Heart Rate Monitor Spikes

[Lynn Hepler]

Theposition of the watch on my wrist and the tightness of the band has always been the same, and my watch sensor and wrist are always clean. I was enrolled in the beta channel until this latest release and never saw this bug happen until after final release of 14.67 and now it persists in 14.68.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue? I'm now getting a "maintaining" training status instead of "productive" even though all of my metrics are good, and I suspect it's because of this bug, because my "Performance condition" drops during runs because of it.

similar has happened here on my epix gen 2. I noticed this right away because I wear my old 245 on right wrist (on a separate acct ) as a HR reference. my 245 has extremely accurate wrist heart rate reading for some reason. even beats my epix pro on my own tests ( elevate v4 vs v3 )

I am having the exact same issue. I did a 5k row today that was intended to be in zone 3, but I kept seeing heart rate spikes to 190+, then after 20-30 seconds, it instantly dropped back down to 160. This bug is totally ruining my training and recovery metrics - it said I spent 6 minutes in zone 5, which is not at all reality.

i discarded one hour run workout because I didnt want the crazy spike to zone 5 HR to be logged in my activities and kill my vo2max :( ( about 40-50 beats higher than actual!!) other watch on right wrist has the correct heart rate at zone 2

Same on an Epix 2 (non Pro), and I am on 14.68 (beta branch). Had a walk the other day and the HR shot up for a couple of minutes and then returned to normal. Last night in sleep it did the same thing for 30 minutes, stress and HR were up. I thought it was a real spike but I also wear a Whoop band and in both cases there was no sign of either on it. (I know Whoop's sensor has some issues, but it usually compares closely to what the Garmin is showing, it just clips high points.)

Yes, it affects all garmin watches now in every tier. The problem is when the HR data start to be inconsistent, and hard to evaluate, the watch starts to go rogue and guessing something.

This is a normal process. What is not normal, is that the watch keeps staying in this nonsense state, even when it do have consistent data.

If the inaccuracy is from using WHR then it's been out there since Noah was an infant. It gets better. It gets worse. Some people have issues. Some people don't. It works for some until a software change then it doesn't. That's optical heart rate sensing and it applies to all manufacturers equally.

I'm a Garmin 955 user who came here to see if the Epix was having a similar problem. In summary, some 955 users have been struggling with this since February 2023 and the data you show is similar to that of some other users, including 965 users. The problem seems to be worse in cold weather which might explain why people are noticing this problem more recently. This problem doesn't affect everyone, but for those that it does affect it does so frequently:

The good news is that since this was only observed starting with a specific software version (problem observed on v14.13 on Forerunner 955 in February 2023 and not in older versions), this would apparently be a software problem rather than a hardware problem. The other good news is that Garmin-Sierra is working hard to collect reports for the developers. If you are contacted by Garmin-Sierra, support however you can. If you want to take the initiative, consider contacting the support desk.

Wrap Up

Hopefully this will help you get through those pesky heart rate reading errors and get on with your workout. If you have any related tips to fixing strange HR readings, feel free to leave them below in the comments!

Hi, just a derivative or upgrade: I own and have owned more than 5 belts, majority of them Suunto Smart Belts. After years of occasional frustrations with erratic HRs I went down the rabbit hole, applied some physicochemical backgroud and tried WD40. Applied to both of the contact pins between the sensor and the belt. It works. Repeatibly. Full stop. There is a rationale behind: corrosion, by sweat, oxidation etc. Disclaimer: if your battery is weak, it goes without saying, it does not work ;-). If your belt is really worn down, you have earned a new one (not sensor!).

Theres at least 3 good ones recorded when my device was spiking at 245bpm. The last Kardia ECG read 93bpm while I was looking at 245bpm on my Garmin device. My felt pulse also felt like 93bpm. I sent that 30 second record to a Kardia cardiologist. He rated it as a normal heart sinus rhythm. Mind you 245 registered on all 3 Garmin devices with 3 different straps

During one of my last rides in Dec. a friend and I switched our Garmin straps and monitors. My devices on his bike continued to show normal. His devices on my chest and bike showed spiking HRs. We stopped I waited 3-4 minutes till HR returned to normal (learned during earlier rides). We rode another 1 1/2 hrs at sometimes high HRs (145-155)and no further spikes.

Considering our mutual experience. I have to conclude rather then errant straps. It must be some aspect of heart rhythm is triggering the spikes. If its not A-Fib or tachycardia or some other disease process. It must be this bigeminy rhythm. Garmin devices must be picking this up either strap wise or device wise. Since its not reported with another type of strap. There might be some quality of the Garmin product doing this.

Im ready to go strapless, but as you Im thinking another kind of device. Im hooked up to Strava, I need distance so as long as my alternate device gave me good info. I would ignore the Garmin HR readout.

I found a good post that shows a test for the strap. Forward to around 5:30. Ok it needs a multimeter

but its the only test I have seen on the web that can identify a faulty strap

link to youtube.com

Looking for advice on how to wear multiple chest heart rate monitors at the same time. RR data from Polar H9 and Wahoo TiCKR do not agree, each Bluetooth connected to a different Android phone. I want to wear them plus a Garmin HRM-Dual at the same time while using a recumbent bicycle.

Since the Garmin help desk tech is very much incorrect. HOW do I use the Garmin HRM Dual in the same manner as I am using the Polar, Wahoo, and CooSpo? i.e. wear it and collect HR/RR data on an Android app?

@CrimpOn, DC Rainmaker is correct. Im puzzled why Garmin tech support would say otherwise. Also if devices are reading connectedness why not the HR signal? I wonder if your Garmin strap would pair with a Garmin head unit. I can only think a manufacturing defect if it does. There are straps which only connect with Garmin products. I wouldnt keep buy another dual strap until you can locate the issue.

I have several Garmin HRM Dual heart rate monitors. I have had no problem at all looking at HRV in the iOS versions of HRV Logger or HRV4Training. Both work flawlessly. I have also connected to Strava, Wahoo Fitness, Zwift, TrainerRoad, and Sufferfest on iOS and Windows 10 over BT with no problems. Also worked on both Ant+ and BT with my Edge 1030, FR945, Wahoo Bolt, Stages Dash L50, and Hammerhead Karoo 2. The heart rate BlueTooth data interface is governed by standards and works with all devices. I have no idea why you are having problems with an Android phone. My only comment is that I know people that use them with Android devices and they never mentioned any issues.

On another note: Can someone direct me to advice on how to wear three heart rate monitors at the same time? I have been doing two as (1) directly under the sternum, and (2) underneath the first one. Is there a reason NOT to wear one higher on the chest? I know it may not be as comfortable and would definitely interfere with many types of exercise, but would it not work?

Hi Larry, I too am 68 and had my Garmin 521 show HR plateau at 240 multiple rides starting last Oct 2020. If I stopped and waited a few minutes it often would not come back on that ride. I too did the cardiologist route. I wore a holter and no results.

I borrowed other monitors and got replacements straps, but the high HR continued. I started to take baby aspirin and also bought the 6 lead Kardia Mobile. It connects to an app which takes a 30 sec graph of all 6 heart rhythms. Well worth the 150$. Its medical grade and hospitals use them to monitor heart patients. That device showed no anomalies.

It feels like the issue resides within the FR 35 watch and not the other components. There are some blog posts who have observed and claimed the same thing, with pictures that look identical to mine. In these cases, the commenters usually insist the phenomenon only occurs with optical HRMs.

Hi,

Are all the HR measurements suffering from the inaccuracies, independent of the brand? I am seeing grazy numbers in polar m430 with the breast band (40-203) and considered changing the gear. But is it the same thing about sweat, humidity and sensor placement in any case?

Since using chest strap (2019, Polar H10) sometimes my pulse rate chart reveals glitches of the kind in the picture below, what do you think?

I do not feel nothing, if was not for the HR monitor I would not notice.

I am cyclist and nothing came out from the specific medical exam performed yearly; next time I will bring the doctor these finding.

It is not easy to find a correlation seems NOT happening in low intensity activities

The glitch pattern seems like this: while cycling at steady state, suddenly Beats Per Minute drops by 10 units for 10-20 seconds; the drop ends up

-(most of the time) restoring the BPM had before the drop

-(sometimes) with a couple of seconds spike (a mild one, I mean is not the 240 BPM clearly sign of malfunctioning)

-(rarely) with persisting high pulse reading (registered two events: one time lasted one minute another time 3 minutes and because me decided to stop cycling!)

After trying all the suggestions, e.g., WD40 in the contacts, wearing only wool, wetting the strap in mid-ride, I decided the computer itself was at fault. Amazon is taking it back and sending me a new one at once. Thank you all for your suggestions and thank you Amazon.

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