Charge 6's built-in GPS accuracy issues

[kuroimi]

I just bought the Charge 6 yesterday and I ran a 5k road run with it. I used an iPhone 12 and a Charge 6 to record simultaneously while running. As a result, the Charge 6 recorded 1k more records than the iPhone and the average pace was 1 minute faster than the iPhone. I don’t know whose problem this is. And I found that the accuracy of Charge 6's built-in GPS was surprisingly poor, and it even showed that I had gone to someone else's house.

[Triletics]

@kuroimi Charge 6 doesn't seem to use GPS for distance. At least, not when looking at my runs with GPS. Even if the GPS route is correct, the distance is off by quite far and that depends mostly on how you change the stride length during running (pace, cadence). I have yet to see a run that nailed the distance for me. Moreover, I have never seen this bad inaccuracy on any Fitbit when it comes to running distance. My yesterday 14km run has been chopped to 13.35km. It's beyond the margin of error. If you need a wearable to track running then you picked the wrong tool for the job.

[kuroimi]

You're right, so I'm already adding the Garmin watch from my wish list to my shopping cart. I originally wanted a tool that could measure my heart rate while running. I didn’t really care about the distance, I just wanted to run for 30 minutes in a suitable heart rate zone. It’s just that I didn’t expect the Charge 6’s GPS to be so bad. Even the pedometer is disappointing. I only walked less than 1 meter from my room to the bathroom next door. After using the bathroom, it recorded 80 steps for me when I returned to the room.

[MeroUno1]

I too went from a Charge 5 (went underwater and stopped working) to a Charge 6. Shortly after charging it and putting it on, I tested it. I counted my steps. The only problem is, that it also counts your hand movement as steps. So I'm very disappointed and frustrated with Fitbits. I don't recall the Charge 5 counting my hand movement. Furthermore, when I called customer support, I found that my Charge 5 was out of warranty. If it claims to be water resistant up to 50m, why would it die under 4 feet of water??? Man, Fitbit falls short on so many levels. 

[SaraBlues]

This is happening to me too. So frustrating.

[Eevildööd]

GPS in this device is total crap.

Compare Polar M2 where is excellently accurate GPS.

Walking couple of times now weekend my usual route.

M2 right hand always 5.5km(this is accurate)

Charge 6 left hand varies 6.2-6.5km..wtf😁

Luckily I have 60days refund right store where I buy this.

[Eevildööd]

Can't edit post...

Forgotten say that Charge 6 battery consume GPS on 30% in 1hour walk(5.5km), Polar M2 3%.

Charge 6 GPS off same walk,2% consume. Some thing is really broken in this device GPS.

[Freezeframe12]

I went through 2 charge 5’s, loved them and they were very accurate for distance measurements, but they both just suddenly died. (Still waiting on the “promised” replacement). So figured I’d go with the 6! Completely off. Distance that I know is 1K shows as .6. Tries changing stride length to manual, but doesn’t seem to change anything. Not impressed so far. Wish the Charge 5 was more reliable. 😕

[Rafas]

de unos dias para aca  el GPS o no conecta o va conectado y  mitad de camino  queda off,  diferencia en los  kilometros haciendo en ocasiones la misma ruta identica y muestra diferencia de 2 o mas kilometros una cosa es que marque diferencia en los tiempos hay dias mas rapido o mas lentos   pero la distancia deberia ser la misma, la verdad muy decepcionado con esa compra.

[DaveF77]

I have the same issue. My charge 5 was pretty accurate but I had to replace that as it stopped working when it got wet (so much for water lock and tracking swimming)!  I found the charge 6 to be horribly inaccurate. I’m training for a half marathon and the charge 6 is about 5% underreporting distance compared to my iPhone gps - which is 1km out on distance over a 20 run. Shockingly bad. Yet another disappointment from the Fitbit product range. 

[gjohnson0626]

My two charge 5s were very accurate, and I was able to categorize between walk/run/hike (I'm still not sure why you can't choose bike, SUP, swim, etc.).  My charge 6 is crazy inaccurate.  I went on a 12 mile hike yesterday and it recorded 6.2 miles.  Also, now it won't categorize anything but walk, even if I choose hike or run. Very frustrating - waste of time and money.

[Jonny8964]

I have the exact same issue, £120 for a device that I could guess the distance more accurately…

it would be nice if Fitbit actually sounded up and gave some advice at some point..   

[gjohnson0626]

I’m back. Went on the same hike today and the exact same problem. Charge 6 records 6.2 mile for a 11.05 mile hike. Time to throw this piece of junk away. Fitbit doesn’t seem to care or they’d give some kind of response to these posts. 

[Rafas]

(A Fitbit no parece importarle o daría algún tipo de respuesta a estas publicaciones. )

Asi es , el EC  funciona en ciertos pasises y el tema del GPS  fallando ya deberian realizar  un ajuste  y enviar una actualizacion  con mejoras, pero creo que segun ellos ya de malas , pues ya se pago y listo.

[jamessb2]

Same issues; wildly inaccurate.  I've given up on GPS, turned it off, and go with step counter.  It's actually very precise (within 1 percent) if you ensure your stride length is accurate.  I have a few runs of known distance and tweak my stride length by 1 percent as needed to to keep it right. But my Ionic's GPS was very accurate and actually showed my runs; but its battery died, so I went with the Charge 6, and this is a sad step down. After ten years, how do you release a run tracker that doesn't...track your run?!  Tragic. (And they surely knew, so how could they do this??)

[Freezeframe12]

I’ve played with the stride length and it does nothing. I usually have another app running that is very accurate and the Charge 6 is way off! About 1K for every 4K walk.

Sent from my iPhone