GW 5 heart rate monitor laggy

[mesocyclone30]

for the past several months my GW 5 has been lagging on reading the heart rate. it's been reset at least once as i reset my phone and had to reset the watch. i think i reset it again because of the heart rate not working as snappy is it did when I first got this earlier in 2024 renewed on Amazon. It takes up to 5 mins to get a reading. it either flashes the same number for up to 5 mins or it stays stuck on one number for up to 5 mins. rebooting doesn't help. I'm frustrated. I have to use my pulse oximeter just to see what my heart rate is because it takes too long to wait on the watch. and forget using it for a workout as it misses all the higher heart rates during cardio. so half the workouts is missing. I've been having Tachycardia on the high end and brady cardio on the low end and its important to monitor my heart rate. Sadly watches aren't very reliable.

Is my heart rate sensor getting weak? or is there a software issue ? I see the green light off and on but not when I'm looking underneath it when it's trying to get a heart rate.

 

[SpookDroid]

Try adjusting the watch higher on your wrist or switching wrists. If that improves the reading speed, the problem might be on your skin (especially wearing the latest models has been known to cause way more rashes and friction burns than prior models) and the sensor may not get an accurate reading on 'the usual spot' anymore. If this is the case, not wearing the watch on that spot for a few days should help clear up the issue.

 

[mesocyclone30]

Try adjusting the watch higher on your wrist or switching wrists. If that improves the reading speed, the problem might be on your skin (especially wearing the latest models has been known to cause way more rashes and friction burns than prior models) and the sensor may not get an accurate reading on 'the usual spot' anymore. If this is the case, not wearing the watch on that spot for a few days should help clear up the issue.

i've tried holding it down or moving it up the arm slightly but it will just slide back down anyways. it doesn't make it any better holding down on it. I'm left handed and it will drive me crazy to use it on the other arm.

 

[SpookDroid]

I get that, it would drive me insane to wear mine on the other hand. However, for the purpose of testing if the problem is the watch/sensor, it's the safest/quickest bet.

 

[mesocyclone30]

I get that, it would drive me insane to wear mine on the other hand. However, for the purpose of testing if the problem is the watch/sensor, it's the safest/quickest bet.

oh ok. I gotcha. do you know if the green laser that does the readings gets weak over time or does it just go out all at once?

 

[SpookDroid]

oh ok. I gotcha. do you know if the green laser that does the readings gets weak over time or does it just go out all at once?

If it's hardware failure, it can start flickering incorrectly or not receive enough power from the controller. The LED itself it's rare to fail over time (at least not in a device-expected lifetime anyway).