Fitbit Charge 5 recording wrong mileage

[Madhatter007]

Hi,

Had the Charge for 2 weeks, exceedingly disappointed with it.

The whole point of buying it was not to cart my phone in runs.

9/10 it does not record the route on the map, just a dot, which I can live with my more worryingly it's recording extra miles, run is 6.5, it recorded 7.67😞😞. It's not been a one off either 

GPS is set to use built in only and I always start run after it shows connected.

Dodgy unit or just crap? See lots of GPS issues, not sure why it's recording extra distance.

[KoruApple]

I bought the Charge 5 about 14 months ago for the same reason, so I wouldn’t have to run with my phone. The built-in GPS has never worked right. It frequently won’t get a GPS connection and when it does the position and pace reporting are very inaccurate.  The only way I’ve been able to get it to work acceptably for running is to use my phone’s GPS. Very disappointing!

To make things worse, my Charge 5 died yesterday. I’m troubleshooting now to see if I can get it to wake up. So far it’s not looking good. I won’t buy another Fitbit. 

[DavideFitbit]

Hi, thank you for sharing this information about the trouble you've been experiencing with your Charge 5, @KoruApple @Madhatter007.

This does seem like and issue with GPS getting disconnected, 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. 

[Madhatter007]

Tried those as came across them in a different thread. I was running in open with unobstructed sky view.

Exactly same here, it's never missed a beat.

Totally disappointed with the FB, with a phone works fine but built in GPS is utterly useless, as it's sold this way not fit for purpose.

[DavideFitbit]

@Madhatter007 Thanks for the information provided and for confirming that you already tried the steps suggested.

Could you please confirm if you've also tried the restart procedure? In addition, let me know if you've continued to experience the same problem with every single activity that you've recorded or if it happens only with a specific activity. 

Try changing to the dynamic GPS option and le time know if the same issue persists.