Recovery Rate Wrong Since v. 6.20? Resulting in Lower VO2 Max?

I wonder if you're using built-in optical sensor for that? As myself I found its readings quite unreliable and I get pretty high pulse readings even during simple walk? I've checked it by using my optical sensor on Vivoactive 4 (which is basically same device as Venu with a different display technology) and HRM Dual chest strap recording data to my phone and later compared those, I never had as high readings and spikes on my data from HRM Dual as I had with my  VA4.

I've a feeling that latest upgrades improbed battery life but possibly make HR readings less reliable as I did that test on old firmware versions like 5.80 and data from my watch and my chest strap wasn't that different back then.

Yes, I was using the built-in Garmin HR sensor.

I just did a quick test run with a Polar chest strap and my recovery rate was exactly 60.

So, Garmin's recovery rate is wildly inaccurate as of the last couple of firmware versions.

It makes me wonder about the rest of the HR accuracy.

Someone at Garmin should flag this for their developers.

it seems like our tests just confirm there is something wrong with HR measuring, myself I try to always use chest strap lately just for that reason though resting HR probably is good as each time I tried to compare compare it with the chest strap results were very close. What about logging, do you use Smart or Every second? I'm using the latter.

Garmin-AmberDis there a way to improve HR reading? If you need simultaneous reading from the watch and recorded with HRM chest strap, I'd be glad to help. Possibly something was changed in the recent firmware versions which made measurements less accurate?

I have a feeling that what you're describing is a result of slower probing for HR, and if my theory is right, maybe it was done to optimize the battery.

I wonder if anyone else is experiencing this issue? Or they just not aware as not comparing it with chest strap readings or manual pulse measurements.

I just reset my Venu and tried it again. This time I got a recovery rate of 7....

The latest firmware updates definitely broke this.

Many users don't seem to even know how to view the Recovery Rate. So it might be that few will notice.

But as far I know, Recovery Rate is used to estimate VO2 Max, so what they will see is dropping VO2 Max values.

Can someone from Garmin address this and get it fixed?

Is anyone at Garmin aware of this? Garmin-Kevin

I have had to go on the trails wearing a chest strap to get accurate data and that defeats the purpose of the Venu.

The discrepancies are terrible: The Venu shows a Recovery Rate of 7, while the strap shows a Recovery Rate of 80.

The VO2 Max was steadily going down while using the Venu, now with the strap, it has started inching back up. This means that the data is wrong even if people are not aware of the Recovery Rate.

Is someone working on fixing this? It was broken by the last few updates.

4757287 I have looked in our system for other reports of this and cannot find that anyone else is reporting having an issue with this feature.  I would recommend reaching out directly to your local Garmin Support team.  If you let me know where you live, I would be more than happy to provide you with the contact info for that team.

Hi, Garmin-Kevin Thank you for the response.

I would suggest that there are no reports because many Venu users don't even know that the Recovery Rate feature exists and many don't know how to see it.

But be that as it may, I am in Southern California. Thanks again!

Thank you!  Please see the "Contact Us for More Help" section on the page that opens when you click the link below:

https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?productID=707538&searchQuery=recovery%20heart%20rate&tab=topics

I would recommend reaching out via phone call as opposed to Live Chat.