Fitbit Surge not detecting heart rate BMP

[meljack]

Hi there. I've been wearing my surge since Christmas with minimal problems. This evening it's suddenly stopped tracking my heart rate BMP. I can assure you my heart is still beating!!! Wondering if anyone else has had any similar issues? If so, how was this rectified?

[jorang]

Try a restart to see if this rectifies your problem

[Sam_727]

Nothing will fix the problem when the watch isn't made to detect a HR in high impact aerobic activity

[meljack]

Thanks for your replies. I have restarted the watch and this seems to have rectified the problem. However, I charged the watch for 8 hours last night and the battery has gone to 3/4 since this morning!!! I also swapped the wrist I was wearing my watch on as I developed a rash on my left wrist ... I'm now developing a rash on my right wrist. Was initially really pleased with the watch but as the weeks have gone by I'm becoming extremely disappointed!!!

[SunsetRunner]

Bought mine on Black Friday, was doing well with heart rate then slowed some or would be in "fat burn" mode when I would expect to be in Cardio. Did a re start, seemed to fix. Started same again this Monday, re start and still seems to be in fat burn more when I think should be in cardio.

[jorang]

This one of the shortcomings with the Fitbit university right now. 

As far as I know it is not possible to set own individual max HR. Max HR are calculated from your age (220bpm-age=maxHR).

My own individual Max HR is approx 190bpm but after the general formula it is calculated to be 165bpm (I'm 55 years old). Thus my HR will fall into a wrong HR zone. As calorie burn is calculated from (among other factors) the HR would probably cause the calorie burn to be out of scale.

I'm more or less in the fat burn zone the whole day through....

Fitbit - get the MaxHR setting in place as soon as possible to ensure correct zones and correct caloriburn!

[SunsetRunner]

Did again today on a 90 minute treadmill session, this one is crazy. Gave me an average HR of 138 overall which is peak heart rate for me, it went from 102 to 178 during this session. Most of which was done on a 2% incline at 3.5 mph. With 3.8 for about 20 minutes being highest speed with a 1% incline. About 10 minutes at 7% incline at 3.4mph. Also had HR set "ON" about half the time and on automatic the rest. It's never gotten to peak HR but haven't tried to because arthritis in knees keeps me from running. Going to re start again before next time which will probably be tomorrow.

[VivisFitbit]

Welcome on board @SunsetRunner, @meljack and @Sam_727! If you feel that your heart rate are not accurate, I recommend making sure you're wearing your tracker properly. Under normal activities, you use your tracker a finger width below your wrist bone.  If you're going to perform an activity, you need to wear it a couple of inches higher than usual. Try to use it a bit loose.

Let me know if this helps.  

[SunsetRunner]

I have tried that and everything mentioned in the community, I'm not so worried about it anymore. I just ordered 2 more HR's today. Sometimes it does ok, most times not.
I dought any others do any better and once I'm with a company that does give good support, I don't jump ship!

Sent from my iPad

[VivisFitbit]

Hello there @SunsetRunner! Thank you for your update. Remember we're here to help you anytime you need. I'm glad to know that you ordered a new tracker. Let me know if you need help to set it up, and I'll be happy to help you. 

[Edsabor]

I have a Surge that I got for fathers day. About a month ago it started to stop tracking BMP. The it will strat showing a ready while I was not wearing the device. I restarted the device but same issue happened. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Nice to see you around @Edsabor! Thanks for letting me know about restart you tried. Are you able to see HR information on your Surge band? Is your tracker currently syncing? Where are you seeing this information?  I'd try to restart it a couple of more times, something one single restart is recognized. Please let me know as many details as you can also include pictures if it is possible, it will help me to know exactly what is the next step to try. 

I'll be around, in case you have questions!