My smartwatch heart rate sensor just gave me a false reading during a run

I was out for a run last Tuesday when my watch buzzed and said my heart rate was 210 bpm. I felt fine, so I stopped and checked my pulse manually. It was actually around 140. I restarted the watch and it went back to normal, but it really shook my confidence in the data. I've been wearing it a bit tighter since then, which seems to help. Has anyone else had their fitness tracker give a crazy wrong reading like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotal1918d ago

Same thing happened to me last month. Making sure the band is snug and cleaning the sensor on the back fixed it for me.

drewjenkins17d ago

Man, tell me about it. My watch once said I was at 185 bpm while I was just sitting on the couch eating chips. Nearly choked. I looked like a ghost checking my own neck pulse. @dakotal19 is right about keeping it tight and clean, that's the only thing that works. These things are great until they decide you're having a medical emergency during a commercial break. Makes you wonder about all the other data.