Charge 5 not mapping route

[SunsetRunner]

My new Charge 5 is not mapping my walks. I have an Android and have it paired to bluetooth, have given Fitbit location access "all the time" in settings for the app, gps is set to on on the Fitbit and I wait till the Fitbit shoes it's connected to GPS.  The app registers my steps, distance, etc, same as I would get without using the exercise function, but no map or the stats that come with maps. My Charge 4 produced maps with no problem.

[Manneman]

I contacted the support in a similar case. No map and tha distans was of by 10% and som runs 40% 

The answer I got was basically: "Thanks for letting us know about this issue. We’re aware of it, but may not be able to provide a fix in the immediate future"

[tlaflesh]

I had the same problem and changed setting to built in from dynamic.  I used dynamic on my charge 4 and never had a problem with the map.  I get the maps since changing but I'm now finding distances are off.  In one case charge 5 calculated 2/3 of a mile more than the distance with my charge 4.  I validated the distance using my vehicle and the charge 5 is incorrect.  

[Manneman]

Even on dynamic or phone connection the GPS data it utterly useless.

This product is not built to be a fitness tracker unfortunately

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you, that's really disappointing. It seems like a pretty basic function to have messed up when it worked on the previous model.

[SunsetRunner]

I get no mapping on any of the gps options, not even wrong ones. Seems like this product was not ready for prime time. From what customer service told you, it sounds like they are claiming it's a software issue, but I wonder if it's a flaw they can't fix but don't want to be deluged with returns,

[Manneman]

My thinking is that it is a design flaw. The GPS unit is to low in the device.

If you want Anny accurate heart rate. Keep the band tight. But then you lose both GPS and connection to phone 

If you want GPS wear it losely but then you loose heart rate accuracy

If you but on a sweater you loose connectio.

So basically... If you wear it like a watch it doesn't work. 

This product should not have passed the designboard

[SunsetRunner]

Thank you for your analysis. Bummer. Last time I'll preorder anything rather than wait to hear what happens when people start using it.  

[fionac]

I've found that when it was on dynamic it didn't work, but when I switched to phone GPS it worked fine and the mapping was fairly accurate.  Having said that, I don't normally use my Fitbit to track runs as I prefer to use my Garmin so a somewhat less than perfect GPS function isn't a deal-breaker for me.

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks, that's the one gps option I haven't tried.  I'll give it a try, but I note that Manneman did not find it accurate.