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Instinct Solar Pulse Ox not working

Former Member
Former Member

I bought a Garmin Instinct Solar a little under a week ago. At first, the pulse ox was working. However, since yesterday I can't get a reading. I tried restarting the watch, tightening it, and loosening the band... nothing seemed to work. Any suggestions? 

  • 1. Manual measurement start working correctly since FW 11.76. But if you open Pulse Ox widget and wait for a while - it will work.

    2. If your Bettery is low - Pulse Ox doesn't work (at least I noticed it on FW 12.00)

    Try to update your watch FW to 12.00 Release Candidate and Sensors Hub FW to 5.00

  • I have the same issue on mine.  It worked the other day, now it just spins and spins and never gets a reading.  The battery is full and it's tight on my wrist.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to revcph

    Yeah, it is a little frustrating. Garmin ended up having me send it back to them and they replaced it. But my new one is doing the same thing. It took a pulse ox once, and then since there it just spins. I don't know what to do... very disappointing. 

  • I had the same problem. But now i realized that the measurement is not working when the hr is to variable. So when i manually start the measuremen if i sit down and keep calm, it works fine.

  • Same for mine.Till today, it was great.After update PulseOx   is not working.

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    I have the exact same issue worked fine first couple times then just spins and spins.

  • Mine is doing the same thing. BUT when I took the watch off my wrist and put my finger over the sensors it worked! So there is some sensitivity issue with using it on the wrist.

  • Many thanks,I just tried like you have said,with my finger and it worked. Many thanks! 

  • I think I have figured it out.
    1. With my instinct 2 solar on my wrist.
    2. Hold my arm with the watch at eye level, (so I'm looking at the watch face.
    3. Hold my arm still.
    4. Press the button to start the pulse ox check.

    It works!

    (I noticed a garmin document for troubleshooting that said hold the watch at heart level to run the test, but I'm finding it works better at eye level.)