Hi everyone,
I'm using my Fenix 5s watch for ca. month and I noticed a serious issue with HR drops when recording activity. During the activity (mainly walk/hike) HR level seems to be correct, however very often (I would say every second time) after some time (30-60 minutes) it drops to very low level (50-60-70bpm) while it should be ca. 100-120 or even 140. It is not a short drop of HR - I haven't noticed any case when the HR level returned to the normal value, so it can last even an hour. The only solution is to stop recording the activity, restart the watch and start recording activity again - than it shows correct level of HR.
It is not an issue of sweating, high intensity activities with hands, incorrect wear of the watch. I'm also not talking about 10-20% inaccuracy - the issue is that the HR is 50-60-70%% too low. After the restart of the watch HR is correct, so it seem to be a firmware issue (I've the latest version)
I understand quite well advantages & disadvantages of wrist HR monitors as for many years I was using Fitbit devices with wrist HR sensor and I have never faced similar issue.
Have you ever experienced such a problem with Fenix devices?
I send an message to the Garmin support couple of days ago but till now, no answer.
As for now my watch is useless - during activity I have to check every couple of minutes if my HR is still ok.
PS. On the attached picture you can see an example. During standard walk on the flat my HR is way too low (even below my resting HR), usually it is ca. 100 on that path, which I walked many times as it is close to my home.
