OHR Useless With Dark Skin

Disappointing but not unexpected. What is unexpected is the absolute lack of ANY data. I've tried numerous OHR sensors and other then the Apple watch all of them were poor. The F5 is by far the worst. I thought I might have a faulty unit, but I put it on my son (who's bi-racial) and it picked up his HR within a couple of seconds. :rolleyes:

I'll give it another day or two, but will be shutting this off soon. Garmin please offer a thinner and lighter F5 without OHR.

Trying to post pictures but keep getting denied

Link: http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t435/ofayemi/Forums/Screen%20Shot%202017-03-23%20at%208.03.59%20PM_zpsugzklaco.jpg

0 webvan over 8 years ago

Thanks for confirming !

0 srshaw over 8 years ago

I think I have a bum device. After reset I did get a warning to reposition the watch on my wrist which I've never seen before, but the lights rarely stay on for more then a few seconds (even when I'm on the HR widget which should keep the light on).

Ugh, haven't had to do a RMA since the 910xt

I'd be tempted to return it to the seller if possible. I returned my edge 810 through Garmin, and was sent a refurbished unit in exchange for my brand new unit.

In the end, the replacement was also faulty and I got a new one next, and as a bonus it included a new out front mount, speed sensor and heart rate strap so suppose it worked out quite well.

0 Olu.F. over 8 years ago

You read my mind. I bought this from REI. I'll wait until they have some in stock and exchange the unit.

0 Olu.F. over 8 years ago

WEBVAN you are not alone, when I'm wearing the watch every time I 'peak' under the watch the green light is always on with that fast flickering. The only time I see that stop is when I take the watch off and it stops doing the rapid flashing after 4-5 seconds. The watch then seems to switch to a mode where the green light comes on solidly occasionally, which is I guess it searching for a HR whilst also not killing the battery if the user has just taken the watch off.

Mine is nothing like that. The light is usually off until I peak under and then sometimes it will come on. If I go to the HR widget to measure, it may turn on but after a couple of seconds I'll recheck it and then it'll be off. You guys are giving me hope that a new unit might be better.

0 chimpware over 8 years ago

Might not be defective, might just be checking periodically if it can get a reading and if not it shuts off to maintain battery as if you set it on a table or something. I would put it on one of your children for a while and see if it has the same behavior just to check (I remember you saying it could pick up your son's HR I believe).

0 Olu.F. over 8 years ago

My local REI had 1 grey and black in stock! So I exchanged my watch for a new one. This unit is definitely better. The light is almost always on and it's able to get a HR if I'm perfectly still. It takes 20 seconds to get a reading (vs a couple of seconds for my son) which is much longer then the Apple watch. I'll give it a try for a week and evaluate the data, but I have a feeling that my initial assessment won't change.

0 Olu.F. over 8 years ago

A picture is worth a thousand words.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t435/ofayemi/Forums/IMG_1014_zpsx0p7x8zc.png

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t435/ofayemi/Forums/IMG_1013_zpsjvehxngc.png

I need to make a correction to my earlier post. The light IS on more with the new unit, but the readings I thought were from the OHR were from my HRM chest strap I left on after my workout.

Over 72 hours of use the OHR has recorded nothing. Just put the watch on my son's wrist and it picked up within a couple of seconds. This is the most useless OHR that I've used. Clearly darker West African skin wasn't even considered by Garmin. Thankfully I have a year to return it. I was going to sell my F3, but will hang on to it for a little longer.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

Sheds Parc

Olu.F have you tried a Valencell OHR sensor with the yellow LED? The different color supposedly helps with darker skin.

For everyone else, I'm assuming Valencell has some sort of patent on this which is why everyone else uses green LEDs only vs 2 green 1 yellow?

0 chimpware over 8 years ago

A picture is worth a thousand words.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t435/ofayemi/Forums/IMG_1014_zpsx0p7x8zc.png

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t435/ofayemi/Forums/IMG_1013_zpsjvehxngc.png

I need to make a correction to my earlier post. The light IS on more with the new unit, but the readings I thought were from the OHR were from my HRM chest strap I left on after my workout.

Over 72 hours of use the OHR has recorded nothing. Just put the watch on my son's wrist and it picked up within a couple of seconds. This is the most useless OHR that I've used. Clearly darker West African skin wasn't even considered by Garmin. Thankfully I have a year to return it. I was going to sell my F3, but will hang on to it for a little longer.

Really disappointing that the newer design performs worse than the older.

0 Olu.F. over 8 years ago

Really disappointing that the newer design performs worse than the older.

I can't make the leap that the F5 sensor is worse then the previous Garmin sensors. This is the first Garmin OHR I've used, so it's possible the previous generations could be worse (though I can't imagine how). Garmin support has been oddly quiet.

My daughter just got an Apple watch today. Took it about 10 seconds to get a steady 48bpm from my wrist. Maybe by series 4, I'll be able to make the switch to an Apple wach ;)