Sleep tracking not accurate ...

Hi All

I got Fenix 6x Pro two weeks ago upgrading from Fenix 3 HR. I love the new watch and I was really pleased to see much more detailed sleep tracking to my old watch. I started checking my sleep record after each night and...

Last week was really tough for me. Tough negotiations at work resulted in a lot of stress and sleepless nights. I literally couldn't sleep at all, maybe had few rounds of sleep but woke up after really short time, then just lying for few minutes, turning, rolling, then standing up and going to the bathroom... In the record in the morning I can see I had 7 hours of sleep, the only difference is that it recorded only 8 minutes of deep sleep and a lot of REM and light sleep, which is obviously not true ... I know that a watch cannot know whether I'm actually asleep but recording a light sleep when I'm actually standing up and walking to the bathroom is clearly wrong...

Another thing is stress. I had stress peaks last week when I really physically felt bad and the stress ratio was high, but then I managed to get really relaxed through meditation and just refocusing and it was still high...

can this be improved somehow, maybe it needs time to learn my patterns, or is it just all we can get from a device like Fenix ... ?

  • Thanks for your input. I just noticed the "smart" and "every second" tracking setting, I wonder if this would help...

  • What you describe seems like a typical deep sleep pattern. It usually happens during the first part of the night. Ideally you'd get 1-2 hours of deep sleep. If you are too stressed, or in depression you don't get that ... I can see I'm getting too little of deep sleep, sometimes just 40 minutes, maximum I had was 90.

    Accuracy wise I just noticed how inaccurate it was and posted this question. I know I wasn't sleeping and it shown me 7 hours... only 7-8 minutes of deep sleep which actually might be accurate ...

    Basically my opinion is that it doesn't do well with abnormal situations (like my stressful week).

  • I have the same problem! I wake up every night almost maybe 1 hour or more. The sleep tracking does not realise at all. This night i was walking, going up an dow in the house and still nothing. Very long REM instead of awake. It showing awake only i push the button to see the screen. Then shows me 1 min awake. Is a fenix 6 pro titanium. I am coming from fenix 3 but for sleep tracking i was using samsung gear s3 what is far much much better sleep accuracy. I am really dissapointed. Should i send for warranty? I have the watch since 2 weeks now from shop. Not by internet to have a chance to send back with no reason. 

  • Do you have all Activity Tracking functions enabled?

  • I have all, except pulse ox to save some battery. This night i wake up around 3 am till 4 am and slep till 7:30 And the sleep tracking shows me something totally diferent.

  • With the pulse ox on is the same. If i push a button on the watch to show him clearly i am awake he will record a r min awake time. If i dont touch the watch i can do whatever i want is still recording sleep or maybe REM. But if i go to the bathroom how can it be REM?

  • Garmin's sleep tracking is just awful for me; it's comically bad. From my own observations on these forums, it seems like many people who don't sleep well are noticing large inaccuracies while people who DO sleep well tend to believe that the data is accurate.

    Here's my graph from last night:

    I was actually in bed, fully awake and reading an eBook until around 9:50pm where it shows me in a light, then deep sleep and then awake for a brief period of time. I was up and out of bed, going back 'n forth between the kitchen and the living room after 3:04am, where it shows me in rem sleep (and the motion graph shows a high level of motion, which is pretty unlikely to happen in rem sleep).

    This is pretty typical of how Garmin records my sleep. Disappointed

  • My sleep tracking is pretty bad.  I don't think it is using the heart rate along with movement properly.  I am getting accurate representations as to when I'm not moving much though.  I set my sleep from 7:01am to 7:00am and it's picking up my sleep and naps now.   I have SPO2 enabled for sleep and it isn't on when I'm not asleep, so it's not killing my battery either.

  • Just after 3 it shows that you were awake...

    What are your settings for sleeping hours? 

    I don't sleep well and Garmin doesn't say I do either. Just like you it happens from one time to another that it says I'm asleep although I was watching a movie or reading a book. It only happens within my sleeping hours and I since I'm quite still in the sofa I don't blame Garmin. It is easy to change the bed time afterwards.

  • It shows me awake for a few minutes, then falling immediately back into REM sleep for several minutes, then being back awake for a few more and finally back in REM sleep again. During that time, I was cooking in the kitchen and playing with the cats in the living room; I was quite active during that time period.

    It really shouldn't have any trouble detecting that OR the fact that I was awake in bed for the first 40 minutes. Other sleep trackers have no problems catching these types of scenarios.

    My settings for sleep hours are from 9:00pm to 5:30am.