WHOOP 5.0 HR inaccurate – much worse than 4.0“

I’ve noticed some HR inconsistencies with the MG. I was hammering an assault bike workout trying to push into zone 4 and 5, yet could only muster zone 2-3? No way. Following, I was on a simple walk with my kids and my HR was 130-150!! Lol I felt my pulse and it was like 72. I gave the sensor a good wipe, and it was reading accurately. I am going to really focus on keeping the sensor clean everyday.

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Been on whoop 4 since the above post 10 days. All reading are back to 5% difference versus garmin or apple watch. Whoop 5 was off by 30-45% during workout or longer walks. The whoop 4 can take 90 mins lifting session without wiping the sensor once. The whoop 5 was reading 90bpm when I was doing 140is on both the garmin and apple watch. Whoop 4 is just better. I dont think I will be renewing my subscription at the end of this year. Unfortunately everything that was bringing value to the yearly subscription (getting free hardware upgrades, accurate readings, the possibility of getting future better bands, with better sensors) has gone out the window. I absolutely hate the new ui, i hate that I cant see my steps and calories burned on the main overview since the changed the software. Now I am forced to deal with recovery, strain and sleep that were options I could have added or changed in the previous ui. their support is horrendous, all I got as “support” was if the band was placed correctly… Even though they had 7 months of data with whoop4 that dropped on all metric by 30% the moment I started wearing the 5.0…

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Been using Whoop 5.0 for month now and I’ve also have noticed that HR compared both with polar h10 / apple watch (have been using all of them while training to compare) is surprisingly off…

Apple watch was really good and close to polar h10, but the whoop 5.0 was basically fluctuating incorrectly all the time.

That is so disappointing considering the fact it costs 250 euros per year… And also hard to understand that such a big company as a whoop is flopping in such a simple area as HR in sports. Haven’t they done testing for this device before selling it to the customers?

I’m hoping for some action from Whoop’s side to fix this issue. When things like this happen, you start questioning how much you can trust the data.

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UPDATE:

I’ve started wearing my WHOOP much higher on my wrist, and from time to time, I carefully wipe the sensor. It looks like the accuracy has really improved — it’s now much closer to the Polar H10’s heart rate readings, sometimes even identical. I’m still in the process of comparing the WHOOP 5.0 to the Polar H10, as the accuracy varies depending on the type of sport you’re doing.

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I’m also have difficulty with my whoop 5.0 picking up activities and accurately displaying my heart rate where I never had that issue with the 4.0. I wear it on the same spot but have no consistent readings when I’m walking for golf on my heart rate and it doesn’t pick up the golfing activity like my 4.0 automatically did

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Thanks for the update! Where exactly are you wearing the band now? What exercises are more accurate to the polar h10? I typically weight lift, run, hike, and walk.

My 5.0 results are way off from the 4.0. I’ve contacted whoop multiple times and they just say I’m wearing it wrong or I should get a bicep band. Very, very frustrating. I even got a replacement device and having the same problems. I had a light golf lesson for an hour and it said I burned 500 calories…which is nuts since I played a 4.5hr round of golf a couple days earlier and only burned 350 calories. I did a HIIT class and walked a couple miles the day after my lesson and didn’t even burn 300 calories. Numbers are all over the place and my sleep results are also very up and down. It also doesn’t pick up activities as well as 4.0. I tend to have to add them manually vs auto-detect.

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Wearing my 5 in the same spot as the 4 but apparently it’s too low and too close to the wrist bone. Genuinly feels like BS, but I need to play the game until whoop run out of excuses.

5.0 is a real backward step on the 4.

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Had Whoop for years and never had this issue since 5.0MG. Any time I do a run max hr goes to 170 which is impossible for me as I’m on a beta blocker . my Garmin and chest strap show 125 max… and this is my 3rd hardware replacement so I’m guessing this must be a software issue .

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At the start of my ride today Whoop was at normal placement, a finger from wrist bone. After a few miles I realized and slide it up my arm around 4 fingers from wrist bone. You can clearly see the high HR at the beginning, max at 179 which I really can’t get to. As soon as the band was further up the arm it was fine. But to have the accuracy based on location on wrist is not good. Think this contributed to a high strain which I do t think it was. Fairly easy paced 50 miles :thinking:

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Very disappointed with 5.0 on my left wrist.
Look at my easy walk on a flat ground , Jesus Christus what the heck:

Exact same here - member for 4 years I think - and I’ll probably go back to the 4.0. My question is, is the 5.0 really that much more accurate and the 4.0 was just overcalling all my workouts? Or was the 4.0 accurate and the 5.0 loses sensitivity in exchange for long battery life? Either way, one of these products is not very good and we’ve been spending $300+ a year on it.

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E scooter ride, look at the HR readings :joy:
Just staying and pushing the acceleration button OMG

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I think you forgot to turn it on :rofl:

But joking aside, Whoop 5/MG seems to be badly affected by vibration. Maybe smaller, thinner & lighter isn’t better :thinking:

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My wife had at the same time the Venu 3s. She had a pulse around 90- 100bpm‘s. I think whoop is in general bad in HR readings.

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Long time user. The way to fix this problem is to get a bicep band. I did that for the 4.0 and then had to do it again with the 5.0. Don’t pay for it. Explain the problem to Whoop support and tell them how it does not work as advertised. Go into detail. Keep going with it and they will give you one for free because they know it doesn’t work as advertised.

This problem is worse for people with skinny wrists. And not just a problem for whoop bands. I have friends with Garmin watches that have gone back to chest straps to get accurate data. Basically it can’t tell the difference between increased blood flow due to HR versus increase caused by swinging your arm.

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But Whoop MG is design for the wrist, it will not take readings for BP or ECG from the bicep. So unless you plan to switch constantly it’s not a solution. I think you are right about skinny wrists, I have them as a cyclists and find if I move up my arm, 4 fingers from wrist I get better results. But where is the perfect place 2, 3 or 4 fingers?

If you are going to sell a medical device for the wrist it should work on the wrist in my opinion. :thinking:

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It’s designed to work on various parts of your body. Just look at all the various bands and bits of clothing you can put the device in. They definitely market it mostly as something to wear on your wrist. But, if you investigate the issue we all have with it across their support documentation and their support team, the answer Whoop gives is to wear it on your bicep.

Once I discovered this a few months into using a 4.0 I pushed them on the issue and they relented and gave me a free bicep band and the problem if bad hr data was fixed for about 99% of the time. Occasionally if I’m running downhill and I the band isn’t tight enough it reads high.

Oh, sorry. Just reread your post and saw Whoop MG. My comments are for the non-MG device. Get support to swap it for the other one with a bicep band. Or switch between the two bands on the mg. How often do you need to check your blood pressure or do an eeg?

In my mind it’s a false advertising issue. They could solve the problem by supplying it with one band that is long enough to go around most biceps and then people can choose to use it where it works best. Note that some people can get the standard band to stretch around their bicep.

Personally I haven’t worn a watch in many years and didn’t like wearing the Whoop on my wrist. I find it easy to ignore on my bicep and it doesn’t get in the way as much eg. rock climbing and lifting kettle bells.

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It takes BP every night whilst sleeping. As for ECG I take daily. I am 64 and pretty fit, I cycle 8k miles a year. I monitor everything to get ahead of any potential problems. Whoop gave me a bicep band but not used it yet. At this time strain and recovery I am ignoring, I continue to use Garmin for this Sleep and other health stats are what I concentrate on with Whoop. It just a shame that Whoop on the wrist doesn’t work so well, after all they made a big fuss about the MG and it should work where you are supposed to wear it. On your wrist. :blush:

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