Versa 3 heart rate accuracy concern during exercise

[lau09]

Just done a workout and heart rate monitor was down under 90bpm and this was HIIT session. This has started happening in the last week. Very disappointing as not getting the correct calorie burnt reading. Anyone know what I can do? 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Nivek115]

Mine is the same. Been searching for answers. Haven't found anything yet. Kinda sad that my newer versa 3 is less accurate than my 6 year old Samsung. 

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there @lau09 @Nivek115, welcome to the Community Forums. Thanks for sharing the details about the issue with your Versa 3. We‘re taking into consideration your comments and sentiments with regards to our products and services.

Note that you might notice slight variations between your heart-rate reading on your new Fitbit devices compared with your old ones due to improvements in the heart rate sensor and algorithm.

Differences between heart-rate readings on your device and on exercise equipment are likely due to wrist or hand position. Make sure the back of your device is in contact with your wrist and that your band is snug.

Several factors can affect heart rate, including air temperature, stress level, alcohol or caffeine intake, immune response to illness, and medication use (source).

Exercising in cold weather can make it more difficult for your device to track your heart rate, as environmental conditions can affect skin perfusion (the amount of blood that flows through your skin). Spikes in your heart rate during sleep may be caused by sudden movements (for example, waking up and getting out of bed), or a weak signal due to wrist placement. 

As with all heart-rate tracking technology, accuracy is affected by personal physiology, device location on your arm, and type of movement. For a more accurate heart-rate reading:

• Wear your Fitbit device on top of your wrist, and make sure the back of the device is in contact with your skin.
• When you’re not exercising, wear your device a finger’s width above your wrist bone.
• During exercise, wear your device a bit tighter and higher for an improved fit. The band should be snug but not constricting (a tight band restricts blood flow, potentially affecting the heart-rate signal). Many exercises such as bike riding or weight lifting cause you to bend your wrist frequently, which could interfere with the heart-rate signal if the watch is lower on your wrist.

To resolve common issues, see our troubleshooting steps in What factors can affect my heart-rate reading on my Fitbit device?

[lau09]

My watch was reading my heart rate perfect, Fitbit need to sort this out as with @Nivek115  my old Samsung watch works better than my fitbit. Very disappointed with the versa 3 have advised anyone who is thinking of purchasing to stay away. A few of my friends have said its since the update came through. I just wish someone had advised me 5 months ago. 

[MarreFitbit]

@lau09 I understand how you must be feeling. Thanks for following the steps provided to you.

At this moment, I’ve reached the limits of what I can do for you here on the public community forums. The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected. I'd suggest to share this community link (thread) so our Support Team can be aware of the steps you've done, this way you could also avoid repeating yourself one more time.

[bdtiu]

I've had the same problem with mine!  I reached out to support and after all the troubleshooting steps they ended up referring it to higher support.  So far haven't heard anything from them.  It's so frustrating because I want to earn my zone minutes for the hard work I'm putting in and my fitbit makes it look like I have barely exerted myself at all. Hopefully they'll have a solution soon!

[lau09]

@bdtiu Do you mind me asking who you contacted for higher support? 

[bdtiu]

The person I was talking to for support said she was referring my case to "higher support" because we were out of options for what she could do.  So, I'm not sure who the person is.  

[JuliettaN]

Were you using the exercise tracker? Like, manually starting it via the watch? I've had my Versa 3 for ~ a month now and just did my first walk, starting tracking via the Exercise option on the watch. Everything looked fine except my heart rate. Apparently my heart rate didn't go above 100 BPM. This is wrong, considering I've been sitting at my desk for the last 20 minutes and my heart rate is 105. I have an EXTREMELY high resting heart rate so it's super obvious that it was not tracking my heart rate at all during my walk.

So I get screwed out of accurate calorie burning, which means my food tracking is off, and also lose active zone minutes. Luckily, as I mentioned, my heart rate is always super high so all I need to do is walk up a flight of stairs and my heart will fill up about 10 active zone minutes. 🤣😶

[Bennett84]

Let me just start out by saying, even though fitbit seems to be the most common option out there for android fitness trackers, you guys do nothing to improve your inventory really. I have had 4 replacements with my older version and now I bought a brand new versa 3 and your "slight variation" to heart rate monitoring is completely off the mark. 90 bpm during a hiit session is not slight. Do you employees even work out?? Get this crap fixed or give us all our money back. This is ludacris.

Same here! How can they put a heart rate challenge out there when their products don't even read your heart rate remotely close to accruate?

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Palbogdan]

This is exactly the reason why I want to return mine. It is a well known problem by Fitbit and instead of fixing it the moderators here will delete the comments or mark them as solved, when is obvious that the problem is there. 

[bdtiu]

Yes, I was using the exercise tracker.

[Nivek115]

Oddly enough, when I go running, I seem to get fairly decent heart rate tracking. But when I engage in any other form of exercise the tracking is quite terrible. As an example, on my rowing machine, the heart rate monitor will show my heart rate is 130-140. But my Fitbit is reading 90. I know based on how much I am exerting myself that the 130-140 is more accurate than the 90. I have tried to adjust the Fitbit on my wrist to improve heart rate accuracy while rowing, but nothing seems to work.

[bdtiu]

Same!  That's so weird!  It tracks it great when I run, but when I do any other form of exercise it's stuck in the 90s no matter how much I adjust the fit.  I've tried wearing it higher on my wrist, lower on my wrist, tighter, looser.... *shrug*  And yet when I run I don't have to adjust the fit at all and it tracks perfectly.

[SunsetRunner]

Has there been any resolution to your problem? I was following this back in February and have been having the same problem with my Versa 3. I chatted with support, then emailed with someone else in support and after all of that, nothing was resolved. It's been over a month and nothing has changed. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi, I've been having the same problems and nothing has changed since this thread started. Can we expect anything to change? I was in touch with support back then and nothing helped. 

[Walkman55]

I had this issue too, so I returned the Versa 3 and purchased the Charge 4 instead. HUGE difference. 

It’s sad though because I really like the Versa series. Had the Versa 1 for two years and loved it. The colour display is simply gorgeous. The text/numbers on the Charge 4 is too small and tiny for my old eyes, but at least the HR tracker is working properly.

[bdtiu]

After they sent me a 3rd Versa 3 and it still wasn't tracking the hr correctly, support acknowledged that they know this is a problem and are working on a solution.  I asked if they wanted me to continue to use a faulty device for an indefinite amount of time while they work on a solution, and the support person said "Looks like you're all set!  Contact Fitbit support again if you need more assistance." and ended the chat. 😕  I'm contacting again today to ask for a refund because I won't continue to use a device they know doesn't work with no resolution.

Update:  I just spoke with customer service again.  They said they're aware of the issue and don't have a solution yet but asked me to keep an eye out for a firmware update.  I said I wanted my money back but they said they couldn't do that because it's past 45 days since my original purchase.  It's only past 45 days because I WAS patient and I allowed them to send me 2 replacements that didn't work either.  By placing my faith in the company to resolve the issue with a replacement, I was put outside the window of return. (Not to mention shipping was slow, so that didn't help me with the 45 day window).  So now I'm stuck with a device that doesn't work, the company knows it doesn't work, can't fix it yet, doesn't know when they'll fix it, and won't give me my money back.  This will be my last FitBit purchase.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Camilion]

The funny thing though is that it is the same sensor built in both watches which means it is not a hardware related issue but instead a software related issue.. hope they fix it soon I’ve bought both watches..

[SunsetRunner]

I had the Versa 2, which worked great until it conked out on me in December. I bought the Versa 3 since it was new and my warrantee was up and this is where the problems started for me. I've even emailed asking for an exchange from my newish Versa 3 with a new Versa 2, but they stopped replying to me. Not sure if they don't believe what I'm saying or they're just making me deal with it until they fix it.