To the original question - have you got ‘simulate physics’ ticked for both the character and the object?
And then use a get velocity on hit after that?
That fixed mine - well - it didn’t fix because I’m using sprites and 2d and so adding ‘simulate physics’ actually messed up a whole load of other things, but in 3D games that could be the solution.
I also tried adding a capsule component like you said, buuuuut if my character is moving really fast (he does), it is still buggy and often reads the speed as 0.