Sense inaccurate HR and difference with polar chest strap.

[HIIT-em]

Due to my new career as a doctor, I do not a bulky highly specific and specialised sport watch. So the fitbit sense is a logical step for a smaller and more smooth design. Good job on that.

However, I do still work out a lot. And as a former athlete, I kind of liked the high accuracy of my polar chest strap. As a result, I am now wearing my polar chest strap, and a device of choice for the specific work-out along with it, because the fitbit sense does not monitor my HR trustworthy enough. It could be said that the fitbit sense is kind of bad in tracking your HR during training. 

Currently only ANT+ & Bluetooth are technologies used in HR chest straps. As we all know, and we can read in other post and topics, the fitbit trackers (including the sense) are compatible for Bluetooth. Why is there still no compatibility with a chest strap?

If fitbit is allows the pairing of a chest strap, I could literally throw out all my previous gear for tracking. I think I am not the only one (as can be read in different post) who is waiting for just this tiny improvement!

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello @HIIT-em Welcome to the Community Forums! Thank you very much for your feedback! 

Currently; there are no heart rate chest straps that are currently compatible (sync) with Fitbit. Your suggestion is very important so I would like you to give us your idea through our ideas board. If you find a similar suggestion, vote for it and leave your comment.

On a side note, please see this help article for questions about variations between your heart-rate reading on your Fitbit device versus another Fitbit device or other manufacturer’s device: 

How do I track heart rate with my Fitbit device?

Keep me posted. 

[cyrusgrimes · Accepted solution]

To expand on the banal support from Fitbit, I have looked into this as a feature request and found 3 close to what you are talking about. Please vote for them! Some are nearly 7 years old, so we will see if Fitbit act on them; this idea seems like an easy way to sell more products, chest strap hr monitors are simple devices to make, even if it were locked into the ecosystem of Fitbit and Fitbit branded, I'm sure people would spring for it! I know I would.

Allowing Sync with Polar H7 - Fitbit Community

Ability to use Chest Strap Heart Rate Monitor or f... - Fitbit Community
Heart Rate Monitoring - Fitbit Community

As far as the support link for comparing HR monitors, it is not helpful. I think the side-by-side comparison screenshots of the polar data and the Sence are the most compelling. I found reaching out via Twitter is a better experience for getting good answers from Fitbit. Using the Twitter DM, I have a service ticket now. I've been warned that they have a long backlog, but I'm hopeful that I will get real help soon.

Fitbit Support (@FitbitSupport) / Twitter

[t.parker]

@HIIT-em "Why is there still no compatibility with a chest strap?" - answer is really simple. It's because Fitbit has not released own branded chest strap. Fitbit company is very unlikely to make a watch working with thirdparty hardware.

[cyrusgrimes]

they should!

[cyrusgrimes]

the article 

How reliable is your wearable heart-rate monitor?

posted by @CBV2 

Provides insight on why this might be the best option for Fitbit. I thought that the "PurePulse 2.0" was going to address the challenges of optical HR readings, so far, I'm not impressed

[WilsonFitbit]

Hello everyone, it's great to see you around!

I understand how are you feeling and appreciate the feedback provided. We currently don't have information available if this option will be released in the future but take into consideration that your comments won't be taken for granted. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. For now, we will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time.

Have a great day!