Bug With HR/Broadcasting and Rowing Activity?

Hi all,

I am typically a runner. I recently started rowing and think I found a bug; wanted to see if anyone else could reproduce before reporting it (in case it’s just faulty hardware).

So, the setup:

- HR Arm Strap (Polar Verity Sense), connected to watch via Bluetooth

- Watch set to Indoor Row activity, with HR Broadcasting enabled

- Rower (This was the Hydrow, but I don’t think it’d matter) connecting to watch for HR.

The idea here is that HR data goes Strap -> Watch -> Rower. I follow this setup for Zwift activities on Virtual Run mode and it does fine (or so I thought… maybe the watch is just close enough to the strap that I never noticed? Further testing required).

But after 10 minutes of rowing, I was feeling a lot more exertion than my HR would indicate (I am still pretty bad at it). So I stopped the workout and connected the rower to the strap directly via ANT+ and it immediately jumped up 30+bpm. I then tried again via Bluetooth (I wasn’t sure the ANT+ ID was correct, and Bluetooth reflected the device name), and saw the same numbers. 

The watch was still showing the lower, unreliable numbers. I went into the settings to make sure the device was connected (via Bluetooth), and it was. So, after checking the HR again, I disabled HR Broadcasting, checked again, and saw the same numbers reflected on the Rowing Machine. 

So. Somehow, when in (at least) the Indoor Rowing activity, enabling Bluetooth Broadcasting ignores any connected HR sensors?

Anyone else see this?

Thanks!

  • Hi - I do not have a rower but have the same polar armband and also use Zwift.  I do not start virtual workouts on my watch whether running or cycling, I only start HR broadcast from watch and then I connect my polar to Zwift.  When workout is over, Zwift uploads workout to garmin and then I sync watch so that intensity minutes get counted. No workout info from Garmin is uploaded, only Zwift.  Probably does not help for rowing but I have seen no issues using this method with Zwift with regards to HR.  I found this in forums for getting intensity minutes counted in garmin connect that is only reason I use the watch at all during Zwift workouts.