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Wrist heart rate monitor WHR inaccurate

Former Member over 6 years ago

Anyone else experienced issues with the heart rate inaccuracy? My FR945's HR reading is often higher than actual by 10%-30%. Usually when walking or moving around (e.g. cooking or talking & moving hands). It is disappointing because my $200 Fitbit tracks my heart rate accurately. This is a critical feature, because many other calculations depend on it.

Resetting the sensor (with garmin's support) did not fix it.

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0 KINGPIN34 over 5 years ago in reply to Dr Phil

I am using Garmin last 3 years when they first released WHR it was working very good but in the last 8 months I am checking from my friends as well who are having Garmin WHR watch having the same problem. I bought 945 and having the same problem. I am very unsatisfied.

0 GarminMarathoner over 5 years ago in reply to KINGPIN34

As of yesterday after a night of charging I got a sensor system update (never sure which sensors it was) but boy the optical HR has been good again.

So let's hope they fixed it and it works. *Now sitting here with a resting HR of 46-50 instead of 80.*

0 GarminMarathoner over 5 years ago in reply to robsy45

Just got a sensor update yesterday? Not 100% sure if it was wrist HR or gps, but it's now working as it used to/I'd expect. My easy run HR was 140-145 and not 160-180 it was showing over the last few months. And my sitting at my desk HR is back to 45 +/- 5 and not 90-100 as it was often showing.

Let's hope they fixed it...

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

I have problems with my fr 735 showing slower heart rate

0 KINGPIN34 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Everybody has problem with wrist HR unfortunately Garmin does not care the complaints.

0 Jeff B over 5 years ago

After doing some Zone 2 run training, I'll be using my Wahoo chest strap. My heart was much higher on my watch, pushing up to zone 4 and 5, knowing that I was nowhere near there. When I'm actually in Zone 4 & 5, my watch seems pretty accurate. Maybe it's all the movement that's causing all the inconsistencies. I'll have to test when I do bike trainer to compare data.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

Same here. I have my 945 since june 2019 and when I am doing light exercises it shows that my HR is still at 80-90 BPM when I am sure to be around 120-130. Very disappointing.

0 talsela over 5 years ago

For those who've had issues with the 945 OHR, have your issues been resolved over time?

Rubén, Former Member, jkoplik, JeremyBlck, Ralf_23, renton82, Mad-One, sekarb, Ommike, Former Member, JamesRobinson2, 9631125, KINGPIN34, Peter Hand, SteveBUK, Former Member, robsy45, LoreRoc, Former Member, Jeff B, 2047162

0 JeremyBlck over 5 years ago in reply to talsela

My problems were with the 24/7 tracking being inaccurate (too low and too unresponsive) after FR945 firmware 2.50-2.64 last summer. During activities I used a strap. I opened a support ticket and Garmin acknowledged my problems after a few weeks and told me they were working on a fix.

After a few months of using the FR945 I saw my HR sensor showed cracks and Garmin send me a new FR945. I sold that one and bought a fenix 6 Pro in the hope that one had better WHR, although I knew it had the same sensor. But no luck, WHR was as inaccurate as the FR945.

It was never resolved and I still think it’s a hardware defect. I sold my fenix last week and have bought a Polar Grit X. Even with the release firmware the Polar WHR is working as should be expected and I like the Polar Flow ecosystem much more. No more Garmin for me.

0 SteveBUK over 5 years ago in reply to talsela

Not resolved. Still the same issues. I don’t use the OHR for any activities. It seems fine for RHR and general non active HR. It reads too high in activities. 10-20 beats. I always use the HRM-RUN. Otherwise the watch stats are rubbish.