Custom heart rate going back to zero

[Stian_od]

My custom max heart rate is going back to zero by itself, also custom min-max.

and then turns itself off.

tried restarting phone/Fitbit, logging out and deleting the app.

it is this way on another one too.

my max heart rate showing for a second and then go back to zero.. and then turns off.

Anyone know the problem?

[MrMarv]

@Schnorkel and others -

You've seen me act the cheerleader but at the same time voice my despair over what could be the premier combination of fitness device and application on the market.

When my Versa 2 started overstating heart rate during exercise by between 15 and 60 bpm, I too, gave up. And yes 60 bpm - a five minute sustained period on the treadmill with a heart rate over 140 and peaking at 156 when a manual check said 96 bpm (the ol' count beats for 15 seconds and multiply by four routine).

Can you imagine my wondering if my defibrillator in my  implant was going to give me the "Big Shock"? 156 is pretty close to the threshold programmed into the device.

And there have also been occasions where the device said I was doing 40 bpm for over a minute five minutes into a three mph treadmill session - 25 bpm under resting heart rate.

And my taking Beta Blockers pretty much guarantees me not being able to reach much over 120 - just not physically possible. That is why i started participating in this thread. I needed to reduce my Max HR from 152 to 120 and, like others, was having difficulty making it stick using the app. And even when I posted the workaround that uses the web, the FitBit servers kept setting it back. Heck, I even documented in one of the threads that changing your stride length immediately resets the Max HR!

I am not thrilled with Apple Health and the Fitness app and it is a bit of a "culture shock" getting used to their terminology, but the Series 6 watch is pretty much bang on when it comes to heart rate when exercising. I have been auditing the bpm during my two-a-day treadmill sessions since I got it on Monday and have had no issues.

Finally, a device that I can hang my heart health on!!!

I still use the FitBit iOS app for food tracking as I have too much invested in my custom foods.

Good luck to all.

[la_Martine]

@MrMarv Just finding this after commenting on your other thread - thanks for sharing this information. Looks like Fitbit didn't implement a solution to this long standing problem yet. I'm not a fan of Apple either for other reasons (short battery life, especially in cold weather). Back to the drawing board! Open to suggestions if anyone has a good recommendations on reliable training watches!

[Schnorkel]

I gave up on Fitbit this year after its failure to fix what it broke in the software. I went back to Garmin, buying a Forerunner 645 Music. Works great, without any of the problems, large and small I had with the Ionic. Couldn’t be happier.
One detail to note: The 645 is all push-buttons and menus, not touch-screen, so there may be a bit of a learning curve for some users. I recommend downloading the users’ manual from Garmin (PDF format) or using the online version while setting it up.

[Rhonda1]

Thanks so much. My Fitbit had put in a max heart rate of 150 for some reason and it was putting into fat burn for way too may hours per day and I couldn’t change it on the app. Now all fixed! 

[BlipBlopDK]

Dear Alejandra,

What is the status on solving this issue?

It has been reported by users since at least June 2020, and still there is no solution. I have a case with support regarding this issue from November 2020 where they have promised to get back, but I have not heard anything for over a month now. It is quite frustrating that Fitbit does not come up with a solution to this issue, as you market yourself with "Exercise smarter with Active Zone Minutes", but your product simply does not live up to that promise, when custom heart rate cannot be set individually and held for a longer period. When changed in the app, it resets immediately and when changed online, it resets within a week or so.

I was in contact with support again yesterday because I wanted a refund for buying the Versa 3, since you do not seem to come up with a solution to this basic feature. I was told this is not possible because refunds are only given within the first 45 days after buying the product. I bought it in October 2020 and contacted support regarding this issue in November 2020 and I was promised that you would look into solving it as fast as possible. Of course I wanted you to solve it, and waited for it, but when you do not, I find it concerning that you afterwards argue that it is now too late for a refund. Honestly, I find this quite rude and quite bad handling of your customers. You stick very narrowly to this refund policy, not considering that I as a customer have actually turned to you for a stable solution to the problem. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and the possibility to solve the issue, and I am then treated like that.

[Liliacea]

I'm now happy owner of a Garmin device. It's a bit bigger than I'd like, and honestly, Fitbit Sense/Versa look better but at least it works as it should. Not only can I set an actual HRmax AND adjust all my HR zones to what I find important, and it sticks, I also get a realistic resting HR and not the Fitbit one which is about 10bpm higher (during daytime, not accounting for sleep). Bye, Fitbit. You messed this one up.

[Schnorkel]

Amén. I did the same. Thanks for pointing out the max resting heart rate problem. That one puzzled me as well. I took my resting heart rate manually, the old-fashioned way, first thing in the morning, and got 52 BMP. Fitbit said it was 71. After I had used my Garmin for awhile I checked what it said was my resting heart rate. It was 52. End of subject.

[Michael24231]

I did that but the settings didn’t stay.  The next day custom max heart rate was off.

[dklchong]

Just waiting for the next gen Garmin vivosmart now. After 4 years of Fitbit and positive experiences with the Charge, Charge 2, Ionic and Inspire HR, I’m just so frustrated that Fitbit can’t or won’t fix the custom HR on the Inspire 2. Sorry Fitbit, you had more than half a year to fix it.

Kind regards

Moderator edit: personal info removed

[Schnorkel]

Amén. I, too bailed on Fitbit after waiting for them to fix their own mistake.

[JML921]

I have had to reset my custom heart rate periodically. I’ve learned that Fitbit is more interested in “lifestyle” users than athletes (or us wannabes) or people who really need to monitor their HR for health reasons. 

I now exercise strenuously 6 or 7 days a week, and Fitbit doesn’t seem interested in serving people like me. It was useful as I was getting my health and fitness act together, but now its questionable hardware, inattention to its software, and inability to scale to more fit users is annoying. So it’s time for this wannabe to move on to a real heart rate monitor, at least when exercising. 

[Schnorkel]

I gave up on Fitbit this year after its failure to fix what it broke in the software. I went back to Garmin, buying a Forerunner 645 Music. Works great, without any of the problems, large and small I had with the Ionic. Couldn’t be happier.
One detail to note: The 645 is all push-buttons and menus, not touch-screen, so there may be a bit of a learning curve for some users. I recommend downloading the users’ manual from Garmin (PDF format) or using the online version while setting it up.

[MrMarv]

And I did the same after 6 years. The software issues contributed, but the main reason was the totally out of control heart rate readings.

I have posted images of outrageous readings during treadmill sessions, including a five minute period where the reported heart rate was over 140 bpm, peaking at 156 bpm. A manual check and a pulse oximeter both reported 96 bpm. I have also posted an image where two separate pulse oximeters reported 84 bpm when my Versa 2 was reporting 108 while I was standing in my Family Room. And with me taking Beta Blockers, it is virtually impossible for me to hit 120 bpm even during exercising. In fact, I rarely hit 100 when walking at 3 mph on the treadmill. 

My Apple Watch Series 6 is very, very accurate, just like the reviews state. Battery life sucks as it is pretty much an iPhone on your wrist and Wi-Fi always on, but charging times are fast - 0-100 in 1.5 hours and I verified that as my watch was at 2% when USPS delivered it on January 4th. Three or four 15 - 20 minute charging sessions a day keeps it at 100% after each charge. One or two showers a day and a little down time after exercising takes care of the charging periods.

Major culture shock with the Apple Watch app, Fitness app and Apple Health combination, but the main reason for having the device is to monitor my viral damaged heart during exercise and it does a great job.

[KateFitbit]

Hi everyone - Our team made mitigating fixes to this issue previously. If you are experiencing an issue with your heart rate, please ensure your firmware and app are up to date. If you still have issues please start a new thread include what you are experiencing, dates/time/activity along with the make and model of your phone. This thread has gone off-topic and will be closed for further responses.