Well, it was my birthday, I already own a Blaze which has been faithful for 16 months and I was super excited about getting the Ionic as the Blaze has been goodOpening the packaging was again super exciting, it looks simply stunning.. so to have a great looking watch with a built in GPS and it being water proof ticked all the boxes I’d been looking forOn my first run, something odd happened, it was outlandishly wrong with my pulse. Up at 204bpm. On the Fitbit Forums, many say it’s about tightness and location on the wristThe next day, I tightened whilst on the treadmill, it seemed to have done the job. Move forward just two more days and this time it displayed 199bpm. At 45, I think blue lights would have been the order of the day. Next day 207bpm, blimmy, I’m Dead!At least on the treadmill (very new machines too) I was able to test my heart rate against the Ionic and found on average it was 40bpm out on different treadmillsPhoning the major retailer (who have been fantastic) put me in touch with Fitbit technical who asked a number of questions. Very helpful to start with. They could see over 16 months of records where my heart rate never tried to do an Alien scene. I was directed via email to a website which I’d already been to plus given a couple of questions which I replied toA few moments later (super quick reply) I received an emailThank you for getting back to us and for the information that you've provided.We’re aware of it, but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future. We'll continue to monitor the situation, and keep our team informed of the impact to you and other customers. We understand that this isn't the resolution you're hoping for, but rest assured we're always working to improve our products.We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track.Please let us know if you have any other questions.Sincerely,Wow! So Fitbit are aware of an issue with the watch and basically it’s fine as they know it has an issue, no fix date, no other explanationObviously I replied to the email with my disappointment and thus had no replay. So, phoned the retailer explaining the issue and the fact that Fitbit are aware that the watch really isn’t fit for purpose and have offered me a full refundSo, it’s back to my trusty old Blaze and it’s shame on Fitbit as looking on their forums it seems they have known about this all mighty mistake since it launch with people reporting issues with heart rate monitors when used in conjunction with vigorous exercise or swimming it seemsI really hope this helps people who are thinking of purchasing one of these stunning looking watches. For me, I just wished it worked and had instead of it being not fit for purpose—-Update, having thought about it for a few hours, I’m now in two minds in thinking that I have just been on the backend of a disgruntled member of staff. So I have asked for replacement with the hope that my thinking is correctI shall update my post and correct what needs to be corrected if this turns out to be the case——-UpdateSo, I received another email from Fitbit for you to read below Thanks for taking the time to reply back.We’d like to let you know that at the moment a workflow from our team has not been established yet regarding this matter and we are unable to provide you a frame time. However, We can assure, that we aware of the problem and we are working very hard to to resolve this issues as quickly as possible. If you have already agreed a refund with Amazon, that would be okay. Also, we wan to thank you for your Feedback in previous email, really appreciated! Please let us know if there's anything we can do for you. We will be always here for you. After reading this email I was a little worried about receiving a replacement (even though the password pin had started to play up showing signs that something wasn’t just right anyway) then I thought, if Addis’s was allowing their name to be attached to this watch (all be it at a premium for the consumer), then they wouldn’t allow a sports health watch with such a blatant issue onto the market without making that company sorting the issue or they would make FitBit pull the watch from sale.With that in mind, I also purchased an official sports strap to go with my replacement ionic. Instantly, the difference in be able to tighten the strap was obviously where things felt different (no discomfort just tight). There was also no movement unlike the standard strap issuedSo, first tests today and I can confirm that it was showing very similar reading to my Blaze under hard usage. I shall keep testing, but I feel this is more of a marketing boo boo and not actually a fault of the watchFitBit should really issue a sports strap plus the standard strap for none exercise usage in place of a large and small strap which may have been the plan all along until the marketing guys got involved. You can see in doing this, they would remove the premium attached to the Adidas watch other than the obvious bits which to me is not relevantI’ll be out for an outdoor run tomorrow and see if the HRM plays up. I’m guessing it will not as virtually no sweat can penetrate he sensor thanks to the strap design——Final UpdateSo, it seems if you want this watch and wish to use it as a sports watch, then you’d better buy the official sports strap found on the Addis Ionic and tighten it properly to your wrist so no sweat can seep to the sensors. Since doing this, my second Ionic hasn’t acted up with the heart rate monitor reading almost identically to my old BlazeWith that in mind, an alleged guestimations about the strap which Fitbit supply with this watch questions the Ionic watch “fit for purpose” usage section of the law. I just cannot believe that a company can be so ignorant and uninterested in resolving the issue.I know my next watch will be a GarminEdit 03/05/2019I've started a thread on Fitbit with the hope that others will start to show the failure of this watch. Sadly the sports strap didn't resolve the problem. To find it, simply copy the description below, navigate to the fitbit community website, select Ionic and paste. The thread show itself. If the thread is dead, then it means it has been removed by one of the Fitbit teamFitbit Ionic Heart Rate Failure Image Uploads