OHR Useless With Dark Skin

I am very sorry, can almost feel your disappointment. Not sure what can be done. Just to say that I am still learning the ways with oHR, not quite happy either, but at least it is working with my white skin.

Broadwater vincente

The OHR is not of great value it only offers, at best, a general idea of your heart rate and is not reliable for training HR, if you want real data put on a HRM and pair it to your device.

Well if it can make you feel better, oHR can never be completely relied on, one day it works fine and the next day it loses the plot with no obvious reason and that's for steady runs. For interval running it's even worse. The first interval generally doesn't get picked up.

Garmin please offer a thinner and lighter F5 without OHR.

I knew I'd win you over ;)

The fenix 5X without the OHRM would be my next purchase in a nanosecond.

Come on, Garmin, we know you can do this!

I've trained and raced several Ironmans using HR. I'd NEVER depend on OHR for training data and never planned to use it for such. What would've been nice would be to see general HR during the day and when sleeping.

Gaijin, I never disagreed with you on this one ;). I would've never purchased a watch with OHR if they offered one without it.

OHR has plenty of situations that it provides a benefit and great accuracy. It's newer tech that is constantly improving, so removing it/giving up is NOT the answer IMO, even in the case of making it an option in the Fenix. It's the future.

As more data is collected, tested, and tweaked, it will get smarter and allow for the algorithm to detect and auto-adjust for situations and needs for light intensity changes, depending on hydration level, skin color, and everything else that's a factor.

The F5 seems to be working really well on me, but I know better than to assume everyone else will experience the same accuracy as I. The tech has a ways to go to cover more conditions, of course. One thing that's being looked at is the limitations of the green light. Even if it's cost effective and energy efficient, there are things being tested and developed around the red-light (NIRS) which potentially has better penetration in some situations, but what, if any, negatives come with the alternative may be TBD.
https://medium.com/bsxtechnologies/red-light-versus-green-light-74fdd5fe7027

Olu, sorry to hear it's not working for you. Have read a few complaints about darker skin having trouble with OHR. I have tested against chest strap and in most instances OHR works well for me, but YMMV.

My coach has trouble with OHR on 735XT in cold weather, where my contention is some people may have reduced blood flow in very cold weather to surface capillaries used to measure HR with OHR. This seems to be more prevalent with women from what I have seen.

OHR continues to improve, but won't completely replace a HR strap in the near future, but Olu, why do you care you should be running based on Power anyway ;).

It's newer tech that is constantly improving, so removing it/giving up is NOT the answer IMO, even in the case of making it an option in the Fenix. It's the future.

Recording HR optically is NOT a newer technology. It's been around for decades. Like I said before, I'm no stranger to OHR. I've used Mio, Scosche, Whoot, Fitbit, and Apple products. All were able to pick up my HR from the wrist. Whoot and the Apple watch were accurate enough to work even well during workouts (usually within a couple of bpm compared to a HR strap). I'm just surprised that this watch can't pick up my HR AT ALL. I know how big corporations work and I don't expect Garmin to make a non HR model if it will cost them more in R&D (which I doubt), but you'd think with all their other OHR products they would've released a stronger OHR product in their flagship.

I am willing to entertain the idea that my OHR might be faulty. Question to the F5 owners, is the light on your OHR on ALL the time? Mine is off almost every time I check it. It's even off sometimes when I turn to the HR widget.

Recording HR optically is NOT a newer technology. It's been around for decades. Like I said before, I'm no stranger to OHR. I've used Mio, Scosche, Whoot, Fitbit, and Apple products. All were able to pick up my HR from the wrist. Whoot and the Apple watch were accurate enough to work even well during workouts (usually within a couple of bpm compared to a HR strap). I'm just surprised that this watch can't pick up my HR AT ALL. I know how big corporations work and I don't expect Garmin to make a non HR model if it will cost them more in R&D (which I doubt), but you'd think with all their other OHR products they would've released a stronger OHR product in their flagship.

I am willing to entertain the idea that my OHR might be faulty. Question to the F5 owners, is the light on your OHR on ALL the time? Mine is off almost every time I check it. It's even off sometimes when I turn to the HR widget.

Mine is yet to arrive, but given it is meant to sample heart rate every second, you should certainly be seeing the lights regularly. It cannot sample without the light, so you most likely have a faulty unit. Have you tried a factory reset?

Mine is working with my dark skin so far. Sorry bud. I'm still going to try to wear chest strap when I want the best data.