Garmin 245 disappointment – HR/ Pulse Ox

I bought myself a Garmin 245 for Christmas, mainly around the wrist HR monitor and Pulse Ox functions.

Turns out both functions are rubbish.

Unfortunately I am just recovering from a chest infection.The watch was saying my pulse ox was 83% , the GP practice and our separate meter both the same 95% (when I was at my worst)

I went for a walk yesterday and apparently spent 10% of my walk in HR Zone 5 with a heart rate of 177! When I am fit and well I am blowing out of my arse at 177 bpm, not just breathing slightly more rapid than normal.

I guess the plus side is they sent me the music version rather than the normal version I paid for, but then I never listen to music whilst exercising anyhow.

Send it back?

You surly cant do that when you have had it a month and a bit and used it?

I dont think its that mine is faulty – just when you actually read up on them people say they are actually pretty inaccurate.

Are you wearing it too tight or too slack? it’s supposed to be worn just above the wristbone too for accurate (ish) measurement.

Tbh I reckon they don’t work for everyone, as some swear by them. Mines is fine for resting hr, sleep etc, but is generally too high when exercising. I can run really slow (10 minute miles) with my wife and be knocking on 160bpm, in reality with chest strap I’ll be 120-130.

I don’t bother with pulse ox, you can buy a real one for buttons.

I’ve just bought this watch. Upgrade from an old FR230. Not really bothered about the pulse ox meter. It is also widely accepted, I think, that wrist HRs are not that great. Probably 5-10% off what they really are. The FR245 has the latest V3.0 HR sensor. I used a chest strap HR on my FR230, will be interesting to see what this wrist based one is like when I start running again (this weekend hopefully).

I don’t bother with pulse ox, you can buy a real one for buttons.

I bought it partially to see if I get exercise induced asthma / pollen induced to save carrying a peak flow tube. Pulse ox finger things wont stay on whilst your running/biking

Got a 245 music too, for general HR it’s fine, mine under reads when over 100bpm by about 10-20 bpm.

Everyone is different and I wear a chest strap when I’m actually riding/running.

heart rate on my fenix 6 is reasonably accurate – accurate enough for training with anyway. When you are getting the inaccurate HR numbers, are you recording an activity? according to garmin the watches use a low power mode for detecting heart rate when the watch is in ‘watch’ mode, which can result in inaccuracies. They reckon for more accurate HR you need to be recording an activity.

pulse ox is fairly inaccurate, but I think would reasonably show you if you had a problem not by looking at the absolute numbers, but by comparing numbers to a known good baseline.

Both myself and my daughter have a lower model and the wrist HR has never been accurate e.g. a fastish ride around the woods would say never out of zone 1!

As above always use with chest HR strap now.

I’d never use the wrist HR for biking. It never rests on your wrist properly, especially mountain biking when you move a lot more.

I’ve got the 645 music – I think the wrist based heart rate is ok- and it’s convenient on the mountain bike.

Just started turbo training and the 645 broadcasts hr via ant+ so no good with my iPhone I’m using so picked up a Garmin chest hr strap. I’ve got a higher reading on the ramp test on that then I ever have on the wrist based hr – but broadly readings seem in a similar range. So it’s fine for what it is for me on the 645 but not as accurate at extremes as the chest based on.

177bpm just walking seems very high – are you wearing it fairly tight on your wrist or a bit loose? I found it needs to be reasonably tight to stay accurate. If you are wearing it correctly then perhaps you’ve got a faulty watch.

On the oxygen front I’ve got no clue or prior experience- if it’s the sensor that helps it decide your VO2 max I’m happy to accept what it says – it claims my fitness age is 20 when I’m 40 🤣

Dcrainmaker compares various sports watches with heart straps. Generally speaking TL;DR wrist measurements aren’t very accurate for intervals but generally good enough for zone type training. We’re all different though.

Yeah – I’d send it back and get it either exchanged or refunded. It’s either faulty or not fit for purpose for you op.

Fwiw I have an fr935 and I’ve been happy with HR sensitivity. Some people don’t get on with them though. :Shrug:

I’m using a Vivoactive 4 but I also have a chest HRM. I’ve used both out on a couple of rides and the recorded HR figures are maybe 2-4% out. Not enough that I really care.

I’m using a Vivoactive 4

How are you finding it for ride tracking, may I ask? Does it seem to do altitude accurately?

Send it back… it’s faulty or doesn’t fit you properly.
Mine gives very similar HR reading to using a chest strap. As joe mentioned above, I don’t bother with the chest strap anymore; I just transmit from the 245 straight to the Edge.
For me, the readings from the wrist are within 1 or 2 beats of the chest strap, but they do seem to lag by 20 seconds.

Got a 245 music too, for general HR it’s fine, mine under reads when over 100bpm by about 10-20 bpm.

Everyone is different and I wear a chest strap when I’m actually riding/running.

This but I have the 735XT

Vivoactive 3 here, although my wife has a vivoactive 4. The HRM on both seems to be accurate enough for my needs. Certainly when It’s showing me hitting 187bpm it feels like it.

PulseOxy seems to under-read for my wife, I’ve not tried it. But as mentioned above it gives you a baseline. So if your normal is 87% rather than 97% but it drops down to 77% then I guess there’s a problem.

How are you finding it for ride tracking, may I ask? Does it seem to do altitude accurately?

Yep. If I ride with mates (remember that?)  then we’ll usually be just a few % out. They’ll have a range of Suunto (normally the worst), Wahoo and Garmin.

The biggest discrepancy I’ve found is on walks with my wife. Her Forerunner 35 and my VA4 will be pretty much in sync but if we stop for any length of time, her distance increases over mine. I can only assume her Forerunner is “hunting” while we are stopped, inventing movement where none exists.

As above, I’ve done a few rides to compare the VA4 and either a HRM/Edge 705 or a HRM/Oregon 700. There is never much difference. I now use the VA4 for all my normal riding. The Oregon is only used for bigger/multi-day stuff and when I need the navigation.

Thanks for that, would be handy to have a device that does the lifestyle stuff of my Fitbit but also has proper GPS.

Do you find the battery life acceptable?

The biggest discrepancy I’ve found is on walks with my wife. Her Forerunner 35 and my VA4 will be pretty much in sync but if we stop for any length of time, her distance increases over mine. I can only assume her Forerunner is “hunting” while we are stopped, inventing movement where none exists.

or you have auto-pause on and she doesnt.

Yep, though l charge it daily, regardless (I bought one of those little dock things). I’ve never run it close to discharge but then 2020 wasn’t the year to be doing mega rides. If I’m not recording a GPS track then it seems to use little battery.

I should add that I’ve not been used to wearing a watch and have quite skinny wrists so I’ve always been put off by the bigger devices. This one is OK for weight/size and I was willing to compromise on battery life for that reason.

How are you finding it for ride tracking, may I ask? Does it seem to do altitude accurately?

It’s pretty good tbh, had me 13′ out on the summit of Ben Macdui, which is bloody good IMO. Battery life is excellent, you’ll get even the longest days riding done with it, I’ve had 16 hours walking.

My Fenix 6 HR is pretty good and the Pulse OX is a couple % under the finger tip device we also have, as mentioned I should be able to pick up a change in PulseOX as it’s quite consistent albeit lower than the other measure so would see a big drop.

May be worth a mail into Garmin Support.

I found my vivoactive 3 used to under report my hr by 20-50 beats when zwifting (I have Garmin chest strap. Since I switched to an apple watch it’s within 2 or 3 beats generally (I can live with that). I think the sensors aren’t great.

Fenix 6 Pro (me) and Forerunner 245 Music (wife) user here. Anecdotally amongst a fairly large group of runners and cyclists, the Garmin wrist based HRM seems to work for people with bigger wrists, and not for people with really skinny ones. My wife uses a separate optical heart rate monitor on her forearm (Scosche Rhythm) which works really well. Fenix HRM works perfectly for me.

We’re currently Covid positive, so checking blood oxygen regularly. Garmin seems to be a few % lower than a finger tester, but pretty consistent (94% vs 98%). 83% seems like it’s faulty

FR245 doesn’t have a barometric altimeter which is a shame. I might try and see the difference between it and my Edge 520plus on one of my standard road routes too see what the elevation difference is.

Garmin changed out the optical HRM about 18mths/2 years ago. Not sure whether the FR245 has the new monitor type but my FR945 does. Some of the models mentioned above definitely have the older HRM.

I also have a Wahoo Tickr HR strap which I pair with the Edge 530 and I’ve done several rides where I’ve used both devices at the same time for comparison purposes.

Whilst I’m not watching both screens whilst riding, when I’ve uploaded the rides, the results are usually VERY close (i.e. within a couple of BPM for avg and max values); same with the calorie count.

I’ve also found any metrics derived from the GPS (distance, speed, bread crumbs) to be pretty close though the 945 seems to over read (+10%~) compared to the 530 when mountain biking in trees versus road riding (when the track distances are closer)

BTW: OP – the Pulse Ox is supposed to be used when you are sat perfectly still. Maybe I misunderstood, but you seem to imply you were trying to get a reading whilst moving? If so, try it sat still…

Edit: just to add…the sleep tracking seems pretty useless in my 945. I’m going thru a phase of pretty poor sleep with fairly lengthy awake periods yet Garmin has me sound asleep. I also only get a tiny proportion of deep sleep (typically less than 10 minutes per night). Having said that, I’m not sure how much “deep sleep” to expect…

barometric altimeter

One of the reasons I chose my 935. Unfortunately after 2 years it’s bust. 🙄 Not uncommon from what I can tell.