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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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  • Agree, hate the chest one but have the Polar OH1, though tried to eliminate the need for an additional instrument ;)

  • Damn the 12.22 firmware still not fixing the HR issue ?

    Just tempo run and HR is not capturing correctly.

  • Same, here did a test, recorded simultaneously with a chest strap. FR is completely off...way to low, making jumps.
    Upper graph is HR, chest = red, FR = blue. 
    Lower graph, cadence, just to see if there was a correlation
     

  • Great charts.

    I am seeing similar problem with floors climbing.

    The heart rate simply doesn't track or rise correctly.

    Come one Garmin, this is really a basic problem to fix. It affects our training scoreds.

  • My complaint thread was closed and I was directed here - so can we get an update Garmin? 

  • All, 

    Thank you very much for your feedback so far on the Optical Heart Rate performance. In addition to what is already mentioned in The Heart Rate Sensor on My Garmin Watch Is Not Accurate, I want to add a few steps to ensure that you're receiving the best wrist heart rate performance. 

    • Try tightening the watch to ensure the sensor has good contact with your skin. A snugger watch fit is preferred for activities. The watch should still be comfortable to wear.
    • Try wearing the watch on your opposite wrist. Signal quality may improve on the opposite wrist, and may improve performance.
    • Warm up prior to your activity. This will increase signal quality by enhancing blood flow and ensure your activity starts with a strong, accurate signal.
    • When your activity begins, refrain from frequent adjustments to the fit of your watch on the wrist. This can reduce the quality of your heart rate signal, when the sensor is repositioned or the sensor lifts away from your skin.

    Please test these suggestions out on your next few activities. If the accuracy is not improved, please now reach out directly to Garmin Product Support. Feel free to share the results here as well, but we will need to add you to our current internal report for further investigation. 

  • That really sounds like you're putting the burden on the user for poorly implemented OHR?

    The suggestion to do a warm up before my activity is hilarious to me. I want THE WATCH to work and be accurate during my warm up and activity. 

  • The heart rate can drop in the middle of the run. Its not only at the beginning.

  • SAme problem, same hilarious position! For my part, I wait for the new  release and if it's the same, I send back the watch and use the warranty. 

  • All,

    I don't think that the problem is 100% fixed, but I can say that the HR performance is much better since the latest sotware updates.  I used to get crazy spikes for the first 20 minutes of exerciese.  Enough that on an easy run my watch would be like "I guess that was an interval workout and we just updated your Max Heartrate."  Lately, I've been getting one spike at most and it goes away quickly.  I'm on 18.23.