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Heart rate not measured correctly the first few minutes

Since the last update, my heart rate never registers properly during the first few minutes of my workout. It's stuck at around 120-130 until it suddenly jumps up to correct HR:

The graph above is from today. The following graph is from a race last week:

Looking at a graph from 3 weeks ago:

Here there are no sudden jumps in HR, the increase is gradual. I've seen Garmin reps mention on this forum to "warm up properly and wear the watch snug around the wrist". But I have not changed my routine in the two years that I own this watch. The issue suddenly popped up in the last 2-3 weeks.

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Garmin-Sierra 4 months ago +1 verified

All,

Thank you for sharing. We have been tracking OHR concern during activities, but already have a main thread regarding this topic. Please see THIS thread for my updates and future comments.

I am going…
Matthias 6 months ago in reply to Jacquers +3

I know it should not stay on 130 for 5-6 minutes and then suddenly jump to 160 immediately.
4643783 7 months ago +1

garmin broke the OHR and is now still "investigating" the problem. I think he's rather dismissive of us.
AlexGil 7 months ago in reply to Matthias +1

Thanks for the info, I tried this and went for a run today and HR seemed to be logging correctly from the start. Hoping that's it fixed

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0 rundad86 5 months ago

This is pretty much the same as mentioned over in: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-955-series/362273/heart-rate-values-totally-wrong-after-update-18-22

Personally, I've experienced:
- Incorrect HR from the start of the run (underreading and then suddenly 'pings' to correct HR)
- Incorrect HR data during interval (underreading during the interval which is extremely annoying and completely wrecks HR based intervals)

and no updates to date have addressed this problem.

I'm now happily using Polar H10 instead. The OHR is so unreliable it's not worth the risk. I wonder how many people are having to spend extra money to get external sensors to address what is a core problem with the watch.....bit sad really..

0 Matthias 5 months ago in reply to rundad86

I've been looking at HR monitors for a second as well, but then I realized that a 500+ EUR watch, with a HR sensor that is being lauded as being as accurate as a chest strap by reviewers like DC Rainmaker (https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2022/05/garmin-forerunner-955-solar-review.html), shouldn't need an external add-on to function as advertised.

And I never had issues in the past. This is clearly just a firmware issue that should be addressed.

0 rundad86 5 months ago in reply to Matthias

Sure, it's not perfect, but at least I can train properly. I've used chest straps before and likely would have bought one anyway (given they're quite clearly the way to get good accuracy). The alternative is sitting on this forum complaining 24/7 with no change in the situation over many firmware updates. I've lost faith in Garmin's ability/desire to fix this so I'm not going to do that tyvm. Back to the trail!

0 G141592653589793238 4 months ago

Today I experimented almost exactly the same behavior than you:

https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-955-series/374727/wrong-heart-rate-on-ohr-fw-19-18/1800283#1800283

+1 Garmin-Sierra 4 months ago

All,

Thank you for sharing. We have been tracking OHR concern during activities, but already have a main thread regarding this topic. Please see THIS thread for my updates and future comments.

I am going to lock this thread so we can keep the topic under one thread.

Thanks again!