Heart rate vs Garmin

[ucol]

friends who has other heart rate device, please share your data. thanks.

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[Moocow1980]

Every time I have ever measured my heart rate using a multitude of different blood pressure devices (yeah, I go to doctors a lot and anymore, even a doctor who just stares at you for 10 minutes and does nothing will require it, but anyway...) I have seen the FitBit Surge sync great in BPM, an error ratio I would say of +/- 1. That accurate. Never have had an issue with the BPM.

I won't doubt your issues as I've had my own. Just passing on my two cents.

[ucol]

good to know, thanks for share,

I think the difference of our cases is the measurement during the still status and running.

I will continue to compare them.

[rishab]

I think the best thing to do is, use the fitbit and then do a  manual check (old fashioned way). Do that in couple of situations and it would give a good picture. I've seen the fitbit give erratic counts at times but  I think its more to do with the position of the fitbit at that time.

[SunsetRunner]

Wahoo BlueHR Chest strap (w/Endomondo) vs. Fitbit

OK... I recognize this is a crappy way of comparing data, but I only have Spin measurements to compare (at this moment) and the Fitbit dashboard doesn't provide a TCX file if there is no GPS signal. Endomondo does, so I imported that into Excel and overlayed (tried to get scaling as accurate as possible) the Fitbit chart from the same Spin class.

I'll repeat this when I run Sunday, with both devices, and share that after if interested.

Fitbit - Red, Wahoo HR/Endomono - Blue.

Yes, there are some irregularities, esp. at the end, but I attribute that to the fitbit sliding down my sweaty arm from its 3-finger up position, and me pushing it back up.

More unsettling for me is that the Fitbit quoted 611 kcal, and Endomondo 798kcal.

[ucol]

thanks for sharing, your two sets of hr data fit pretty well!

I will do more compare w/ garmin hr strap.

[ErickFitbit]

@ucol In order to improve the readings, I recommend trying out the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section of our Heart Rate FAQs page.

@SunsetRunner As for your concern about calorie burn, check out the "How does Fitbit estimate how many calories I've burned?" article.

[SunsetRunner]

 @ErickFitbit

Useless article. Absolutely useless. Tells me nothing useful. 

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@ErickFitbit wrote:

@ucol In order to improve the readings, I recommend trying out the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section of our Heart Rate FAQs page.

@SunsetRunner As for your concern about calorie burn, check out the "How does Fitbit estimate how many calories I've burned?" article.

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[Racerx67]

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@ErickFitbit wrote:

@ucol In order to improve the readings, I recommend trying out the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section of our Heart Rate FAQs page.

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That is a little pointless if you do excercise that will allow the watch to drop down your arm or needs it to be festened tight enough to say up your arm. Too tight effects accuracy as your FAQ'a also show and if it drops it effects it too.... So to keep it where it works best it either needs you to wear a sweat band below it to stop it sliding down or you have to accept it could slide down or be too tight and it effects its accuracy.. Sorry.. Just pointing out the issue as I see it. Unless you wear a top with long sleeves over the watch and it is tight/loose enough to allow it to stay put and not be uncomfortable. 

[ucol]

@Thank you, @Racerx67

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@Racerx67 wrote:

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@ErickFitbit wrote:

@ucol In order to improve the readings, I recommend trying out the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section of our Heart Rate FAQs page.

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That is a little pointless if you do excercise that will allow the watch to drop down your arm or needs it to be festened tight enough to say up your arm. Too tight effects accuracy as your FAQ'a also show and if it drops it effects it too.... So to keep it where it works best it either needs you to wear a sweat band below it to stop it sliding down or you have to accept it could slide down or be too tight and it effects its accuracy.. Sorry.. Just pointing out the issue as I see it. Unless you wear a top with long sleeves over the watch and it is tight/loose enough to allow it to stay put and not be uncomfortable. 

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for this case, I did pay attension to the wearing surge, not too loose to easily slide down, not too tight that make me uncomfortable.

fr225 was terrible when I didn't wear it in the right way, 

but after I tighted it, same way I did to the surge, I think, fr225 improved a lot, but surge did not.

btw, I even used fr225 together with garmin swim in my swimming activity to record the hr

[ucol]

another finding is the difference of LED intensity, maybe I should wear the surge inside the wrist where the skin is more "tender" 

[ErickFitbit]

@SunsetRunner Did you read the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section as this is the important information for your question.

@Racerx67 I wear my Surge tight enough so it doesn't slip during activity. You may have slippier sweat than I do then since mine doesn't move during my workouts and isn't at all uncomfortably tight.

@ucol We recommend only wearing the Surge on the top of the wrist, not on the inside. If you're still experiencing issues with your Surge, reach out to our Support Team who can take a closer look at the back-end data to further assist you.

[bbarrera]

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@ErickFitbit wrote:

@SunsetRunner Did you read the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section as this is the important information for your question.

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@ErickFitbit you didn't read @SunsetRunner posts as his HR accuracy is very good. His question is regarding calorie estimates. On a related note, I've given up on Fitbit calorie estimates as they aren't accuate, and I either eat too much or too little. Crazy making.

[Racerx67]

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@ErickFitbit wrote:

@SunsetRunner Did you read the "What impacts the accuracy of my heart rate reading?" section as this is the important information for your question.

@Racerx67 I wear my Surge tight enough so it doesn't slip during activity. You may have slippier sweat than I do then since mine doesn't move during my workouts and isn't at all uncomfortably tight.

@ucol We recommend only wearing the Surge on the top of the wrist, not on the inside. If you're still experiencing issues with your Surge, reach out to our Support Team who can take a closer look at the back-end data to further assist you.

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I do get that and mine is not really tight either but still there are times the HR is not accurate.  The last little MTB ride I did also passed through Sherwood Forest's Major Oak visitor area where there is no riding allowed so you have to walk. It is also the most natural place to stop for a quick lunch break. As it shows a map along with HR on the graph I know where I was and what I was doing at that time. The HR graph should have not gone above about 110 to 115bpm in this area as I was walking and cooling down. 

But overall it is more of a guide and over 24 hours would be a good average. 

The point is it can be OK but there can also be a big variation of the watch is not in the correct place when you are active or simply doing something. If I had not been mapping the ride I would not have known this was not accurate as I would have had no map to refer too. I would have thought I had been pushing hard. But I also know this was a sedate ride with a friend who could not keep up even at a lower pace and I can see where I had to wait for him too..Each of the speed drops to zero where where I had to wait for him. You can also see the average speed was low (apart from several road sections) and would never have been a hard workout pushing my HR that high. 

I dont use it as a serious fitness tool and I know it has compromises as do I not wanting to wear a chest strap etc. But going from riding to walking and the watch moving is the probable cause of the wild reading.  You can see my speed is very slow and had been a constant pace (walking) for a few minutes 

[ucol]

new data from running today:

[SunsetRunner]

This is from my 10 mile run this morning. Tracks really well for half of it. Goes a little wonky in spots. Overall, much better performance than what I see above.

[ucol]

thank you @SunsetRunner

I have to get more device to test~

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

This is from my 10 mile run this morning. Tracks really well for half of it. Goes a little wonky in spots. Overall, much better performance than what I see above.

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[bbarrera]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

This is from my 10 mile run this morning. Tracks really well for half of it. Goes a little wonky in spots. Overall, much better performance than what I see above.

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The wonky spots are long enough to screw up my over/under threshhold training.

[ucol]

new data here,

what happened afer red line?

[bbarrera]

imPurePulse?

Surge lost the beat, good thing it isn't a musician!