I bought one at weekend because I needed a new watch, and erm, I like buying stuff...
Anyway regarding the HR monitor - When recording an activity, its fine. However if I'm just flicking through the various screens during normal use (not recording an activity), the HR figure displayed is rather strange. It's always at 72bpm, and if it isnt, it quickly drops or increases to 72bpm within seconds.
Whilst working out on the turbo this weekend for example. My HR was about 165bpm according to my chest strap on Zwift. On the Vivosmart, it might show the correct figure momentarily and then quickly drop to a steady 72bpm when infact i'm about 100 beats higher than that!
I thought it was faulty so took it back for a replacement. The replacement is exactly the same.
BUT when viewing my daily HR figures in the Garmin App, it shows the correct fluctuations throughout the date. It seems its just the displayed value on the device itself.
Same 72bpm when my wife wears it too!
Anyone? Does this even make sense?
optical HR is pretty inaccurate across the brands and has lead to fitbit shares taking a hammering as they've put all their eggs in that basket
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/01/fitbits-multiple-lawsuits.html
guy in work has the same watch, I'll have a chat and see what his does
Had mine for a couple of months and there are a lot of problems with it. Well documented on Garmin's forums.
The 72bpm issue is the main one for me. It's what is displayed when it's starting to read your HR. Not really an issue to be honest, just give it a few seconds to get a reading. It does not constantly read your HR, it does it on demand or every 10 minutes or so in the background.
What is a big problem is that it will drop to 72 whenever you touch the display - or your sleeve does! It does it whenever you get an email/text, whenever you hit a goal or wait for it ..... whenever your wife's Garmin beeps as it finshes charging! It did that to me on the turbo yesterday morning - I was broadcasting from the wristband to my Edge.
It seems like ANY interruption means the HR resets to the default of 72 and then starts to get a reading again. My Strava graphs look like I died 3 times in an hour on the turbo yesterday!
PS That aside, it's pretty accurate. Matched against a Wahoo strap it was always within about 5 bpm. The only area it can't handle is fast changes and recovery - always seems to lag a little
When I Was looking for an activity band I dismissed the ones with built in HRM's because the majority of the reviews I ready said the same kind of thing. Use a chest band of you want reliable accurate readings.
Mine says 61 at the moment. No 72 issue that I've noticed.
Apparently he's had no trouble with his, asked him what his HR was.............................
72bpm
Interesting as i've been looking at one of these as a 'multisport' device. I have a Garmin 510 that I don't really use other than for cadence/HR on the turbo, but I never seem to remember taking it out on an actual ride & always end up using my phone.
As I run as well, I would like to track that - are they any good as a device?
I'm not bothered about the HR functionality of it, more is it any good for tracking & monitoring?
Just done some more research online and there's defiantly a bug in the latest 2.60 firmware.
That bug aside, it's a great little device. The HR actually records OK as far as I can tell. It's just the display that's well out.
Thanks for your input guys. I've contacted garmin for their input...
[url= https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?341812-Been-weeks-now-has-Garmin-fixed-the-72bpm-problem-yet ]Garmin Vivosmart Forum link[/url]
[url= https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?341091-vivosmart-HR-known-issues-that-Garmin-is-working-on ]They claim to be working on it, link[/url]
I've contacted garmin for their input...
Best of luck with that, you'll get a standard reply telling you to do a master reset and then they'll probably tell you to send it back for a replacement. Neither of which will cure the problem.
Next time, save yourself some time and call them on the phone, it'll save you a week of waiting for them to reply to emails and you'll get the same result.
I really like Garmin products but their after support/care is appalling. That's always been the case.
Time to start looking at their competitors
For balance - I've had one since start of December to replace a Fitbit (solely so I can broadcast HR and connect to my 810) and it's been faultless.
No issues with HR recording - although the HR graph is very blocky in the connect app as it's sampling rate/resolution is less than I was used to with the Fitbit app, but nothing too worrisome!
Connectivity with edge 810 and my ANT+ dongle for sufferfest and zwift has been fine.
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Is that with the latest 2.60 firmware update?
As a HR monitor its a complete load of sh1te.
If you can't be arsed sending it back its not a bad step counter/watch/smart notifications thingy.
Yup - latest 2.6 firmware
I wouldn't say it's compete sh1te as a HR monitor - my wife is a community nurse and I've cross checked it against some of her equipment (pulseoximetry meter) and it was within a couple of BPM across a range of activity, so I'm ok with it......
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Version 2.9 released seems to have fixed it
Yup - saw that earlier.
Waiting to update when I get home to check it out.
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