Sense heart rate readings are not accurate

[Tgisele]

I know this has been discussed before, but have there been any improvements? I bought the Sense last week and started using it on Thursday. While sitting quietly my heart rate will be 90, today during an intense workout my max was 131, no cardio or peak minutes. I am a long time fitbit user and also a fitness instructor, so know how to perceive exeration. I have read all the links and followed instructions to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[IgorR11]

Unfortunately from what I see in the community this is a known problem that has not been solved since launch, lately I have been actively participating in the forum to seek some solution to this problem. And I tell you that already a 10-page debate and few answers, the problem seems to be known by the fitbit team that promises a solution.
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Sense/Heart-rate-inaccurate-on-Fitbit-Sense/td-p/4529033/page/10

[SunsetRunner]

HI @Tgisele ,

I totally agree with @IgorR11 .

Sense is great to wear and use as a nice smartwatch, and also to monitor several health parameters, like e.g. ECG, sleep and SpO2 during sleep. But certainly not to monitor heart rate during at least some types of exercise and training. This has been reported by many people, including myself, @IgorR11 and many others, as you can see in the long thread mentioned by Igor and other similar threads. It seems to work well enough on HR for some people, though.

Being an unsolved issue since the beginning, one year ago, given your experience I woudn't put much hope on it.

[SunsetRunner]

@Tgisele , the best heart rate results I got with Sense in the past couple of months, since the last firmware updates, were when wearing it about 2 fingers above the wrist bone, as recommended by Fitbit, and as tight as I could (unlike Fitbit recommendations) without breaking it and not hurting myself. Not that confortable to wear for a long time, but ok for a training time. It makes me wonder, though, how long will the watch band and its watch connections last.

[Tgisele]

Since writing this I have been in touch with Fitbit on the chat, on phone and on Facebook messanger, I get the same responses, not that I expected anything different. I did directly ask how long until there is a solution. Their answer, "Our team is still looking for a fix for this issue. We don't have a timetable for this."

I told them that during a deep water aerobic class my heartrate dropped to 59, and was told, " your're in the water, heart rate will be turned off automatically since this is an expected behavior. You may see that it will be low." I am not sure what that means, if it is turned off how does it monitor any heart rate? I used an Ionic for several years and never had an issue with tracking while in the water. 

I am not going to let this drop, it may not do any good. But thinking about my next step. I will continue to post on their Facebook pages and Instagram. I am working on my Amazon review. 

The thing is I like Fitbit and other than the heart rate issue, I love everything Sense has to offer, it just infuriates me that the company is totally ignoring the issue and still selling a defective product. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @Tgisele ,

I've never used my Sense in the water. But I agree with you, the customer support reply about HR in the water has no logic at all.

One of the points that makes no sense to me is that some Sense readings are worse now than they were when I started using it in December. Last May/June OS/firmware update was a total disaster. Some flaws were corrected after that, others not so much. The worst case seems to be Floor counting, that since May/June is always 10, 30 and more times higher than what it should be, at least for me. But reading other threads, many other users have been complaining about that too. Fortunately Floors is not that important, when compared to heart rate.

Curious that PurePulse 2.0 technology, used in Sense and Versa 3 to monitor HR, apparently is not being used in Charge 5, Fitbit's latest product*. But I used a Versa 2 for 3 months (it uses PurePulse, not the 2.0 version) and its heart rates were no better than Sense, actually I think they were quite worse.

Like you, I feel painful keeping seeing new Sense users coming to this forum unhappy with flaws that have been there for months, some since the beginning. Fitbit's image is being quite affected by all this, I think. And, on top of this, keeping not allowing their products to pair with external and much more accurate heart rate sensors, like chest straps or arm bands... Seems plain stupid. But what do I know?

__

* Maybe PurePulse 2.0 can be used only in larger smartwatches, with a larger base area for its sensors, not on smaller trackers like Charge 5. But it didn't come out well, anyway.

[Tgisele]

@SunsetRunner I tried your suggestion of wearing the Sense higher on my wrist and tight, it didn't help. Wish it had. 

I think what bothers me most about all this is the response of the company. I have had a fitbit since 08 or 09 and have always had excellent customer service, there have not been a lot of issues but if I couldn't find an answer here in the community threads, I always got an answer on the live chat or phone. One watch was replaced without any issues. The only thing that has changed is Google now owns the company. I am not sure when the problem started with the Sense, my son has one of the first ones and has had no issues at all. 

If they truly care about the customers they will either fix the issue ASAP or give us a choice of a new watch. I can't see that happening. 

Working on my Amazon review. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Tgisele , I'm sorry changing the position on the wrist didn't work for you. In the end, I think it depends also a lot on the type of activity and the wrist shape and size, that varies from user to user.

Concerning customer support, I think I agree with you. I use the soft words "I think" because I've used customer support only twice: last year with a Versa 2 that I had to return and quickly got my money back (excellent!) and about a month ago, about one of Sense shortcomings (C.S. was useless).

[Strikes]

Unfortunately, just more runarounds by fitbit. If you reach out for help they will just link you an article that explains how to put a watch on. They won't admit there is an issue with the device. This sucks.

[Tgisele]

@Strikes I did finally get an answer, We are aware of the problem and working to fix it. However, they refuse to give a time line. I have until Oct. 22 to return my watch to Amazon, so waiting until the last minute. Not holding out much hope for a solution, but will give them a chance. 

[MarkMM]

@Tgisele The big thread is a year old. No fix. October 22nd isn't looking good. I trusted them in June and kept mine. Here we are in October and mine is sitting turned off.

[SunsetRunner]

Good that you can return your Sense until October 22, @Tgisele .

As for the rest and after all this time, I agree with @MarkMM . I'll believe it only when I see it.

[LeonSports]

No watch is accurate. Just take the displayed HR figures relatively and feel your body from time to time.

[flyingsod]

Im a new fitbit  sense user too. Ive been doing a bit of research (which I should have done before purchase) and it seems using light to obtain HR info isn't good at instant reading. I suspect it has to average several results to arrive at a somewhat reliable number. This being the case a better averaging algorithm might indeed help. Also there's issues with light infiltration if the emitter and receiver are not held fast. If your skin isn't uniform in color, density or thickness in the area you are trying to read it will also cause issues. These are not Sense specific problems but rather problems with the technology in general.

 I'm in cardiac rehab so I've been checking the fitbit reported heart rate against the med grade heart monitor I wear in sessions. It's close enough to be considered accurate if I'm in a even and sustained exertion for greater than 5 minutes. it's wildly off if Im in a situation where my HR is currently changing. I'm moving onto a chest strap with actual electrodes as it seems to be the only way to get truly accurate instant readings.

 Anyway, I started this post only to suggest putting the sensor on the underside of your wrist. That may help if your problem is an actual sensor reading problem and not the inherent limitations of the technology.

[m-umar]

Few reviews around about the absorption/penetration of the omitted light from these devices and there is no real testing behind these claims. We all know generally how Sun light is absorbed or reflected varies due to the colours and Sun light is white with different frequencies of wavelengths. So I don't think same can be applied here with these devices which omit only green & red lights. There is a problem here either H/W related or with the algorithm. Some us has own various types of devices so can tell that something is not right here.

Fitbit knows the issue we are facing but how to solve it is another matter.

[Tgisele]

I think most of us just want to know that Fitbit is doing something about the problem, rather than just say they are aware and working on it. If they would give an update about the progress it would go a long way. After several chats with Fitbit, with them trying to blame me for the problem, they finally gave me the pat answer, they are working on it. Give us an update. 

[Tgisele]

@LeonSports , I wore an Ionic for years and it was always in the ballpark. I compared it to several other devices. My Sense is no where in the ballpark, As a fitness instructor I know how hard I am working, but would like to be able to compare workouts with HR. I typically had 20-30 minutes/workout in my peak zone, before switching to Sense, since then I have had 2 peak minutes. 

[MarkMM]

@Tgisele Just like I know there's absolutely no way, walking as hard as I can and swinging my arms for 2 miles non stop, I am 100% below fat burn heart rate zone so 0 zone minutes. I can' t get it to 90 BPM. Fitbit has me at 100 BPM for fat burn. Mine has been shut off for three weeks and I'm hoping the Versa 1 will hold for a while. 

[m-umar]

I'm surprised no one has yet given up on a solution by Fitbit!!

[Tgisele]

I hit an all time low today, no pun intended. I took a class at the gym, it is not a high intensity class, but I worked fairly hard during most of the class. I did not get 1 mintue in the any zone, at one point my heart rate was lower than my resting heart rate. As soon as Spade and Co. comes out with a watch that is water proof I will buy it. The watches they have now was rated #1 last year, above Fitbit and Apple.