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

[JamesW123]

+100 for this.

I'm really trying to use heart rate zones to help me with training for my first marathon and using the karvonen method the heart rates are very different to the default fitbit ones.

Also, the heart rate graphs are now extremely confusing after having added a custom zone as it still applied the old levels on the exercise summary graphs even if they aren't applicable and it looks messy.

Being able to set the heartt rate zones, even if in the short terms its just being able to reset the default zones (entering the fat burn zone, cardio zone, peak zone) would make a big difference for making this usable for training.

With the maximum heart rate now being editable, does this manually update the default zones?

[Remo253]

"With the maximum heart rate now being editable, does this manually update the default zones?"

Yes. Once I changed my Max Heart Rate all the zones adjusted. It did not adjust previously recorded activities, just new ones.

[David350]

Since my resting heart rate is 52bpm according to my Charge HR, I'd like to be able to recalculate my training zones and save all of them, rather than simply being able to set a single custom zone.

[AK_CHLC]

It would be super useful to be able to customize more than one heart rate zone. In any and all cycle classes I've attended 5 zones are used. it would be really nice if we could set up our fitbits so that we can see how long we stayed in different zones during our workout.  

[Tsenali]

Come on, Fitbit team. My Blaze already has the data required.. just add an option to choose Karvonen formula to recalculate the zones.

[KeithAC]

The current zone setting is useless for me. I am 59, so maxHR "should" be 161. Medication that I take for hypertension mean that I can never get to that, 150 would be closer to the peak I actually get even on the most intensive cardio workout. I also have a resting heart rate around 58-62, which is lower than is typical. So I really need to be able to set at least the fat burn, cardio and peak zones to reflect these numbers.

Responses from Fitbit say that this is "complicated" and "22-age is the standard formula". We all know that neither of these things is actually true.

[Remo253]

@KeithAC, After this thread was started they did do an update that allows you to set your own Max Heart Rate. On the web site if you go to Settings, Personal Info, Advanced, Heart Rate Zones it has a place to put in a custon Max HR. You can still only set one custom zone, just above the HR Max, but if you can set your own max the default zones will be closer to accurate.

[KeithAC]

@Remo253 Thanks, I found that after I had posted. This will probably be enough for me, let's see how it pans out.

[JonGoesOn]

Basic, basic, BASIC necessity.

I bought my Fitbit yesterday and am GOBSMACKED that the heart rate zones are still auto set based on nothing but age.

I'm 30 and ridiculously unfit due to health issues. As such I have a resting heart rate of 92, which Fitbit does NOT take into account, despite recording resting heart rate data! Fitbit seem to think that 50% heart rate is "light/fat burning" activity", so if I do so much as move (AT ALL) and hit 95 I'm "in my zone".

My Karvonen results (which DO take into account resting heart rate) are:

That's 46 bpm OUT of what Fitbit thinks my zone should be (based solely on the heart rate of a healthy 30 year old).

This basic 220 - age calculation is outdated and irrelevant, especially to people who are unfit/at the high end of the bpm spectrum. PLEASE switch to Karvonen, or at least give users the option to add resting heart rate to their heart rate zone calcs or set their own custom heart rate zones.

I basically can't use the Fitbit heart rate data without it because it's just so far off. It thinks I spent HOURS yesterday in my fat burning/50% zone when I was just walking around the house, which then throws off the calorie calculations. I did NOT burn thousands of calories yesterday just sitting here doing nothing, Fitbit... FFS!

I've had to switch to another app when I'm actually exercising in order to get accurate heart rate zones that use Karvonen, or that I can fully customise (i.e. replace ALL of them, not just add a single custom one) myself, and then integrate THAT with yet another app to get accurate calorie data.

PLEASE get your act in gear on this Fitbit. This is important. And a basic necessity. My Fitbit heart rate and calorie data is basically unusable without it. And having to rely on third party apps when it's all supposed to be integrated is a joke. Even if I import data from those apps it's still going to be wrong in Fitbit.

[Remo253]

@JonGoesOn, you can now change the max heart rate which will in turn change the heart rate zones. On the web page go to Settings/Personal Info, scroll down to Advanced Settings and at the bottom of the page you'll see "Heart Rate Zones". One of the options there is to set your own Max Heart Rate. It was added some time after this thread was started. 

[JonGoesOn]

@Remo253, that may work to a certain extent, but it still doesn't match my zones up with what they should be.

Changing the max heart rate to something like 280 will shift my zones to:

50 - 69% (Fat Burn) = 140 (accurate) - 193.2 bpm (higher than my max should be - WHAT?!)
70-84% (Cardio) = 196 (higher than my max) - 235.2 bpm (insane)

85%+ (Peak) = 238 bpm (dead?)

Again, that's a vast difference to what they should be (as above) and still makes it unusable. Yes, it solves the problem of being in my fat burn zone when I'm not doing anything, but for exercise it once again makes it useless (just in a different way).

EDIT: Turns out you can only set the max heart rate to a MAXIMUM of 220. Any more than that and it just defaults back to 220 on save. Which changes my 50% fat burn zone from 95 to 110... not exactly a stellar difference, as it should be 140, and still likely to put me in my "fat burn" zone during low levels of activity... Setting the max heart rate to max (220) gives you:

50 - 69% (Fat Burn) = 110 (31 below what it should be) - 151.8 bpm (closer, but should be more like 160)
70-84% (Cardio) = 154 (still low) - 184.8 bpm (too high - should be 175)

85%+ (Peak) = 187 bpm (almost 100% of my actual max)

[Syemyim]

Add another in agreement with this request. 

Fitbit Charge 2, using the same algorithms as my Polar FT7 is consistently 20-50% lower in calories burned than my Polar chest strap. 

And. I'm also a Beta Blocker user which means if I train post-dose, my MHR is 154 vs later training where I can hit up to 189. RHR can also vary from 54-66. 

[SDRusty]

This really seems like a design flaw. If fitbit defaults to three preset heart rate zones, why wouldn't user customization allow three different zones as well? Strange thought process there. In addition, I see many people who are looking for five zones after Active Assessment. One thing is clear. A single customizable heart rate zone is woefully inadequate.

[chijrt]

It's been 13 months since I left Fitbit because of the lack of the standard 5 heart rate zones.  Looks like they insist on leaving the folks looking for quality data/metrics out.  

[Chris90]

I'll be leaving soon as well. I really don't understand why this can't be fixed.  It renders much of my data useless.  I love my FitBit in every other way and would love to upgrade to a new Alta with the heart rate feature, but there's no point without fixing this issue.

[st1340]

The Charge 2 only allows to customize one heart rate zone. I would like to be able to add my own zones specific to my fitness level. The current default shows me constantly in the peak zone while working out.

I really should be in the cardio zone based on my numbers.

Although there seems to be many formulas for calculating individual training zones, the Karvonen formula seems to be the preferred method . Currently Fitbit uses a basic age based formula for calculating target heart rates. That is fine for most users, I was just looking for a way to get a more realistic data given my specific numbers.

[LisaLisa1987]

Dear Fitbit-Team,

It would be great if users could be able to completelty customize their heart rate zones (like runtastic does). Currently, you can only define 1 custom zone, but to work professional with your devices it should be possible to add own zones, like fat burning zone, aerob, anaerob, maximum and so on. Because your suggested zones are in 95% wrong, it completely differs from person to person, training level etc.

I think it is not a big deal to implement it because the base is already there.

Hope to hear from you and maybe this feature is available in future. Currently I use a heart rate monitor and runtastic because your heart rate zones are completely wrong for me and not very userfriendly 😞 I think this would be a great step for the quality of your app and the device 🙂

Nice regards, Lisa

[Nottipiglet]

Fitbit has ignored this request for years. I like Fitbit as an activity / steps tracker, but it is useless as a running/Sports watch because the heart rate zones are not editable. This is why I won’t buy a Fitbit with a GPS since it is basically useless. For Sports, I still use a Garmin. I am also considering using Garmin as an activity tracker and dump Fitbit altogether. Garmin seems to listen to their customers and improve their products quickly. 

[Username772015]

This feature really needs to be implemented for more serious athletes. For example, my heart rate while walking around and doing simple tasks is easily in the 80-110 depending on what i'm doing but it is possible it will register this as fat burn and if I am constantly up and doing things around the house it will say I've burned an absurd amount of calories when I really haven't. Further, I can easily coast at around 126-146 HR when i'm cycling  and this would technically be zone 2 according to the ABCC/BCF guidelines. Instead what would be zone 2 would be counted as aerobic exercise by the heart rate calculations. 

[Thathawkguy]

Please allow us to edit heart rate zones 😞

[Asma]

It is an essential feature that I don't understand how it is not there already !

I got my Fitbit mainly to track my zones during workouts, unfortunately, to find out it completely fails to do so with the currently set zones that are way far from the real thing.

This suggestion submitted since 2014 & until now there is no feedback/updates on the status; while many other minimal-impact features have been released since then, this is still ignored.

Please update us at least if it is in the plan to be implemented, or we should start searching for alternatives.

[liloi]

Guys, do you want me to explain how important the karvonen Formula can be for fitbit users??? I have to be able to set my own max HR and my 3 working zone..  (5 would be perfect). It seems FITBIT want to step in the 22th century with a dinosaur HR formula. Otherwise, your product are no different from goodies and you will end like goodies sigh... I' m pretty sure thousands will be agree with me.. At least, in the next firmware release, allow me to add at leasr  3 working zone without modifying my age!!! Thanks

[SunsetRunner]

There should be the industry standard 5 zones, and they should be customizable by percentage or static numbers.  Or there are several good formulas for calculating zone more than just (220 - age) x percentage. 

[WinthropDC]

Also see comments on thread

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Heart-Rate-Zones-do-not-match-most-other-devices/m-p/2559276#M...

I would like to see five ranges using the percentages and colours used by most other devices

Maximum (90% or above) Red

Hard (80-90%) Orange

Moderate (70-80%) Green

Light (60-70%) Blue

Very Light (50-60%) Grey

Out of range 

[LizFitbit]

Hi everyone thanks for sharing this suggestion. This is being discussed although I do not have a firm commitment or timeline at the moment. Do continue to vote for this feature suggestion whilst it’s under consideration. Please note that if something is under consideration and chosen for development, it can be a while until it's released or until I have any news to share. Please watch this space for any updates! Thanks for your patience.

You can currently add a custom HR zone; learn more here.