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Anyone STILL having heart rate accuracy issues with their Fenix 6?

9374082
over 4 years ago

Hi all,

Super frustrated, but I am still having issues with my Fenix 6S and heart rate accuracy even with the 4.20 software update. I'm wondering if it's just me or what the deal is? I had a 5S Plus before this and had no issues doing the same activities so I really don't think it's user error. My heart rate hardly reads over 110 during really vigorous exercise when my heart rate is closer to 160+. I have tried wearing on the inside of my wrist, tried my other wrist with no luck. It consistently reads 80-110 bpm the whole time. I wouldn't have bothered to upgrade if I knew this was going to be an issue. I know that wearing a chest strap is the most accurate, but I don't like to have to wear it for all of my work outs and my old Fenix was totally fine as well as my apple watch before that. Any suggestions? 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to talsela

    Agreed. I think the driving force of the irrational is the expense incurred by those of us who are having a *** experience with the watch. There is obviously a solid quantity of crap fenix 6 pieces out there but there has to be a huge quantity that are operating properly.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to JeremyBlck

    Like i mentioned earlier, i truly think it is a firmware issue and not hardware. I had 2 F6S and returned them both. I had a 645 and returned it too. The second F6 came with 3.10 and was working fine. I was not going to update but had no respiration rate. When i updated, then ohr was bad outside activities. I am anal about HR so i tested it 24/7 against a chest strap steaming to my phone. If you are not moving, no problem. If people thinks the ohr is working for them, they are wrong. Then i was looking at the 245. It came out after the F6, 945 and 645. I realized that the bad ohr started after a certain firmware update. this update included the breathing rate. With the 245, you can downgrade to an earlier firmware. you cannot with the F6 or 645. no earlier downgrade allowed without the breathing rate. So i bought a 245 and ohr outside activities is spot on. i can bike, walk and so on, it will match a chest strap.I think if you have a 945, you may be able to downgrade to a firmware that do not have the breathing rate. If someone wants to try, we'll know if my assumption is correct. So right now, i am pleased with the 245. It only has 12 first beat features but for $240 it is a great deal. battery is stellar too. So it is the same sensors as the other watches. Just a different firmware. So there is maybe hope taht it will be fixed but i doubt it.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to dinfree

     

    dinfree said:
    The problem in OHR is never goes up over 130 in high intensive workout.

    Clearly this graph is wrong then

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to philipshambrook

    Sometimes F6 shows acceptable HR especially running activity but broadcast HR mode or out door bike activity I had never get reasonable HR. 

    Anyway you look so happy with your F6 so nice but others are unhappy. You don't know why many people complain in this forum.  Our time and money is precious so please understand their opinions and have a good time with your F6. And don't waste your time in here..

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to dinfree

    I've never said it's perfect only that I generally get good results from the wrist but I accept the limitations of WHR and use a strap for most of my activities. I posted this a couple of days ago to illustrate why I use the strap. If you go back a couple more days you'll see I posted an image of an indoor bike ride where there wasn't much difference between the strap and WHR.

    You have a choice. You either accept the limitations of wrist heart rate technology or you keep on beating your head against the wall.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to dinfree
    dinfree said:
    but broadcast HR mode

    Is broken. We all know that. The way to make it work is to enable broadcast during activity and then start a proper activity when you need this capability.

    It has been said over and over and over again.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to johanwiren

    It's not actually broken. There are two different modes: Broadcast Mode that sends the 24/7 data using the lower power mode presumably, and Broadcast During Activity which presumably uses the higher power mode. It's then a matter of using the appropriate one for the intended purpose. 

    Use the right one for the right purpose and suddenly it's not broken.

  • +1 over 3 years ago

    One more frustrated and already former Garmin user. 

    I've been using the watch for 3 weeks, struggling to find the reasons for the poor HR reading in "Cardio" and "Others" activities... HR works fine while running, but as some people already said here, it might be related to the algorithm or the readings.

    But that's not HR, there are many bugs and bad UX design, something you wouldn't expect from a respected and niche brand.

    Anyway, the frustration I got reading this thread was bigger than the frustration i got form the poor readings... It's absolutely nonsense the way Garmin is dealing with this problem and its customers. It is a FACT that the older versions and watches the WHR worked, even if not perfectly. In F6, WHR simple doesn't work as branded.

    Absolutely unacceptable for a product within this price range.   

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to philipshambrook
    philipshambrook said:
    There are two different modes: Broadcast Mode that sends the 24/7 data

    Have you ever watched the LEDs? If they change from flickering to continuous lighting, the watch no longer uses the 24/7 mode.

    The built-in Garmin HR widget also leaves 24/7 mode. If you want to know which HR your watch records in 24/7 mode, I recommend this Heartrate widget. It leaves the watch in 24/7 mode.

    apps.garmin.com/.../4a4f4a13-7336-4ef0-b3c2-993f04ee9bb4

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    There is definitely something funky going on with the OHR on this watch.

    I have a Fenix 5x as well, which I NEVER had trouble with on the OHR.  It's too slow to read well during activities, but other than response time it's fine.

    The 6x, on the other hand, records impossibly-high numbers on average once or twice a day.  Like 192 this morning, which is flat-out nonsense; it persisted for a while too, then went away and is normal.

    It's gotta be a software thing since I also wore the watch (and no chest strap) on a 4-hour+ hike the other day, and the OHR behaved just fine.  It also behaves fine most of the time otherwise.  But when it goes nuts, well, it really does.

    Here's hoping Garmin can figure out what's up with that and fix it, because it's the one serious wart I have with this watch.  Otherwise, everything is working very well.