Heart rate inaccurate on Fitbit Sense

[Cameronoates]

Hey 

is anyone else experiencing huge heart rate inaccuracy during exercise with the sense? 

During exercise with the sense it won’t ever get above 120bpm for me 

but if I use my charge 4 during the EXACT same exercise my heart rate is between 145-170bpm in the cardio zone 

It’s extremely disappointing and I don’t want to have to switch to my charge 4 everytime I exercise to ensure accurate heart rate 

defeats the purpose of having the sense 

seriously one of the most frustrating experiences I have ever had.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Giampi71]

Hello @SilviaFitbit what is the investigation of Fitbit team as per your best answer dated one month ago? It is worthy to note that Sense is now one year old and nothing has been done to solve this issue.

[Irish57]

And wouldn’t that be a very sad state of affairs if Fitbit tech was told to
move on at the cost of the very people that support them with financial
purchase of the Sense!

[MarkMM]

Same here. I am back to my Versa one that failed battery test. I get three days with all notifications turned off. When it dies, I certainly won't be supporting fitbit any longer unless they somehow make it right. I was a 5 year supporter as of March, but have a useless Versa 3 sitting turned off while under warranty. 

[CmdrCrp]

Mine goes up to about 160bpm but once I get above that it suddenly drops down to 114 or so and continues up from there as my heart rate goes up.

Incredibly frustrating.

As a test today I briefly got my hr up to 200bpm and sure enough the Fitbit read around 150. 

Why does it just suddenly decide to subtract 50??

Why can't they just fix this issue already?

[Monikalew]

I have the same problem.it reads low and I have tried it in a few different positions on my wrists. Disappointing since it is one of the main reasons I bought it

[TrickSizzla]

This is my Sense during a 1 hour bike ride without stops.  I also bought a sweatband for my wrist to hold the Sense down the entire time.  Useless garbage of a watch.

This should be reading 150+ the entire time.

[TrickSizzla]

My Sense 

[Giampi71]

Unfortunately it is evident that the HR sensor PurePulse adopted by Sense/Versa 3 is actually a little more than a random numbers generator.

The silence and lack of solution by Fitbit is even more aggravated by the fact that Fitbit is still selling Sense (and they even introduced a new color model, the Sage) as 

[Irish57]

Yikes! It’s about the money! Hoping folks do their homework. There are good
features but the highly inaccurate HR which impacts other data detracts
greatly and makes the Sense not worthwhile!

[m-umar]

And top of it this thread @Giampi71 is coming up as Resolved 🙂

[m-umar]

@Monikalew HR effects all other stats and without it nothing is real worth mentioning on this sense.

[LovelessSea]

Managed to get a slightly more accurate reading on my workout today after doing a factory reset beforehand, cleaning the sensor, and putting the band a few notches tighter and slightly higher on my wrist but still an issue with it once I get around 150bpm. After seeing it was reading "below level" during the workout I paused my workout to take the watch off and quickly wipe down the sensor. It picked up the heart rate after that for around 5 minutes before failing to pick it up properly again. 

[m-umar]

@LovelessSeaso looks like a design fault! In reality these devices are made for exercise/activity where sweating can't be controlled. More we try to find work around the more problems coming up with the sense.

[m-umar]

I can see frustration boiling over due to these faulty devices. I just read a lot of heated debate in other post (Why is the Sense unable to store personal music?)  which is obvious but we all need to be courteous with fellow users in this forum. We're here to help each other with the best of our ability.

But Fitbit is an other story.

[m-umar]

Yes @Clove2011  HR inaccuracy is across the board on all the latest devices incl Versa 3. I had Versa 3. The problem is apart from acknowledging there is no update coming from Fitbit whether or not there is a solution for it. We don't even know if the problem is H/W or S/W because Fitbit is dead silent about the problem. Very frustrating really because all we doing is playing guessing game.

[SunsetRunner]

Buying the official Fitbit Sense/Versa Sports band solved by HR while exercising issues

https://www.amazon.com/Fitbit-Versa-sense-sport-black/dp/B08DRR4M5P?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1

That band can be tighten into the areas where your in-between holes on the band that comes with it or other bands. This allows you to get a precise fit. The Sense is picky about the fit. The proper fit means it only moves on your wrist if you grab ahold of it and push it. You should be able to shake your arm and the Sense should not move, if it moves, its not fit right.

Since i bought that band, my Health Metrics tabs is populated every day 1 hour after waking without fails and has for months.

I think the Fitbit Sense was supposed to ship with that band, but maybe costs put it beyond their price so they shipped it with the infinity band last minute.

Prior to buying that band, my weight lifting sessions were below zone, after using that band i get Active Zone minutes during weight lifting somewhere between 120-125 BPM which is what it should be. Spinning sessions before i got band were below zone or just barely Fat Burn zone, After i easily get into the Cardio Zones, running is spot on.

That band is 10.00 cheaper now than it was when i bought it. Im confident it will resolve most of the problems folks are having. It has me, hence why i have not been on here much since buying it.

[MarkMM]

@SunsetRunner Yet two Months ago, you said this "I posted some work around to the Heart Rate issues, and the most recent firmware update for me has resolved the HR issues. It's tracking zones properly now.". So which is it? https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Sense/Issues-with-Sense/m-p/4933451#M31043 

Don't think I'll be running off to give Fitbit $30 more to try and get their product to work properly. 

[Silverback007]

I don’t think so.    I have the Velcro sport adjustable strap.  Can put it in any position.   Makes NO difference to HR.  Sounds like someone os trying to sell straps on Amazon to me.  

[Irish57]

Agree, tried various Sense bands…wide, narrow, tighter, loser, further up
wrist, lower on wrist! No change in accuracy. It is the Sense itself not
the bands. Will I agree that some difference is noted with my repeated
effort, yes! But by no means is it a true reading of my HR and effort. I’d
love to know how many calories I’m truly burning. Guess that won’t happen.
My husband’s old Versa is far more accurate!

[Irish57]

Yet on 10-10-21 they wrote this to me. I highly doubt they are working on
the HR issue though! I do believe they are fully aware of the inaccuracies.