HR readings too low while hiking

OHR acts different between different activities is what I'm thinking...

I like to do 8 ~ 10 mile hikes on the weekends and I’m not seeing decent heart rate tracking using the Hiking activity. It appears during the hike I reach a point, around 100 ~ 110 bpm, that the rate starts dropping off when in fact my heart rate is going on up past that.

Saturday I wore my Instinct on my right arm, not setup in any activity, and it was showing me up in the 160 + bpm range where the 945 had me anywhere between 81 ~ 109 bpm during a decent hill ascent.

I normally use the HRM-Tri when road running and have run a few times without it and got decent results via OHR. Almost ready to stop using the Tri as the OHR is that good when running.

I feel like my arms doesn’t jostle around while hiking like they do when running. Different algorithms?

I guess this coming weekend I’ll hike the same section of the forest 3 different times and track them via the Running, Trail Running, and Hiking activities and see what I get, all OHR.

I really don’t want to use a strap for hiking.

Use an HR chest strap - *especially* if you're using trekking poles. Any activity where you're gripping something will bork optical wrist HR.

Also: Hiking doesn't contribute to VO2max calculations. To get an accurate VO2max reading, surfaces have to be hard, and flat - walking, running, road cycling.

Body Battery is a cumulative total of HRV stress over time - it'll increase if you're at rest (low HRV stress) and decrease with high HRV stress.

CJOttawa, "*especially* if you're using trekking poles." - So true!  Just finished a trail marathon this past weekend (using poles) and  OHR was way off considering the effort (not that I really needed more accurate data).  Just to be a bit pedantic, the comment on HRV and stress may be confusing - HIGH HRV and low stress go together - low HRV is "bad".  This can seem counter-intuitive at first.  For those that want more details on HRV here is one reference https://www.firstbeat.com/en/blog/what-is-heart-rate-variability-hrv/ 

Yep, "High Heart-Rate Variability" correlates with "Low HRV stress."

The way I think of it is:

• at rest, when relaxed, your heart is "lose and care-free" and changes the beat-to-beat (r-r) interval... up, down, meandering
• when stressed, your heart FOCUSES - beats become very consistent - reduced variability

Below the comparisan between wrist OHR and Polat H10 chjest strap for a hinking activity. I also did a short run section inside to check if the OHR is able to follow.

I used the app “Auxiliary Heart Rate” to track both simultaneously in Garmin Connect.

But using this app I got a lot of experience about correct tightness, when start/restart the activity. Anyway there is always some luck needed to have good HR values in an activity.

See tm thead https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-945/174081/compare-ohr-and-chest-strap-hr-values-of-an-activity-in-garmin-connect

I think this is a byproduct of the latest software...  Mine was very consistent for a long time... then I upgraded to the new 2.7 and now 2.8 firmwares and wrist HR / OHR are pretty much just a joke. 

Is this an app that is running while your in an activity being recorded?

*edit*  I found the data field.... thanks

Hi hogmemberisold,

Sorry for not using the correct wording in my text. You are complexity right! 

I'm using the Garmin Connect IQ DataField "Auxiliary Heart Rate FR945".

So I have the Data from "Wrist OHR" and from "Chest Strap" inside Garmin Connect Web/Mobile version and can do fast & easy an overlay of both.

For the activity I have created an additional screen, so that can can see both values in "real time" on my watch. This is a good way to optimize the tightness of the strap, right/left hand and other stuff to get out the best data from the wrist OHR.

Thanks Ralf_23

I installed the IQ data field and included it into an additional screen showing both the optical and strap heart rates for the hiking activity. I was planning on hiking using different activities to see the heart rate difference, but since finding this IQ data field, I'm going to just use the hiking activity.

I'll be back a little bit later as I need to get ready for the morning hike!