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Forerunner 255 Music Incorrect HR During Exercise

BK1002
2 months ago

I recently purchased a Forerunner 255 Music and during a run today I noticed that the HR was significantly off. I was performing the initial benchmark run for a coaching program where you run at a hard effort for 5 mins. I wore both my new Garmin 255 and my old Polar watch, which I know to be fairly accurate (+/- 5bpm) and had one on each wrist. While my Polar registered that my HR ranged from 175 - 195 the Garmin only registered 130 - 150. Resting and non-active HR is about the same between the watches. Both watches were snug on my wrist with the sensor pressed against my skin and did not move during exercise. I also checked my software and it appears to be the latest version (20.32) as there are no updates currently available.

Is anyone experiencing this issue or has experienced this issue. If so, was there a fix? 

I'm not interested in getting a HR strap and I know there are other brands (COROS and Polar specifically) that work well for me. So if this is something that has no fix then I'm just going to return it.

Thanks!

  • 0 2 months ago

    try a reset to defaults in the settings of the watch and then test a run again, normally it fixes issues

  • 0 2 months ago
    BK1002 said:
    was there a fix?

    The last 2 generations of garmins OHRS updated to useless sensors. IMHO. If you do not like to use an external strap and a foot pod to get instant pace (yes, on frX55 you get only a 30sec average pace), return it.

    It was well usable till FW 16.XX and worse and worse with every next update. As it stands, this is my last Garmin watch.

    Dear Lewis, how can a reset fix a wrong reading algorithm?

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to global_local

    Hello  , its true that the last firmware updates made issues in the watch, but, i did 2 completely delete all and reset to defaults and then latest 20.31 & 20.32 are stable and fine, i tested the watch every week with my trainings and comparing with a chest strap with ANT+, and except in the sprint sessions that the OHR had a little lag to get the HR bpm, in steady runs, the HR bpms are almost the same, most of the time +1-1 BPM of the chest strap, i wear the watch snug in my wrist of course, speaking from my experience and device, best.

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to Lewis

    I have never had to do a reset to defaults, and my watch also has reliable wrist heart rate for all bicycling, and steady pace running. For running intervals, it is sometimes quite good, and other times not. If you start out on a sprint with fairly low heart rate, it almost always fails completely to understand what is happening.

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to ovekvam

    I wouldn't complain at all, but up until FW 17.XX the HR measurement worked perfectly - except for maybe intervals.
    The problem is that Garmin has broken the HR measurement and doesn't want to fix it for one reason or another.
    Everything usually works, but the incorrect measurements occur sporadically, so I can no longer trust the watch and always have to wear a chest strap.

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to global_local

    Has no sense that they broke the precision of the algorithms, as i told before, i run almost always with the chest strap and the wrist sensor enabled, after each workout i check the .fit file and see how its working as for the 20.32 the OHR is almost the same as the chest strap in steady runs with also intensity in some parts, so maybe you need to do a reset to defaults in your device and test it later

  • 0 21 days ago

    All,

    Thank you for the feedback. If you have not read Garmin Watch Optical Heart Rate Accuracy Tips already, please do! Please also update to sw version 21.19 and test a few more activities. If you still see OHR inaccuracies, please create a new thread.