Heart rate not tracking at start of activity

Hello,
so i guess you are using the optical HR-Sensor of your 5x for the activity?
If this is the case, two requirements for correct readings of your heartrate:

(-1-) make sure to really tighten the wristband of your watch before starting your activity. Even so tight you have to loosen it afterwards.

(-2-) it is necessary to wear the watch like this ; and not like this

Best regards,
Thomas

So I'm still trying to narrow this down, but it seems as though the HR is not being accurately tracked after starting a new activity. Here are the observations so far.
Start fenix 5x for an elliptical activity.
Start workout.
A couple min in I notice my HR is still showing 60-70.
I can tell it's higher.
Grab the elliptical HR monitor and measure HR in the 130's
Stop fenix 5x activity. Restart fenix 5x activity.
Fenix immediately starts ramping the HR up to 130's and tracks correctly for rest of workout.

Anyone else? I'm running the 7.93 beta, but almost certain I saw this in 7.6 as well.

Other than that, life with Fenix 5x is great (sarcasm). This is just the latest from their random data generator fitness watch.

I have noticed the exact same behavior, regardless of wrist position with my Fenix 5X (running 7.93 beta, noticed on 7.6 as well). I have tried very tight, to slightly loose. But for me, I have multiple HR straps so I tend to use one of those during an activity. Then rely on my optical HR for normal analysis during the day and night.

I would however like to rely on my wrist optical HR during an activity as well, especially for indoor trainer rides, etc.

Hello,
so i guess you are using the optical HR-Sensor of your 5x for the activity?
If this is the case, two requirements for correct readings of your heartrate:

(-1-) make sure to really tighten the wristband of your watch before starting your activity. Even so tight you have to loosen it afterwards.

(-2-) it is necessary to wear the watch like this ; and not like this

Best regards,
Thomas

All good suggestions. I do where my fitness trackers tight. I've been using different brands for years and it's definitely the way to go to help ensure better performance. I don't believe it is a positioning issue either. I do wear them higher up as well, and as I noted above, what starts the tracking accurately again is the action of pausing the activity and restarting. There is no position change. Release 8 update just came down so I'll be looking to see if there is any change.

Now if they could just get the altimeter working with some degree of accuracy, maybe I can get some data that makes sense.
Or the scale data to post in connect without being wiped out.

Sad that a <$200 fitbit has about the same accuracy, works about the same, and integrates better. I'm not sure what the premium price point gets you. I thought it was a premise of you get what you pay for and I was willing to pay for better, but I don't see it.

So upgrading to version 8 didn't help. I've attached a screen shot that shows how HR tracking is off at the start of an activity. It actually gets worse the longer I work out. Doing a simple pause and immediate restart of the activity appears to cause the Fenix 5 to begin tracking a little more closely to actual HR, but after the first 2 attempts it was still way off. Finally on the 3rd pause/restart the Fenix 5 finally began tracking with an expected degree of accuracy. If I wasn't standing on an elliptical to verify the error, how am I supposed to believe my data in the field without stopping every 5 min to see if the device is working?

Let me stress, there was no change in position of the watch or tightening of the band. Just one finger press of pause and restart.

Also note the temperature profile in the attached graph. This modest variance doesn't bother me as much, but it seem a bit odd and may be another sign there are odd things happening at times.

[Sarcasm alert] How can this be a 5th generation piece of hardware, 8th software release for the platform, and 1yr + after launch of a flagship product and still be this bad? I've become a bit cynical in part due to the level of apathy I see from Garmin. It's as if the Garmin support/help desk teams have just come to accept this poor level of performance from a premium priced flagship product. When I call in I just get more useless links on how I'm supposed to change the way I walk or swing my arms over my head when walking flights of stairs, etc.

I have even raised the possibility that I just have a bad device, but support seems to have become numb, and accepts all the anomalies as normal/typical.

Tonight was a new record! A whole 6 min of good HR data in a 20 min elliptical workout. It only took 4 pause/restarts and a power on/off. Of course with this much missing Hr data the calorie estimates are equally off.

It wasn’t until after the reboot the HR quickly jumped up to an accurate reading. Roughly 1.5 times higher then the pre-reboot reading (90 before and 145 after). No change in position or band tightening.

There’s a whole line of management asleep at the wheel behind this product. This thing is a P.O.S. (Piece of s...)

I have noticed the exact same behavior, regardless of wrist position with my Fenix 5X (running 7.93 beta, noticed on 7.6 as well). I have tried very tight, to slightly loose. But for me, I have multiple HR straps so I tend to use one of those during an activity. Then rely on my optical HR for normal analysis during the day and night.

I would however like to rely on my wrist optical HR during an activity as well, especially for indoor trainer rides, etc.

Curious if you are having any luck finding someone to acknowledge or resolve this issue at Garmin? I’m still facing radio silence and apathy. Are others just not validating data? Or are they afraid to acknowledge just how badly their premium device works? Worked out next to my friend tonight. She wears a Fitbit....0 restarts required. Accurate data from start to finish.

I called this in again today and I was at least told this was a now a recognized issue and my name/email would be added to the case. Sure would be nice if Garmin would share the same info in these forums. If you are experiencing this issue as well you can call and have your name added to the case and you should get an email if/when it is addressed.

It does seem to have got 'worse' the last couple of updates. Mine used to take a 'few' minutes to ramp up to the right HR but now I have noticed it can be a good two or three miles into a ride before it catches up.

It does seem to have got 'worse' the last couple of updates. Mine used to take a 'few' minutes to ramp up to the right HR but now I have noticed it can be a good two or three miles into a ride before it catches up.

It has been mostly ~ok~ when I am on a stationary bike. Probably just jinxed myself. For me, elliptical has been HORRIBLE. You can see one of my graphs above. Truthfully, the bike is a cool down for me so there’s never a significant ramp-up during the ride. Maybe once I’m back outside.

Worse part about all this is I don’t trust any of the data. It always outputs something so we get distracted by pretty graphs and like to believe there is a degree of accuracy, but once you start trying to compare data from day to day the quality of data becomes highly suspect.

I tend to ride 'hell for leather' (Well my idea of that) from the get go so it (my hr) spikes pretty quickly - takes the watch some time to catch up. More gradual run ins tend to record better. I notice it doesn't pick up very well on 'breathers' either - if I stop for 30secs or so, can feel more heart rate dropping quickly but the watch will still have it spiked up. It'll start to drop once I move again.

The HR belt tends to be a lot better at subtle changes like that. I did find that if I tighten the watch, rode for a few minutes before setting off it kept track quite well - though have seen it (lately) to take longer to start recording closer to where it 'feels' my HR is. Panting like a crazed fool and watch says HR 88. Wish I was that fit!

Personally I don't tend to bother much with HR. GPS, distance, speed and cadence, etc, are where I want accuracy!