Have you also found the OHR completely useless with 18.26/18.22?

Only done a few exercises so far but its seemed to be no better or worse than previous firmwares.  Misses spikes on sprints but generally OK on a longer run although takes a minute or 2 to raise and stabilise.

RDW said:

Misses spikes on sprints

Same behavior here. Accelerate from steady 6.30 to 3.30/km  for a 30 sec gives me a "spike" about 5 beats to 140bpm... Normally there are a >20bpm.

By the way - pace has a same "averaging" and comes 15-20 sec later after changing a pace. Really annoying.

It was working quite well for me before the update, and seems to work even better after the update. 

Oh no. Why would they do that? Wouldn't that make all the training suggestions that include intervals completely useless if you don't have a chest strap? I mean, it worked perfectly. I was really happy that, unlike my Galaxy watch, the 255 was able to recognize short intervals without any problems.

Latest News From FRx55/FRx65, with Public Release 18.22 from this Q1-2024 update, same WHR than F7/E2

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https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-965/362550/why-release-18-22/1741604#1741604

We are currently looking into reports on 18.2X of inaccurate OHR data in (mostly) running activities. We are happy to investigate and add anyone reporting inaccuracies via consent to reach out via email and view your Connect account.

I did the update yesterday, and now my Garmin 255 is giving me totally false HR readings. I did a hard HIIT training on a rowing machine yesterday, and my watch claimed my HR was only going up to around max 136, and on my third interval which I found very hard only up to 123. Usually I would expect a HR of around 175-180 for similar training. I also noticed this morning that my commute cycle HR was significantly lower than usual - usually the average has been  around 130, but this morning it was only 118. 

I think optical heart rate sensors (all watch brands) are generally rather useless for rowing machines and weight lifting, since you are actively using your wrists during the exercise. I have however been quite impressed with how well it works for cycling.

I'm a rower and haven't had any issues until this update happened. The HR data used to be very similar to my Polar HR chest strap, but now it's way off sadly..

Yes, it is not useful as no manufacturer has figured out how to properly account for weight lifting training load, but it works very well for rowing, both in terms of accuracy and training load.

Experienced the same problem today after the update to 18.22. Completely useless HR data running... between 10 - 20 bpm lower than expected/ normal values... still waiting for the replacement of my chest strap which stopped working after only 2 months of use... after the rather hard run today my HRmax was adjusted by the system... not helpful either... a little bit disappointed by Garmin to be honest...