Low Heart Rate when running

[Black3ternity]

Hi there,

I looked through the forum posts but I did not find anything suitable for that.
I received my shiny new Band 2 last week from UK (living in Germany) and I was amazed by it.
I owned the original Band since April this year and swapped it for the new version. I usually start my workouts with 30 - 40 minute running (or in my case using the crosstrainer). My heartrate was always pretty spot on with the old Band, but with the new it's just puzzling.
The lock is okay for most parts, and it even gets my HR properly at around 140 - 150 but after a minute or so, it drops down to 80 - 90 and stays there. After a while it loses the lock and has difficulty to gain it again. Please refer to the screenshots I took from the Dashboard site.

Microsoft Band 1 - Run

Microsoft Band 2 - Run


For comparison, I checked the Heartrate difference when doing my workout. Here are the results:

Microsoft Band 1 -Weight Lifting

Microsoft Band 2 - Weight Lifting


As you can see, the Band 2 seems not defective because it IS tracking the HR properly at higher rates, but I have no clue why it messes up on the crosstrainer. I think I will test it for 10 minutes on the treadmill just to check if my "grip" when holding the handles is causing any issues but I would doubt that.


For sleep tracking and day to day routine, everything works really well. Even regular workouts in form of weight lifting and stuff like that, it works perfectly. But for some odd reason, it messes up big time when I'm really pushing myself. And that is just frustrating because my heart feels like it would explode at any second and my Band 2 says "yeah, your heartrate is at smooth 85 - 90, so everything is cool."

Has anyone else problems like that? And if so, is there any fix for it?
I wear the Band 2 the same as my Band 1. Left hand, inside. Yes the optical heart rate sensor is now on the inside so I thought that may cause trouble. Swapped it to the right hand inside - no difference. Even put it back on my left hand but outside this time. Nearly no lock at all.
Like I said, I'm not sure that the sensor is defective because it CAN read properly, but decides to ignore nearly half of my pulse as if it could not see it properly. My Band 2 is the same size as the Band 1 which is Medium. I wear it in the last 3 or 4 clicks before it's not getting any tighter so it's not brutally tight. For working out, I usually put my Band 1 a single click tighter to make sure it would not wobble around and lose lock. Tried the same with the new Band. Doesn't matter - always locks down at around 90 when working out hard.
Hope anyone can help because a replacement unit is a bit different to come by due to the fact that I have to replace it with Amazon UK.

Regards,

 

[Roland Stoll]

I guess yours is broken...
Here is the chart of my running last saturday:



Looks pretty right compared to my Garmin Oregon + Chest HR band...

 

[cammaro]

I have the same when spinning. I used to do this with a adidas chestband and had a cal usage of almost 1000 in one session of 50 minutes. Now I did 2 sessions with the band 2, and I used 650 and 750 in two sessions after oneanother.
Often the heartrate monitor gave like 120 while I fealth my heart pounding in my chest (more like 150 or higher). sometimes it measured no heartbeat and sometimes it looked realtime. Overal it was too low and the sessions were very different in result, while it was the same training. Also I tried to tighten it to the wrist to get more accurate, but than it was only getting worse, when I slided it more up my arm, (2 cm) it seemed more accurate.

The measurement while sleeping etc seems fine.

 

[luxnws]

It likely has to do with the way the Band 2 now measures and calculates heart rates. The only review of the Band 2 that I've seen compare the heart rate monitors in the original Band and the Band 2 is the one from Neowin:

Microsoft Band 2 provides very different heart rate data than the original

This part might be relevant:

"People who focus on fast running or high-intensity biking probably won't get the most accurate results from the Band 2. For those who engage in workouts that aren't quite as intensive from a cardiovascular perspective (such as weight training or yoga), however, the Band 2 gives much more accurate readings than the first Band."

So perhaps Microsoft weighted the Band 2's HRM algorithm more toward users who do less intense cardio workouts.

 

[lostlogik]

What I've found from the four times I've done high intensity activities is that it's rubbish. After half an hour of rowing the band was showing my heart rate at 90/100 for the duration. Now, as nice as it would be to have a heart rate that low while doing the rate I was, it sadly wasn't anywhere near that. Add at least 50.

Band 1 was much better. Not impressed with band 2 in this respect at all. I've also noticed it really struggles to maintain a heart rate lock on, which might be half the problem.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[anon(20944)]

I've had the band 2 since release day and there have been other complaints on this forum that the heart rate is randomly high when it shouldn't be and you stating it is incorrectly low.

My experience after doing 20+ high intensity workouts is that it does both. I've had runs where it just consistently stays down around 130 when I know it should be more like 180. In fact I've run the same 3 mile stretch and had wildly different average heart rates but almost identical average pace.

I know it Can be right as I've directly compared it against the stationary bike in the gym and it can track perfectly with that. I've also seen it briefly have a lock, however, where it showed 30 high.

Overall I've tested the accuracy of different features of the band and come away extremely impressed - except for the HR monitor. I'm not sure if it's sweat or what but it's just not consistently correct. That being said you'll have complete exercises where it does appear to track correctly over the entire thing.

 

[Nate Silver]

My experience has been somewhat different. As I've posted elsewhere here, my problem is a wildly incorrect high hr for the first ten minutes or so of an activity, after which it settles down and tracks accurately (for the most part) right until the end. Its just weird, I mean, I can sit there on the trainer, spinning easily in low gear at 85 to 90 rpm's, my other hr sensors consistently showing 95 to 100 bpm, and I can watch it climb rapidly on the Band in a matter of seconds, and stay at 145 to even 200 one time. Then around 10 to 12 minutes in, it'll start to drop back, and within a minute, its where it should be. I tried a full factory reset, and the first activity afterward was perfect, but the two or three since are right back to the way it was. The rest of the day and night, it seems fine. One thing I need to do is try a workout without actually starting an activity on the Band, and watch the hr.

Its kind of disheartening. I mean, I'm well aware of the limitations of optical hr sensors, and I don't expect the same degree of second-to-second accuracy that can be gotten with a conventional strap. But this is just plain whacked, and I think (or at least hope) this has to be related to software. I've tried posting about it on the MS help forum, and gotten zero response......not even the usual canned "take two aspirin and do a factory reset" advice.

 

[Black3ternity]

So I was a bit unsure of what to think of my first tries on the Crosstrainer and before returning the Band 2 pretty complicated to Amazon UK (From Germany it's a bit of a hassle to get a replacement unit), I wanted to test it while doing a "real run".
Yesterday I went on the Treadmill and normally, I avoid it like the plague because my knees and ankles start to hurt. Thus, I initially just wanted to do a 10 minute test and then test again on the Crosstrainer because I did a reset on the Band a few days back.
I managed to get a 30 minute run and because the treadmill is more streanous than the crosstrainer for me, it looks pretty promising and there were no "dips" and annoyances while running. See for yourself:

Band 2 Tradmill test:


That resembles my heartrate and the pace pretty accurate and even the distance is pretty accurate for what the Band tracks in comparison to the treadmill itself. On a sidenote: I just needed to tighten the clasp one click more in order to prevent wobble and movement while running.
I think I have to tinker around with it a bit more on the Crosstrainer to check if there are problems with the handles and how I get a grip on them so it may disturb the optical sensor on the Band due to the fact that it is now moved to the inside.
So it seems my unit is fine and it may just be a problem with the software / tracking.

Regards,