945 HR inaccurate during workout - any ideas?

mcalista said:

The OHR LED's pulse more frequently in activity mode, which gives better accuracy

Is this something you've observed or did you read this somewhere?  I'm not questioning if this is correct; in fact it makes sense and it could be of some assistance with a related issue on a different thread.

tess

One of the issues with having multiple threads discussion the same problem is exactly this:

tess said:

it could be of some assistance with a related issue on a different thread.

This comment about 

Otto-Destruct said:

.The frequency at which heart rate is measured varies, and may depend on the level of activity of the user. When you start an activity with your Garmin optical HR device, the optical HR monitor measures more frequently...

has also been mentioned several times, and several times more particularly to the few individuals who keep harping on about their issue with being active outside of activities and how it's screwing up their lives, their diet, and badly affecting their stress.

When not in an activity, it is fairly safe to assume that for most people heart rate will vary little throughout the day. Small increases that might be overlooked due to the lower frequency of measurement (and I include short sprints to catch a bus, trotting up a flight or two of stairs) are unlikely to grossly affect the calories estimated - and let's face it the calorie estimation is a best guesstimate at the best of time.

Simply put, Garmin have made the call to give people as much battery life as possible by reducing the measurement cycle for the WHR outside of an activity. I have no problem with that as more people seem to want as much life as possible from the battery. If that means I lose a few calories from the guesstimate so what? 

WHR is a work in progress. And will likely continue to be a work in progress for the foreseeable future. It will work for some. It won't work others. Changes made to improve the measurement may well cause it stop working some where it worked previously and begin working for others where it wasn't.

This isn't an issue about the relative accuracy OVERALL with WHR. This is about 1) a feature that they have in the software that doesn't work as they intended (HR broadcasting is sending wildly incorrect HR) and 2) the watch is perfectly capable of collecting accurate HR at other times, just not during use of this feature, and 3) this is a known issue for many, but not all, 945 owners. Garmin knows it is an issue. The facts indicate that it is a software programming bug. They are "working on it" and are willing to send HR chest straps in the meantime for 945 owners who work out with a need to broadcast HR, but can't use their watch as advertised. 

Dr Phil said:

One of the issues with having multiple threads discussion the same problem is exactly this

I'm not so sure this pertains here.  Same watch forum asking the same question over again I get, but this is a different watch, different forum.  I don't search the 245 forums if I have an issue with my 945.  They may share the same sensor or feature that I'm inquiring about, but they could have a bad update that doesn't affect me or vise versa.  Same goes with the same problem, but different hardware such as the 945 and 935 OHR sensors.

But as the OP says:

scarfecycles said:

this is a known issue for many, but not all, 945 owners.

Because it has been discussed already. And a search of the forums using 'broadcast' as the search term would have revealed that.

It sounds like it really bothers you that I posted my original question, but I'm not sure why? 

Yes, I also searched for other people's responses before I posted. I rarely post and I prefer to simply read through other's experiences to answer my question. I own many, many Garmin products and I appreciate these forums to answer my questions. 

But in this case, although there are quite a few posts identifying the problem, there are no recent posts (within last month or two) that answer my questions - Does Garmin know about this? Is it based on software/firmware and has someone found a solution? If not, what is Garmin doing to support users who are struggling with this issue? 

I think the discussion in my post is valuable info for others dealing with this. And my investigation with Garmin showed me that 1) Garmin is aware that this is a known issue, 2) They are working on a fix, 3) There is a case number, 4) They are willing to add anyone to the case (so they can search that person's Garmin Connect to get more clues/info on how to fix it), and 5) They will even send you a free chest strap ($69 value + shipping) to support the customer for broadcasting their HR during workouts, since the watch is not able to do that function. 

I hope that someone else may find this thread useful. 

Hello - thanks for summarising so well; in my view you hit the relevant nails on their heads.

I agree this is an issue as the ANT+ broadcast fundtion is basically useless at the moment. I used to use it a lot before they borked it with an update around 2.70 and have resorted to a chest strap until they fix it. I do understand that it probably doesn't really impact meaningfully on daily calories burned etc., but it should be so easy for Garmin to increase the measurement frequency whilst in ANT+ broadcast mode, and then everyone would be happy - if you don't use it, no change, and if you do, it would actually work properly.

The fact is this issue makes an advertised feature useless. People who don't use it can't understand what the problem is, and are pleased about a marginal increase in battery life. People who do get frustrated because it is a genuine problem, and should be easily fixable by the manufacturer of what is a very expensive gadget.

Garmin are clearly looking into broadcasting and related features etc. in the new 4.06 beta software. I've got my fingers crossed that this is fixed soon too, but I'm not holding my breath...

Take care.

(As a workaround in the meantime you can broadcast on ANT+ while recording an indoor activity with the 945, then delete/discard the activity on the watch to avoid duplication of data on services like Garmin Connect and Strava. This is what I do when I don't have the chest strap to hand.)

Thanks for your response! I share your frustration as I have used many different Garmin watches over the years to broadcast my HR to my Edge bike computer, and it always worked reliably over many thousands of miles (despite claims by people that the bent wrist would be a problem).

I upgraded not too long ago to the Garmin 945 from the Forerunner 35 because the 35 was not able to capture my outdoor rowing workouts (no strokes/minute, etc). But now that it is indoor rowing season, I am broadcasting my HR to a Concept2 rower, and I noticed this problem. This is the first time that I have used the 945 to broadcast HR, so I didn't notice the problem sooner.

Thanks for the tip to record to get an accurate HR, then delete the activity to avoid duplication of data.

Question - do you start recording your indoor activity, and THEN broadcast the HR to the equipment?

Or do you start with broadcasting the HR, and then start recording the activity? 

There is a setting on the watch to "Broadcast during an activity'. Go to Settings, Wrist heart Rate, Broadcast During Activity. Turn that on and your HR will be broadcast from an activity automatically.

It is not currently possible to set it per activity.

I think this might also have been repeated in one of the other threads too.