Sense not monitoring the heart rate properly during sports when the hands are sweaty

[ShubhamP]

Hello,

my Fitbit Sense (1.5 years old) has been showing very amusing heart rates when I am doing sports. I can say with  certain suretiy that for the last 3 months it is not monitoring my heart rate properly during sports.

I play Badminton regularly and when I am totally sweaty and out of breath, the heart rate which should be more than 150 (in cardio Zone) is only around 110 (below Zone/Resting Zone). 

I have to take the watch off, dry my hand and back of the watch. The Heart rate is in the proper zone for some time and again as the hands get sweaty, the problem returns. . 

I cannot keep drying the watch during I play. 

The Active zone minutes which used to be 180 after a session of Badminton of 120min are now only around 90. And this has nothing to do with my cardio fitness because according to Fitbit my cardio fitness level is also going done (from 47 to 46 recently).

I brought this watch with great expectations that I can track atleast my exercises and try to improve them day by day. That is not happening now for quite some time.

It hinders my concentration to keep on checking if the watch to is tracking HR properly or not during sports. Which was not the case in the beginning when I started using the watch. Something is wrong, either the life of the watch and the sensor is less or it can only funtion properly in ideal dry conditions and not in sweaty ones. In that case can we call it a fitness watch ?

Is there even a point of me wering the watch when the HR monitor is not working properly. All the data and the information stored and the analysis done would be pointless. Should I even believe the results?

Frankly, I am a very disappointed with the product right now. I have taken 3 months to assess the watch and then I am writing this. I was hoping to buy the new Google watch, but now I have big doubts.

I was very hopeful that I would use Google and Android products and not IOS ones, but the recent experience with Fitbit Sense has made me think otherwise and made me ponder iif those extra bucks to Apple products maybe worth something.

I don't hope that there is anything you can do to improve the situation. I am writing this just to show my dissatisfaction with the current scenario. 

PS: I also have a Fitbit Premium subscription.

[Guy_]

Hi @ShubhamP - this is a known issue on the Sense and Versa 3 watches, but not on other older watches, such as the Versa 2.

You may want to rethink the Apple choice with a battery life of less than a day, all day monitoring may not be possible, added to the inconvenience of having to charge it very frequently.

[t.parker]

@Guy_ Apple Watch Ultra is supposed to have better battery life but we shall see when it's out. It's claimed to run 36 hours on a single charge. Laughable compared to other devices but in the context of Apple Watch wearables lasting only 18 hours, it's an improvement.

[ShubhamP]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, it is an issue but the exercise tracking overall is also not adequate in Fitbit Sense as desired. Yesterday I went for Swimming and took maximum 17,5 rounds of 25 m Swimming pool = 875m in total. Fitbit says otherwise though 1250m in 1 hour. Its hard to trust Fitbit lately.

[Guy_]

@t.parker- Yippee! lol Thanks for the heads up. We still don't know what it will be like for the Sense 2 and Versa 4. 

To put that in perspective my Nokia Steel HR goes 60 to 75 days per charge [admittedly only used at night, but on 24/7] and my Casio World Time, at least 5 years !!

[ShubhamP]

@t.parker  Thanks for the reply. Yes, it is an issue but the exercise tracking overall is also not adequate in Fitbit Sense as desired. Yesterday I went for Swimming and took maximum 17,5 rounds of 25 m Swimming pool = 875m in total. Fitbit says otherwise though 1250m in 1 hour. Its hard to trust Fitbit lately. 

Atleast the data that the Apple watch is gathering is correct. That is most important for me. Whats the point of a long batterry life when the reading is only correct when you are sitting in the office the whole day under resting zone and as you exercise it registers nonsesical HR.

[t.parker]

@Guy_ Garmin actually made a joke about AW Ultra saying "we measure battery life in months. Not hours." (this is valid for Enduro2 watches, which are designed for ultra marathons and multi-day activities). Still, the battery life depends on the features and sometimes there is an acceptable trade-off and users can sacrifice battery for better features. With all features that I need I can squeeze 14 days out of Fenix 7 (and about 10 out of Fenix 6 Pro). But even half of that time would be satisfying. AW Ultra 36 hours will depend on the features used by users so I'm curious what would be the actual battery life. I find the word "Ultra" kind of funny because I would expect 36 days not hours if something is named "Ultra" but time will tell what the reality is. Although, it is claimed that 12 hours of workout tracking with GPS and 10 with GPS+Cellular. It's enough for marathon runners and some ultra runners. This is pretty much what Fitbit offers now (or more if we believe Sense 2 spec and GPS up-to-5-hours claim). Not to mention the latest advances in sleep tracking (recently Quantified Scientist had to resize his chart to put AW at the very top). There's nothing better for customers than healthy competition between manufacturers 🙂 More choice for us.

@ShubhamP AW gives you one more option - you should be able to use external HR monitors in cases that wrist HR fails. I know AW users who are quite happy with their devices despite the need for frequent charging (and they have a habit of having extra chargers at the workplace so while sitting at the desk they can charge the watch if needed). It all depends really what your needs are and what sacrifices you are willing to make when you choose a device.

[KB9WNS]

Fitbits are good for casual wear and general fitness.  If you are doing intense exercise I strongly advise to get a device that supports chest straps.  All of the optical HR sensors, Apple and Garmin included, have limitations during intense workouts.  Fitbit's "Blaze" was rather decent for HR monitoring as it had a bump out for the HR sensor.  

[t.parker]

@KB9WNS I follow the Garmin community (I follow most of the manufacturers' communities to know what's latest) and it is rare that those who need HR for training ever use a wrist sensor ever. Myself, I use only a chest strap. I don't even know if and how accurate my Garmin watches are during intense activity because never did intervals, strides, fartlek, progression or any training that matters while using wrist HR. It happened that I used wrist HR during running when my chest strap failed (after 4 years of use my H10 strap gave up) and during a steady run it was ok (at least it matches what I used to see from the chest strap). I totally agree that if somebody wants accurate HR for training purposes then should look for a watch which is able to connect with external sensors.