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Heart Rate not accurate in "Yoga" activity (reported HR too low) but fine in "Cardio" activity.

BryceLeo
over 5 years ago

I'd really like for it to work the same in both.

It feels like they're making the assumption that "Yoga" mean slow, hold poses etc. kind of yoga.
I'm a 6'4" (semi-fit at best) dude that really loves the yoga where you're always transitioning positions and the room is 100 degrees, they call it "hot vinyasa flow". 
My heartrate once I get going sits between 130 and 170 and I always keep an eye on it and back off when I hit 170 otherwise I redline real quick. 

In yoga mode heart rate is always low. If i switch and record the activity as generic "Cardio" my heart rate reports right up to where it should be. "Should be" is compared to my old Garmin Forerunner 35 (which I tested to within ~5bpm of my cheap chest strap). 

Is there anything I can do other than stick with Cardio mode and hope that Garmin fixes it at some point?

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 1622099

    I would understand it if it would be the otherway round. That you record your heart rate and based on the heart rate it "suggests" an activity time, but not hte otherway round.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 1622099

    The sensors are not recording heart rate directly, but light intensity. The watch is using algorithms to convert this to a frequency. Sometimes there can be several possible solutions, and the algorithm uses information about what you are supposed to be doing, and what the heart rate was recently to do a best guess. If the watch thinks the heart rate is either 80 or 160, it will go with 80 is you are supposed to be doing yoga, and 160 is you are supposed to be doing cardio.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to ovekvam

    Yes, that makes sense. However, it is really tricky as there are for example many different yoga styles with different intensities and the same applies als ofor other sports and activities and often you might do a workout that mixes strength and cardio in various intervals. It is really hard to know this way if the data recorded are correct. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 1622099

    In general, if you are using your wrists during the exercise, you can not trust the heart rate to be correct. To get reliable readings, you need to wear a chest strap.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 1622099

    I got ignored. They asked for additional data, I provided it and then never hear a thing. Using the cardio mode has been the only fix. As the wearable market improves I'll probably just end up switching because Garmin doesn't seen to care.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to ovekvam

    I understand what you mean about using your wrists etc, but we're talking about changing the exercise mode on the watch causes the watch to report different results.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to BryceLeo

    well thats a pitty, not so nice.. I also send them an email today, but I am bot expecting much. I think I ll just use cardio for all types of training, to at least be able to compare them. I will do a yoga workout today and use cardio. Curious what I will get!

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to BryceLeo

    Changing exercise mode on the watch SHOULD cause the watch to report different results, because it uses different algorithms to guess the heart rate based on the light sensors. That is one of the tricks that has made wrist heart rate measurements more accurate. At first the watches did not use the information about what the watch owner was doing when trying to guess the heart rate, but now most watches do.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to ovekvam

    A small variance in heart rate is understandable and acceptable but 30+/- bpm is simply not.
    Secondly the biggest benefit from multiple activity profiles is the different presentation of the collected data so that you can show better metrics per activity. Examples are how yoga doesn't include steps or reps; running includes elevation gain; strength won't include steps or pace, and so on. 
    A base metric like heart rate shouldn't vary much based solely on changing the activity type.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to BryceLeo

    When trying to guess a frequency from an unstable signal, it is often half or double value. It can also pick up second or third harmonic.