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Low HR at the start of an activity, also in FW 21.19

Christian888
1 month ago

I've been using the 955 Solar since March 2023 and I was very happy with it at the beginning. The Wrist heart rate was so accurate that I was able to do normal runs without the chest strap (HRM-Run). I only used it for intervals.

Since spring 2024 I also had the bug that the HR was too low at the beginning of an activity. Mostly in the 2-10min range, but sometimes 20min. A few weeks ago, I contacted customer support and asked for the return of the watch, an exchange or at least a FW downgrade.
Support confirmed a software bug and therefore denied a replacement. The bug is known, they are working on a software update and I should wait for the update. A downgrade has been also denied. I was added to the official ticket list.
Two or three days ago I received an email that the bug has been fixed and I should update to 21.19. Garmin-Sierra has also closed all threads here in the forum.
Today I updated the watch and then made a hardware reset to be on the safe side. After that I was running. The bug still exists in FW 21.19.
The HR is responsive enough. You can see that it rises with a slight delay, but then remains at a low level. Then the heart rate jumps up to the correct level (heart rate is from the HRM run). When the Wrist HR works right after some minutes, I think it works very well (see intervals).

I am absolutely unhappy with the situation. Garmin has a software bug since months which is also confirmed by support. But there is no solution. A return of the watch is denied and a downgrade will also be denied. All forum threads pointing this out have been closed.
Garmin has made the watch nearly useless, because the HR is the basis for all other metrics. (For the 3 minutes in the picture it may not be so serious, but for 10-15min it is serious).

The situation is unacceptable.

  • 0 1 month ago

    21.19 has not solved it for me either. 

    Still experience OHR issues during the first 20 minutes. 

    Today a run where it took 31 minutes to get the right heart rate.

    Will do some more runs, as I've the feeling something changed in OHR

    During warming up, the HR seems to be OK, after auto stop/start HR was rubbish again.

    Will share the chart once I'm using my computer. 

  • 0 1 month ago

    I am really sad to see it is still not fixed.

  • 0 1 month ago

    Same here. How can such a basic feature be rendered completely useless. 

  • 0 1 month ago

    I recently upgraded from a Venu 2 to a Forerunner 955. I have regularly seen this problem with both watches - not surprising as they have the same Elevate v4 heart rate sensor.

    It seems to have appeared (or got bad enough to notice) several months ago, and seems significantly worse on the FR955.

    On the Venu 2, the recorded heart rate would often be far too low for up to the first 7-8 minutes - often 30bpm or more - and suddenly jump up to a realistic value.

    On the FR955, the same happens but for my last two activities (a run and a walk) it took 13 minutes and 24 minutes to jump to the correct value. For the walk, it recorded values as low as 72bpm for several minutes, even though I was walking at 6km/h.

    I've seen the heart rate appear to fall drastically when I start the activity.

    The Forerunner 955 is fully upgraded to the latest 21.20 software (and the Venu 2 was also updated to the latest release).

    I appreciate that wrist-based heart rate sensors are not that reliable or accurate, but I'm sure this used to work better in my early days with the Venu 2.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to 5767025

    yup, Garmin seems did it on purpose without accountability to fix it for the user who has the problem, they thought as long as the majority (more than 60%) is not affected, no need to fix it. and here they are, locking the threads without solution and just told user to use the warranty service with local store, but some of us is already out of warranty with out watches. Shame but i'm already saving up for my Coros Pace Pro, abandoning my unuseable 955 Solar.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to DaibaDabu

    Absolutely, I will switch to Pace Pro as well. Accountability for their actions is the basis that I require from the company.

  • 0 1 month ago 
    I have the same problem, the 955 is relatively new and got the latest firmware update, 
    garmin has really bothered me with products that don't work properly after every update. 
    I am also experiencing various issues with the sensors being lost on the garmin 1040 solar as well. 
    Please if it reads there on garmin, fix the problems!
  • 0 1 month ago

    I have the same with the latest update...before was relatively everything fine...latest trail uphill run i felt i was around 150-160bpm and 955 shows me 110 Smiley

    Normally i wear chest strap but i wanted to test the latest firmware only by measuring by watch itself...

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to 5767025

    I did another run today and the same problem occurred again. The watch didn't lock on to my heart rate for the first seven minutes of a run at 6.25min/km, and completely missed an interval of 4.4min/km. After 1km, it told me my performance condition was "+8", which was clearly nonsense based on the incorrect heart rate.

    After the run, the watch told me my lactate threshold had increased, but it's hard to know if this is real or because of the faulty recording.

    The problem is easy to see in the graph below - grey is heart rate, blue line is pace.

  • 0 1 month ago in reply to 5767025

    The same here, the first cycling 5k cycling in broadcast mode is not shown.