Changing heart rate zones on Galaxy Watch 5 (Pro)

[Sami Liedes]

Is it possible to change the heart rate zones on Galaxy Watch5? It seems they were calculated based on my age, using the the formula HRmax=220-age popularized ages ago by Polar, which is not even correct on average according to scientific literature (see e.g. Robergs et al., The surprising history of the" HRmax= 220-age" equation, Journal of Exercise Physiology (2002)).

In addition to this being incorrect on average (a slightly better formula would be something like 208 - 0.7*age, but it also depends on gender), there is such a big individual variance that age-based estimates are close to useless: For something like 50% of people, 220-age is wrong by more than about 10 bpm in either direction. Differences of 50 bpm in HRmax within Olympic teams are not unheard of.

In my case, I'm slightly over 40; I can sometimes go over 200 bpm in maximal exertion, and I can sustain an average heart rate of about 184 bpm for two hours. Clearly the HRmax=220-age formula produces wildly incorrect results in (not only) my case and any zones defined using it are obviously bogus.

[tapir]

Same question from me. 

Not to mention that Huawei watch had  this option more then year ago. 

[PaulM1]

Hi, @Sami Liedes and @tapir. I appreciate your feedback about the heart rate zones on the Watch5 Pro. From my understanding, you would like a way to customise this.

I have now passed your query to our Research and Development Team, to see if the developers are able to shed any light on this for you (or perhaps, if it's feasible to do so, incorporate your suggestions into a future update).

As soon as I hear back, I will update this thread with their response. 

[Kurz2000]

Googling a bit it seems to be the same problem with all other Samsung watches but I look forward to your response. 

[Members_iamOLYC]

Hello,

I want to but a Samsung watch 5 pro, but i am very interested in this feature - changing default heart rate zones with my own zones. So please tell us if this is possible. For me it is counting in my buying decision process. Thanks a lot!

[Kurz2000]

After some googling it seems this feature has never been a part of Samsung Health and Watch 5 Pro uses that so. I've found threads on here several years old with the same request/questions, this seems to be low on Samsung priority list. Add to the fact they seem to have removed connection to several popular apps, for example runkeeper, so many apps can't directly use the pulse monitor in the watch. Some apps can, Strava for example. 

So unless you use an app that Samsung allows to access the pulse monitor that can also set manual heart rate zones you won't have that functionality from Samsung and nothing indicates it's coming any time soon even though it's being marketed as a training watch.

Read some people have used the workaround of setting the wrong age, since it counts 220 - age~ for the max pulse the theory being you can change it in Samsung Health, that didn't work for me though but I only spent a few minutes on it and doesn't feel like a proper solution. I own a Watch 5 Pro and I am happy with it otherwise but yeah, this is a really big minus. 

[PaulM1]

I just wanted to update the thread, as I passed your feedback to our Research and Development Team. I have now had an update on this.

Your feedback was gratefully received (thank you again). Our developers have noted that some satisfying improvements to the heart rate function should be provided in one of the future app updates on the Watch5 Pro.

Stay tuned! 😉

[DDnile]

I have the same issue. When I was 40 I could max out my heart rate at about 19 8. This feature has been available on my old cheap polar wrist watch maybe 15 years ago.  

I wonder if Samsung miscalculates calories burned and stress levels etc based on inaccurate heart rate zones.

[Kurz2000]

I would like to reply to this for anyone googling this problem. Samsung Wearables / Samsung Health does not allow you to change the heart rate zone. This is not limited to the Watch 5 Pro. There is no roadmap or anything indicating Samsung will provide this. So, if your focus is a watch with more than basic training features you should not put any value into names like "Active" or "Pro" on Samsung Wearable products because that is more about the name than actual, basic,  features. Below is an example of Samsung telling me what my Max puls and an example of my max pulse.

 about that maximum heart rate zones.

[yfsu]

I think the solution is simple; just have a few calculation methods for users to choose from, Samsung can keep their own proprietary one and add for example, Maffetone calculation method, etc... Samsung already have records of our low and high heart rate reading it should be able to calculate our zones according to the methods we like.