This happens to me at least a couple times a week. I’ll start a workout and the optical heart rate sensor reports a heart rate of 210, sometimes for an extended period. It was just an easy slow workout (run), the second half is accurate. This happen to anyone else?
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Anyone else getting false HR of 210?
- Thread starter vanhalen26
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I'm 60+ yo and I regularly get readings over 180 and occasionally up to 220 when running on a treadmill but not riding a stationary bike. Sometimes I'm barely breathing hard and my heart rate can be showing 180+. It seems to happen toward the start of a workout and then sometimes settle down a bit but if I do a long hard workout it can gradually inch up to around 200. I've manually checked the rate on the grips on the treadmill and they agree.
I've also noticed that I might get one or two atrial fib warnings when I'm relaxing in the evening on days when I've done a hard workout.
I don't know if the apple watch is wrong, if I just never noticed these things before I got an apple watch or if I should even be concerned. I've cut back my workouts to keep my heart rate below 160 but on days when I do strength training it is what it is.
I can pretty much guarantee that it’s wrong. The theoretical max hr is 220 less your age. It varies a little, but it’s a good guide. At 60 that puts your max around 160 give or take. Unlikely you could hold that, even if in elite condition for your age, for more than a minute or two.
Same with me - I’m 50 and there is no way I’m hitting 210. Once in awhile I cross 170 but that’s an all out max effort when I’m doing 200m repeats or something.
I know the readings I’m seeing are wrong (and presumably yours to). I just wonder if that’s a general bug in the watch, or I might have a defective one.
Often when I start a workout it takes a few minutes for the heart rate to get an accurate lock on me, but I’ve seen the 210 thing more than a couple times and funny enough it’s usually on my slower runs. I’ve been wondering if it might be picking up my cadence or something. I also know that some skin types etc don’t work as well with optical hr devices. Sometimes my garmin can be flaky to. Maybe it’s just the nature of the technology.
I also have a garmin fenix, if I wear that at the same time it shows a normal HR for the exercise, not 210.
I suggest the watch is too lose, so light peeps in between the watch and your skin. This always leads to very high rates, especially on the treadmill when you move you arm - wrist - quite forcefull and the space between watch and skin varies.