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Optical Heart Rate Accuracy During Activities - fuddled outputs - reliability??

Hi

I’m wondering if anyone can spend 2 minutes to have a look at my activity links to see if they align with anything they have seen with their devices – My primary problems are that the OHRM takes an age to get up to speed during activities sometimes over 10 minutes before it starts showing what I believe it be a roughly accurate heart rate. Even then I treat it with some trepidation – as I think it underplays my heart rate – I’ve used a strap for years so know roughly where I am and where my heart is when I exert myself.

Has anyone else seen patterns like the below please? I really didn’t have as many problems over ‘trusting’ the output in the last update– not sure about the newest 4.60. Am I just paranoid having read other people’s views/woes?

Any comment would be appreciated.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1190025805

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1185618511

Thank you

0 Max556 over 8 years ago

I have had a few runs like this. Now, I ALWAYS get a HR lock (heart stops flashing) on the main HR widget first before I even enter the Run Activity. Since I have started doing this, my HR is very accurate all the way along my run. Waiting for the heart to stop flashing and lock on when in the Run Activity seems to take forever for some reason, but only a few seconds on the widget.

Max

0 MJSlingsby over 8 years ago

You'll see lots of gripes about the OHRM on this forum. I have found that it is unreliable at faster paces and either locks to my cadence or something motion related. At my easy pace of 5:30/km or slower it seems OK, but when doing anything faster than 5:00/km pace it is a disaster. I have switched to using a chest strap for these sessions and just using the OHRM for slower runs and general activity monitoring.

Some people suggest that it has got worse with recent firmware updates (4.2/4.3/4.6) but I didn't get a chance to try it out before these versions started to appear in quick succession during April/May.

When you do use it, make sure to follow Max556's advice about waiting for the heart to stop flashing. And tighten the strap an extra notch compared to regular use.