GPS adding additional mileage to my known route Charge 5

[Onhold]

While walking utilizing the GPS feature, my Fitbit Charge 5 is adding additional milage to my known route distances (i.e., a 5 mile walk shows as 5.40 on my Fitbit and the lap times are indicating at much faster rates than actual. Any suggestions of a remedy is appreciated. 

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[DavideFitbit]

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

Before considering other options, make sure to follow all the recommendations listed 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 three pulse restart using the charging cable, as this has been useful for other users experiencing something similar. 

[Onhold]

Not totally, I tried the suggestions in the articles you sent but they did not solve the problem. I decided to remove the Charge 5 from my cell phone and re install. This morning's 5 miles walk registered as 5.25 miles. So more accurate than prior to reinstalling fitbit but still seems a bit off.

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Yesterday (7/14) my 5mile route recorded as 5.5 miles at a 13:58 pace. Today my 4.5Mile route recorded as 5.16 miles at a 14:37 pace. My normal pace of 3.7mph does not equate to the pace recorded for either day. I have a suspicion that, even thought my laps are set for miles, that my Fitbit may be recording distances and pace in Kilometers. What do I try next?

[DavideFitbit]

@Onhold Thank you for sharing that you already tried all the recommended steps. 

Following on what you mentioned earlier, in case that you have kilometers set in your account instead of miles, please follow the steps listed in this article to change the units of measurement in your Fitbit account. 

However, in case that you continue to experience the same problem afterwards, I recommend that you get in touch with the Customer Support team for further assistance with this. They will let you know how to proceed. 

The best way to get help for this problem is to chat with us online or give us a call. Click here to get connected.

See you around. 

[Onhold]

Thanks, I’ll keep trying. Sounds like I’ll be contacting Customer Support soon though.

Sent from Mail for Windows

[RunWalkCrawl]

I have this same issue (extra mileage on know my route and compared to Apple Watch and Garmin).  Keep us posted if you find a solution.  

[Onhold]

This morning my Charge 5 seemed to working properly, but tomorrow is another day. As I was searching for answers to my issue, I noticed that the “Exercise Cues” on my computer (under devices on the Fitbit settings) did not match the settings on my iPhone. I corrected the differences and my mileage and times appeared to be accurate this morning

Sent from Mail for Windows

[DavideFitbit]

@Onhold Thank you for sharing that you've been seeing more accurate information and the steps that worked for you as well. I'm sure this will be useful for other users. 

@RunWalkCrawl Could you please confirm if you already tried all the steps mentioned here earlier? Let me know if you continue to experience the same behavior afterwards. 

I'll be around. 

[RunWalkCrawl]

I have tried all the suggestions including restarting my device. I use connected GPS and have location services set to always. My device connects to GPS before I start running. However my 5 mile runs alway show about an extra 1/2 mile (so my pace shows as faster than what it really is). 

I don’t know where “Exercise Cues” are so I haven’t tried anything with that yet. 

[Rufous44]

Regardless what moderators say it is proven by the community that the distance measured by Fitbit is heavily based on steps and stride rather than GPS (it doesn't matter if connected or device).

To prove this just export the tcx of your session (you can do from your app or from the Fitbit web dashboard) and import it in a service such as mygpsfile.com. The distance you'll get will be the one measured by GPS that can be very different than the one reported by Fitbit.

[DavideFitbit]

@RunWalkCrawl I appreciate the updates provided confirming that you already tried all the suggestions shared earlier. I'm sorry to see that you continue to experience the same problem. 

In this case, I do recommend that you continue the communication with the Customer Support team for further assistance. They will let you know about the next steps. You can chat with them or call them directly for a faster response, and you can click here to get connected.

See you around. 

[charleskn]

What GPS mode is your device using? The internal tracker GPS, phone GPS, or Dynamic? There are reviews about the Charge 5 GPS antenna being poorly placed, and if the tracker is worn snugly, as suggested for accurate HR readings, the internal GPS tracking is poor. I have had pretty good results connecting to my phone's GPS.

[DavideFitbit]

@charleskn Thanks for sharing your feedback and your experience with this as well! 

See you around.