Fitbit Sense and Heart Rate

[mperry9701]

I just bought the Sense and noticed the heart rate monitoring is way too low.  My Ionic was much more accurate.  Has anyone else noticed this?  

[hwally]

Finally an update from Fitbit (although not a great one):

Apologies if this has been mentioned already

Today I contacted Fitbit a second time (after 2 months of trying to forget the hr issue) re: HR issues. 

They have finally admitted that there IS a problem and are currently working on it, they also confirmed its software/firmware issue not device (so couldn’t get a new one) but the bad news is they have no date! But after months at least they’ve provided an update and that we aren’t all going mad.

So no need for the comparison of your other smart watches as it’s a genuine issue so the balls in our court whether it’s time for a move away from Fitbit....

I also pressed for a company statement or notice but they tactically swerved the question 

[jh064]

Hopefully they solve it.  I moved to Garmin after 6 years.  I was tired of fitbit's miserable excuses and lack of acknowledgement.  I hope for you guys it's fixed soon.  I'd have really liked the watch otherwise.

[DangerDorsey]

I was in the Fitbit family for 10 years. I regularly blogged about them, etc. I was one of the first in line for Fitbit Sense. When this trouble started happening, I produced tangible data that supported the trouble, it was crystal clear that there was a problem. Even so, they would not admit that there was an issue. Fitbit is not stupid, they knew that there was an issue. I have worked in tech for some time, everything is tracked. 

When they continued to skirt the issue, and not acknowledge the issue, that was enough for me. I moved to Apple Watch. I despise charging my watch every day but having accurate health metrics more than makes up for that inconvenience. The data on the Apple Watch is spot on. When you are dealing with health metrics, you need to trust the data that is being fed to you. Fitbit has lost my trust in providing this data. If your heart rate monitor is off, it trickles down to the other metrics too. 

One last thing, I ran an A/B test on Fitbit, Amazon Halo, and the Apple 6 watch for 2 weeks, with multiple workouts. I consistently found that the Fitbit was recording 20% more steps than both the Amazon Halo and Apple watch. The Amazon Halo and Apple watch were within 2-3% of each other. So when your 10,000 step goal is hit, keep going for 2000 more Fitbit steps to get to a for reals 10k steps. 

[thatssoketo]

Actually, I just got my replacement Sense yesterday. Granted, this is my first workout today, but it's tracking better (still not as good as my previous Fitbit's). 

I say put pressure on them and everyone who's having an issue should request a replacement. 

It was a 2 week process as I had to send it in, wait 5-7 business days for confirmation, then they sent it out. Luckily I do have the original Versa (which tracks workouts better) as a backup. 

I'll keep testing it out and keep you guys updated.

[Cbeckham]

I’m having a ton of issues with my Sense. It drops my heart rate (coming out of a HITT workout it says I’m below zone around 90 BPM) and then takes about 5 minutes to tell me it’s at 170. Or it goes from 170-90-165 and fluctuates consistently with my exercise without a change in how intense I’m working out. Very frustrating. Within the last week it has stopped my workout recording completely or the Sense just turns off!  I’ve contacted support with no solutions!  

Moderator edit: format

[FiveMileLake]

Brand new - resting way too high - 

Adjusting band lowered it a bit but this thing is way off.

[DamonIE]

Exact same issue here.

[FiveMileLake]

Also, heartrate shown on phone doesn't match Sense (its closer to
reality...but still too high) ???
Hope its just a newbie issue...will give it a few days before I punt.

[caha460]

I was an early adopter of Sense and ended up going through THREE units before giving up. The bad news? The response you posted is more or less in-line with what they told me over 5 months ago. I have no words.

[R.M]

If you can clarify the problem. Have you encountered the fact that during intense sports, heart rate monitoring is displayed late, not in real time? When I was choosing something to buy, I didn’t find a Fitbit Sense comparison in Youtube reviews because there is no Russian review that could have compared my heart rate to a chest meter and any other watches in real time like in this video: https://youtu.be/So1FSu-Q1ik . It would be great if someone shared similar real-time comparisons of heart rate with Fitbit Sense for some video and seen if Fitbit Sense shows up correctly.

[DangerDorsey]

  The heart rate fails during the workout. View the above images to see how it fails. 

[ImChao]

Mine is very off too...I restart and tried on different part of my wrist...I can't catch up my breath and it showed 65......

[jwsaldo]

Long time Fitbit user, I had the Ionic for a number of years and found it to be fairly accurate. So was excited to "upgrade" to Sense. However, the Sense has been consistently inaccurate from day one. it is consistently lower HR overall, mainly because it drops off in the middle of the workout. I have found that the heartrate drops off when my arm is in a vertical position. I use the Sense for indoor cycling (Peleton), and whenever i stand up and my arm goes verticle, the HR drops. so when i swing my arm back to horizontal , its seems to reset and then get back to an accurate reading. Also when i play tennis, the HR is consistently low overall, maybe because my arm is vertical most of the time . 

it has gotten a little better recently , so i think they are working on it. also, I wonder if the physical shape of the Sense has anything to do with the inaccuracy. It is smaller than the Ionic , which was accurate, so maybe a smaller surface that contacts the arm has something to do with the Sense inaccuracy.

[Geraner]

Same problem here. Same workout, starting with spinning the first 12 minutes, then doing gym exercises, you can compare the Fitbit Sense to another product I bought a few weeks ago and was using in parallel.

When I'm starting with gym exercises the Sense drops to 70-80 bpm and stays there for a long time. 

The other product never falls in bpm under 100. 

 

After the 41 minutes training the average BPM is:

Fitbit Sense = 112

Other product = 128

[s0uthpaw]

Just launched another thread, as I didn't see yours. I have the exact same issue.

The Sense reads my resting heart rate fine (between 80 and 100 normally), but when I start an Exercise, the heart rate drops precipitously, sometimes to 60bpm (!!!) - this is while I am sweating and panting. My last 3 logged exercises gave me 0 active minutes, as it says my heart rate never went over 80 (which is probably lower than resting). I do high intensity interval workouts. On my Ionic, my heart rate would frequently hit 160bpm.

I don't get the sense that the Sense autodetects exercise either.

I also can't get the Sense to charge over 80%. It just stops charging at around that level.

And I don't think the finish and glass are as durable as the Ionic. I already have one very noticeable scratch on the face, despite being rather careful with my devices.

Overall, the Sense has been a very disappointing experience.

I have been on to Fitbit support, but their only suggestion was to Hard Reset the device (which I did, with no difference).

[caha460]

Because of my loyalty to Fitbit (and my expecting much more from them), I struggled to come to the conclusion that the Sense is not a good product. Awesome features, but questionable execution, design issues (like the button getting triggered accidentally while working out), and the customer support has degraded significantly.

As for Ionic, I was on my first one just before the Sense was announced, and it also was having HR issues. It behaves differently from the Sense, but neither my original nor the replacement (which incidentally took Fitbit forever to send) is consistent on the HR front. So, I personally don’t hold the Ionic as a benchmark for anything either. My old Fitbit Surges did a better job with HR (in spite of the band issues).

In short, when replacement time comes, I will be switching brands a reluctantly, but there is no other logical option.

[jwsaldo]

Never had a problem with charging, always goes to 100% quickly.  Uses about 20% a day, even with exercise. 

When I go for a power walk outside,  it does pick up the workout automatically and accurately,  with GPS if you want.

The problem is the HR when exercising vigorously and my arm is in a vertical position,  it drops the HR to a low inaccurate number, indoor cycling (when standing) and tennis.

Hopefully,  FITBIT is reading these comments and will fix it.

[lzam]

I had ionic too and this is way off. Did you return it?

[lzam]

Did you return it? Struggling with same thing. Completely off.

[jwsaldo]

i got the original Sense when it was released end of October from Fitbit, it was totally useless. they would not or could tell me when a software update would be release, so i returned it with 45 days.

i then followed these comments , and when i saw there was a major o/s update in november, i bought again from Costco. At Costco i got a better price, extra watch bands and a 90 day, no questions asked, return policy. 

the 90 days have past, and the Sense is working OK, not as good as the old Ionic, but i know what things dont work accurately. i did not return it , as i am hoping for one more o/s upgrade, which would bring the Sense up to the level of Ionic in terms of accuracy, and then i can enjoy all of the features of the Sense.