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.

[Dtalitho]

I have worn Fitbit products since 2011. The Ionic is the first one I am NOT HAPPY WITH! Problems include

Heart rate inconsistency, BIG ISSUE

Fitbit not listening to what we want, example AMAZON MUSIC

limited exercise options

I wish I had gone with Apple watch but I have all of my history on Fitbit. 

VERY disappointing experience!

[james.derry]

Hi Everyone - 

Is anyone else frustrated with the Ionic?  I have purchased most of the watches as they came out, surge, blaze, ionic, and versa. I just spent time with customer support trying to resolve issues on my versa and the ionic.  I would expect spending $200/watch would result in something less buggy.  All I am told is that I need to download new software, do hard reboot, uninstall from phone, reinstall, etc.  I've done it like 3 times ... and, customer support says that I need do it again ... 

I'm tired of wasting time trying to fix it.  The versa - some reason, shuts itself off and reboots.  Sometimes, the screen and buttons don't work.  I was told it was the protective cover.  C'mon now ... I take protective cover off and still same issue.  

With my ionic - hard time syncing and I get this like condensation from taking it in the shower.  Was told not to take it into shower.  Thanks Captain Obvious.  But, it should be water resistant.  Not like I am dunking my entire hand in a toilet bowl and flushing. 

My versa is under warranty - not sure why they can't just send me a new one and I send them the old one.  I mean, the person asks me - is it still under warranty ... well, like yeah ... only came out this year.  So, not like it can be 'out' of warranty.  

My ionic - is just out of warranty.  I get it ... not trying to ask for free stuff.  I just ask for 'credit' - and I'll even buy a new one ... supposedly they fixed the bugs, etc.  So, fine. But, no dice.  I was holding off trying to get an apple watch 4 ... but, after being loyal ... feels like the customer service is starting to slack.  It's one thing if this was my first fitbit ... but, I've owned like every instantiation of the smartwatch ones ...well over a couple grand invested ... 

[Mdgodf]

No, I'm not happy with my Iconic and I very much regret spending the money on it.

[Whistler888]

Yeah a bit.

But am actually quite surprised of the number of problems noted in these various help forum threads.  My experience is the Ionic software is glitchy and somewhat unstable -> but the watch does what I need for my purposes.

Fundamentally it plays music on its own tracking GPS data with HR.  Not the most accurate GPS track nor most accurate BPM -> but good enough for general interest info.  For more serious tracking will use my more accurate phone GPS with music and a chest monitor.  Or my early gen $100 Timex GPS which tracks more accurately and reliably.

With phone it does notify semi ok and provides some quick replies but is still not fully functional for a fully “approved” Android device.  Have noticed many purchasers complaining from day one and are very unhappy customers.  So can def appreciate their angst and frustration.  Fitbit does need to seriously address their concerns when validated by Tech Support.

Correcting the software bugs quickly will keep customers from jumping ship to Garmin or Apple.  That is pretty obvious.  Hopefully mngt will decide it is better to “retain” these Fitbit customers vs lose them to the competition.  The key is to squash the bugs quickly and roll out updates that are not beta.

Apple did that at first and got a lot customers very unhappy.  But learned that pushing out not ready for prime time updates just got customers even more upset.  Question is will Fitbit learn and listen to their customer base seriously?  Hmm?

[Fxdci]

Well I got the Ionic when my other one cracked.  Shortly thereafter I had knee replacement surgery.  I'm now almost fully recovered and starting to try and get this watch to work. 

GPS - my test was to turn it on for our ride from Virginia to New England.  I also turned my Garmin Vivo HR on.  Both used the bike as the mode of exercise.  The Garmin stayed connected, every 5 miles would buzz and give me a lap time and when we got to New England it recorded 521.6 miles just like the car.  The Ionic recorded .1, no map nothing.  Setup GPS again.  On the return trip it worked a bit better.  No map and 379.6 of the 525.3 mile trip.  The Garmin again worked as it did on the way up.  Next test will be when I actually resume road work.

Music syncing - need blue tooth (the laptop where my music is older and has no Bluetooth) and can't get wifi to stay connected.  So I'll move the laptop to another area of the house on a different network.  When I did this last I thought it was a bit of a messed up way of doing things.  

Syncs steps with my fitness pal, doesn't sync exercises.  Garmin syncs with myfitness pal and Fitbit picks up those exercise events and adds them in.

Otherwise the syncing seems to be working.

I don't run with all day sync.  I sync on demand because the Fitbit app was killing my battery.

So far I'm extremely disappointed.

[Ericws]

I was ecstatic with it, for 8 months.

It doesn't work correctly any more.  And the support is not good for troubleshooting.  Very disappointing. My Ionic was expensive, too.

[timothydunn]

I wanted to like it. When it worked it was great but way too many bugs that make it not worth the effort.

[needledown]

So many other options out there .

My ionics heart rate sensor no longer blinks

Can't show heart rate and can't be calibrated all after 1 year . Also they always promised glucose monitoring but that feature never came out.  So it does what all the other watches do .

[Dalep7273]

No don't. A yearyplus laterli will be goingg Apple // or samsung  next. Tired of fruitless attepts at updates. Or if things get wacky phone and watch start miscommunication.. app won't recognize watch.... Just what ever ..I had to unload and reload app and try to start everything again which last time took no lie two weeks of re attemps to numerous to count and one day it just will. I mostly got this to put music on the watch for running . But over a year now I just don't want it to anger me as much as it does to.simply update so I have not. 

[Dalep7273]

I believe the reviews are handled ... Eliminated expunged. Everyone I speak to has same issues. And everyone I speak to will be looking for a new product soon. Shame I like it but if I can't use ........

[Dalep7273]

Did all the same ....and feel the same .... Unfortunately I will rather upgrade to Apple or samsung to hopefully get a working product 

[Fxdci]

Well finally after sitting out in the deck on a cool sunny day and starting a walk exercise the GPS connected. Subsequent tests seemed to immediately connect. Going to redo my garmin and fitbit test in the car today. I'll do a bike exercise from both devices and see how it tracks over a 240 mile ride.

Much like Harley Davidson products I feel apple products are a bit overpriced and support has gone a bit south overtime.

Sent from my iPod

[Averymae]

My Ionic is about to drive me and my wife nuts.  Constant issues with syncing, recognizing the tracker, staying connected to wifi, and not able to connect to Pandora for any length of time.  I am at end of rope, after being on phone shpport for 30 minutes.

[MaheshHS]

9 months into its life, it called quits on me yesterday. Revival effort with support did not yield results. Finally being replaced with may be a refurbished one😢. Waiting for it. My 20$  Home Depot watch is still working. I was happy as long as it worked. But it worked for just 9 months. Warranty of replacement is not one year from it’s arrival, only for next 3 months. If this one gives up to my 299$ are gone for a mediocre product. Keeping fingered crossed.

[tkaska]

Exactly!  SO frustrating!  

[Fxdci]

Nope

I got it for half price because my previous Fitbit fitness watched cracked.

I tried for two months to use it. I’d go out walking or bike riding and on one wrist I had the ionic and on the other a garmin vivoactive hr. The garmin device would immediately activate gps. The ionic rarely provided gps data and when it did it looked like I was under the influence of some hallucinogenic drug. The track would be basically a zig zag and for a 15 mile bike ride it would be 1 mile or more in extra miles. The app doesn’t sync well with my fitness pal. The app is really kind of lacking in comparison to the garmin connect app. It has sat in the draw for about 2 months now.

Now I’ve reloaded the app. I’ve refreshed the watch numerous times. I’ve left the watch out in the sun on a clear day so that it could learn it’s gps stuff. Still no improvement.

Had trouble updating the coaching app. It would appear to loop. Never completing the update. I finally had to do another factory reset to stop that.

I’m too lazy to get on the horn with Fitbit to get some relief.

Hopefully others will refrain from buying this POC.

Sent from my iPhone

[tkaska]

I've had my Ionic exactly one year this month (May 2019)  It worked well for about 9 months. I have never been swimming with it or worn it in the shower.  My preferred exercise is walking.  Some days, it will sync, some days it will not.  I have uninstalled, reinstalled, rebooted everything and anything to do with my Fitbit to hopefully correct the ongoing issues....and absolutely NOTHING resolves the fact that it will not consistently sync, connect to wifi or accurately track data.  For $300, I expected something much more reliable and stable than this.  After completing my walk this morning, the activity didn't sync at all. I am done with the frustration.  Moving on to another product. TODAY.  

[mgwood]

No not happy... only 2 months and it does not function.  It has been down since for a few days and customer service requires you to jump through a lot of hoops when the thing just does not work.

[Fxdci]

Hold them accountable
Inane as their troubleshooting may appear they're running a set of scripts.
If this do that. So do what they ask. If its not working to spec after the diagnostic process request a replacement. My experience with the replacement process is that they're not the least bit reluctant to replace provided you do what is asked.

Sent from my iPod

[I_Mak_Siccar]

I was happy with the first one, and its replacement. But after the disastrous 3.1 update, my Ionic is a paperweight. Fitbit claims it's due to the phone being used, but it's a brand-new OnePlus 7 Pro that had zero issues with synchronization until the app update. Now the Ionic won't sync or update on three devices (phone, laptop, and tablet). It's baffling that they refuse to acknowledge this issue, and their Twitter support said there's nothing they can do since the phone "isn't compatible", despite having Bluetooth 5 and Android 9.