Inaccurate wrist heart rate during activity after FW update

jmoneygrip

Wrist HR rose like a wave during the first 20 min of a neighborhood walk, peaking at almost 180bpm. Then, it fell off to expected heart rate below 120bpm for the remainder of the activity. This is a walk I do several times a week, I have not experienced this issue prior to the recent firmware update.

I wanted to delete the activity because it was so off but kept it for troubleshooting purposes.

Anyone else experienced this after the FW update last week?

Patrick Rx

@jmoneygrip noticed similar issues with the 24/7 measurement. Activity HR is some way off since I bought the watch so I use a HR belt now

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@jmoneygrip there was nothing changed in the HR part. So this most probably is not an issue.

TonyG

@jmoneygrip I have just experienced the same, gentle street walk: hr shot up to 180bpm after 20mins walking then never returned, I stopped the activity and deleted on the watch so it wouldn’t transfer and negatively effect my VO2 estimate.

I’m wondering if there is a way to re-install the old firmware as not happy with this one.
My altitude drifts much more when i am in the house compared to my S9B and the S9P on previous firmware.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@tonyg we didn’t change a thing neither on altitude readings nor HR

jmoneygrip

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos I’m tempted to perform a reset of some sort, what’s the best option?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@jmoneygrip there should be a menu option about this.

But imo since we didn’t touch any hr part this more sounds of cold settling in.

For example pay attention to outside factors. Was it colder the day you had some bad readings ?

Giacomo Laffranchini

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos That is plausible. I live in SoCal, here it is still fairly warm (upper 80 F) and I personally did not observe any significant difference in HR performance during an activity. However in “cooler” days I register some wobbling in HR reading the first minute and then I tend to have fairly accurate readings.

On a side but related note, I noticed that - compared to other brands - S9P need to be worn quite tight in order to give good readings during an activity. A lot tighter than my previous Garmin devices. I imagine this might become even more important during winter due to vasoconstriction.

jmoneygrip

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos
It was maybe 5° F difference. Cooler, but still comfortable to walk in shorts & a tshirt.
I did the same walk yesterday & heart rate was fine. Odd. This is why I still use chest strap for most activities & relegate the wrist sensor to daily hr & sleep.

TonyG

@jmoneygrip so after having an issue with wrist hr reading locking to a high bpm when slowly walking, I read and took on board a few suggestions by forum users and it has made the difference.

1: I did a 12second reset (just in case after the firmware update)
2: probably the suggestion that’s made the difference: I really tightened up the watch whilst doing a gentle walk and had good, expected and consistent wrist hr readings.

I have a feeling the slighter cooler weather did reduce my readable hr flow through the wrist or shrank the wrist slight so that the watch wasn’t making that solid connection, fingers crossed.
I use a chest strap for anything other than a gentle walk so its a minor thing anyway but its always nice to know you have the accuracy on the wrist when you need it.

Thanks fellow forum users and mods for the thoughts and suggestions around wrist hr accuracy.