Sleeve tatto and Fenix 6 HR issues

hello i am from germany and have the same problem.
Forearms are tattooed and everything went great with the Fenix 5x and 5 x plus. the new Senso in the Fenix 6 and Forerunner series is arranged differently. the sensor switches off immediately and remains off. I have deactivated it. In the first firmware of the Fenix 6, the heart rate was still good. I just taped the middle field on the sensor. But unfortunately that no longer works.

I doubt it’s your tattoos read all other posts and you’ll see it’s not great for a number of users.

There is no point of turning it off, because I lose functionality of body battery, breathing, puls ox etc. If I did not want this I would buy some older Fenix. I am thinking of returning it and getting back to F645M unfortunately.

Fozzee1970 said:

I doubt it’s your tattoos read all other posts and you’ll see it’s not great for a number of users.

You really don't think the tattoos have any influence on the OHR? Come on.

Both the OP and the other user with tattoos, Slevin, said that the sensor is turning OFF, completely, when it is over their tattoos. So this has absolutely nothing to do with the accuracy of their OHR sensors, and it has EVERYTHING to do with the dark ink in their skin blocking the light from the sensors. How that isn't obvious to you, I have no idea.

Anyways, to both OP and Slevin, sorry to hear that the sensor isn't working through your tattoos, your only options are unfortunately to use a different device that somehow works through your tattoos, or laser tattoo removal, or just accept the fact that you can't use the OHR on this watch and will need to use a chest strap for recording HR during activities.

For me it is unacceptable that lower-end and older device did not have any issues with that and so Expensive model like Fenix 6 Sapphire doesn't work properly. As I can read on the forum Fenix 6 is really faulty series from Garmin.

Granted, there are a lot of posts about OHR accuracy issues, that is true (even if I haven't expereinced those same issues, I can plainly see that a lot of people do have issues with accuracy for whatever reason).

But your issue has nothing to do with accuracy. It is completely unrelated to what the other users are complaining about.

Your issue is with the dark ink you've had injected into your skin blocking the light from the sensors. That's not Garmin's fault. I'm glad that some other devices have been able to work through your ink before, but most sensors won't. Even the Apple Watch OHR that people here LOVE to praise, has many, many complaints online about it having issues with tattoos.

1. I would not agree with You. It is about the sensor in F6, not so much about tattoo. It is my 4th device (Vivosmart HR, Vivoactive 3, Forerunner 645M and now Fenix 6) and all of them worked flawlessly. I see more posts on this forum about OHR turning off in this model. No word about tattoo in those topics.

I have (2) sleeves but one isn’t as close to my wrist as the other. The only arm I can wear my 6x (which also includes 4-5 other Garmin watches, along with an Apple Watch 4) is my left. Tattoos if close enough, DEFINITELY can have an effect. I won’t get a consistent reading on my right arm which is where the sleeve is 1/2” away from my wrist.

I agree, I am dark skinned and heavily tattooed. It makes a difference. Yes the sensor may not be the best in the Fenix 6 and I also think lighter less robust devices read better do to heavy devices wanting to vibrate and shift around being top heavy. Even when cranking then down to stay put user are cutting off circulation which can cause inaccurate readings as well. Hopefully and very possible Garmin can continue to tweak and make it better. I do not accept trash readings on such a advanced device but understand the reliability of WHR. You just will never get spot on readings all the time and treat it more as a reference than hard data. If really want hard data then users will have to invest in HR strap (annoying).  Currently trying to find a HR sensor I can wear on my upper arm.