Versa 2 heart rate tracking accuracy concern

[Les12]

Since the last update my heart rate and zone minutes are totally inaccurate. Today I got 5 zone minutes! I power walked for an hour and it gave me 2 zone minutes!  Cleaned the house from top to bottom and got barely any! It’s also said intense exercise when I’m sitting having my morning decaf coffee!! This is unacceptable Fitbit. Ready for putting it in the bin! 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[SunsetRunner]

This product is faulty. It is a disgrace to Fitbit's brand name. 

There hasn't been a single workout where I didn't put a finger on my carotid artery and felt what was 150+ BPM, while my Versa 2 was showing me at a comfortable 110. 

Ridiculous, disgraceful, and I regret giving this watch another chance and not returning it when I had the chance.

[MikePC]

Right there with you. Tried one of the troubleshooting tips several times (not the full factory reset) and over the weekend things seemed to improve, but then again I didn’t do any sort of activity besides walking. 

Just wrapped up an interval session on the rowing machine, and manual pulse checks registered between 150-160; my Versa 2 never registered over 88. 

Think I’m done for reals now, as this is just completely unacceptable. 

[Les12]

And the fact that Fitbit still haven’t acknowledged the problem is totally unacceptable. 

[Les12]

And still no resolve to this problem. Yesterday I walked for an hour and a half, I did gardening for an hour, hung out washings, ironed for half an hour and got 77 zone minutes. Today I did barely anything, and only walked for 40 minutes. I got 128 zone minutes, 66 of which were in the cardio zone.....absolute nonsense. Please Fitbit sort this out! Before I put it in the bin. 

[zgSHADOW]

I'm genuinely surprised you got a reading at all-- my heart rate monitor is completely excised from my watch. 

[Les12]

Oh I get readings. They’re just so inaccurate they’re laughable! 

[zgSHADOW]

I'm not even sure what we did to earn Fitbit's hatred. 

I can't afford to switch to another brand, not that I should have to. Not only is this and their silence extremely frustrating, it's downright hostile. Their newer products don't have issues to this severity and scale of occurrence. It exclusively affects the Versa 2 and devices before, and the problems are identical and consistent. There's so many broken devices that the update thread has been maxed out.

[Clayzone]

Try not to stress too much over the lack of functionality in the Versa they
know that the Versa run was good but it's over. Here's
a couple of things to try to keep it alive. As long as your tracker is in
sync with the phone app it does a great job and is accurate go back into
your settings on the watch and make sure everything is up to speed after
that go back into the app in the phone to check all your settings and see
if Wi-Fi and everything else it's online set to specifications don't forget
to go online to the Fitbit website and shake things up a little bit.

[Pjd1300]

TL;DR: Me, too - been having this issue since late December.

The Backstory:

I've been going back and forth with customer service via chat in regard to this very issue.

I've been a Fitbit user since the Charge HR was first released.

I've jumped through all the "factory reset / reboot / where do you wear your watch on your wrist" hoops multiple times.

Other issues have surfaced after the latest firmware update:

• Syncing issues (not me)
• Bricked devices (not me)
• Suddenly poor battery life (ME)
• Poor SpO2 sensing (ME) and, of course, this issue with
• Low HR tracking (and this ridiculous active zone minutes concept)

Odd thing - one of the customer service agents told me the SpO2 sensing won't work unless you're using the SpO2 watch face.  I know this is not true as I've NEVER used the SpO2 watch face and the sleep section of the Fitbit app would show me a detailed estimated blood oxygenation graph every morning (since WAY before the update).   I don't think it would do that if it wasn't tracking...  now, however, the SpO2 tracking is spotty, often flat lining for significant portions of the night.   I suppose what this denotes is that customer service doesn't necessarily know more about their product than the customers do - they just follow the scripts.

On the plus side, I have noticed that with the SpO2 watch face enabled, the HR tracking is much better!  On the down side my battery life has reduced to about 1/4-1/3 of what it was before using this face.  Could a watch face REALLY make that much of a difference? 

I'm just guessing, but the latest update seems to have created a disconnect with the sensing hardware in the watch as HR and SpO2 are both tracking poorly (at best).

My case has been escalated to a higher support tier.   I do not have high hopes.

[UPDATE]

My Versa 2 is still under warranty.  After my chat sessions with Fitbit support, they came back to me with an offer to replace my Versa 2 or  50% off the cost of another model.    I'm not sure either of these options will solve the problem though as this appears to be a software issue...

[Les12]

It’s definitely been since the last update. 
No, I don’t have any hope that they’ll fix it, seeing as they won’t even acknowledge the problem. 

[wykeseeee]

This same problem is driving me nuts. I honestly want to take the watch off and stamp on it.

I don't know if it's a hardware or a software problem.

According to the device, my HR is higher doing the washing up (around 90-100 bpm) than a doing a body pump class or step class (80-90bpm WTF??). I have worn another fitbit device at the same time on the same wrist. This measures 130-140bpm for these activities. Sounds a bit more likely for fairly intensive exercise.  

The versa is not consistent and often very very wrong.  I did a 3 hour bike ride today, including a 150m hill climb at the end. According to my device, I did not enter fat-burning for even 1 minutes.  

I have been a Fitbit fan for 5 years. 

I HATE FITBIT NOW

Surely my anger and frustration should at least register on the HRM!

[Tweety52075]

I am experiencing the same issues. This is the THIRD Fitbit Versa 2 I have purchased - always the same issue has occurred. And conveniently (for them) my Fitbit Versa is out of warranty. I will NOT be purchasing another FitBit product. I have given them enough money and never gotten acceptable solutions. Enough is enough. I will purchase a different product.   

[Tweety52075]

That is EXACTLY where I’m heading too!!!!

Teresa

Sent from my iPhone

[wykeseeee]

I'd just completed 12 clean and presses. 90BPM?????????

I did the same experiment. with two different fitbits. 

[Tweety52075]

Those are my two frontrunners as well. But I want to do more research first bc it’s a good chunk of money. I don’t want to experience the same issues as I have with Fitbit. I am appalled at the complete lack of resolution Fitbit offers when these products are hundreds of dollars. Disgusting. I will not go back and I do lot recommend their products to anyone anymore!!

[Les12]

That’s shocking. 

[MikePC]

@Les12 that’s what I went with (SE version); more complex than the Versa, definitely lacks battery time, though I’m adjusting, and it takes the emphasis off steps and places it more on activity in general. HR tracking during exercise is spot on, but I’ve noticed the calories (and steps as well) are significantly lower with this than Fitbit. 

[Les12]

Had a private message saying they’ve deleted 2 of my comments because I mentioned another brand/product. So the posts are getting read but they are still not acknowledging or doing anything to sort this shambles.