heart rate freeze during activity

Mine moves in the 85 - 90 range most of my runs since 5.40 update. Sometimes for short periods (minutes) it starts to read normal values but other time it just stuck in this arbitrary range. Not sure where it is reading that from. Perhaps I have faulty arm as well.

Kind of the same problem

Hi there,

I have kind of the same issue. The thing is that my 235 was working fine till the middle of my training. I was doing 4K in progressive mode. For the last 2K it stopped working well. It froze at certain point(you can see it on the link below) and then it even reduced my average HR while I was going even faster than the previous 2K, while my HR were supposed to go higher instead. Now, I don't know if either it is the sweat or the tightness of the watch on my wrist or the watch itself that is not working properly.

My other issue is regarding my performance. I'm training with the %MaxHR, but I never ever reach the 100% even if I'm dying while trying. The watch somehow freezes in 81%. I have done the Fitmate VO2max test and my trainer and I know exactly the BPM I have to reach in order to improve my performance.

This is not the first time it works wrong and my trainer keeps blaming on Garmin because he rather prefers Polar (which I don't like). What shall I do? complain to Garmin? or get a HR chest band?

Any thoughts? Thanks! :)
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1328787796

hi Pao, your activity is private :)

Hi there,

I have kind of the same issue. The thing is that my 235 was working fine till the middle of my training. I was doing 4K in progressive mode. For the last 2K it stopped working well. It froze at certain point(you can see it on the link below) and then it even reduced my average HR while I was going even faster than the previous 2K, while my HR were supposed to go higher instead. Now, I don't know if either it is the sweat or the tightness of the watch on my wrist or the watch itself that is not working properly.

My other issue is regarding my performance. I'm training with the %MaxHR, but I never ever reach the 100% even if I'm dying while trying. The watch somehow freezes in 81%. I have done the Fitmate VO2max test and my trainer and I know exactly the BPM I have to reach in order to improve my performance.

This is not the first time it works wrong and my trainer keeps blaming on Garmin because he rather prefers Polar (which I don't like). What shall I do? complain to Garmin? or get a HR chest band?

Any thoughts? Thanks! :)
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1328787796

Per the Garmin manual and information widely circulated on the Net the wrist based Heart Rate Monitor may not stay linked up properly during activities that involve a lot of arm movement. Being an Optically based device the watch moving on the wrist can cause it to lose track of the heart rate and then it has to attempt to re-acquire the heart rate. If you have the watch moving pretty much on a continual basis it won't be able to track the heart rate and will then "freeze" as described. The key to helping to minimize this issue is to tighten up the wrist band until it is distinctly snug so that the watch cannot shift position in the wrist. If that doesn't work the the best option is to use the chest band Heart Rate Monitor.

BTW, coming from the Forerunner 15 I have a couple of the chest monitors and multiple chest bands and use them as my default for any activity more active than simply walking. About the only issue with the Chest Monitor is they can get flaky in regards to accurate readings if too much salt from sweat is allowed to accumulate in the chest band. As a result as soon as I remove a chest band I remove the sensor pod and drop the sweaty band in a bowl of circulating warm water in the sink. Then I let the water run for about 15 minutes and then let the strap soak overnight and hang it up to dry in the morning. I also take the previous days band that has been drying and put the monitor on that for the next days workout. I'll also note the battery can go dead, in which case you'll either get no reading or the rate may read way low. Good news is the CR2032 battery lasts a LONG time, I've been using my current monitor over a year and it's still functioning perfectly, rumor has it the battery is good for 2 or 3 years.

Same kind of issues here

Hello,

I have the same problem since last update (5.40) : beginning of run is OK, numbers seem accurate, but after a while, the HR froze, and keeps the same value until the end of the run :
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1323313457
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1338061701

I hope this will be fixed in the next update.

it's a real freeze here ... Finally, after having used the watch of a friend who had a 235, I sent mine to be repaired. you need to contact support like me.

Hello,

I have the same problem since last update (5.40) : beginning of run is OK, numbers seem accurate, but after a while, the HR froze, and keeps the same value until the end of the run :
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1323313457
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1338061701

I hope this will be fixed in the next update.

I'm becoming convinced that there are some major flaws in the Heart Rate Estimation algorithm featured in the 5.40 firmware. Prior to 5.40 my 235 seemed to do a pretty good job at estimating the Heart Rate between a fully tracked reading, now it's downright flaky. Today I confirmed what I had suspected by strapping on my chest monitor and using my Forerunner 15 as a full time indicator for my heart rate.

So, get up to let the dog out, about a 15 foot walk, and per the widget on my 235 my heart rate spikes at 120. Look at the Forerunner 15 and the readout is showing 82. BTW, after about 30 seconds the 235 drop the wrist monitor and links with the chest monitor for the heart rate widget, so in less than a second the reading goes from 120 to 82. In addition when just sitting down and typing this the Forerunner 15 is showing a heart rate ranging between 72 and 80 while if I open the widget it could show anything from about 59 to what is showing on the Forerunner 15.

To sum it up, I am finding that the wrist monitor can be correct when it's fully tracking the heart rate, but when it's simply estimating the heart rate any activity has it reading high and at apparent rest it's typically reading low. I have also found that when it loses the tracking lock during an Activity it tends to guesstimate high until it finally achieves a new lock on the heart rate. Because of this whenever I am going to do any Activity I take the time to strap on my chest monitor because I just don't have that much confidence in the wrist monitor. Personally because I tend to plug my watch into my computer every day I really don't need the extended battery life and really wish that Garmin would permit me to set the intervals when the wrist monitor actively tracks the heart rate. Yeah, I know that a shorter interval would mean less battery life but I can accept that, what is becoming unacceptable is the poor performance of the current estimation algorithm.

Hi, I am in Brazil and my FR235 freezes frequently, mainly after a pause. I complained to Garmin Brazil and they exchanged the monitor twice but the problem persists. Finally, they offerd me the money back. Garmin not even tried to understand the fail and said there is not other complaint about this fail.