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

[Hebrews12-1]

My morning run was a failure also. This time the exercise app crashed at
mile 1.

[Jillccc]

Mine won't even sync.... hasn't synced the last couple days.

[SunsetRunner]

although I've only owned the Zip, One and now the Charge 2, from reading the posts regarding the Ionic and Versa, it seems like they are in over their heads with smart pedometers

which is a shame, I'm wanting to get a better pedometer, the only thing holding me back from going to Apple is the challenges, my mum has one and she loves it, just a shame about the battery life

FitBit really do need to get their act together, if Apple added challenges and made the battery life battery, they could end up losing a lot of customers

[SantiR]

Hello everyone! Thank you all for sharing all of your feedback on this thread regarding Ionic experience. 

Please check out these threads if you are experiencing the following situations:

• Not syncing
• GPS inaccuracies

If you are experiencing anything else, feel free to contact customer support for further assistance.

Thanks again for all the feedback you have given regarding the watch. It is very important for Fitbit to keep developing products. 

See you around! 

[Nick248]

I spent untold hours with customer service with no results, then when it was evident the watch was defective, (the watch was 3 months old) I was asked where the watch was purchased, and I said Ebay, then the agent promptly told me it was a counterfit and they didn't  warrant from Ebay. 

[Jillccc]

Couldn't help me either.

[passaic]

Contact customer support?! Really? You are clearly not carefully reading
forum comments because customer support has been, and continues to be,
wholly unhelpful to your Ionic community. Simply put, the Ionic does not
work as promised. And, fitbit has provided no timetable for any fix. Fitbit
reaped how much profit from the sale of Ionics and now appears to be
abandoning the device. The obvious solution is that fitbit reimburses every
purchaser.

[Jillccc]

Indeed!

I'm on chat now. I've been on chat twice.

I've learned that a phone support person told me to do something (factory
reset) that the chat person #1 told me to... and as it turns out, I didn't
need to have done it.

So.... 90 minutes trying to update after the factory reset and it won't
connect to wifi.

I hate this thing

Moderator Edit: Format

[Kira_Rose]

Mine was from a proper store and it doesn't work lol. They cannot say every product from ebay is a counterfeit fitbit unless they have view the watch and actually had a good look. If they never looked at it they cannot say its counterfeit as for they warranty I don't believe you can have it covered unless the person before gave you the receipt and its still within that inital 12 month warranty. I asked them last night after over a week whether I should just return it to the store. No reply. I wonder if I can get a full refund considering all these people are experiencing the same issues as I am. And its clear its a device fault. They tried saying because my Samsung Galaxy A7 2017 model isn't listed on the phone devices that connect to fitbit that, that was the reason why. I viewed the list and my partners phone (samsung galaxy s8) so we disconnected the ionic from mine and tried setting it up on his... same issue. It's so frustrating. Its not my phone because my charge 2 worked without a fault with my phone. I even went overseas on a cruise where I didn't have internet connection when I had my charge 2 and guess what it remained synced for the whole 7 days without internet connection and it tracked my sleep for the whole cruise without me needing to hit sync sync sync sync sync sync sync... I upgraded myself too early clearly I should of waited a few months till people began rating based on its performance over time. I got it so quickly all because it's a "smart" watch and is waterproof which is the main reason why I wanted it. Even my charge 2 has been in the shower with me by accident a few times and its not waterproof and it still works like new.

[Kira_Rose]

They told me to do the same thing as a last resort and it blinked for over half an hour and then randomly switched on and started after I don't know how long and then even after update and set up its still crapping itself and then they tell me to do the steps I have already tried 100x again. Like come on guys!!! If it didn't work the first 30x its not going to magically start working now. They just don't want to admit its a piece of faulty crap. I don't think they want me to return it. Too bad I have a day off and a store close by lol. I will admit they have been pretty quick with responses and understanding but I have sent videos and screenshots and photos of the errors and they still are taking me through their troubleshooting techniques and then the dude above who is a moderator posts more help with troubleshooting after seeing so many people have already tried that. Sorry I am just so frustrated at this point like there is only so many things you can do before its labeled as a faulty product.

[Ericws]

---

@Hebrews12-1 wrote:

@Ericws

I think you will find that as your runs get longer you will experience more GPS problems as that has been my experience. 

Here is an example of my last 7 runs

July 9 - 3 mile run/no problems

July 7 - 14 mile run/lost GPS ~ mile 8

July 6 - 7 mile run/lost GPS ~ mile 6

July 4 - 3 mile run/no problems

July 3 - 7 mile run/no problems

July 2 - 3 mile run/no problems

June 30 - 13 mile run/lost GPS ~mile 11

I have no confidence this is going to last a full marathon.  I'm probably going to have to go back to my 6 year old MOTOACTV to finish my long training runs and for the marathon.

---

I'll keep an eye on it.  Hopefully my experience will be better.....  So far so good.

[Ericws]

Still rocking and rolling.  #goldenchild

[mzdov]

No, I'll be returning it. While it is more accurate than my Charge 2 on the amount of stairs climbed, it's horribly off on the number of steps it tracks. I'm actually wearing both devices. The difference between the two is a 62 step difference. That's HUGE.

[Ericws]

How do you know it isn't the Charge that is off?

[Soccerrunner]

No.... I have an old tomtom runner and a garmin forerunner 220, both of which I purchased for less than a third of three cost of this watch. Both of which are superior running watches.  I bought this thinking i would get a one size fits all running/fitness/smartwatch. I have had it four one day and haven't tried running with it but I'll be returning it before I greet the chance to try running with it because it's terrible at being even just a regular watch even. When you want to check the time you usually have to tap the screen or push a button to even get the time to show on the watch face and that doesn't even work consistantly and there is no option for an always on time display.  The number of downloadable app choices for the watch are slim and the ones I've tried aren't really any good. Getting music on the watch is a pain and you cant control music playing through your phone service from the watch. And it isn't a very good or user friendly smartwatch. I'm going to return it and go back to wearing a normal watch to work with a wearable step counter then switch to the garmin for running until I'm ready to spring the extra cash for a galaxy gear watch which isn't even that much more expensive at 400 bucks 

[Frodo007]

I wouldn’t buy it again!!! I have it since the middle of january. It functioned well for about 3 months in total. Now it’s the one problem after the other. For the moment, my Fitbit stops working and needs to restart a few times a week. Or it shows a black screen with a blue shine if I look at the screen, while it is unresponsive. So yesterday I tried a new clock face to see if that was a solution. Now the problems seem only bigger: a black screen again, with the blue shine. A blurring screen, a screen that flickers, a screen that looks okay at first, but then goes away until it becomes black, every time, it is also irresponsive then, etc... At other moments, it works normal. First picture is an example of what I can see, second one is the normal view.

so guys, sorry, but the Ionic is crap!! I paid almost 300 Euros for something that can’t even be used because I cannot see a normal screen. 

[SunsetRunner]

I would definitely skip the alta, or charge and grab either a versa or an ionic. I am more partial to the ionic, but I think both are worth a try. 

[Shmoo]

I don't think I would buy one again. I like the sleep and step tracking, but the message and phone notifications that it advertises are completely and hopelessly broken and they haven't done one thing to address it as far as I can tell. I spent months going back and forth with them to absolutely no avail so the next watch/tracker I get will definitely be a brand that doesn't advertise features it doesn't have, and I will do the research on customer service because Fitbit's is terrible.

[Nick248]

I can relate to your concerns I also had the same problem, I have bought an Ionic and from day one it didn't sync, so they said that it wasn't compatable with mt samsung sky phone but it did work prior, then finally since I bought on Ebay the claimed that it was a fake. Fitbit needs to just admit that Fitbit is a DUUD.

[motoscribble]

So far the Iconic for me has been a so so adventure. (1). The battery requires near constant charging and since it is not easily visible on the main screen you don't know until it is down to 20% or so. That is my main complain (as compared to the Gamin's I have owned). (2). The step count is highly questionable. (3). The firmware upgrades are a total adventure, the install process is always iffy and success is not guaranteed so you can spend hours screwing around just to have a watch that works. (4). The tap/twist to see the screen is always a questionable adventure, works, doesn't work and repeat, annoying!)

The upgrade/firmware process has gotten better and I do like the way they designed the pand with the click/lock strap but I am finding other watches that can do a better overall job. I probably won't buy another Iconic and so I do not recommend this watch.