Fitbit and "Connected GPS" -- the biggest scam

[SunsetRunner]

I just want to put this out there.

I thought when I bought a Fitbit device with "connected GPS" that the device would use my phone's GPS to calculate distance and speed. Unfortunately, it turns out that this is all a big lie.

I started to discover something was wrong when I started using the activity "hike" to log my inline skating exercises (for want of a better match) and the distance was way off each time. A lengthy procedure with Customer Support ended with the conclusion that "my phone is not a fully supported device". Which of course is bull**ahem** since other services are able to calculate an accurate distance, based on the GPS data that Fitbit recorded!

Apparently, Fitbit only uses the phone's GPS to paint the route onto a map, but it uses stride length to calculate distance. 

The proof is here:

A canal tour in Copenhagen. As I was sitting on a boat (and only walked onto the deck once) Fitbit recorded virtually no distance. But the map is correct! After synchronizing to Strava, I got this result:

So there it is. Fitbit promises to use the phone's GPS to calculate distance and speed, but in reality it uses stride length to calculate those stats and only uses the GPS to paint a route onto a map.

I feel scammed.

Moderator edit: Clarified subject

Edit by Elinepje: moderators, please don't change the subject because you feel threatened or whatever. It's the truth! Rather, fix the problem!

[LostEchoes]

Hi @SunsetRunner 
I was reading your post and although I think you seem to have a point here, and something is definitely wrong with the way (the algorithm) that Fitbit uses to calculate the distance, I can't help but wonder:
If Fitbit is indeed using the "stride length" to calculate and distance, then how does this apply to activities such as Biking, where the stride length is not even applicable ?
Honest question. I'm also trying to find what's wrong with those distance  issues.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @LostEchoes 

That's a good question. I'm not sure how it calculates distance when biking but for walking, running or hiking exercises it uses stride length. 

When troubleshooting this problem I was asked to put my stride length to automatic. Of course, this didn't help. But it made me wonder: what does stride length have to do with it if the device has (connected) GPS?

[LostEchoes]

I don't know.
I'm disappointed, too.
They don't answer with details that would help us understand, they don't seem to care to fix such important bugs, the don't understand that STEPS is not the only and certainly not the most important statistic for everyone. 
Distance is important, Elevation Gain is important and both of them are wrongly (or not at all) reported, non GPS activities cannot be exported to Strava, etc.
No wonder, all the serious athletes choose Garmin.

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

@LostEchoes 

Do you know which devices are fully supported by Garmin? Literally, "any device with Android 5.0 or higher". 

So yeah I'm switching.

[LostEchoes]

Yeah I know.
I would switch, too, if Garmin was not so lame and inaccurate with sleep tracking. I have sleep issues and for the time being I want to have a reliable sleep tracking (the only thing Fitbit tracks reliably).

p.s.  Which band are you thinking of buying? Vivosmart 4 now has Connected GPS capability (with the latest firmware) and seems like a good choice. 

[SunsetRunner]

Not sure yet, I still want to look at different devices more before I buy one.

But I'm forever done with connected GPS, so one thing I'm sure of is that it's going to be a device with built-in GPS 😊

[LostEchoes]

Garmin Vivoactive 3 has hit it's lowest price ever these days (might fall even lower on Black Friday) and seems to be a very capable device.
Just my 2 cents.

[SunsetRunner]

Oh, by "I'll do some research" I didn't mean I need your help. I'll be fine on my own, thanks.

Besides, prices might be different on this side of the Atlantic.

[LostEchoes]

@SunsetRunner 
Which phone do you use?

[SunsetRunner]

@LostEchoes 

I have a OnePlus 6T with Android 9.0.17

The OnePlus 6 is fully supported but the 6T isn't. Do that's why it doesn't work according to Fitbit... Yeah right.

[LostEchoes]

@SunsetRunner 
Reading this post:
https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Android-App/GPS-Disconnection-with-Samsung-S8/m-p/3873914/highlight/true#M119556

I went to this page and oh Lord what did I just find ?
It shows my phone overall compatible, but Connected GPS is not one of the features on that list for my Galaxy S7. This is ridiculous.
Speechless. 

[LostEchoes]

@SunsetRunner 
Here is another confirmation that the "Connected GPS Incorrect Distance" issue has to be related to the application software:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Versa-Smartwatches/Distance-on-GPS-map-doesn-t-match-with-exercise-summary/m-p/3876898/highlight/true#M134774

[SunsetRunner]

@LostEchoes 

Thanks for pointing these out.

As for the first post: the connection has never been an issue for me. The device connects almost immediately to my phone and it always just stays connected.

But in the second post people indeed seem to experience the same problem. Good to know I'm not the only one who noticed this! Though I'm afraid it's not going to help very much since I seriously doubt that Fitbit is going to do something about it.

[SunsetRunner]

So today a moderator did take the time to modify the subject, but not to give an actual answer.

Typical.