Heart rate zones: more of them, all editable/customizable

[branning]

The heart rate zone feature is great, but the user-editable heart rate "zone" is not useful at all. The common heart-rate training protocols include up to 5 heart rate zones, and the beginning and end all need to be editable according to the individual's own maximum heart rate.

Ideally, these would also have editable names.

Zone	HR begin	HR end
Z1 light	100	130
Z2 easy	130	140
Z3 aero	140	150
Z4 anaerobic	150	160
Z5 VO2max	160	190

Moderator edit: added labels

[chijrt]

I have been an dedicated Fitbit user since 2009 and I recently learned about Heart Rate Zone training and I have to tell you, the HR Zones that Fitbit has are um....they suck.  I'm now looking to switch over to Garmin.  Why aren't the zones editable for Fitbit?  I understand they simplified it for your "regular Joes" but at the same time, the inability to edit them goes to show that Fitbit devices are for amatuers.  

If they do not make an update to the HR Zones, my activity tracker timeline ownership will look like this:

1.  Original Fitbit

2.  Fitbit One

3.  Fitbit Charge HR

4.  Garmin Vivoactive HR

[DBDude]

Besides the default HR zones Fitbit uses being incorrect for many, it also becomes an issue if you are trying to track calorie intake using Fitbit.  If I workout for an hour with my high HR, it shows my using more calories than I know I burned (1,100 in an hour?  Don't I wish).  So if someone wasn't careful and took Fitbit at its word, they could potentially end up PUTTING ON WEIGHT.

This is crazy, why would it be so hard to code up variable zones?  

[pcraenme]

@chijrt I am considering moving from Fitbit to Garmin as well because of this. And I really hate to 'leave' Fitbit, because they have great customer service compared to Garmin. And looking at the issues with the HR monitoring of the Garmin watches ('stuck' heartrates, heartrate/cadence locks), customer service may be important. Also, the 24/7 HR monitoring on the Fitbit seems to be much better than on the Garmin devices.

I wish Fitbit would make a watch similar to the Garmin Vivoactive HR (I don't like the current Surge and the Blaze is missing built-in GPS) and... they would change their software concerning HR zones and max HR.

[DBDude]

My issue (and frustration) is I ** LOVE ** my Blaze, and given I have the rash issue with the rubber strap the VivoActive wouldn't be a good alternative for me (the Blaze I can swap out to the leather band for overnight and non-workouts).  This issue has been open since 2014, I can't believe variable HR zone settings would be this big a problem.

[chijrt]

@DBDude - I have the same issue with the calorie calculation.  I play competitive volleyball for 1 hour and 15 minutes and I burned 989 calories?  I'd be lucky burning that in Zone 3 for the entire hour and 15.   I questioned this for the last year or so and I'm finally now realizing I'm not the only one questioning this issue.  

[DBDude]

@chijrt Nope, you're definitely not the only one.  I'd have switched long ago due to this if it werent for the fact that (for me, anyway) the HR is actually accurate, and Fitbit's customer service is outstanding, vs Garmin who I've had issues with in the past.

As this issue doesn't seem to be getting any traction, I just put in a request for Fitbit to make the device's HR stream available to other apps.  If they can't make HR zones variable, then let other app makers do so.  I wouldn't mind making some $ myself with such an app 🙂

[gmoog]

Hi you all, 

Fitbit already has custom heart rate zones. It's in the setting sections on the app and probably on the website too. I haven't tried it so I can't tell if this is what you want but I suspect it does.

The original posting here was to ask for more advanced automatic HR zones using algorithms so that is it transparent to the user just like it is now while being more accurate and adjusted to the rest heart rate (since that change in time, with altitude...). To me having custom heart rate zones is a temporary fix because I don't want to have to update it every day of week given my location, how tired/trained I am...these others calculation methods have values because they make it transparent to the user.

[Remo253]

The custom zone on Fitbit only let's you set 1 zone, and doing that disables the default ones. So your choice is three incorrect zones or one custom zone. One custom zone is pretty useless unless you're aiming to stay in the highest zone. It's let you know when you cross over into that range but for the others it's not going to tell you when you went out of a zone on the upper side.

"I don't want to have to update it every day of week given my location, how tired/trained I am" 

I have no idea  what you're referring to. If you can set the max HR manually, and the zones recalculate from that, why would you need to be adjusting it? It doesn't change based on how tired you are. Sure, as you get fitter your max may change, but it takes a long time for that to happen, months/years, not days/weeks.

[DBDude]

@gmoog No, it doesn't allow you to customize the HR zones;  What it does is allow you to create a single custom zone which doesn't appear to change the functionality.All of the Fitbit graphs and (it appears) calorie burn calculations still come from their 3 default zones (Fat burn, Cardio, and Peak).

The title for the request was "Heart Rate Zones; More of Them, All Editable" -- Wouldn't this fit right into the subject matter?

[chijrt]

@gmoog - the custom feature you talk about is the ability to create a single custom zone which to be honest is even more confusing.  I don't understand how you can do a heart rate zone training with ONE zone.  

[DBDude]

@gmoog 100% agree. I don't even see where its used given the graphics all
use the built-in zones 😞

[gmoog]

I was referring to the change in rest heart rate which can vary
significantly under, altitude, lack of sleep, stress... and some methods
compute the heart zones as a function of the max and the rest heart zone

--
Guillaume M.

[chijrt]

I had completed an active metabolic assessment and my heart rate zones and corresponding heart rate numbers were provided to me as a result of that assessment.  I am currently doing HR Zone interval training to get those numbers up and my plan is to get another active metabolic assessment in 3 months.  With that said, I ended up buying the Scosche Rhythm+ because it's able to link to many ANT+ apps on my phone where it would continuous read my heartrate and for me to visually see my heartrate throughout the 60 minute training sessions.  If I need to be in zone 3 for X minutes, I watch the screen continuously.  Once I meet that goal, I go back down to Zone 1 for X minutes and so forth.  I am not able to do this with a Fitbit since it's lacking the true 5 zones in order to do my training.  

[pcraenme]

I use the one custom zone and the only thing that does is indicate the number of minutes your training was in that zone during an activity/exercise. The graphs that are displayed still use the standard HR zones and because the max HR is way off in my case, all my trainings are >90% in the peak zone, which make them useless.

[Chris90]

Yes please add this. I got the Charge HR but my max HR per strap monitors is much higher than the age formula would predict. Fitbit is putting me in the cardio zone for casual walks and then giving me 20 mins straight in the peak zone for real exercise. I tried the age fudge, but I had to loop off almost 30 years which was giving my resting calorie burn way to much of a boost. Please, please fix this!

[SolangeE]

Hey, you can enter your personal settings on your online dashboard, and based on them your HR is calculated. Here you can change your personal settings. 

[RMPB]

I have used a Polar HR monitor for biking. One of the training methods revolves around the Lactic Heart Rate Threshold (LTHR). I would love to build my own custom training zones using the 7 zones developed by Joe Freil, although 5 zones should be enough. Exclusive of the number of zones, it would be great for each individual to be able to set his/her upper and lower zone limits be it the standard three now available, five or seven..

[mmurry]

Why hasn't this idea introduced back in late 2014 been given any consideration beyond "good idea" from the moderator?  The heart rate custom zones (plural) has been a feature of many other devices for a while.  I was given a FitBit Charge HR as a gift but as mentionned by several over the last 1.5 years is completely worthless as a fitness tracker without the the ability to customize zones.  It is basically a high priced step counter with no relative value when it comes to exercise heart rate monitoring.  So very disappointed FitBit hasn't addressed this issue one way or the other.  My business will be taken elsewhere.

[Marshall_Tway]

SolangFitbit,

But what does the custom range mean? I get max, but which min do we use? - How does Fitbit caluclate the three to five HR Zones once we enter the data? Sorry but your answer is like Microsoft Support's, Technically Correct but 100% useless.

[Eilert]

I agree.

Have a hard time understanding why this feature would be so hard to implement. Keep the old system for people who cant be bothered or just dont care and add a "manual max HR" setting and "manual zone" setting.

I bought my Fitbit mostly on impulse, but now I wish I had done some proper research first.

[SunsetRunner]

So this feature has been on the user radar for over a year and Fitbit has yet to address it. Say hello to my Garmin. It lets me enter the range for each zone - ALL FIVE OF THEM.

Have any of the senior management of FB heard of this little thing called "The House Of Quality?" It's an old tool but somehow, I think when you understand it, you will understand why people are ditching this little toy and moving to something more complete at about the same price point.

I agree with Ellert. Should have done the research. Should have just stuck with the leader, Garmin.

[SunsetRunner]

I also vote for FitBit to upgrade to allow manual entry of max heart rate. I'm 67 years old, and regularly hit the high 170's in my hr. So, when I'm on the elliptical, for example, the exercise data shows that I'm in Peak zone for almost the entire workout.

I really don't want to change my age on the app, but I guess I'll do that until this upgrade is made.

[chijrt]

@SunsetRunner - which Garmin did you end up getting? I'm close to switching too. Unfortunately, I'm recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon so an activity tracker is pointless. ;-). But still curious about which device you went with...

[blb4]

So, with iPhone app version 2.24 (June 2016) Fitbit now introduced custom max heart rate. It's also available on the website (Dashboard -> Settings -> Personal Info -> Body Info. Still not all editable hr zone's, but now you don't have to lie anymore about your age... A little bit of improvement.

[Remo253]

To those following this request, the ability to add a custom max heart rate has been added. If there was any notification of the change I didn't see it, I just happen to see a post about it in a different forum.

If you go to Settings/Personal Info/Body Info there's now a field for setting a custom Max HR. This is on the web site, in the Android App go to Account, then Settings (three vertical dots upper right), scroll down to Heart Rate Zones and set your Max HR there.

You still can't set custom zones but at least the default ones are now more useful.