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?  

[NeilFinny]

 Mine seems to be all over the place.

comparing to. Charge 2 and ionic the Sense seems to be 3-10 bpm higher when resting 

but when running it seems to be about 4-5 bpm lower at the top end.

so I’m losing out on both ends.

it would be good to have Fitbit say something about this.

not sure what I’m going to do yet.

[lee_h39]

The more days I’ve had it the more I’m noticing it. Went for a 10k run today with the Sense and the Charge HR and had totally different results. Also on a normal walk this evening which is usually c75bpm I could not get below 105bpm with the Sense. Manually confirmed to be around 75bpm. It’s being collected tomorrow and back to the Charge 2. 

[ashkalra]

I have very small wrist so I thought my inconsistent heart rate was due to the infinity band not fitting well, I got myself a small sense sports band which does fit snugly around my small wrist, but unfortunately I am still getting really inconsistent heart rates, especially the heart rate drops to below 100 bpm suddenly from 130-150 bpm when I am doing an inclined treadmill walk at 10” gradient, and this happens especially after I start sweating a lot and it never gets corrected after that. I never had such issues with Versa 2 which I was using earlier and always gave consistent heart rates, will try for another 2-3 times, otherwise thinking of returning Sense and going back to Versa 2.

[bj1012]

So I've been testing out HR between the Sense and my Garmin Forerunner 235 the last few days. My left wrist HR reading, no matter which device, is always slightly higher than my right wrist HR reading. Correcting for that though, the devices are within a few beats of each other for exercise HR reading. The Forerunner doesn't do all-day HR so can't compare there.

[Guy_]

Noticed theSthe Heart rate when stationary seems fine but it's anything upto double when moving.

Comparing to 3 other watches, an earlobe and blood pressure monitor while gently pedalling on a work out bike,  Sense gave anything upto 130 whilst the others were within a few beats of 65.

The moment you sit still a while it comes back to normal.

Needs looking into for the next firmware update.

[AzureNyan]

Same problem. I noticed when I'm doing a workout at OrangeTheory, the heart rate is often 40 beats too low. My Versa 2 didn't have this problem.

[SunsetRunner]

Yep. Same problem. I lift weights and it always shows <100, even after I'm done with the set and huffing and puffing for a while. Same while jumping rope doing pullups, dips, or any other activity that quickly raises the HR

[Rsfreitas]

Coincidentally yesterday I did my first direct comparison between the sense and Garmin Fênix 5 Plus on a short run.

I've clearly noticed that the Sense didn't reach the max heart rate, whilst Garmin was there.

It really followed the pattern described in the video.

That's quite disappointing... Hope it's a software issue.

[SunsetRunner]

Why is this thread marked as answered? 

[Beezy1978]

Indeed, this is DEFINITELY not answered.

I have 4 more days before I have to return my Sense... and, I think I’m going to have to. All said, I purchased it for the Stress features. How can the stress features work if they don’t know how hard I have exerted myself in a workout? So now that I am getting “stress scores” I am doubting their accuracy. How does it know if I’m recovering well or not when it doesn’t even know what my heart rate got to during my work out? I just got done with a killer almost hour-long total body workout. I look at my Fitbit and I got 27 active minutes, none in the cardio or peak zone! I know this is incorrect, yet it is screws with my mind when I see the record of my work out looking like I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs! Ridiculous thing is- I can walk in place and be in the high cardio zone in a couple minutes, via Sense’s sensors! Just flat FAULTY. As for the stress score? How does it know if I’m recovering well or not when it doesn’t even know what my heart rate got to during my work out? 🧐

I just got done with a killer total body workout. I look at my Fitbit and I got 27 active minutes, none in the cardio or peak zone! I know this is incorrect, yet it is screws with my mind when I see the record of my work out looking like I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs! Ridiculous thing is I can walk in place and be in the high cardio zone, according to Sense.

I would like to just keep it- *if* I had any hope that they might fix the heart rate monitor. I purchased the extended warranty for $64 when I set it up. Just irritates me that I’ve spent almost $400 and I’m less happy than I was before I spent $400. I’m on a fixed income to so this is pretty ridiculous. I legit used my emergency credit card for this! 🤦🏻‍:female_sign: So yes, FitBit please address this? And whoever Marked this is answered? Please un-Mark it as answered! It is FAR from resolved. 

[Beezy1978]

Apologies the FitBit forum replicated my post within itself and I cannot edit it. It tells me to remove the highlighted portions and there are no highlighted portions. So, I didn’t type the same thing twice, my phone just stuck it out there or FitBit just stuck it on again & I can’t edit it. Apologies!

[steveo57]

Fitbit  engineers need to work on the Pulse 2.0 heart rate algorithm and make it match The Polar chest strap or more closely resemble it.  It appears that it monitors fairly well it just lags on the way up and down  .  Once it levels out it is seems pretty accurate it is just laggy.

[Wassermann80]

The problem is definitely not solved. A firmware update should be published urgently.

[AzureNyan]

I just switched back to my Versa 2. I'm not returning the Sense for now, since I figure a firmware update will likely solve the problem or at worst there'll be a recall. Other than this heart rate issue, the Sense is quite nice.

[t.parker]

@AzureNyan it won't be recalled. You will be always redirected to the help page about how to wear your watch. Same as I was with Ionic (for me Ionic HR never worked and no firmware update fixed that). It is better to return the device if you are not happy rather than stay with the device and the problem for months or years. There is always an option of buying it again later after you know everything has been resolved (I'm not saying Fitbit won't resolve it but having a history with the company, I would rather wait with my money back in the wallet). One promising thing is the fact that Charge 4 received Dynamic GPS quite quickly (I didn't believe it would happen at all) and now Sense received the promised ECG. So maybe there is yet hope for this company but being cautious never hurts.

@Rsfreitas I remember the first wrist HR test I've done with Garmin Fenix 6 Pro. It was a failure. I was wearing a Polar belt but didn't pair it with the watch to make sure it won't pick up the signal via BT. Just forgot Garmin can connect via Ant+ and it automatically switched to the strap. I wish Fitbit added external sensors to the list of features. Until then it's just a casual toy. Wrist HR is good for daily activity, not for proper training.

[IIFYM]

Same issue.

[Guy_]

I noticed the heart rate is only accurate when stationary for 20 seconds or more. It can descend from 130 to 70 in that time which I think an old heart couldn't possibly do.

During exercise biking it can be anything upto double the actual rate - I am wondering if its so sensitive that it detects movement AND heart rate?

It definitely does not like movement of any sort, whereas the older Versas are fine.

[engen87]

Same issue

[SunsetRunner]

I agree with your observations about the Sense not liking movement, except for me it results in it showing a much lower HR. I can be huffing and puffing after lifting heavy or after jump rope and it can be showing 70bpm. 

[steveo57]

Doesn't the Versa 3 have the same pure pulse monitor and therefore have the same problems? If it does not have these same problems I would trade the Sense back and get the 100 dollars back ?  I like the features of the Sense but I could get by with a Versa 3 if the heart rate was stable and accurate.  Standing by for replies from Users or Admins.  A sufficient answer for now would be that they know there is a problem and that they are working on it and they will address it.  Anyone know the answer to whether the Versa 3 is more stable or accurate or is it the same?  ANYONE