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Intensity minutes magically appearing with HRM-Pro / Fenix 6 / Android App

Chat, after they put me through "you don't have a clue" nonsense Q&A ,agreed there's a problem and said they'd open a ticket, but I have no feedback, nor a ticket number.

Here's the deal: 

Today, indoor cycle, wearing Fenix 6 Pro, with HRM-Pro (all firmware and updates current). 

Activity registers 36 minutes moderate, 6 minutes vigorous, 36 + (6*2) = 48 minutes total.  Cool, that tracks. 

Look at Daily Summary GRAPH, started day at 119 intensity minutes for the week, after exercising I have 167 intensity minutes for the week. Brilliant! 167-119 = 48 minutes, very logical.

No other intensity minutes register on the GRAPH. 

BUT, the summary above the graph on Connect.Garmin.com or the Android App says today I have 112 intensity minutes for the day, 36 moderate, 38 vigorous. 36 + (38*2) = 112.  So...where did the extra 64 vigorous intensity minutes magically come from? 

I bought this HRM-Pro while in Maui last month to get some swimming activity tracking, it has always behaved this way (moderate minutes fine, vigorous minutes inexplicable) but it seems it's the software or console that's really the problem, the actual activity the HRM-Pro is tracking is correct.  

My work around? Give up on the Garmin sensor and user the Polar H10 that has always worked just fine, and the intensity minutes always match up. But, I can't do swimming activities with that to Garmin Connect, I can with Polar Beat though. 

Other details: I have manually set up my intensity zones using HRR. Zone 1-2 = moderate, >= zone 3 = vigorous. 

I have looked over the forums and can find nothing about this at all, I'm looking for anybody else that might have experienced this. 

  • I have seen similar behaviour but never bothered to analyse it in any detail.

    For me it looks to happen on days when I am wearing the HRM-Pro for the rest of the day after a recorded activity in the morning. If I am doing some vigorous activity during this extended wear period (most recently observed this after errecting some fence posts and fencing) the HRM-Pro will sync the elevated heart rate and movement back to Garmin Connect through the Garmin Connect Mobile app. I think from there either Garmin Connect awards the extra Intensity Minutes or through Physio TrueUp my [for me] f6X awards the extra Intensity Minutes.

    Have you also noticed that at the end of a day when you get extra Intensity Minutes that some of the will sometimes be removed between about 23:30 and 23:59?

  • Thanks for the reply. 

    I *have* seen those odd jumps, but in my case I'm sitting on the couch with 101 BPM condition after a workout, but somehow I get intensity minutes. 

    I've attached an image of the day outlined above, it's noticeably clean, flat-jump-flat, no other additions. 

  • Do you have your HRM pro paired to Garmin Connect Mobile on its own, or are you only pairing your HRM Pro to your fenix? Also, do you see these types of discrepancies regardless of what activities you record? 

    We may need to look at your account to help out with this, so please feel free to reply with a yes or no if you are okay with this. 

  • Greetings Garmin-Blake.  

    The instructions seem to indicate I was to pair it with both, so Connect and Fenix 6 are paired to it.

    Yes, any and all activities, including just using it while the Fenix 6 is charging, all manifest very odd Intensity Minutes being registered when using HRM-Pro. 

    Absolutely, please do look, I thank you for that.  I've mostly just gone back to my Polar H10, but I tried it again after the Fenix 6 got an update, hoping a fix would appear.

    Day one usage (new out of box, and firmware updated) was a swimming activity on April 16th @ 2041. April 18th, & 19th, 21st are indoor Cycling activities all with anomalous data. 

  • Intensity Minutes for the HRM-Pro and synced with your phone using GC TrueUp.  If you don’t think this is working correctly, one workaround is simply to remove the HRM-Pro from the GC App.  Your HRM-Pro paired to you Fenix 6 Pro will still capture your heart rate data for swimming activities.   

  • Informative experiment. 

    Removed HRM-Pro from Android's Garmin Connect Devices, leaving it paired to the Fenix 6 Pro. Indoor cycling activity started with the Fenix 6 Pro and used the HRM-Pro, ended activity and exactly 77 intensity minutes (27 moderate 25 vigorous x2) registered on the activity, and Garmin Connect. Problem "solved".  

    But this work-around kills half the features the HRM-Pro advertises and the reason I purchased it.  What no longer works is the ability to wear the strap, leave the watch at home (or when needing to charge), and commence with daily activity and have heart rate and steps all synced back.  That feature only appears to work when the HRM-Pro is paired with Garmin Connect.  The only syncing the HRM-Pro will do with the Fenix 6 Pro is an intentionally started activity. 

    That being so, I added the HRM-Pro back while charging the watch and sure enough, the intensity minutes spiked from 77 minutes to 129 minutes.

    Is there a way to get this device swapped out?  Clearly there's a problem (vigorous minutes double, or quadruple when sensor is paired to both devices as instructions outline), and I don't think it's a systemic platform issue, else others would have reported it as well.   

    HRM-Pro intensity minutes miscalculation

  • Other details: I have manually set up my intensity zones using HRR. Zone 1-2 = moderate, >= zone 3 = vigorous. 

    Where and how did you implement these settings?

    I ask because there are differences between how Intensity Minutes are configured in Garmin Connect Web and Garmin Connect Mobile [for Android].

    and I don't think it's a systemic platform issue, else others would have reported it as well.

    I've noticed these inconsistencies with Intensity Minutes but at present it is not an significant enough metric for me to spend the time to collate the supporting data needed for a valid bug report. 

    I have two HRM-Pro (that were not purchased at the same time) and I see the same behaviour with both.

  • Zones: Interesting. I had set it up on Garmin Connect on the Android, but I just checked the web, and they agree with each other.  

    HRM-Pros: Doesn't sound promising that a swap will help then, if both of yours do it, but for mine, I can reach my "goal" with only doing half the work (based on the numbers) so I won't be able to live with it as a valid device in my inventory.

    The HRM-Pro, pulled from the Garmin Connect on my mobile works exactly like my Polar H10, so it was a waste of money for me, the only thing I gained was the swimming activity from the sensor, but I only care about that when I'm on holiday in the tropics swimming with the turtles.  

  • My HRM pro does exactly the same thing, regarding the intensity minutes. My solution is to never open the Garmin Connect app when the hr belt is on.

  • A 'me too' here. Crazy amount of Vigorous minutes when HRM-PRO is setup in GCM (Android).  I manually set the intensity zones as 3/4.  So I want low numbers - real effort - and I'm getting hundreds of minutes, not tens. As noted above, everything is Vigorous X2 or X4 + the blips and end of the day.  Current solution is to remove it from GCM, but not what I paid for.  Either that or ignore Intensity Minutes, but ...

    Question is, is this the expected behavior?  Or a bug?  If a bug could it be acknowledged by