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

Former Member over 6 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?

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0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Andres379

Mine works fine.

I have good vasularity levels and am muscular.

Some, who may be overweight, may struggle getting a reading. I am not talking about those who experience a good reading which is subsequently scuppered by a software update.

0 scotthunter2 over 5 years ago in reply to JamesMeade

JamesMeade said:
I think we'll agree to disagree on above comment regarding chest strap. If I'm paying for a premium branded product I expect it to work. This is supposed to Garmin's flagship watch, not some "knock-off" I've purchased from Wish or Amazon.

You can't compare the Fenix series to the Apple Watch and Forerunners - they are much lighter watches. Unless you have the strap done up very tight the Fenix will "hang" on your wrist at an angle. This gets worse during vigorous activity and when your arm is covered in sweat, which reduces friction between your skin and the watch backplate / strap. Even my Fenix 6S does this and it's only 61 grams compared to the regular Fenix which is 83g. My previous Forerunner 645, which was only 42 grams, stayed put no matter what so the OHR always had a good contact with my skin. This is the price you pay for metal watches.

+1 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to scotthunter2

Since I sold the 6X I visit here solely for a good laugh, every now and then.

Maybe your theory explains why my Fenix 3HR was spot on regarding everything OHR 24/7.

Must be because it was 0,5g less in weight.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to scotthunter2

I think my 6X is pretty good for an OHR.

+1 jarivee over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

That "goodness" varies a lot between activities, what was the activity you were using?

+1 iLikePotatoes over 5 years ago in reply to scotthunter2

scotthunter2 said:
You can't compare the Fenix series to the Apple Watch and Forerunners - they are much lighter watches. Unless you have the strap done up very tight the Fenix will "hang" on your wrist at an angle. This gets worse during vigorous activity and when your arm is covered in sweat, which reduces friction between your skin and the watch backplate / strap. Even my Fenix 6S does this and it's only 61 grams compared to the regular Fenix which is 83g. My previous Forerunner 645, which was only 42 grams, stayed put no matter what so the OHR always had a good contact with my skin. This is the price you pay for metal watches.

Fenix 5X is bigger AND heavier than 6X and it's size and weight do not prevent it from tracking HR accurately. I am not saying that 5X's HR sensor is better in general, but you have many examples in this (or 15-20 other HR threads) where F6X fails miserably compared to F5X in the same conditions.

Two examples that I remember - first someone using XC Ski profile with F5X on right hand showing correct value, F6X on the left shows 30-40 bpm less. Second is someone on the indoor bicycle - same setup F5X correct, F6X wrong.

Regarding HR performance comparisons - I will skip Polar/Suunto/Coros (that cost less), or Apple Watch (that costs less than half)... I will compare it to Xiaomi MiBand 2 (that costs less than 26mm watch band for F6X):

Fenix 6X on firmware 5.0, MiBand 2 and Stratos (Stratos connected to Polar H10) no activity started 24/7 tracking mode:

Activity started - problem magically fixed:

This issue was fixed for me with 5.74b update and HR is working ok since (Stratos connected to H10):

Some people are still having this issue...

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to jarivee

It was a run.

Tbh it's always been fairly accurate with no jumping around (had it 2 months).

This is compares to the Charlie which was constantly too low and didn't follow fast runs at all

I dont really do anything else apart from weights and I dont pay attention to the HR for that.

0 scotthunter2 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

How do you know your Fenix 3HR was accurate? Just because it’s giving you a reading doesn’t mean it’s more or less accurate than any other wrist based heart rate monitor.

The only way to accurately test the OHR is to wear a chest strap connected to another watch on your other wrist, and compare the data.

Unknown said:
Since I sold the 6X I visit here solely for a good laugh, every now and then.

Maybe your theory explains why my Fenix 3HR was spot on regarding everything OHR 24/7.

Must be because it was 0,5g less in weight.

0 bluefish over 5 years ago in reply to scotthunter2

scotthunter2 said:
The only way to accurately test the OHR is to wear a chest strap connected to another watch on your other wrist, and compare the data.

Exactly. Compared in this way, my f3hr was also significantly better than the f6x

0 Bitti over 5 years ago in reply to scotthunter2

A simpler way to compare OHR and strap HR is to install the "Heart Rate: OHR v strap difference" ConnectIQ data field, which allows you to follow (and record) both OHR and strap HR using the same watch.