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Galaxy Watch Active 2 Heart rate issues

(Topic created on: 06-01-2020 08:38 PM)
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MattS2
First Poster
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Hi,

 

Just wondering if anyone is having any similar issues to me re the heart rate tracking or could advise further.

 

Only got the watch a few days ago, but I've noticed I don't get a resting heart rate measurement for each day? It tracks my heart rate throughout the day but never gives me a RHR reading.

 

Also, I've just been swimming with the watch today, and the didn't track my heart rate at all - the sensor doesn't even light up on the back when I start a pool workout. Does anyone know if the watch is meant to be able to track when swimming? If so - any advice anyone can give?

 

I have the watch set to measure HR continuously too.

 

Cheers everyone!

69 REPLIES 69
CanuckinAU
Explorer
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If that was the case I'm wondering why it's taking Samsung so long to fix.
Grant837
Explorer
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For me the issue is that it ramdomly stops recording my heart rate, but only when exersizing (walking, biking, indoor fitnees).  For a week or so it will work fine, and then it gets irregular for a week or two.  

I bought he watch because I wanted a round smart watch, but fitness tracking was the top functionality I required.

VikingAle
Pioneer
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I have a UK Model SAMSUNG Galaxy Watch Active 2 44mm ("GWA2"), and in case this is a Software issue, I don't seem to be having any heart rate issues with my GWA2 that is currently running the following Software (the latest I think):

 

R825FXXU1AS17

 

I am mainly interested in sleep and sleeping heart rate at the moment, owing to an issue with Sleep Apnoea triggered Atrial Flutter, so am watching heart rate as closely as I can during sleep, via a number of devices.

 

Before attempting sleep, I cross-check heart rate across three units, namely:

 

The above GWA2

A Viatom CheckMe O2 Unit

A Finger Tip Blood Oxygen Unit

 

All three usually agree in terms of heart rate after a second or two, and the latter two agree on Blood Oxygen Saturation as well.

The GWA2 is now set to continuously measure Heart Rate, and it seems to do this well, and does give me a Resting HR.

 

I have noted that the Resting HR can show "--" initially after I put the GWA2 back on if taken off, say, to charge or take a shower, but the Resting HR then appears, presumably after the GWA2 has had a chance to work out an average after a delay once the watch has resumed taking readings.

 

I have yet to use the GWA2 for exercise (other than keeping an automated track of steps etc), but that will come ASAP (I have lower limb disability issues, and have a few issues to address before I will commence exercise again).

It may be that I am not pushing the GWA2 at the moment, so appreciate it may exhibit similar issues when I do.

HTH

VikingAle

VikingAle
Pioneer
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Sod's Law, straight after I Posted the above, I noted my GWA2 exhibit some strange Heart Rate readings!

 

I have just taken my morning Blood Pressure, via an OMRON M7, as follows (two readings):

 

118/73 at 52 bpm

119/72 at 51 bpm

 

I then glanced at the GWA2, and it was showing a Heart Rate of over 90 bpm!

WTF?

I then fired up the SAMSUNG Health App on my SAMSUNG Galaxy S10, and ran the Measure Stress via the Finger Sensor on the S10, and that came up with the following:

 

54 bpm at 95% O2 Saturation

 

I looked at my GWA2, and that was happily reporting a Heart Rate at over 90 bpm!

 

I then used a Finger Tip O2 Sensor, and that gave me the following reading, more or less at the same time (within a couple of minutes):

 

52 bpm at 95% O2 Saturation

 

I then re-checked my GWA2, and that was showing my Heart Rate at 100 bpm!

Oddly, the Resting Heart Rate is showing 53 bpm!

This looks like a Software issue I'd think, because it seems to be getting the Resting Heart Rate right, but is miles out on the Continuous Heart Rate (almost double the Resting).

I am not having any Atrial Flutter issues, no other signs, and the OMRON M7 can detect Irregular Beats, so I am pretty sure this is the GWA2 having a Bad Hair Day.

 

I'll keep an eye on this, and will update if I see any other wierd Heart Rate issues.

 

As I close this Post, the GWA2 has my Heart Rate at 91 bpm, but with a resting at 53 bpm, with the latter almost certainly the more accurate.

 

VikingAle

 

 

CanuckinAU
Explorer
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Golly gee.  Thank you so much for telling us that for your use case the watch is good.  We probably did not need to hear that we are imagining our issue or not using the watch correctly or that our Heart Rate Monitoring issues are MERELY software related.  Thie fact is, this watch does not provide accurate HRM feedback during real exercise. 

So thank you for trivializing our real issues. Your fanboy post has added exponentially  to the knowledgebase on our experienced problems. 

Steve1204
Apprentice
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Hi all. Thanks for your online support...felt I was going madand getting hung up on one thing. BUT the issue clearly is this: the watch/software simply osn't doing the basic job of reliably monitoring or displaying HR. We shouldnt have to do all this searching, tweaking, complaining. Faulty design or software ...so mine's gone back. I suggest we all do that then they might get it sorted.  

VikingAle
Pioneer
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Hello CanuckinAU!

If you re-read what I actually Posted, you may see that it was intended to help if the Software release I was running exhibited no similar issues.

 

That's what user Forums are all about, i.e. cross checking who is running what Software, to see if any issues are across the board and applicable to all Releases, or if the bugs are restricted to only certain Releases.

 

In my long experience, this works well when people stay polite and don't actively look for ways to take offence.

I then followed up with a further Post the moment I also spotted some issues for the first time, which was, I felt, an entirely sensible and helpful follow up once my own observations had picked up a change.

 

How that makes either Post a "fanboy" Post is quite lost on me.

 

In case it has escaped your attention, I am also a user, and have at least the same interest as you do to resolve any Software issues, that's if they can be resolved, and then if software ends up being ruled out, to establish if my GWA2's Hardware is problematic.

 

I have only had my GWA2 since 6th January, and yet am on my second Software Release, so it looks to me like the Software side is fluid and likely to change the parameters, hopefully for the better.

 

Right now, to me, it looks like Software, because my GWA2 seems to be able to log Resting HR correctly, but today, at the same time, it also for a short period, also elected to log Continuous HR at almost twice the Resting HR, which looks like the core Heart Rate Data is being presented badly by the Software.

 

I'm also wondering if the Watch Face selected may be an issue, has anyone considered that or tried different Watch Faces to see if that changes anything?

 

A Watch Face shouldn't change the underlying Data but, it may be possible if 3rd Party coding of some Watch Faces is suspect.

 

VikingAle

 

 

Grant837
Explorer
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This is all double frustrated by the fact that the problem is not consistent.

My resting heart log (if you all mean what S-Heath records) seems fine and matches what I see in the watch app. I believe it has always, except for once, recorded my stationary fitness fine. But when I do moving fitness, it works one time, and another I get gaps of variable size. I have my band on the right place, and tight but not too tight, and the sensors are clean.

Samsung will be looking for a 'repeatable' problem in most cases, and resist structurally solving this I think.
That being said, I recollect in all my various reading of posts, that people have had all sorts of problems, where they returned the watch, and the replacement worked fine, so I am kind of thinking there is a quality control issue

The solution might have to be to complain, send it back for a replacement, and if that does not fix it, return it and look for some other watch (noooooo!)

PS: VikingAle may have a valid point - not only watch faces, but other apps might mess things up. eg I use Strava, and that is a combination of a watch app and mobile phone app that seems to draw data still from S-Health on the phone, etc. I can see where they might conflict with each other and mess up the heart rate database. I somethings think that the GPS tracking might play a role too, but that seems far-fetched.
Grant837
Explorer
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A new bit of insight. (@VikingAle might have been right...)

 

Yesterday I biked to our city. 7km.  My heart rate was recorded just fine.  3 hours later, also fussing with my watch here and there, I headed home. My heart rate was only recorded in bits, say 5% of the time.  I was using Strava, but that gets heart rate data from Samsung Health.  I stopped Strava.  But hours later, my heart rate was still only being recorded on and off.  I played with my watch, and saw that when my 3rd party watch face was on stand-by (I have my watch on always on, but faces have a separate modes for active, and passive) that when the face was active, the heart rate lights where on, but the moment it went on stand-by they went off.  I have my watch set for continous heart rate monitoring.  I had earlier looked at the watch native heart rate app to see if I could change any settings, but that had no effect.  BUT! when I long pressed on the side of the face that shows heart rate, which opens the native app, suddenly the continous measurment work again.

 

So, my friends, it seems we might be victums of the watch face developers, and/or develompent platforms, and the code they use...

 

Are all those with issues using 3rd party watchfaces?   This might help isolate the problem here....

 

Cheers,

Grant

VikingAle
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Hello Grant837!

 

Yes, I was using a 3rd Party Watch face, and am noting a roughly 100% increase in my Continuous Heart Rate for various periods when I check my Blood Pressure in the mornings. This is out of step with other devices, such as the OMRON M7 Blood Pressure unit, and also my SAMSUNG Galaxy S10 Mobile used out of interest at the same time, to measure Stress via the SAMSUNG Health App, so that uses the Mobile's Finger Tip Sensor to measure Pulse and O2 % Saturation, and nothing to do with the Galaxy Watch Active 2 ("GWA2") at all.

 

Thus, two other devices were showing my resting HR at around 51-52 bpm, whereas the GWA2 was up at 104 bpm Continuous HR at the exact same time, but also at the same time, was showing my Resting HR at around 49 bpm.

 

I may do a Full Reset and avoid any 3rd Party Watch Faces after a fresh start.

 

I am trying to nail down the GWA2 to get accurate basic Heart Rate Data for Sleep and at rest logging, before I embark upon anything more exciting. On the basis that I need to know where I am starting from, before pushing things when I intend to rely upon devices such as the GWA2 to monitor progress.

 

I am also very keen to see the ECG feature activated, but that I think will need to be gathering accurate Data before that can be relied upon. I wonder if these odd Heart Rate logging issues are why the ECG Feature is taking so long to gain Certification?

VikingAle