Feedback about Fitbit Ionic

[MelissaRN]

I've never owned a Fitbit product.  I recently began using the Fitbit app as a way to log water, food and steps and I am enjoying it and finding it motivating.

I'm thinking about making the plunge and purchasing the Fitbit Ionic.  (I also was looking at the Blaze.)

So question, would you buy the Fitbit Ionic again?  Do you regret it?  Love it?  Think it's worth it or not?

Any feedback is appreciated.   Thank you in advance!  

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[Shmoo]

I would agree that they are always cheerful, but it would seem that they are considerably more concerned with rolling out an iPhone clone than fixing what seems to be a major issue for many many users. In my experience after my 3rd call and resetting/reloading/repairing I was able to make it work the way it used to and supposed to exactly one time and now it’s back to ignoring all texts and calls.

[Ericws]

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@MelissaRN wrote:

I've never owned a Fitbit product.  I recently began using the Fitbit app as a way to log water, food and steps and I am enjoying it and finding it motivating.

I'm thinking about making the plunge and purchasing the Fitbit Ionic.  (I also was looking at the Blaze.)

So question, would you buy the Fitbit Ionic again?  Do you regret it?  Love it?  Think it's worth it or not?

Any feedback is appreciated.   Thank you in advance!  

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-  Would I buy Ionic again?  YES.  I am thrilled with mine.  I am a tech loser- can't do anything right.  This Ionic was easy enough for me to set up, and 6 months in it works perfectly.  I love it.  GPS is spot-on accurate, music is awesome.  Everything I wanted, I received.  

I wanted music capability in mine, and GPS built-in.  Wanted a value price.  At the time, Garmin's only option was the 645 Music, which was $200 more expensive.  Apple's was about $100 more than Ionic.  Ionic got the win- and I am the winner for it!

[SilviaFitbit]

It's great to see you around @Shmoo!  I've noticed you have contacted our Customer Support team, I would recommend to keep the conversation with them. They will continue troubleshooting this issue with you and provide you with a final resolution based on the Fitbit Warranty. 

Hey @RKushner, @SunsetRunner, @Ericws! Thank you for your participation in the forums everyone. Fitbit is always reviewing your responses to provide feedback to our product development team. 

Catch you later. 

[Shmoo]

You know what would be awesome? A note from anyone at Fitbit acknowledging that there’s a significant problem with the Ionic and the iPhone X and that you will not rest until it’s fixed. Until I see that I’m just wasting my time calling or ‘following up’ because I’ve called at least 3 times and it’s no closer to working now than it was after my first call. The overwhelming sense I get is that you don’t know how to fix it, or you’d rather spend the resources making a crappy Apple Watch clone.

Moderator Edit: Format

[SantiR]

@Shmoo Thanks for your reply and for providing those details. I'm sure the Fitbit team is working hardly to get this resolved. Thanks for reporting this to customer support.

By any chance, are you using the latest iOS version (version 11.4.1)? If not, please update the OS on your iPhone.

Keep me posted! 

[JessicaMarie]

I have to say I agree, I was told to reset my watch to factory settings to resolve my issue.  This is a 4-hour process so to have someone do this as the first thing that you tell them to do after restarting the watch seems to me to be something that should be worked on.  Also, it brought back after what has been 2 separate updates to the Fitbit system the bug that doesn't allow the Fitbit coach to update.  So now, I have notifications that don't appear, FitBit Coach that won't update and there is still a serious lag in steps counting that has caused active hours to not be counted.  

After over 30 emails to customer service and several phone calls, I would say there is clearly a lack of drive to get any of these things fixed. 

[Steve80222]

I bought the Ionic for one primary purpose, the built in GPS for run tracking. Otherwise I was satisfied with the far less expensive Charge HR for fitness tracking. For the first six months I used it the tracker worked fine. Now, and suspiciously after the last OS update, the run tracker shuts off after the first 0.5 mile and I have to restart it. It   saves the data, but that results in data for 2 runs instead of the combined run, which is useless to me. I’m deeply disappointed by this. So no, I would not repurchase. 

[JessicaMarie]

Unfortunately, this was fixed for me when I did a factory reset after this
happened to me with the last update. It did however also load several of
those workouts at extreme times with missing data pieces. So one workout
ended up actually recording a full 5 hours of some data just not all data
apparently.

[SilviaFitbit]

Hey there @JessicaMarie and @Steve80222. Your feedback is truly appreciated, this helps Fitbit to improve its Customer Service. Fitbit is always reviewing your responses and providing feedback to our engineers and developers as well. 

In regards to the run app crashing after 0.5 mile @Steve80222. Our team is aware of this and working toward a resolution, you may want to check the main thread, as soon as it's been resolved one of our Moderators will post it there. 

It's good to hear that it started working for you @JessicaMarie after you performed a factory reset. I would recommend continue the conversation via email, our team will continue assisting you on this matter if you keep having issues. 

Hope this helps! 

[Mark2018]

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@SilviaFitbit wrote:
... 

Fitbit is always reviewing your responses and providing feedback to our engineers and developers as well.  ...

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Sorry, I can't believe that!

If it is so, why is the problem with sleep stages after 3 month not solved?

How would you feel after 3 month without solution?

Kindly support with standard answer is not the help what I expect!

Great to know, that Ionic works for a lot of people.  Unfortunately I'm not in that group!

But nobody knows who returns the Ionic without feedback here in the community!

I can understand that error happens,  but not that the problems are not solved within a few days!

Fitbit will not change anything, that's what I learned from support and the community this year!

Very frustrating!

Be happy with your Ionic when it works 100%!

[pedris]

Same issue here.

My Ionic rebooted itself about half a kilometre into a half marathon this
morning. Wasn't much fun scrabbling around to get it going again when
moving at 4:00/km and then having to do the mental arithmetic for the rest
of the race to know whether I was on target or not.

[jjoonathan]

No, I wouldn't. Not a chance. $300 watch, dead in six months, fitbit refused to warranty it. Never again.

[Xenoide]

Probably not.

I truly like the design, build quality and look and feel.

However currently I do now know if the general hardware design of the Ionic is faulty or if it still suffers from massive firmware issues.

What I dislike most is its severe inaccuracy of counted steps, measured distance during runs, significantly false heart rate values.

For the recreational sportsman that may be sufficient but for anyone requiring more exact readings, the Ionic currently is a no-go.

[Ericws]

"What I dislike most is its severe inaccuracy of counted steps, measured distance during runs, significantly false heart rate values."

How do you know this?  Do you run comparisons with other heart rate measuring tools?  

I will admit that I have never bothered with a heart rate measurement device until now, though, as my past devices were for GPS and pace, so I am curious as to how you know this.... Thanks.

[TomDuke]

I have used a pulse oximeter to check the accuracy of the heart rate on the Ionic. They are within a beat or two of each other so I would say it's pretty accurate. The step count seems to be off. If I run on my treadmill for 30 minutes where I am actually stepping it registers a much lower count than a 30 minute elliptical workout. This makes the mileage calculation false as well. I am older and slower than I used to be, run a 9 min mile, so 30 minute run should be 3.25 miles or so, the treadmill calculates 2.68 miles but Ionic anywhere from 1.68 to 1.9 but never the same. It's a WAG.

[Ericws]

Are you comparing to the treadmill reading?  I wonder about that, too, as the treadmill's calibration could be off.  I am not too concerned about the difference between treadmill reading and the ionic's treadmill workout measurements, which have been off for me, too.  

If I run 2 miles on my treadmill as per my treadmill, the ionic might say 1.8 miles, but the steps count is the same.....

Not a biggie though- what was mandatory for me is the GPS, and Ionic has been spot-on for that.  In 5k and 10k races I have run, it has measured perfectly, and in my training runs, right on target with prior watches....

[TomDuke]

I never really looked at the TM's step count to compare with the Ionic but will do so tomorrow. Have never seen a treadmill that was accurate in its mileage computation and mine isn't but it's at least consistent. 

I run outdoors infrequently on a 1 mile course, 2 laps, when using the GPS the Ionic tracks 1.98 miles so that seems on target. 

[Xenoide]

I compared all major metrics of the Ionic against reference equipment.

Heartrate was measured with a breast strap, distance with a precision handheld GPS and steps with a precise pedometer. In all three disciplines the Ionic failed really badly. I'm not speaking of measurement tolerances, I refer to deviations of more than 30% in distance and steps up to completely useless and erratic heart rate data.

Tested in several runs and walks either.

[Ericws]

Interesting.  

I don't have any heart rate measurement comparison to make, because as I said this is my first device that has that.  I have no reason to not trust it, your testing notwithstanding.  But GPS is 100% spot on compared to my other devices, and I have tested it a lot.

[Xenoide]

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@Ericws wrote:

Interesting.  

I don't have any heart rate measurement comparison to make, because as I said this is my first device that has that.  I have no reason to not trust it, your testing notwithstanding.  But GPS is 100% spot on compared to my other devices, and I have tested it a lot.

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May I ask you the following: please go outside, set your Ionic activity to Run or Walk and walk in a constant pace 300 steps which you count in memory. Then stop and finish the activity on your Ionic and check what it reports to you in steps. If it matches your counted 300 steps, you might be the lucky one to own a golden sample. The two Ionics I have tested lacked already about 30-50 Steps on that figure...