Call me silly….

[M66E]

The main reason that i wanted a HRM is to monitor my heart rate while doing an exercise. My preferred exercise is jogging. I thought i would be able to have this high tech, high cost, unit audibly alert me when my heart rate hit say 170 or 175 or 165, whatever i wanted at the time. I thought that once it alerted me to that, i would be able to stop jogging. Then, when my heart rate hit say 120 or 130 or 125, i could receive another audible alarm and start jogging again. Alas, this is not an option. the max heart rate you can set up for notification is 140bpm. And the highest setting for the low heart beat is 60bpm, this is lower than my resting heart rate. 

  Ok so forget that seemingly basic feature. I guess i will just have to continually look at the watch to get my heart rate. Well, this isn’t so easy. The face defaults to show me pace not heart rate. so while jogging i have to be swiping the face this way, no maybe it’s this way, or this way? to actually get to the heart rate display. Am I jogging or messing with this annoying watch? 

      one thing this Watch is really really good at is reminding you to set up your wallet. As if you haven’t paid enough for this thing, they really want you to buy this premium membership, or this watch face, or whatever. I do not feel motivated to buy anything more from fitbit having been so let down by what should be basic on a HRM. 

[JohnnyRow]

You are mistaken on several of your assumptions:

1)  The heart rate notifications you mention with 60 and 140 is not for exercise.  In fact, that is only activated when you have been inactive for at least 10 minutes.

2) To get heart rate notifications wile exercising:

After selecting 'Run" (or other activity) in Exercise App, swipe up from small arrow at bottom of screen to see other settings that apply only to selected exercise type.  Scroll down to, and turn on "Heart Zone Notifications".  These zones cannot be set precisely but are the zones calculated for you for fat-burn, cardio, and peak.  You can see these limits for you by tapping on "Zone Minutes' on phone app.  So for instance you could run until you get vibration entering peak zone, slow down until get to cardio or down to fat-burn zone, then speed up again until reach peak or cardio again.

3) Again within same settings, look at "Show Stats".  There are 3 different Sense areas, top, middle, and bottom, and you can choose which stat to show in each zone, or have a zone switch between multiple stats.

4) Wallet / Fitbit Pay does not require Premium or any extra fee.  If you are encountering it when you don't want to, you might try looking in main Settings App for shortcuts setup to see if you have a shortcut to it set up.

[M66E]

I would really like to be wrong about what I posted. I would like to use
this watch as I described. But these are not assumptions. I chatted with a
guy named Efrain on customer support who let me know that these options are
not available. I tried to follow the instructions that you gave and did not
see a small arrow at the bottom of either the watch screen not the app
screen. Maybe Efrain is wrong, maybe he made assumptions, but he is the
customer support that works for fitbit. Go check the chat history.
Regardless of who is wrong or who made what assumptions. I still have a
heart rate monitor that I can’t use as I want to. I would appreciate some
effective assistance in setting this up, rather than being told i’m wrong
or that i have made assumptions.

[JohnnyRow]

From Firbit Sense Manual (pdf) 

Sorry, tough to see arrow at bottom here (I circled); windows snipping tool image gets compressed.

[t.parker]

@M66E if you want notifications for custom low/high HR then it isn't possible. You may do what @JohnnyRow suggests and use HR zones notifications but there is no way to set up custom notifications triggerd by any HR. Fitbit has no such feature.

You may set custom zone but I don't know whether you will get any notifications. The description suggests no notification for standard zones but it's unclear whether you will get any notification for custom zone (I never tried it):

 

It isn't a sports watch but simple activity tracker. It doesn't come packed with features. I have seen the feature you are after in other brands, though.

[M66E]

I see. I am able to get into the area you are speaking of. I played with the zone notifications. If I'm on the right track, i will get a single vibration from the watch when Im in the fat burn zone and I clock a zone minute. Then I will get two vibrations when I'm in the cardio zone. And finally three vibrations when I enter the Peak zone. If this is the case I think it will work out wonderfully for me. I will see how it goes on my next run. I appreciate you input JohnnyRow.

[M66E]

Thanks for the reply! Which HRM do you recommend I like the gps and the graph of my heart rate and such, still want those features. But I just want to jog and and not be constantly checking and fiddling with a watch. If it helps I use an iphone. 

[JohnnyRow]

I hope that does help, though I realize it is not as individualized as some other brands with moreso dedicated running watches, and the vibrations are  not always easily felt.  Many people  find those vibrations more a nuisance then they stay right near a zone boundary and keep getting buzzed.

[t.parker]

@JohnnyRow for exactly that reason I turned HR notifications off. I don't use automatic lap notifications either. Too distracting and often affecting running performance.

@M66E pretty much any brand of sports watches, Garmin, Polar. Not all the models may have all the features though (for that reason I avoid of all smartwatch-wannabe devices from all brands, I need pure advanced sports watches, and smartwatches usually provide only subset of features I need). On my Garmin F6Pro I can do what you want plus more via structured workouts (intervals here can be based on HR). Before you buy any device, make sure it suits your needs (read, ask on forums etc.) at the moment of purchase. No device will meet all your needs but pick the one which does it best. There is no point to count on future updates (this goes to all brands). Watch either support something or not. There is no "it will support one day".

[JohnnyRow]

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@M66E wrote:

Thanks for the reply! Which HRM do you recommend I like the gps and the graph of my heart rate and such, still want those features. But I just want to jog and and not be constantly checking and fiddling with a watch. If it helps I use an iphone. 

---

Not sure if you mean which model Fitbit, or you mean which other brands.  If all you want is to  monitor your running, you are probably as well off with a chest strap that is always more accurate than optical sensor, though difference varies by individuals.  Unfortunately Fitbit does not allow input from any other sensors.  I haven't been keeping up enough to have any other recommendations.  I know Garmin, for one, makes some highly specialized running watches that go also go way up in price.

But hopefully you will find the Sense does fill your needs, and you might find some other features useful also.

[JohnnyRow]

Agree with @t.parker 's post, but calling yourself "jogging" instead of "running", my guess is you might not really be ready to use many more advanced training features, though of course they can be interesting and it's an individual case what you want to pay.

[t.parker]

@JohnnyRow to make a full use of chest strap (which I agree is the best option for accurate HR tracking) he would have to change the watch for something that can pair with ANT+/BT HR sensor. Otherwise, it won't solve his problem. Fitbit has no external sensor connection feature either.

[JohnnyRow]

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@t.parker wrote:

@JohnnyRow to make a full use of chest strap (which I agree is the best option for accurate HR tracking) he would have to change the watch for something that can pair with ANT+/BT HR sensor. Otherwise, it won't solve his problem. Fitbit has no external sensor connection feature either.

---

That's what I meant, though maybe didn't make clear, when said Fitbit doesn't accept any other sensors.  If takes phone on workouts, some will pair right to phone app without needing another device.

[M66E]

Yes I am certainly not a runner. Maybe one day. I got this fitbit sense as a gift from my wife. My last HRM was a chest strap polar (might still have it somewhere) It was good, but i didn't like the wearing chest strap. I plan to use the fitbit sense plenty more before exploring options of other HRM's. There are certainly things that I like (Mapping the route, the graph of my. heart rate throughout the jog, that I can take a screen shot and share it), but spending all kinds of money when you barely run two miles before you hit your max heart rate seems silly to me. But that is what I like about jogging/running I used to only be able to jog for a couple minutes before reach my max heart rate. I make set goals, adjust goals, I want to keep jogging and one day start running. I've been working on a play list, any suggestions?

[M66E]

Thanks again. When I originally sought help from the chat on the fitbit app, the guy suggestion I make a recommendation, as though there could be an update based on my input. I thought hmm seems possible, though I had my doubts. Then when I went to the suggestion area and saw 154 pages (approximately 10 per page) of suggestions, I knew nothing would come of it. When the time comes I will certainly being doing some research. 

[t.parker]

@M66E well, in that case you shouldn't expect a lot from the watch which isn't made for running. Jogging is running, just slower yet with higher cadence. So too late, you are already runner.

You don't like strap, how about armband like PolarOH1 which has similar accuracy to strap (despite being optical)? 

Out of curiosity, what makes you think you are hitting your max HR? Reaching max HR would make you go into high anaerobic/neuromuscular effort which is possible to sustain for a very short time (you'd definitely know you are there). Then you'd notice that despite your effort you just slow down (your body will run out of ATP,  the energy source used for such intense effort) and you will be forced to slow down and recover. If this isn't a case you are nowhere near your max HR.

[M66E]

Oh I just mean that I hit the highest heart rate I want to hit, before I stop jogging and walk to lower my heart rate. That's pretty much what I have been doing, jog until my heart rate hits x, walk until it drops to y, jog until it hits x, and so on. I look forward to being able to, I'll say run until my heart rate hits x, then jog until it lowers to y, run again to x.. You get the picture.