Does Charge 5 GPS Ever Work Properly?

[Stellaman]

Good Afternoon,

My Charge 5 GPS started off inaccurate for distance and map track, then stopped working entirely on most runs.  After weeks of back and forth with techs, they did finally acknowledge that Charge 5 has a known issue that they may or may not fix in the future.

My question (for those who disconnected it from their phone's GPS) is- is everyone experiencing this or are there some accurate ones out there and I just happened to get one of the bad ones?  In other words has anyone here verified your distances and do you look sober on the map track?  I'd like to know if this is possible, or is getting a replacement a waste of time?  (Note- if you set it to use your phone's GPS, you can't answer this)

[MikeyMan2171]

My Charge five was NEVER accurate, it was close but not accurate at all. It got progressively worse until yesterday it completely died. This is NOT a quality product but why did I expect quality once they were bought by Google I should have known it was all downhill from there. Well I guess its back to a Garmin for me. 

[Lawdoll]

The top it Charge 5 “built-in” GPS. The bottom is Nike Run Club used on my iPhone. These runs were recorded simultaneously.   It took 5+ minutes connecting before it finally did. 

 

[MikeyMan2171]

I attempted to get some "help" from Fitbit themselves and got the same canned response that everyone else is going to get. Reboot the device, Make sure you have a clear view of the sky, yadda, yadda, and also they tried to explain how the GPS works for the Fitbit. Ha ha ha ha ha what a joke. I expect some more gems from them a little later in the day mean while I either have to hunt down my Garmin or buy a new tracker (not from Fitbit) so that I can properly track my pace/distance for my training. Their handling of this issue is just not acceptable they definitely lost a customer I will not be purchasing another device from them ever, not that it matters to them I'm only one person. Its sad really because I was hoping this would have been the perfect replacement for my MS Band which was a MUCH better device.  

[Stellaman]

Yeah here are a couple of my favorites:

This run is my club's 6 mile route- so hundreds of runners know its 6.  This map shows the first 3/4 mile or so, and tacked on an additional 7/10ths of a mile to the total.

Here it told me I ran 3 miles, but it shows 0.39, in the Atlantic, about 100 miles from where I actually was:

[MikeyMan2171]

Looks like you're getting ready for the MCM, could be worse the Fitbit could have mapped you at APG! Have you gotten the error where the Fitbit tells you that you are running at a pace you KNOW you aren't running? I've had mine before the GPS died to tell me I was running a sub-7 min mile when I knew I was running much slower. I haven't been able to reach that pace since my early 20s and I know it won't happen after my knee injury so there is also that nugget of misinformation the device throws out as well. 

[Stellaman]

Nah..  We support that and so were offered bibs, but I just couldn't see myself getting to that level at that time.  I did do the Historic Half in May and yeah coincidentally, the device was telling me the wrong pace and it really messed me up.  This was when I realized how bad the problem was.  Fitbit tracked me at well over the 13.1 miles.  That last mile was disheartening- thought I was done but had to keep going...