245 / Worth the money?

Yep, it came to me when i was napping :) I assume you have a 245. download the 252 beta and downgrade. Then see if the ohr acts fine. i got mine 3 days ago with 4.2. i downgraded right away. If you do, that will show that i may be right. I could upgrade and downgrade back but why fix something was is working right now. I realized that when i downgraded i saw the respiration widget on the phone was gone and i could not re add it.

I have a 945. Never tried downgrading if it's even possible on that model. I never had the HR outside of an activity issue.  Personally I don't see the point of doing an activity without recording it.  I tried testing it anyway, and I didn't have issues.  I always use a chest strap. I thought I'd give the oHRM a try and found I have the problem with the HR not exceeding a certain threshold depending on the activity selected. I shouldn't have an extremely low HR when selecting strength and have it read correctly doing the same workout only with the cardio app. I tested other activity apps and just as Garmin states online, HR is calculated differently depending on the activity selected.  I don't know why they do this. HR is HR and the activity I select to record shouldn't change it. 

I use polar oh1 together with FR 245 without any connection problems and something like this is exactly what I would like to get with a watch - (OH1 is also an optical sensor). In a perfect variant it would be detachable, in simplest - just a sensor separated from the watch, so you can place it elsewhere than on a wrist. Even a longer/elastic strap like Former Member suggested would do, so one could place it higher on the arm.

The issue with the hr is when you do not select an activity. When i tested the 6S or the 645 and i started a biking or elliptical activity, the hr was right on target with the computer. Garmin told me that when you start an activity, they increase the sampling rate. so that was never an issue. the issue is like when i go up and down the stairs to increase my hr, the strap would show 120 while the ohr (No activity started) would display a max of 80. some other users had video of them walking and you could see the hr going to very high numbers.i think that is why not too many people complain. they either start an activity or use a strap. i have a polar h10 strap and i use it when i cycle. i was more concerned about the 24/7 hr accuracy. the first beat metrics are all based on that. so if you feed it bad data, you get bad results. the 6S or the 645 were very nice watches but coulld not justify the price for a half baked product. on the other hand, the 245 has 12 first beat features and is half the price. i do not care about elevation. i live at the beach. elevation is zero :) and i do not care about how many floors i climb either. everything is just preferences. i do have a polar VV that i am selling since i am sticking with garmin. it does have an outstanding ohr but i like garmin better. and yes you should be able to downgrade a 945. you need to download a beta zip file. inside it has the downgrade files.

I use a polar h10 but i have a large nylon strap for band and i can slide my 245 up my forearm to act like your oh1 to get awesome results.

Pierrotsc said:

The issue with the hr is when you do not select an activity.

Well, not all the issues. As I said, I never had the problem with my HR increasing outside of an activity. Oddly enough, it's during an activity.  Have you tried doing the same activity using different activity apps and found one that seems like it's "capped"?  Of course I'm not talking about an extreme difference in activities selected.  For me hiking is terrible, but I can use trail run or run and the HR works OK.  Same if I select strength while doing a TRX workout.  Stays low but I can switch to cardio and it works. Using an external strap doesn't have this problem. It's just when I try using the oHRM. 

The only activity i do are biking indoor and outdoor right now. when the gym/pool was opened i did elliptical strength and swimming. the strength never gave me good results and that makes sense. elliptical and swimming looked plausible doing activity. i can only be sure with elliptical as the HR is also displayed on the machine.all the threads on the fenix 6 are about ohr not in activity. so you are telling me that when you start a hiking activity, the ohr is not accurate ? i always wear my watch a little higher on the forearm when i do an activity though.

Pierrotsc said:

so you are telling me that when you start a hiking activity, the ohr is not accurate ?

Yes. I can push it on some inclines and it never goes over 110. A manual check will show my HR in the 140s, sometimes higher. Same route and effort using trail run or run app and HR is pretty spot on. I tested this several times with the same outcome verified doing a manual check and using the auxiliary HR app from the IQ store that shows both oHRM and my chest strap simultaneously. There are many post about this that specifically mention the hike app. 

indeed, i recall reading about hiking issues but i thought it was outside activity profile. i do not hike so i really did not follow. to tell you the truth when i got the 6S i sold my 935. that was a mistake. should have kept it.