I don't trust my garmins heart rate for anything beyond running. On my rowing machine it barely goes beyond 90 too, meanwhile I'm drenched in sweat. Must be something with the movement/positioning of the watch.
yeah, if you get the chance to be hooked up to a proper hr monitor while the watch is on youll notice its typically wrong. Still like having the tracking tho
Probably depends on the watch and the fit.
for what it's worth, my reading at my Drs office were in line with what my watch said and it's pretty good at tracking changes in intensity levels during a run workout.
i had the exact opposite experience at the doctors office. HR -20 from what the watch stated. but i use it everyday anyway
Almost all Garmins can be paired with chest-strap HR monitors (much more accurate than any watch) if you want to confirm it's the watch. It does sound like it's the watch!