Deactivate touch screen sensitivity during tracking

[Windman]

I have been trying to use Ionic several times for tracking while XC-skiing. As I adopt my training intensity to pulse rate I have the screen always on during training.  So far I have experienced that the Inoic turns tracking off by itself every time during training, probably because the touch screen is to sensitive. By skiing with bare wrists, watching that my glove or cloths does not touch the screen it works, however in freezing tempareatures that is not comfortable. This problem makes the Ionic is wortless as a tracker unless it is not possible to deactiviate input from the touchscreen during tracking. Is there anny way to deactivate the touch sensitivity of the screen during training and still have the screen on? Pls advise.

Another challenge is battery time when tracking with the screen on. Although I had 50% battery level left, it lasted for less than 2 hours when tracking with GPS and screen always on. Is that normal? 

I have also noted that the Ionic in starting of a traing shows much to high pulse rates. With time the puls readings becomes nicely accurate, though I have experienced some extraordinary instances when the Fitbit pulse readings did not give any correct data whatever I did for longer periods of time (difference of 60 beats/min). I assume that this may be due to an error in the filetering algorithms. I am using the bicyckle tracking modus when skiing.

[SantiR]

@Windman I hope you're doing well! Thanks for sharing your experience with Fitbit Ionic. Cross country skiing is surely an awesome activity to do.

Currently, it is not possible to adjust the touchscreen sensitivity on Fitbit Ionic. It is for sure a great idea, so I recommend posting it on the Feature Suggestions Board. That way users can vote for it and make it a popular request. The more votes, the better.

Also, please vote for this suggestion which is asking to add skiing as a GPS activity and this other one asking for a ski and snowboard app for Ionic.

Something you can do for the moment is not using the "screen always on" option. I understand this is not what you wanted to do, but it is an alternative workaround when in freezing temperatures. 

It is possible for the battery to drain quickly when using some features. GPS tracking and screen always on are some of the features that will drain battery quicker. Usually, GPS battery life lasts up to 10 hours. You can try this without screen always on to confirm. There are also other factors that may drain the battery quicker. Please take a look at this helpful article for more details on this.

Regarding the hear rate readings when starting an exercise; first please check these wrist placement tips to get the most accurate heart rate readings. If you are doing this, but readings are still off; please check this thread which is about that topic. Check this post for more details about this.

Hope this helps. Please keep me posted! 

[Windman]

Thks for reply. I also tried not having screen on, but that did not help as the tracker turned itself of anyway. Maybe because when skiing you now and then gets snow waterdropps on the screen activating it (I read that another user had that problem).




Sendt fra min Samsung Galaxy-smarttelefon.

[Davem10]

There is a thread here where you can vote on a lock feature to be introduced for the touchscreen: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Lock-Touchscreen-to-Clockface/idi-p/716414/page/...

I find that when showering the water activates the screen and changes all of my settings, its really annoying. A lock feature would solve this problem.

[Windman]

Thks for advices. I have more experience now and can live with the screen of and the screen wake auto off. More troublesome is the accuracy of puls readings. 

I need 24/7 pulse tracking for medical reasons. So far wrist trackers except eventually the latest Apple watch has not been accurate enough for my need. As I am not an Apple fan and the Ionic came on the market boasting improved pulse accuracy I gave it a try. That has become a huge disappointment. After using the Ionic apps for tracking of various activities my experience is that Ionic pulse readings are frequently way off and much less accurate during training then  f.ex. Fitbit HR or HR2.

The results I get using the activity apps are so far off compared to chest belt readings that I consider the Ionic to give fake pulse readings! F.ex. if I sit in chair and just wave my watch arm after starting the work out app, the Ionic pulse readings increase with 40 bpm in a minute whereas my real pulse is elevated with less than 5 bpm.

If I end waiving my hand the app will still read +20 bpm 10 seconds later. Whereas if I do the same exercise but quit the exercise and exit the app after about 90 secs and then read my pulse on the Ionic 10 secs later, that pulse reading will be in the same order as my reference readings. I.e. the app delivers higher pulse readings then when not using the app! The work out app delivers pulse readings that are modified by body movement. I have found similar mismatch between actual pulse readings and pulse readings from other Ionic activity apps. Differences are sometimes more than 100% off (to high) and seems to occur during the first 15 minutes of tracking. I wear the Ionic as recommended, but have tested different variations wearing it firm, lose or closer to the wrist without significant effect on results.

This hugh inaccuracy is either due to a sw bug, or that Fitbit lacks expertise in metrology and/or signal processing. If it’s a bug all Ionic watches are likely to deliver inaccurate pulse readings when using the Ionic activity apps (you need an accurate reference to establish this. Provided that Fitbit acknowledge the problem it should be possible to make the Ionic as accurate as the Apple watch provided that the Ionic sensor has at least the same quality. I am not sure that it has, but have kept my Ionic hoping that it is so and that Fitbit will fix this issue as it should be a matter of survival for Fitbit. However, at present I do not recommend the Ionic to anyone.

[Windman]

Updating my Ionic to version 27.32.4.19 things got worse. To avoid Ionic stopping tracking by itself I put scree auto off by swiping to settings in the left menu. That worked although it was not practical.This is also a solution I have used when sleeping, not to be disturbed by the light fro watch during night. In the latest update the option to sett the screen settings has been moved. Now I have to press and hold the left button, and then swipe 3 menus to right to come to the menu allowing me to turn screen on to auto or manual. This is much less practical than previously. Re. pulse accuracy the last update was no improvement.