How to prevent cadence lock for optical HR

Sad to say I (many of us) have often the same problem, and I did not see any solution after reading myriads of posts in this and other forums.:(

If you have tried:
- tight on both wrist, regular style but higher.
And
- tight on both hands on inside of wrist.
... there is nothing you can do with ohr.
Only option is to shut off ohr and use strap or return watch.


Hopefully a fw update on the ohr will fix this bug.

I tried inside of the wrist today and that seemed to work. Not ideal, but I might do it for my workouts until the issue is fixed.

I had cadence lock issues until I finally moved the watch up further on my forearm and tightened it down. Here is the best tutorial I have seen on how to wear it.

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?341774-Where-are-you-wearing-your-235

I suffer considerably from this problem. I've tried tightening the watch, moving it up the arm etc. but to no avail. Sometimes it's ok, but on most runs the HR locks onto cadence at some point and stays there for a while. It's hugely frustrating.

I'd really like to see a firmware update where cadence tracking can be disabled. That way I'd get more accurate HR readings and when I need to check cadence (which I don't often as it doesn't vary massively from run to run) I could enable it temporarily. For me personally, an accurate HR reading is of much greater interest than an accurate cadence reading.

Is such a firmware update viable?

I'd really like to see a firmware update where cadence tracking can be disabled. That way I'd get more accurate HR readings and when I need to check cadence (which I don't often as it doesn't vary massively from run to run) I could enable it temporarily. For me personally, an accurate HR reading is of much greater interest than an accurate cadence reading.

Is such a firmware update viable?

i could be wrong but im pretty sure that cadence lock will still occur regardless of whether or not its been tracked by the watch...i think its the movement that causes the problem not the software.

feel free to correct me

i could be wrong but im pretty sure that cadence lock will still occur regardless of whether or not its been tracked by the watch...i think its the movement that causes the problem not the software.

feel free to correct me

Yeah, I believe so as well... It's the difference in pressure/slight movements which causes fluctuations in the light and can then be mis-interpreted as heartbeats... At least, that's my understanding.

Did a run this evening though where I wore it pretty high up my arm and pretty tight (almost uncomfortable before starting the run, but not during running) and no cadence lock at all this time. Usually I suffer at least once or twice in each run.

You can't programmatically disable the user's motion; cadence is just an aspect of it

It's hugely frustrating.

I'm sure it is. All the same, your suggestion is misguided.

I'd really like to see a firmware update where cadence tracking can be disabled.

And what is that going to do for you?

That way I'd get more accurate HR readings

That does not follow logically. No part of the watch (including both the hardware and application software/firmware) is confusing motion data returned by accelerometer (which is then used by the application to determine your cadence) for heart rate data. Disabling cadence tracking does not logically disable the accelerometer as a sensor, which is also used to detect motions such as wrist turns (as there is a user setting to activate the backlight upon wrist turn). Even disabling the accelerometer itself would not stop the optical heart rate sensor from observing physical/physiological phenomena that it misinterprets as indicators of heart rate.

Is such a firmware update viable?

I'm sure it is do-able in the coding of the application, but since it won't solve the problem, what would be the point?

i think its the movement that causes the problem not the software.

The movement is what causes certain (completely natural, and scientifically expected) physiological phenomena, but it is the WHR software that decides which aspects or events in what the sensor detects physically signal the subject's heart rate, and which aspects and events are just irrelevant noise or (worse still) distortions of the signal.

It's the difference in pressure/slight movements which causes fluctuations in the light and can then be mis-interpreted as heartbeats... At least, that's my understanding.

That's mine too.

This is getting ridiculous

Yesterday I went for a slow and easy 10k and after a few kms my HR shot up to 180+ until I walked to let it drop down again (as well as making it progressively tighter). Then any kind of forward movement faster than a brisk walk caused it to shoot straight up again. This continued on and off until I stopped the activity, went into the settings and toggled the HR off and on again, then it seemed to settle down to my real heart rate.

Look at the 34:23 mark: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1083128341

I was walking to make the HR drop and it was still stuck at 180. The massive drop at 41:25 is where I rebooted the HR sensor.

Last week I ran a faster 21k in similar weather conditions with the watch at a relatively comfortable tightness and cadence lock did not occur even once for 2 hours :confused:

Yesterday I went for a slow and easy 10k and after a few kms my HR shot up to 180+ until I walked to let it drop down again (as well as making it progressively tighter). Then any kind of forward movement faster than a brisk walk caused it to shoot straight up again. This continued on and off until I stopped the activity, went into the settings and toggled the HR off and on again, then it seemed to settle down to my real heart rate.

Look at the 34:23 mark: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1083128341

I was walking to make the HR drop and it was still stuck at 180. The massive drop at 41:25 is where I rebooted the HR sensor.

Last week I ran a faster 21k in similar weather conditions with the watch at a relatively comfortable tightness and cadence lock did not occur even once for 2 hours :confused:

Yeah, it sucks bigtime... Problem is also that sometimes I really don't know if it's cadence lock or that my actual hr is that high.

Ran 14k this weekend and started in the 145 range and although it increased I somehow ended up at 170 at the end. While for my feeling the intensity was not much worse then at the beginning. Then again, I am coming back from an injury and didn't run this distance in a while so it COULD actually be my hr. At the same time it was within 5 beats of my cadence. Makes me not trust it anymore...