Discrepancy on stats of a tracked hike using the GPS on my Fitbit vs the GPS on the phone app

[oceanrocker]

I recently upgraded from a Charge 2 to a Charge 5 so I am new to the GPS functions.  I decided to try it out on a short hike just to learn.  I was not sure if I needed to use the app on my phone in addition to my tracker so I took my phone with me and started tracking my hike on both the tracker and the app at the same time.  When I synced my device to my the app, I ended up with two accurate maps of my hike route but the pace and total miles recorded were quite different, e.g. one gave a total distance of 2.06 miles the other was 3.19.  Now I am not sure which stats are accurate and what is the best way to use the GPS feature.       

Moderator edit: format

[DavideFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hi, welcome to the Fitbit Community forums, @oceanrocker. 

I appreciate all the details provided about the accuracy of the GPS feature on the Charge 5.  

Let me know if you were using the MobileTrack feature to record your activity with your phone. In the meantime, keep in mind that if the GPS is getting disconnected during your activity, the Charge 5 may track different information for the the distance. Before considering other options, make sure to follow the steps suggested in this article. 

All devices with GPS sensors require a direct path to GPS satellites to calculate location. A weak GPS signal might affect the accuracy of your route and other activity data. Your device uses your step count to calculate distance until it finds a signal, so the total distance calculated for a workout may be slightly less accurate when GPS isn't available for the entire time. In particular, please make sure of the following: 

• That you are  in open sky and moderate trees
• Adjust how you wear the tracker when you want to use GPS 
• Make sure the Location in your phone settings is set to Always or All the time for the Fitbit app (if you're using connected GPS)

If you continue to experience the same behavior and your GPS is getting disconnected, make sure to try following the steps listed in this article to complete a restart, as this has been useful for other users experiencing something similar. 

I'll be around. 

[charleskn]

@DavideFitbit Is it even possible to track your hike/walk from the Fitbit app using GPS? I did not think this was possible.

@oceanrocker REF: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1874.htm

In your fitbit (web) dashboard settings, be sure to select your GPS enabled activities.

On your Charge 5, be sure to choose the GPS mode (Builtin GPS, Dynamic or Phone), and the 

[oceanrocker]

Thank you very much for your reply. The information you offered gave me
some possible answers and helped me form a better question. First, to
answer your question, when I started tracking the hike on the Fitbit app on
my phone, I assume that I was using Mobile Tracking because my hike did
indeed get tracked on my phone. Unless there is another way to make that
happen?

My main question is why did my Charge 5 give me different mileage, pace,
etc. than the Fitbit app. The app recorded a hike that was about one mile
longer than my Charge 5. I have noticed that my Charge 5 occasionally will
not track certain data during an aerobic workout - specifically my heart
rate. If my Charge 5 was doing the same thing on my hike - not tracking
data and specifically not tracking my steps during a hike, that could
account for the discrepancy between the stats recorded on the app on my
phone and the stats recorded by my tracker. Because I had the tracker and
my phone with me at all times during the hike, they both would have been
either using a GPS signal or my step count in exactly the same way. I read
the article you sent about restarting my Charge 5 and will give that a try
in the near future and then test it out. Thanks again for your help and
advice!

[charleskn]

The accelerometer that tracks steps, and the LEDs used for monitoring your heart rate are separate. If the HRM stops for some reason, you can still get steps. I am sure that fitbit does some algorithmic magic with steps and HR data for some of the other stats.

I am only guessing here, but I wonder if the distance discrepancy arises from one distance coming from GPS, and the other distance coming from steps and stride length. Fitbit defaults to a stride length calculated from your height, etc. Check your stride length in the fitbit dashboard under the personal, advanced, settings. I manually set my stride by doing a walk and run using GPS, and then calculating my stride from the number of steps and distance.

[oceanrocker]

Thank you for weighing in on my Fitbit issue. First, I needed to address
my HRM blinking out from time to time which was becoming quite annoying.
As you said, fitbit probably does some algorithm magic to determine some of
the stats and that was becoming a real problem. I think - I hope - that
issue has been resolved. I recently restarted my fitbit device and today
my device kept track of my HR during every minute of my workout. That
significantly impacted the number of Active Zone minutes I earned, in
addition to calories burned, etc. It is tracking my sleep better as
well. Now that the LEDs on my device are tracking properly, I will try
checking my stride length as you suggested. Thanks again for the advice!

Thank you for directing me to the first article.  It contained a lot of good information and lots of options to try in the future to get the most accurate information from the GPS feature.  As it turned out, the issue I was having with the HRM on my device was becoming quite bothersome so I turned my attention to that first.  It would frequently stop tracking my HR during my daily aerobic workouts requiring me to constantly check it.  Then, the other day I took a walk/hike so I started both the GPS on my phone and on my Fitbit.  4 miles and 2 hours later, my device had only recorded 22 minutes in the Active Zone.  (Not a fast pace but I was walking on a sandy beach, slowing me down, but I almost never stopped walking.). I knew that could not be right.  After syncing to the app on my phone, I looked at the chart of my HR and there were large gaps in the data.  I finally decided to try restarting my Fitbit.  I think - I hope - that did the trick.  During my aerobic workout today, the HRM tracked me for the entire hour - with no gaps in the data - which greatly impacted other measures such as Active Zone minutes, etc.  I am hoping that continues to be the case.  So thank you for that suggestion.  Getting back to the GPS feature, I do have two questions.  1.  Do you recommend I track walks and hikes with both the Fitbit and my phone?  If one is sufficient, does it matter which one?  And 2.  As far as the Fitbit and app are concerned, what is the difference between a hike and a walk?  There must be some difference in how these activities are tracked or the two options would not be offered.   Can you point me to where I can find this information?  Thanks in advance!           

[charleskn]

RE: Tracker vs Phone GPS. I believe you're asking if you should use the built-in or Phone GPS mode on your tracker? I believe the phone GPS to be more accurate, and it will save tracker battery power. However, in a pinch, the built-in GPS is fine. I set mine to Dynamic, which uses the phone GPS if available. Tracking with the Fitbit AND phone would mean using the Charge 5 tracker with built-in GPS, and the phone with another app, like Strava, to track your route separately. For my runs, I use the phone to supply the GPS for my Fitbit, AND for Strava, but I'm a data exercise geek.

The fitbit dashboard should list all the possible activities. The Fitbit web dashboard settings will list the auto-recognized activities and those allowed to use GPS. I don't think there would be much difference between a walk and a hike, but I don't really know. It may come down to which can be auto-recognized, and maybe how the GPS works with that activity. Again, I am not sure.

[ECoaster]

You don't need to start your hike session using the phone app.  Start it on the tracker with the tracker's GPS mode set to either dynamic or phone and it will mostly pull the accurate GPS data from your phone's GPS during the hike.  After the workout, you will be able to look at the map of where you hiked and if it is correct without any interruptions then you can be confident in the miles it is showing you. 

[oceanrocker]

Thank you for your easily understood answer! I will give that a try!!

[DavideFitbit]

Hi @charleskn, you can use the Fitbit app to track three different activities (Walk, Run and Hike). To do so, you can go to your dashboard on the Fitbit app > Tap on Exercise tile > Tap the clock icon at the top right corner of the screen > Tap on Tracking > You'll be able to see the three activities to choose from and record them using your phone's GPS. 

@oceanrocker Thank you for taking the time to share all this information and updates. It's recommended to use the MobileRun feature that allows to track your GPS activity with your phone only if the device you're using doesn't have GPS or if the Fitbit device is loosing GPS connection constantly due to some of the reasons mentioned earlier. You can try using only one of them at the time to see if there's a big difference on your data recorded. In most cases, it's recommended to use the GPS on your Fitbit device. 

Let me know if you continue to have any issue with the GPS activity and with your heart rate. In the meantime, you can follow the instructions in this article to improve the accuracy of heart rate information and check the information mentioned here about other factors that could affect your heart rate reading, this has been useful to other users who have experienced something similar. 

I'll be around.