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Venu HR Accuracy problems

Hi all,

This morning I did a weightlifting workout with my new Garmin Venu (fit securely on my left wrist), and used a Whoop (right wrist) and Wahoo HR strap as my controls. I clicked the "Train" activity option in the Garmin, since the Strength one seemed to want me to do some sort of guided workout. All three devices had good contact during the workout.

While the Wahoo and Whoop were fairly aligned, they could have been better. That said, they both said I burned about 500 calories during the workout. The Garmin on the other hand, never really recorded high HR and said I only burned around 100 calories. Is this because I picked the "Train" activity option? I would think that the activity type would not have that significant of an impact on the HR measured.

Any ideas on why this might have happened? Screenshots below.

  • My problem is that my HR remains low for the first 5-6 minutes of a run then it jumps 50-60 bpm. I can't decide whether it's a lag throughout or an initial glitch. 

  • My problem is that this thing is wildly inaccurate.  If I am sitting, it underestimates my heart rate by quite a bit.  It'll give my lower 50s when my pulse is actually upper 60s.  I've been testing it for a few days and I manually take my heart rate and compare it.  If I stand up and walk across the room, it shoots up to 100 when it is actually in the mid 70s.  Sometimes it is accurate but most often it is way off.  The only time when it seems accurate at all is when I go for a walk.

    My wife and I both have these watches and both of us are experiencing the same issues.  We are on the latest firmware.

  • I’m really disappointed, 3 runs in and I get this issue. It was pretty constant throughout and no way that high when it jumped. 

  • Mine is most affected by standing with any kind of arm motion.  I'm not sure how it works when running because I use a Garmin chest strap for that.

    I've noticed that if I stand and even walk across the room, it will go from the 70s to over 100.  It also doesn't seem to like it when I type.  It's super annoying that my old Fitbit Ionic handles my heart rate just fine and is generally within a few beats of correct.

    I really like this watch a lot, but I don't think that I can keep it because of this issue.  Accuracy of the heart rate is more important to me than most of the other things that it does. :(

  • Stranger still my hr graph design changes sometimes. 

  • I just got a venu a couple of days ago and so far it is showing much lower heart rate than my forerunner 935. It doesn't like to go above 119 or so and once in a while it goes in 120s...

    For example during floor climbing activities, when it should be 147 or so, it was only hovering around 104...

    I am giving it a week to see how it performs before sending it back...

    Resting heart rate seems to be ok

    Anyway, so may be it is the venu and not the workout you picked is what I am trying to say Slight smile

  • I'm having exactly the same problem. It is generally not recording heart rates higher than 120-130. I wore my old Garmin Vivoactive HR on my other wrist when playing football the other night and it recorded much higher heart rates. I know when I'm at almost max heart rate (I feel a bit sick!) and that should be around 190+. The Vivoactive regularly recorded such levels. The Venu does not go above 130.

  • Even with the newest firmware problem occurs. Heart rate in comparison to other devices is too low in rest and too high while in move. I used Garmin devices for many years, now I'm confused.

  • I have the Venu since it's release and used to be very accurate. I also own apple watch and their recordings were similar so I ended using Venu because of the better battery life.

    Somehow, lately, the readings have gone wild but the opposite of yours, they go up to 190 ish when I'm still putting medium effort and should be 130 or 140 ish.

    I usually do Bodycombat classes, which means tons of cardio and punch throwing. If I use the chest strap, my HR is always between 120 and 170. When I use only the watch, it goes up from 180 to 192 and stays there :( 

    Hope Garmin fixes it soon as it's my favorite watch and I live body battery function.

  • Appears to me it's very much activity related. As soon as I start the running activity and start running with it, it slowly creeps up to 184 no matter the pace.

    I tried running as slowly as possible to keep heart rate below 140, it was impossible. I tried with chest strap today, showing heart rate 40 bpm lower than the Venu, the watch is clearly off.

    When 'running' at super slow speed of 3 mph, the Venu heart rate still moves up over 140. As soon as I stop the running motion with my arms, ie, continue walking at the same speed, the heart rate gradually comes down to correct 100 bpm.

    The algo is triggered by running motion, makes we wonder if it is measuring anything at all. 

    When resting it is correct though, in line with chest strap.