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]

I've just been onto fitbit chat (for the 4th time in 4 months) to address the horrific HR issue which they confirmed they knew about months ago and are apparently working on to fix. 

For those with new senses I urge you to return yours back immediately !!!

Fitbit have acknowledged a major HR issue which aligns with the inconsistencies and where it struggles to read HR on workouts and similar activities, often being below fat burn zones which impacts all of your metrics such as calorie's burnt etc. 

My live chat agent ended the chat without concluding on anything at all, I hadn't even finished speaking with them. 

I asked basic questions such as

when will this issue be fixed?

They provided no update just simply, apparently, added me to a mailing list that they are supposedly going to email more on the issue.   

according to them it is being dealt with higher level of support - no idea what this means.

I asked if they provide a versa 3 as a replacement - they used to be very good on faulty devices and providing new watches.  

No reply 

I asked more questions around when i should be provided with an update - the agent ended the live chat. Fitbit need to sort this out. I've been with fitbit for 6+ years and never received such horrendous feedback and poor responses from their support team - simply they are hiding under a massive issue with their flagship model and do not want this to be known! I reluctantly will be moving to Garmin or Apple

[lee_h39]

For what it’s worth I moved to Garmin after returning my sense and no regrets whatsoever. 

[hwally]

Which one did you go for? and how did you return it as mines now way out 30 days time period. 

[lee_h39]

Forerunner 45S. Not as many features as the pulse or touch screen but seems to work better for what I need it for. 

I returned mine with 10 days when I realised how poor it was. 

[FiveMileLake]

Trying the Versa, but it will probably go back too.

[lzam]

YES, I sent my Sense back for a new one since it's under warranty and hope this new one will be fixed. Using my Ionic again. Very frustrating.

[lzam]

Return it. It's under warranty and it is faulty. Getting a new one and will see if the new one works. Super frustrating.

[s0uthpaw]

I got a new Sense in replacement from Fitbit, but have the exact same HR issue. It's obviously a product that wasn't ready for market. There's a fundamental problem with the HR sensor.

I wonder is it influenced by ambient temperature? When I train indoors, it gives me readings that are at least somewhat believable. But when I train outdoors, the HR reading drops to 65 (after starting at a resting measurement between 90 and 100).

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[proxieme]

I've wondered the same thing. 

We have a gym, but it's in a detached garage with poor climate control. When it was colder out it would be maybe 60°F inside, and my HR reading was always way lower than it actually was. Now it's warmer, and it's still low...but is at least registering as being in the cardio range rather than resting. 

[mcmorgan7]

My husband and I both got Senses yesterday. Both of us noticed the extreme inaccuracy of the HR compared to the Charge. The Sense seems way too low. I just did a spinning workout and the bike sensors (which usually registered a lower HR than my Fitbit charge did). Even that ranged from 20-30 beats higher than the Sense (which barely registered a rise in HR, even though I was breathing heavily and sweating). I've been a loyal Fitbit customer for over ten years. I used to love this company and its products. I bought devices for others in my family because the company used to be incredibly responsive and actually care about their customers. That people have been complaining about this issue for many months and Fitbit hasn't addressed the problem goes beyond frustrating and disappointing. It's completely unacceptable. 

Unrelated to this egregious HR problem: my mom, who I bought a Fitbit for years ago, experienced the annoying Bluetooth/syncing issue and spent (according to her) an hour on the phone with a customer service rep. The person spent most of her time trying to upsell my mom to Premium, saying that it would help. Of course, it didn't. I was able to walk her through the problem and fix it over the phone in 10 minutes. It's astonishing that people being paid by Fitbit can't do that....

[Beezy1978]

In the meantime, I’ve got a lil tip I use. When walking in place, hr skyrockets. On the watch... incorrectly... but I’ve found if I artificially raise the HR by walking in place before my workout it helps Jack it up where it should be. It usually stays correct, after doing this, but not always.

le sigh.

im a huge FitBit fan, and before covid they had great service. Now it’s like wishing on a star... 🤪

 so, I’m waiting for it to get and stay accurate during exercise.

take care all y’all, hope my tip helps w/ weight training.

today my workout was Dead On. 
good luck, fellow healthy people!

[Beezy1978]

Oh yeah. I’ve noticed that too.

😕

We paid too much for these not to be accurate.

i mean, Arely- it should at least be as accurate as its predecessor! The OG Versa is awesome and it doesn’t get all scratched up like the newer models!

[mcmorgan7]

Thanks for sharing your experience with the Sense. I just got mine and am experiencing the same thing. It's deeply disappointing. I've used Fitbit for a decade. I expected to love the Sense more than the other models I've used. And I love how it feels and looks! So much promise. But the HR just doesn't accurately track. I can't believe that I have to return it and switch brands and lose all of my data, but after reading through this thread, it seems like that's really the only smart option.

[Geraner]

Same here. I have got my Sense replaced as the Sense just died during a swimming session.

The replacement model I got, I have sold and I have now changed to another brand after 7 years with Fitbit.

[dannyboy4567]

Same issue here, under reporting bpm by more than 30 while rowing. Just chatted with a support agent and their suggestion was restarting the tracker, wearing it somehow more tightly on my wrist, and updating the app (app has been up to date). I will likely go with a different tracker as this is just disappointing.

[SunsetRunner]

They can't fix it. This is as much as they can achieve with the Sense. Technologically speaking it cannot get better than what you and other people here already discovered.

I think most people here complain, not out of hope that it will get better but because they've spent so much on something that they were not satisfied of.

You think Fitbit would let all these months go by without fixing it ? Or they enjoy having unsatisfied customers ?

They can't make it better. This is what you're getting if you decide to buy it.

End of Story.

[Chrish612]

I had a Fitbit charge, worked perfect. Then it just died. I thought I’d stick with Fitbit because I liked the software, bought the premium sense only to find out it’s heart rate doesn’t work. Now it has just randomly died after 3 months!

[brianc1959]

Same here. Won't even get into cardio. 

[Robert_NL]

I bought mine a few days ago and wear it for 2 days now - the HR on mine is way too high in rest: 75 - 90 bpm, where my old Ionic meassured around 60 - 65 bpm. I don't know exactly about HR during exercises. - this seams to be on the low side. When walking it gives a reading of around 100 bpm, where my Ionic was closer to 110. I hope the HR-readings get improved in coming software updates - I am really disappointed 😞

[Dev1979]

For me the HR suddenly shot up to around 147 even though I wasn't into any physical activity. I then restarted the watch and it came back to normal. 

Even otherwise, the HR is at least 10-15 beats higher when compared with other gadgets. And the fluctuations are way too much, much more than Ionic