors measure pulses of blood flow directly; they are looking only at the total reflectivity of a small area of your skin.

Nice article: https://allthestuff.com/wrist-heart-rate-monitor-accuracy/

I have thin wrists. Placing  the watch higher up- maybe five inches may be a solution. Echelon et al sell forearm mounted watches.

Maybe we can request Fitbit to design/sell a band to wear the watch on the forearm.

[EddieB1]

I find it hard to imagine fitbit didn't know about this and counted on it being a minority who realise and are bothered enough. It's clear reading posts on this that folks get put off with all the stock replies by customer support. They either can't or won't do anything about it. I can imagine google has a significant interest in the aggregated data and if they realise it is inaccurate, then they may be motivated to try and do something.

[AHubFit]

What’s even crazier now is I strapped my watch to my spin shoes to get a step count for my Peloton workout. It showed a heart rate the entire time!!! It was placed on to the strap of the velcro and not in contact with my skin or heartbeat. Now I am convinced the heart rate monitor is defective on these watches.

Kind regards,

Amber Shea Hubrich

[pEony0913]

I also have experienced the same. First off, it's not difficult to take your own heart rate which I have done many times before purchasing the Fitbit. After purchasing the Fitbit I regularly check it while on treadmill and while the treadmill and I record the same BP reading the Fitbit continuously records an erroneous result, for the record  i continueually dry my wrist and the sensors. It also records an erroneous result for my milage and I assume calories burned as well as step.As an example, I can put 4 miles (treadmill results) in on the treadmill doing interval training for 70 minutes and the Fitbit will record significantly less miles. In the same day, my husband walks a small golf course and is able to record 8,000 more steps and many more calories than I after a my workout and I am the one that had a 70 minute elevated HR. Last time I check golf wasn't a strenuous activity.  This thing is a gimmicky. So dissatisfied. 

[sheileen]

Can you tell me please if your tattoos are on the back of your wrist? My heart rate has gone bonkers the past week and although I have no tattoos on my wrist, I have a very bad skin rash where the sensors are. Thanks so much 

[AlanR03]

Sorry to hear about your issue. I don’t have any tattoos. Also, I have
found that if I wear the fitbit up around my forearm while exercising it is
a bit more accurate. Still not great but better.

[svencr]

I don't have tattoos.
HR monitor works better when placed further up the arm.
Still has bad readings. I bought a Echelon arm hr monitor. Works great.

Fitbit does recommend a restar. It does clear the memory, and may help you.

[sheileen]

Oops I clearly didn't do this reply thing correctly...sorry 🙈

Someone on page 1 had said they had tattoos and it interfered with the readings. I thought I was replying to him. I did a reset and it's still reading really high. 😭😭

[khuds00]

I had this too but it would go both ways, way too low sometimes when I was exercising and others off the charts. There is a new firmware today to hopefully fix the inaccuracies. I talked to support multiple times and they said it was being fixed. Fingers crossed. 

[EddieB1]

I've recently taken firmware update 35.72.1.15 and initial signs are very encouraging. I've no idea if the update claims to make any improvement or not. It may be a coincidence but I've been cycling a lot recently and always double strap - polar with HR strap (because fitbit unrealiable) and the fitbit to capture the GPS/exercise session. All rides since the firmware update are much closer to the polar recorded HR (which I trust heavily) than previous. Just seems to be a huge improvement. Anyone else observing similar?

[AlanR03]

Hello all, after hearing that the latest update helps with HR accuracy I
decided to test it today. And it seems to be true. I tested it along side
my Polar HR monitor and the Fitbit stayed within 2-3 bpm of the Polar the
whole time I exercised. It’s a big improvement. Let’s see if it is
consistent for the next few days.

[wenjenaz]

I literally laughed out loud. I shouldn't have to wear a WRIST watch up around my forearm for the HR monitor to work correctly. Obviously, the folks at Fitbit don't give a crap about this problem that has been going on for at least 3 years. (Some of these threads date back to 2018.) I can tell you this: I will never buy a Fitbit ever again. 

[EddieB1]

I agree. But some strong signs that a latest firmware update has helped a lot. I've been keeping an eye on it and it's encouraging. No confirmation from Fitbit that something in latest update is intended to help, so could be other factors coincidentally in play. I wear a polar strap when I ride (because of Fitbit issues); the two are much closer since the update. Plus I have been wearing it normally - on the wrist. I have a versa 2. Don't know if same update available on your device.