Anyone happy with their Ionic?

[mb127]

Is anyone happy with their Ionic? Is yours fully working and syncing? It seems most discussions here are about the problems, but looking at different stores online the reviews are still mostly positive. I can't tell if the one I have is just never going to work or it's a firmware issue that could be fixed. Right now I'm leaning towards this one is never going to work, but then I'm not sure if I should get a new one or not.

[ZHT1]

I got the ionic for Christmas and I love the look of it. However, it is extremely frustrating. Most of the time it will not sync my notifications, but when it does it is seemingly whenever it wants to. All of a sudden, one day I will get notified of my emails. When that happens, it kind of feels like I'm getting a "Surprise! I actually do work!" from the watch.

I really just want FitBit to  make the Ionic connect. Yes, fitness is important and I appreciate all of those features, but if you sell a smartwatch, make sure the smartwatch functions actually work all the time.

[Giampi71]

I always read posts about complaining of the Ionic or simple posts that say "it's crap" or "returned" that do no add anything to the community.

I'm not negating the problems that so many people are having but just trying to figure out why mine is working as it should. Of course it's not perfect but the things I would like to have improved are design decisions or work in progress and not bugs.

For example my notifications works great, my HR is very accurate, no problem with GPS, sleep stages are as they should be.

This in addition with astonishing battery life (better than the Blaze I owned and that I passed to my wife) lasting easily more than 5 days, very comfortable, beautiful display and so on, all characteristics that make the Ionic the best smartwatch I ever owned (coming from pebble classic, pebble time, and 3 android wear including a Polar m600)

I have a Pixel with Android 8.1 fully stock. 

So why so good for me and not for many people?

[bbarrera]

@Giampi71

Its a matter of expectations. If you are looking for a Fitbit tracker with better display, then Ionic delivers. Its pricey but a nice upgrade if you want to treat yourself to the best Fitbit watch/tracker.

A few disappointments for me, these current limitations are holding me back from buying and trying:

- "Industry leading GPS" but it uses stride to estimate distance on GPS tracked walks and runs (hikes too?)

- no general purpose app switching. If tracking exercise, you can't switch to another app so forget about tracking something like my Saturday morning walk with wife and dog to Starbucks and then starting a timer, checking weather, or using Starbucks app. Can you imagine using a smartphone and not have app switching? How can this be the ultimate health and fitness Smartwatch without a basic smart feature?

- no Fitbit exercise tracking mode for skiing (XC or downhill)

- doesn't integrate well with my bike computer via Strava sync (forcing me to use Endomondo workaround, and I'd like to stop using Endomondo)

- still not possible to sync non-gps activities to other platforms

- no tracking strength training sets/reps/weight (and Coach is just bodyweight)

- no speaker for audible alerts, no reply or voice commands

- having been a paid Fitstar user, Coach app on watch is somewhat pointless without audible prompts (how do you know when to stop while doing push-ups?) or feedback or being able to load additional workouts. Back to phone if I decided to use Coach/Fitstar again (and when will it support free weights?)

- no Fit Pay support for my Chase (airline) and Citi (Costco) credit cards

- a few other things but I'll stop this list is getting long

Do text notifications on Ionic show photos and full emoji yet? I get a lot of photo and emoji texts from extended family and was surprised to learn Fitbit didn't enhance this feature instead of pushing me back to phone. Its just something I would expect from "the Ultimate Health and Fitness Smartwatch" - but not everyone has the same expectations. 

[indianwin2001]

Biggest problem for me was the inability to add an external HR chest strap--- OHR CANNOT keep up with interval training--- maybe in a few years but if you do interval or HIIT training, OHR doesn't cut it.

[bbarrera]

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@indianwin2001 wrote:

Biggest problem for me was the inability to add an external HR chest strap--- OHR CANNOT keep up with interval training--- maybe in a few years but if you do interval or HIIT training, OHR doesn't cut it.

---

thats a big one for me too, somehow slipped out of the list, and into the 'few other things' catchall at the end.

[SunsetRunner]

Set your expectations low and have come from Surge, then you will be happy. If you are looking for a Garmin or iWatch competitor, then you will be disappointed. They cut corners here to get battery life and a comparable products in the market as a last ditch product. 

[Myabby]

I still haven't gotten it to sync yet! I'm at wits end. 


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab® S

[Giampi71]

@bbarrera wrote:

@Giampi71

Its a matter of expectations. If you are looking for a Fitbit tracker with better display, then Ionic delivers. Its pricey but a nice upgrade if you want to treat yourself to the best Fitbit watch/tracker.

....

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Thanks for your long reply. I get your points but actually I didn't mean lack of features or design solution (for example lack of GPX import for other sources or lack of external HR monitor integration) but all those bugs/malfunctioning that many people are reporting (bad GPS, terrible HR, lack of sync and so on). I don't experience any of those bugs so this is what puzzles me.

[tessaK]

Can you please advise the differences between the Surge and the Ionic.  My 3rd Surge strap has just come away from the watch face and I'm seriously looking at other brands because none of the 3 Surges straps lasted a year so am very disappointed in this watch for the price paid!!!  The device stills works and I am thinkin of ways I can drill holes through the thing to be able to attach it to my wrist 😞

[Colinm39]

@tessaKIf the Surge satisfies you it would be cheaper to purchase bands.. When you examine this link from iFixit drilling holes, which I think you really meant .  Also I would wait for the Ionic to settle down because many of us are experiencing issues with the App etc

The differences can be found here  in this link  from the Fitbit community and as your have probably found there is no comparative table now since the Surge was taken off the market.

and this link from Amazon

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@tessaK wrote:

Can you please advise the differences between the Surge and the Ionic.  My 3rd Surge strap has just come away from the watch face and I'm seriously looking at other brands because none of the 3 Surges straps lasted a year so am very disappointed in this watch for the price paid!!!  The device stills works and I am thinkin of ways I can drill holes through the thing to be able to attach it to my wrist 😞

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[daveiw]

Absolutely dreadful, every day is a battle between phone and mac and back again, no way of knowing which (if any will work) resets re-installs, nothing helps. Now there is an update, no indication as to what it will do and I have to wait several hours for it to update (if it doesn't drop out before hand) .  screen tells me 5-10 minutes , text chat operator tells me several hours .  Mine is going back the I come back from holiday

[daveiw]

---

Absolutely dreadful, every day is a battle between phone and mac and back again, no way of knowing which (if any will work) resets re-installs, nothing helps. Now there is an update, no indication as to what it will do and I have to wait several hours for it to update (if it doesn't drop out before hand) .  screen tells me 5-10 minutes , text chat operator tells me several hours .  Mine is going back the I come back from holiday

[Ralendil]

Never got a problem with the sync

From what i ve read, sync and notifications problems are related to the phone you use

But HR too high and floor climbed not corrects, is for all users until fitbit decides to work on it

[dwizum]

I can vouch that sync issues are not related to specific phone models. I tried mine on a handful of phones  -  mainstream models others had no issues with, including phones on the official compatibility list. 

[Ralendil]

I use a s7 edge (european version), that is on the list

And I had a problem with call notifications

I have given my ionic to my wife (until we get something better for her) and she has the same problem.

She use a s7 edge american version

[ConnieL429]

Ok everyone, I think I'm going back to a flip phone and a "normal" watch 🙄

[SunsetRunner]

Quite happy with mine thanks 😎

Only complaint is Fitbit’s apparent lack of activity getting Fitbit Pay working with more banks in the U.K. 😬

[daveiw]

Sorry but I don’t think that’s right forget the phones if you like I have MacBook pro and that is even worse , still no sync, surely it should just work its a fairly basic function after all

[Sunflowercm06]

I love my ionic and I haven't had any problems so far...

[SunsetRunner]

I am happier with it than I was my old Surge.  Especially since if the strap bubbles I can replace it without needing to replace the device.  The sleep tracking has also greatly improved since I gave up the surge as have the syncing and notifications.  The wireless in general seems unstable, and many features seem half baked as if they were rushed on the device for release but not completely finished. For instance:

• You can't update or change the Coaching (supposedly might happen eventually)
• Fitbit Pay wasn't out by its release (not uncommon for these types of devices) and while it is out not it isn't available on every app and a lot of people still have trouble adding cards months later.  
• No easy way to control built in music or Pandora while in an exercise
• Many of the exercise shortcuts have zero difference but the name/label that shows up in your activity list
• SpO2 sensor still not enabled after months
• Smart watch without a calendar app
• Music transfer is very unstable and audio quality issues.