Blaze GPS run inaccurate

[Rs121]

Hi Team,

I'm looking for some help with my blaze as I'm finding the connected GPS wildly inaccurate for my runs (not rides). 

The Blaze seems to be over-estimating the distance (and therefore pace in final stats) by around 20% which is very significant.

The way I have tested it is I have run both the connected GPS from the Blaze and the run timer on the App on the same run.

The results I had were 6.57km on the Blaze vs 5.41km on the app. From using my Surge and google maps I have found the app is as accurate as I know so the Blaze is over 20% or a km out.

Has anyone else got comparative data that they can share between the same route on a GPS connected Blaze/Surge/App? As it's driving me nuts!

btw, I have connected GPS setup in the run settings on my Blaze and reset the phone a couple of times.

Thanks guys!

[AlejandraFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Forums @Rs121 and thanks for troubleshooting this issue by yourself.

If you are having problems with the GPS connected feature, I recommend following the instructions provided in the My Blaze GPS is not working post. After these steps, test your tracker.

I hope this helps, let me know the outcome. 

[Colinm39]

@Rs121I'm in the Southern Hemisphere and a few of us have reported an East/West (E/W) issue with the Blaze and the Charge-2 in Connected GPS. I found that when I selected a pure E/W route the distance accelerated by about 12" or (30cm) per second and the pace was faster by over 2 mins/KM.

I had my Surge connected to direct GPS at the same time and the Surge distance and pace was accurate. When I performed a 90 degree route exactly North/South and East/West you could see the immediate change on the Blaze when you turned into the E/W route. The Surge kept track accurately.

I also did some tests concurrent Blaze and MobileRun with the Surge.. The Surge and MobileRun were within acceptable limits for Pace and Distance but the Blaze always accelerated and the distance was incorrect. At one stage the pace was such that I could not walk at the speed at my age.  I have two Surges and two Blazes and they all performed the same way.

This link shows the amount of effort by others, mainly the Charge-2

If I walk at 5km/hour for 15 minutes and apply the 30cm/second gain I get 21% over reporting distance on the E/W route...

It's worth a try, comparing your Surge and Blaze in an East/West because we were trying to find others with the issue. Somehow I feel that has been clouded by the other issues with Blaze GPS and Run.

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@Rs121 wrote:

Hi Team,

I'm looking for some help with my blaze as I'm finding the connected GPS wildly inaccurate for my runs (not rides). 

The Blaze seems to be over-estimating the distance (and therefore pace in final stats) by around 20% which is very significant.

The way I have tested it is I have run both the connected GPS from the Blaze and the run timer on the App on the same run.

The results I had were 6.57km on the Blaze vs 5.41km on the app. From using my Surge and google maps I have found the app is as accurate as I know so the Blaze is over 20% or a km out.

Has anyone else got comparative data that they can share between the same route on a GPS connected Blaze/Surge/App? As it's driving me nuts!

btw, I have connected GPS setup in the run settings on my Blaze and reset the phone a couple of times.

Thanks guys!

---

[Rs121]

Hi Colin,

That's really interesting as the route i have tested it from is a east to west route then heading south. 

I have used both the surge and blaze and it's only the mobile connected blaze that has the issue (surge seems accurate).

I note that the post you linked to with the detailed southern hemisphere analysis is from the beginning of the year. Have you seen an update?

I'm happy to contribute my data if that helps as I think that is the root cause. Let me know what I can do to help. 

Cheers,

Rohan

[Rs121]

Hi Alejandra,

Thanks for responding. It looks like I might have two issues in that it looks like the Google pixel is still not supported but more likely, there is a bug related specifically to the southern hemisphere as Colin pointed out. 

Do you have an idea of when it will be resolved as it looks like it has been around for 3 months.

Thanks,

Rohan

[Colinm39]

@Rs121Thanks for the reply.. Sadly there has never been a comment from Fitbit..and no further information.

@Kobaltodid an excellent job in showing us what the issue was and we were looking for others in  parts of the world to further prove this issue.

So far we have proven it's on the Charge-2 and the Blaze via Connected GPS.on both iOS and Android. Even on V2.51 App Android

MobileRun, Surge and MapMyRun track the same routes accurately. But I have to be careful on the MobileRun (App Tracking), not to Pause and Resume then Finish.. I can only Pause and Finish otherwise I lose all of the maps etc.

The beauty of using the Surge you can see the immediate change in Pace when you go East/West.  At a pace I could never walk....

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@Rs121 wrote:

Hi Colin,

That's really interesting as the route i have tested it from is a east to west route then heading south. 

I have used both the surge and blaze and it's only the mobile connected blaze that has the issue (surge seems accurate).

I note that the post you linked to with the detailed southern hemisphere analysis is from the beginning of the year. Have you seen an update?

I'm happy to contribute my data if that helps as I think that is the root cause. Let me know what I can do to help. 

Cheers,

Rohan

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[Tablefor4]

Interesting.  My Blaze said I walked 8.6km this morning but mmf says 7.8 - both running from the GPS on my phone, turned on/off at exactly the same place/time!  I always walk with my phone anyway so will be using mmf for reliability until fitbit figure this out. 

[Rich_Laue]

@Tablefor4 where you using the run or walk mode from the app or from the tracker.

I still havent figured out of the walk mode on the tracker uses GPS to measure distance. I know the run mode does.

[Tablefor4]

Walk mode (I'm no runner, haha). It definitely uses GPS connected in walk mode - I had to go through some steps to connect it before I started. I'm in New Zealand. 

[Rich_Laue]

Your previous post mentions GPS from the phone, the Blaze doesnt have a GPS and needs to use the phones GPS.

Did you start the walk from the phone or the app?

Have you set the stride yet?

[Tablefor4]

Sorry I meant the Blaze was using the "connected GPS" feature - so
therefore connected to the GPS on my phone. The mmf was using the same GPS.
I started the walk using the exercise/walk/ screen on the Blaze itself. No,
I haven't set the stride length yet, though I wouldn't have thought that
would be relevant when a tracking using GPS. Distance is distance isnt it,
no matter how many steps it took you to get there?