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Heartrate so inaccurate that my watch is basically useless for training

I got my Forerunner 265 about a year ago and I have loved almost everything about it.  I love the touch interface, the AMOLED screen, sleep analysis, training readiness, etc.  But I have been trying to use it to track my training and the heartrate is so inaccurate that it is basically useless.  Today was a good example, I just wanted to go for a 40 minute run on my lunch break.  I took the watch off, cleaned the sensor, strapped it snuggly on my wrist in the suggested spot and headed out on a run.  My goal was to get some good Zone 2 progress.  Instead one minute into my run, I glance down and I'm in zone 5.  I check my heart rate manually and I'm actually in zone 1.  I let the watch calm down and try again.  Same thing.  I do this for two miles.  I eventually discard the run because it's so crazy.  But now I've run 2 miles that won't be recorded.  Not the end of the world.  But my lunch break is almost over so I try again.  Basically the same deal.  I keep stopping to let my watch try to get in sync with reality, but by the time I'm done my watch now thinks I was doing an interval workout.  Having gone through this frustrating process a few times, my mileage, my load focus, my max heart rate, my training load, basically everything are now all out of whack.  Can't get good heart rate data running, biking, rowing, or stair climbing Disappointed

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  • I'm very sorry to hear about that, that is definitely frustrating. We recently released a wrist-heart rate improvement in Beta 18.2X, which is included in our live software release (18.22) which started rolling out today. You can view the main thread regarding this topic here: Heart Rate Accuracy. I hope that this update fixes your erratic HR data, and ask that after you update your device to 18.22 you test out the improvement and let me know how it goes?

    FYI, this change was for running, walking, and hiking activity profiles. Since you have concerns with a few other activity types, please view The Heart Rate Sensor on My Garmin Watch Is Not Accurate- specifically the section titled "Wrist-Flexing Types of Activities Can Affect Heart Rate Tracking".

  • Thanks for quick the response.  And I guess my issue came at a good time with the release of 18.22.  I updated my watch and went for an easy 30 minute run today and it was definitely better.  Recently, I have had runs where my measured heartrate will start to spike, so I'll walk and measure it manually.  While I'm measuring it manually, I'll watch the measured rate on my watch go 130... 140... 150... all while I'm meauring around 100 manually.

    Definitely none of that today.  I feel like I had one spike within the first half mile of my run and it was slightly elevated for the first half mile after than.  But then dead on.  Certainly an improvement, thank you.

  • I'm glad to hear that. If you don't already warm-up, I would like to see if getting your blood flowing before your activities helps. If you consistently see any inaccuracies moving forward, let me know!


  • Hi , this is a walking activity (v18.21) and that is a 20 bpm drop in zero seconds. The overlay is the pace, so this bug could have some connection to the pace.

    And it is still there.

  • Thank you for sharing. I would love to take a look at that and any other examples that you have. If anyone else has examples as well, please respond with a "yes" for permission to reach you via email and view your Connect account!

  • Hi,

    If I'm using my 265 to broadcast my HR to my Edge 840, and suffering from HR abnormalities, can you also check this please?

  • bro, stop using the optical hr sensor for intense activities...it will never do justice to ur effort...get a chest strap and connect it to the watch n ur edge especially for cycling workouts...the watch wiggles a lot during cycling so u will never get accurate data plus optical sensors work according to blood flow and since they are far from ur heart, u cannot expect accuracy at all.

  • This! The watch optical HR is useless for training, at least for me... every single watch I've tried has issues with that. They are good for getting the HR in normal activity and while sleeping, but not good while doing sport.

    It's just that wrist is a bad place for a optical HR sensor, but is the one you can get on a watch.

    Any arm-based optical HR (like Polar OH1 or Scosche Rhythm) work a lot better than a wrist-based one... and nothing beats a chest strap.

    That's my experience with HR sensors, YMMV.

    Best,
    Kurt.-