Heart rate inaccurate

[Musky1987]

I got the Surge because I have a tendancy to go into AFIB.  I've had it for six months now and keep finding weird things happening.

1) I'll run three miles and my heart rate average is 125 and then cool down and walk for 10 minutes (stopping the run on the watch and starting a walk exercise) and my average heart rate for the 10 minutes will be 134).  How does this happen? The same thing occurs if I walk to the gym - it's 15 minutes away, my walking heart rate will be higher than a Crossfit 30 minute work out! No WAY!

2) For the last several weeks, when I drive into the office - 45min drive, my heart rate will say it's in the 90's to 100's but if I take the watch off and put it back on, it goes back down to the 70s.  Or, if I don't, as soon as I walk into the office, it goes to the 60's.  I can guarantee you my drive is not that strenuous and didn't see this behavior in the previous five months.

Is anyone else having these issues which leads me to not be as compelled to wear this device as a tool to track my heart and it's health but use only for a work out tool?  And if that's the case, I might as well get a heart strap which is more accurate.

[PaulaC222]

Same thing is happening to my device. I actually just turned the heart monitor off because it was annoying me so much. So much for the $200+ perfect device. 

[J-flex]

I have issues with the HR monitor and don't rely on it as it is never accurate. When I go for my walks I wear a HR monitor around my chest and it gives me excellent and accurate HR reading. Its too bad I have to monitor my HR this way but I know at least I am getting accurate HR results. I've followed all the advice & suggestions from Fitbit regarding HR monitoring with no success.

[Musky1987]

Pretty sad after spending so much money for a device touted to do just that and it's very inaccurate. It almost seems like the last update made it way worse.

[chris2121]

The heart rate monitor is NOT accurate and is prone to both over-reading and under-ready by non-trivial amounts.

There's plenty of people posting on the forums here who have similar experience.

What I don;t know is how much better any of the other wrist devices are.  Seems that if you want accurate buy a chest strap.

[J-flex]

That is why I wear a chest strap when biking/walking as I want/need accurate information. I am currently enrolled in a supervised fitness program and we all wear chest monitors to accurately monitor our heart rates.

[KevinCT]

Walking in cold winter weather leads to high heart rates.

[YojanaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Fitbit Community @Musky1987, @PaulaC222 and @KevinCT. Thank you @J-flex, and @chris2121 for jumping in! 

@Musky1987 I would like to add that Heart rate reading varies depending on several factors like movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication. If you haven't already done so, please review our information and tips for heart rate accuracy. Fitbit tracker are not a medical device, but you can rely on the information for your daily workouts. 

Occasionally the tracker can have difficulty finding a signal, typically due to the tracker's fit. For example, wearing your band tightly may constrict blood flow in your wrist and affect the signal. We also recommend experimenting with how high you place the tracker on your wrist. When you're not exercising, wearing the tracker just above the wrist bone--as you would a watch--typically works fine. However, moving the tracker up a couple inches can be helpful during high-intensity exercises or exercises that cause you to bend your wrist frequently. 

Though we've found that PurePulse provides better overall heart rate tracking than cardio machines or chest straps since it tracks your heart rate day and night, wrist placement during certain vigorous exercise is important. Review the information on optimal wear closely and make sure you follow the recommendations,  you can find some wearing tips here in this post. 

By default your tracker's heart rate setting is "Auto," which means the heart rate sensors are on when the tracker is on your wrist. To verify you didn't accidentally turn the sensors off, scroll to Settings on your Surge. 

As you said that you didn't see this behavior in the previous five months until now, you can perfom a hard restart on you Surge, in case that is a hardware issue. If you're taking or have changed your medication recently, you HR reading will change too. If you prefer to use a heart strap instead/along with Fitbit is up to you, since considering the heart condition that you mentioned in your first post you should be really careful in this matter. 

I hope this information helps, I'll be around in caset that you have questions about it!

[dogenzenji]

In my experience the HR monitor is good and spot on for all day monitoring. When I exercise it lags and is not accurate for spikes. After a vigorous bike ride for example if I walk the dogs the device thinks I am running a marathon. But you are comparing apples and oranges. A chest strap will be more accurate. Mine is. A lot of people don't like them. A good alternative is the scosche rhythm plus that broadcasts to ant and Bluetooth simultaneously. You wear it on your upper arm and in my experience is as accurate as a chest strap. It has crap battery life though. For monitoring my RHR I am happy with the Surge

[Chris1963]

"Though we've found that PurePulse provides better overall heart rate tracking than cardio machines or chest straps since it tracks your heart rate day and night, wrist placement during certain vigorous exercise is important."

Seriously? Better overall tracking than cardio machines or chest straps because it records day an night? Please can you explain that in a little more detail? I wear a chest strap as the Surge is way out at critical times during exercise, such as hill climbs for max HR and for recovery HR. I need to know whether I'm at 190bpm, the Surge absolutely cannot do that, it either shows no recording or is 30-40bpm behind.

Also, a chest strap can record continuously if left on, just as if I take the Surge off at night or in the bath it won't record. Resting HR is about all the Surge is capable of with a degree of accuracy and this is not anecdotal, this is me wearing one for two years and trying every variant of adjustment I could. It is not a tool for measuring accurate HR or HR zones during exercise. So how you can say it's a better for overall tracking is misleading if not a downright falsehood.   

[YojanaFitbit]

Thanks for sharing @dogenzenji, it's always useful to have user experience since you're the one in contact with both products. 

@Chris1963 let me clarify this information,  "PurePulse provides better overall heart rate tracking than cardio machines or chest straps since it tracks your heart rate day and night" PurePulse is designed for all day wear and tracking, giving you a more complete picture of your health and fitness overall. You're right about how to wear Fitbit Surge Vs. chest traps. Good thing about Surge is that is capable to read your sleep and continually monitor your HR. Depending on how people feel more comfortable, some might use wristbands and some others might prefer chest straps. About heart rate reading when you're working out, a chest strap definitely will have better readings since it's located closer to your heart and a tracker is taking the pulse from your arm.

See you around! 

[mikeslub]

Agree, it is very inaccurate for exercise, particularly in cold weather.  I rely on my Apple Watch for more accurate heart rate monitoring.  I wear both.  😎