Indoor Rowing - Heart Rate tracking locks in

Anybody here using Garmin Indoor Rowing app? I have issues when the watch (both F5 and my gf F5s) locks at very low HR, say 85-100 even when I can barely catch my breath. I know there are a lot of conversations here pointing out that the watch has to be in proper position relative to the wrist etc. But this issue mostly happens for indoor rowing, so I'm wondering if this is specific to this activity app. I think I wear it correctly. It's really annoying as it takes sometimes 10 min until it starts showing the "right" data. I usually try to pause/resume the activity, take the watch down, wipe the sensor etc. etc. Didn't notice which of those really helps it to catch up, it does this eventually, when I give up and just focus on rowing :).

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0 TrippyZ over 6 years ago

Try a chest strap.

0 AlexZ131 over 6 years ago

:) Thanks. So, what you're saying is that the watch is useless for HR tracking in case of indoor rowing?

0 jmurenzo over 6 years ago

I prefer the scosche infrared heart rate strap. I have tried both the fenix 5's HR monitor and an external one and the external one always gives me a more accurate / steady reading.

0 Dr Phil over 6 years ago

what you're saying is that the watch is useless for HR tracking in case of indoor rowing?

And almost any other kind of 'active' activity. Take a stroll through some of the many posts about optical/wrist HR dotted throughout all the devices with optical HR in this forum.

scosche infrared heart rate strap.

Scosche is optical too, (LED) not infrared.

0 mcalista over 6 years ago

I haven't tried it for indoor rowing, but the wrist sensor works pretty well for me for most activities.

I'm guessing that it is something to do with the positioning of your wrist while gripping the "oar". You could try wearing the watch further up your wrist, well away from where the wrist flexes during your stroke, with the band tight so the watch doesn't move.

OHR devices can be slow to respond to changes in heart rate. Removing the watch and starting again makes it even harder for the watch to pick up the correct HR - try to hold a steady effort with minimal wrist movement.

0 2818773 over 5 years ago

Over a year later, I am here to say I have the exact same problem and it is extremely frustrating. It really appears to me to be more of an error within software or something since it distinctly (and accurately) corrects itself after a certain period of time (maybe 8-15 mins after start). Wearing a chest strap is not an acceptable alternative IMO, I've experienced this too consistently and something really seems to be wrong. It almost also seems like it wants to go through a “warm up” period of time and rowing can have very quick and accelerated HR’s. I have numerous tracked indoor rowing exercises that show this early time period with low HR.

0 6985431 over 5 years ago in reply to 2818773

Same issue with the tracker during indoor rowing workouts. My heart rate during relatively intense intervals hovers around 90. Hanging my arm at my side during a break and it jumps to the 150s. When walking it can break 100. I did not have this issue with my Fitbit - so it can be done right with wrist based monitors. Have not yet tried rowing without it in indoor rowing mode. Will try that next. Note that my rowing workouts are generally no more then 15-20 minutes and so I don’t know if it would self correct if continued for 30 minutes or so.

0 Anand P over 4 years ago

I had the same issue with the Vivoactive 3. The second time around I tied the watch slightly tighter before the rowing session and had a homogeneous hand movement. My watch recorded the heart rate correctly.

0 dpruitt over 4 years ago

Same issue. Heart rate strap doesn't perform any better. Both the watch-base hr and chest strap hr work well with any other activity. It is only the indoor rowing activity that is a problem.

0 jamesxp over 4 years ago in reply to dpruitt

So I have used a 235 and a vivo3 music with rowing machines and outdoor rowing and both have had the same issue. It's to do with the height of your hands and angle of your wrists making it harder to detect a pulse. Move the centre of your watch to about 6-7cm back up your forearm from your ulnar styloid (little knuckle on your wrist same side as little finger). Tighten the strap slightly. This will allow the sensors to pickup the pulse correctly. I currently use the vivo3 with a Concept 2 PM5 and it all works every time. It's not just Garmin.....most watches using these sensors have a problem with pulse detection during rowing.

I should add here... I also have the garmin premium dual HRM (chest strap) and never use it for rowing as the watch works fine (if positioned as above). Only difference I can see with the chest strap is it picks up the heart rate changes faster but there is little in it. I even compared it with a Polar+chest strap and they were almost identical.

Hope this helps anyone with the same issues.