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

Do you have to keep this widget open and viewing?  Or will just having this widget in the background put the hr on 24/7?

You have to open the widget. It shows the current heart rate recorded by the watch without leaving 24/7 mode.

2867271 said:

It is a FACT that the older versions and watches the WHR worked, even if not perfectly.

But surely this is the same argument you're putting forward here?  WHR either works accurately and reliably or it's not working

2867271 said:

as branded

What degree of imperfection are you prepared to accept? Am I missing something? Are you suggesting that despite not working perfectly that WHR was still acceptable for you with older watches?

It most certainly 

2867271 said:

is a FACT that the older versions and watches the WHR worked,

Because it did work so it is indeed a fact. It just did not work very well. I was one of those decrying the accuracy and reliability of WHR on the 935 when I first got one. If you think it's bad on the F6 spend some time reviewing some of the posts about WHR shortly after the 935 and possibly the other watches around that era with early versions of wrist heart rate. Here's some to start with:

There's nothing new being said here that hasn't already been said since Garmin started putting optical heart rate on watches. However, IMVHO, it has got better and works for more people more often but optical heart rate monitoring will never work for everybody every time.  

As people keep repeatedly saying, there's no point having WHR if it doesn't work perfectly (irrespective of the degree of imperfection). That's why I usually wear a strap if I want to be certain of accurate and reliable results during activities, which strangely enough is what Garmin and Polar recommend too. And I am comfortable that 24/7 works well enough for me not to have any concerns about it's accuracy and reliability.

YMMV in which case contact Garmin Support and help them make it work better for you.

PS

I don't work for Garmin. I'm actually unemployed while I finish my PhD thesis. Yay! Two weeks to submission 

Another hike today, this time 80 minutes.

6X + WHR on left wrist in green

5X+ + WHR on right wrist in blue

3HR & V800 at waist with TickR in red

In general the results are there or thereabouts, but in the later stages the 6X is peaking repeatedly above reality for no reason at all. My hands were empty and relaxed. Pace was steady. The watches with WHR were equally snug, without being too tight.

Overall the 6X showed average HR +3 BPM above the other devices. The 5X+ average was within a gnat's fart of the TickR. There is no logic to it, not for Garmin's latest and greatest creation. It should do better than this. It should not be worse then the 5X+.

The 5x sensor design is better.  LED's surrounding the sensor in a triangle, and 3 of them. 

One thing just came to mind while reading on 6 series OHR issues.

6 series introduced new sensor - and before we all burry it in comparisson with series 5 - could it be attributed to some  software changes between 2 generations.

For example - Garmin Pay (series 6 "thingy") uses OHR sensor  (proximity) to check f the watch was removed from the wrist, as a safety measure. In layman terms - that could steal some "processing" time from its basic functionality which is OHR.

So if there is anything else that could interfere with sensor "processing" time - how about  disable or not use that feature first and see if sensor works better.

I have OCD for this with all my devices, and usually disable bunch of processes both on my Windows laptop and Android phone, which make them work faster (no lag).

So wondering - if it makes sense that people with the  OHR sensor issue make a log containing sw, installed apps, used features (like Garmin Pay) and someone could run comparison check to see if there are any overlaps that could point to software background of these problems.

My point is that CIQ environment is closed-source and still relatively young..

I use a stock watch face and only have one CIQ data field installed. I don't use music or Garmin Pay. I even have very few widgets installed and very few apps. My watch is lean and mean.

Thanks and just for reference - you probably tried it fresh - without any app, widget and CIQ field? And issue is still on?

Dont mean to play smart - just wondering if possible to eliminate sw side of the problem totally

Got a bit tired of seeing people telling us that Fitbit was perfect so undertook a quick search. This seems familiar:

Worth having a look at some of these links if only to understand that this is not and never has been a Garmin only issue.