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Outdoor cycling heart rate issues

8878975
over 1 year ago

I need some help. I did my first outdoor ride of the year a month ago after riding indoors for the winter. My heart rate monitor wouldn't exceed 100 bpm. I rode yesterday and my heart rate ranged from 160 to 170. So all is good. Well, today I rode again and my heart rate, again, wouldn't go over 100 bpm. I stopped and switched from bike outdoors to bike indoors and my heart rate was back to the 160-170 range. Has anyone experienced this or have a solution? I don't use a chest monitor, if that is what you're wondering and I'm up to date on all updates.  Further, this was not an issue last summer.  

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 5135968

    There's one difference between Epix 51mm and Forerunner 745/965 that's bound to affect cycling heart rate detection: the Epix is twice as heavy. This means it's vibrating on your wrist more, making optical HR more difficult. I noticed this myself when I moved from Fenix 5+ to 965: just looking at the watch while riding shows that the 965 (which is also flatter in addition to lighter) bounces less. (Of course in my case the HR sensors are also different, so I'm talking just about visible vibrations).

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Bitti

    I do not think it is a vibration issue and Garmin have not suggested this, and they have the data behind this chart - they tell me this is normal and expected! Which is BS of the highest order of course...

    I think the issue is that Support see an *average* bpm which is within 5 or 6 bpm of the HRM Pro and think it's all fine, but the second by second comparison tells a completely different story. You can see several examples when my HR ramps up the Epix 51mm stays way way low. On some rides results are better but all rides have several examples of this staying far too low trend. 

    I think it's locking to pedalling cadence if anything.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 5135968

    This is ridiculous! The chart clearly shows that something is wrong. You say it was working fine before the update?

    I received my Epix Pro 51 two days ago. I used two times and compared it against chest strap + edge and I see something similar to your chart. I updated to the beta version and today seemed a little "better" but still differences of 10-20 bpm.

    Thanks for sharing all these data. If it is not useful for Garmin it is definetively useful for some of us. TBH I'm going to return the Epix on Monday... 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Victor P
    Victor P said:
    You say it was working fine before the update?

    The Epix 51mm which I had on Day 1 updated to 13.22 on June so all data is from that - I do not have any results from earlier firmware. 

    Personally I will just use my HRM Pro+ 

    I should say for running intervals the results are just fine, its the cycling use-case that seems to have issues.

    Running - steady + ramp up

    Running - Intevals

    Clearly as the running results show, its not a hardware issue - it's simply a firmware algorithm issue or more likely some corner case that some of us see - but if you see it, its blatant. I think because even with the 'bad' data the average seems plausible so people with anecdotes saying everything is fine may have it, but fail to see it. Or maybe they do not have it. But for those of us with weeks of data, its super obvious as you can see from the contrast between my running and cycling results.

    How Garmin have this data but cannot see it, is a different question! If they do not believe me, they should listen to Quantified Scientist or others on this thread.

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 5135968

    do you have gaps in respiration chart with hrm pro plus ?  I rarely have stable full length respiration chart on running activities.  today workout I got the respiration data back but still gaps like bfore 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Mike Y

    I do not seem to have any gaps in respiration data for either running or cycling


  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 5135968

    try look at it in garmin connect website,  sometimes it doesnt show on gcm app

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Mike Y

    Doesn't seem to make a difference - no gaps for me

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to 5135968

    Try keep an eye on it in future sessions. See if drops and cause gap. At rare times I do have full chart.  But mostly have gaps.  Which I suspect is also why I no longer get lactate threshold updates since March 

    I changed to a new hrm pro plus and still have this behavior. Annoying 

    Wonder if is epix ant+ issue ( but other people are getting this bug too in accessory n sensor forum ) or latest  firmware bs  ( I been using hrm pro plus since the day it went retail ) 

  • 0 over 1 year ago in reply to Mike Y
    Mike Y said:
    Wonder if is epix ant+ issue

    I am using ANT (would not have running dynamics) and there is only firmware version for the HRM Pro Plus  which is 8.80 - there  have been no updates.

    That sounds like people theorising with no data to back it up to me.

    I think the Sensor and Accessory forum is the place to discuss this, not here? As its nothing to do with wrist HR which is the topic here.