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Vivoactive 4 - wrist heart rate measurement randomly stops

GodFatherGR
over 3 years ago

Hi all,

I own a vivoactive 4 since January with no problems at all so far. Although, during my vacation in mid August, when 6.30 update was released, my watch started to not measuring properly my heart rate. I wear it the entire day and randomly "decides" to stop the hr sensor from measuring my pulse (it displays 3 dashes at the hr widget). Also I observed the same behavior during exercising. When the 3 dashes appear I tried to manually measure pulseOx and it alerted to check watch fit. I am pretty sure that the watch is properly strapped on my arm, in the same spot that I wear it during the last six months and is not loose at all.

I tried to clean it up thoroughly with dish washing detergent, I did factory reset twice and I tried to turn the hr sensor off reboot the watch and turn on again the sensor, but the problem appears after a while.

Is my watch dying or this problem is software related. I thought that if it was hardware related issue maybe the sensor wouldn't work at all.

Thanks in advance, any help and opinion is appreciated.

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  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to GodFatherGR
    GodFatherGR said:
    Also I called Garmin Greece and they said that the shop I bought my watch is not an official store of Garmin and they will not provide me any support. So, at Monday I am planning to go to the shop I bought this watch and I will request to replace it as soon as possible.

    yeah, I've read such stories before buying my watch so in the end decided to pay nearly twice the price I could have bought them, so far I hadn't use the service though and hopefully I wouldn't have to.

    GodFatherGR said:
    The most frustrating thing is that at November I will run at the Athens classic marathon event for 10km and maybe I will not have a training watch for a while.

    good luck in getting replacement, maybe it wouldn't take very long. As running in marathon without a watch is surely not fun... Maybe you could borrow a watch from someone if replacement wouldn't be fast, or get some cheap watch to get basic metrics?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to sensovision

    I will figure something out... Tomorrow I will send it to service. I was thinking if they send me a replacement, if it is worth to sell it instantly and buy phenix 6 pro or forerunner 945. Are these watches overkill for someone who runs 4 days per week (in total 30km) and does hikes every 2 weeks? Basically I loved Garmin's ecosystem, the application is gorgeous. The other option is Suunto 9 but as far as I know many suunto owners use 3rd party apps like Strava.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to GodFatherGR
    GodFatherGR said:
    Tomorrow I will send it to service. I was thinking if they send me a replacement, if it is worth to sell it instantly and buy phenix 6 pro or forerunner 945. Are these watches overkill for someone who runs 4 days per week (in total 30km) and does hikes every 2 weeks?

    why not, if you feel yourself comfortable of switching to buttons-driven interface and can afford them then the switch should enrich your user experience with the watch as any of these watches would bring new metrics and possibilities. Though if you can wait maybe it's worth either to wait for Fenix 7 or get 945 LTE which has a newer heart sensor.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to sensovision

    The size and weight of the high end watches can also take some getting used to, particularly if you come from the 4S.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to ovekvam

    True, especially for the fenix which is bulky af. Another option is Venu 2. It seems it has newer sensors and  software. Also it has sleek design and it is much more affordable than fenix and 945.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to GodFatherGR
    ovekvam said:
    The size and weight of the high end watches can also take some getting used to, particularly if you come from the 4S.

    True, ovekvam is right, I've tried Fenix 5s and it felt pretty heavy and I have hard times fixing it firmly on my wrist at least with original band.

    GodFatherGR said:
    Another option is Venu 2. It seems it has newer sensors and  software. Also it has sleek design and it is much more affordable than fenix and 945.

    Sure, it seems like a nice option so as long as you don't mind switching to AMOLED screen then it could be a way to go, myself I want to stay on MIP and preferably have touchscreen, so probably Vivoactive 5 would work for me if this line wouldn't be discontinued.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to sensovision

    I have good news. They returned me back the amount of money I paid.

    Concluding, for the people that maybe will read this thread in the future, if anyone faces hr sensor problems I recommend to contact directly Garmin's service or the retailer.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to GodFatherGR
    GodFatherGR said:
    Concluding, for the people that maybe will read this thread in the future, if anyone faces hr sensor problems I recommend to contact directly Garmin's service or the retailer.

    congratulations! you were lucky, I guess. So what device are you planning to try now?

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to sensovision

    I ordered Venu 2, I think it is closer to my daily needs and also it seems that it has almost everything except maps and some very advanced metrics that 945 and fenix have.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to GodFatherGR

    sure, if you don't need advanced metrics and maps then Venu 2 is probably the best option available at the moment as it has the newest sensors, has better sleep tracking and would be supported longer than Vivoactive 4 by Garmin.

    If you don't mind, please share your experience with Venu in comparison to VA.