Fitbit Ionic HR very inaccurate

[murfpass]

I was wondering if anyone else's HR on the ionic is very inaccurate? I haven't even tried it working out yet. I'm talking about sitting down at my desk or walking around. Checked my pulse manually  and it was right at 60 BPM. Looked at my watch and it's showing anywhere from 70 to 80. My HR from yesterday looks insane because it's going up and down from 60 to 90 (all while basically sitting at a desk) and i know that my HR hadn't changed. It's like it's not even trying to be correct. I've tried moving the watch up or down. Nothing seems to work. It's accurate sometimes, but being off by 20 BPM when your HR is only at 60 is not even close. 

I've already done a factory reset because it wouldn't sync correctly and lost a good amount of my data from yesterday. I'm wondering if I have a defective device and should return it or if there will be a software update to fix this?

Is anyone else having this issue?

P.S. Tried to post a picture, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do it

[Nettuno]

In Italy, the Fitbit Ionic, was voted as The worst technological device of the year 2017 ...
the link can not put it but look on Youtube:
FITBIT IONIC è il PEGGIORE del 2017 - Recensione ITA 
and

FITBIT IONIC, CHE PECCATO! Fitbit Ionic ITA 
For:
Unreliability of cardiac detection
Unreliability counting steps
Unreliability connection and synchronization
Incompatibility with accessories and cardio bands
Useless Wifi system
Useless VO2 sensor

... it is considered to steal money

[KennyM98]

Been using mine for about 2 months and the accuracy is horrendous.  I take pictures...as an example, 20 minutes into my workout it reads 160, 10 second later is say 199, 10 seconds later it says 210.  If my heard rate were 210, I'd most likely die or pass out.  Then it will do the opposite...I know it's around 155-160 but the Ionic says something like 95 or doesn't show anything at all.  For the money it costs, this is a total waste of money.  I only use it as a timer now as I cannot rely on the heart rate measure at all.  So disappointed.  When you call you  get "we're working on an update"  Well, some of these posts go back several months, when is this "update" coming? 

[DennEppe]

I think I saw a post where they said they turned the watch around (with the watch on the inside of the wrist.). I haven’t tried yet, so I don’t know if it improves it or not!

Sent from my iPhone

[fluxx]

Even if it hat would work, it would be an unacceptable solusolu for a high priced model like the Ionic  

[Username555]

The sooner we all understand that Fitbit makes a very good Step Counter and that's the extent of it the better off we will all be.  The other functionality is window dressing.

I have been going back and forth with FitBit about my Surge (I'm on my 3rd Replacement device now) and it's lack of reliability.  This is the 3rd one that will not function completely.  It's a good watch, step counter, and timer but the screen on this one is now unresponsive so I can't get to the other functions.  It created a big disappointment for my Scout outing this weekend because I was counting on using the GPS to track our backpacking Trek for Elevation gain and miles.  Got to the trail head and it wouldn't work. 

There response is I can get a new replacement (4th Surge) or I can pay a discounted price for a new Ionic.

[Nettuno]

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wrote:
I think I saw a post where they said they turned the watch around (with the watch on the inside of the wrist.). I haven’t tried yet, so I don’t know if it improves it or not!

Sent from my iPhone

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We have 2 Ionic in our gym, and we have made many attempts to test this Fitbit system defect, narrow strap, far or near wrist, even with internal wrist watch .. but nothing to do, in all cases it casts random measurements. I think the Ionic is very far from reliable and will need many updates to fix this bug.

[Lullabug]

Very curious to hear all the complaints - recently got an Ionic (about 2 weeks ago) and have been very happy with the accuracy. Just double-checked sitting here, and it has my pulse reading at 65. I confirmed by hand, so it's at least as accurate as I am. Unfortunately I don't have a chest strap to use to check. I did also try via the "turn it around" method, and got the same reading.

I'd also heard stories of some Ionics failing in the pool - which is my primary use for the device. So far, no issues. Does make you wonder if the manufacturing is iffy? Maybe there are a lot of duds?

[Rhoyz]

I don't know, maybe I'm one of the lucky ones.  My fitbit ionic is 1-2 beats off and sometimes about the same beats as my Polar H10 chest straps.  I use it for elliptical, weight training and light run on the treadmill.

[DennEppe]

My Ionic HB is very accurate at low / rest. It’s when it is higher that it fluctuates all over the place.

Sent from my iPhone

[dude]

I've just seen this when it bubbled up to the top with a recent comment.

See this topic with some comparison graphs.

I loved my Surge, HR very good, GPS OK, always on screen the killer feature. Sadly, condensation issues and disintegrating straps made me move on. I still have one I keep in a jar with silica gel when I'm not wearing it.

[sbw1111]

I have the FITBIT ionic and in general the HR is accurate but 9 times out of 10 it gets confused at the start of a workout. The Ionic starts to ramp up way beyond my actual heart rate. Eventually it recovers and then it’s fine the rest of the workout. 

[C0ltrain]

@sbw1111 I have noticed the same thing! And if I forget to "start" the workout I don't see that increase at the beginning of working out. My guess is there's some kind of algorithm behind the scenes, and it takes a few minutes to hone in on your "exercise" heart rate.

[PeteG-1]

Yeah, @sbw1111, @C0ltrain, I saw the same thing on mine (returned about 6 weeks ago now, XMas gift, sync was just so broken...).

My Charge2 is far more accurate at "back dating" my road cycling, walks, etc, than my Ionic was.  If I had to guess, I'd say it's accurate within 2-3 minutes, on average.  Pretty darn good, really, IMO. 

The strange thing is, you'd sure think they would've used the same (very successful) algorithm, on the Ionic. I suspect part of the Ionic code was "brought forward" from another implementation or similar, and will eventually get feature-parity with the rest of the line, or the next version will (speculation, purely, on the source of the code, but based on s/w engineering perspective/experience).

[C0ltrain]

@PeteG-1 yup, pretty much agree with all of that. Honestly it's already way better than it was back in October when it first came out. A lot of companies basically release products in beta due to deadlines and outside pressure, and I think the Ionic is definitely a case of that. 

[SunsetRunner]

Very inaccurate. During exercise, it's off sometimes 30-40 beats. It's a lot and shows always lower value than other sensors ( including checking my pulse manually with a stopwatch ). But the same inaccuracy I experienced with Charge 2 and for a good note, the problem of not detecting heart rate at all almost doesn't exist. I see two dashes very rarely for 1-2 seconds which is acceptable. In Charge 2 I saw two-dashes for lot longer periods of time and very often in the middle of an exercise. Still, I can't find HR sensor reliable in Ionic and prefer to check my pulse using other methods to be sure.

[Lullabug]

Wanted to update my post. Yesterday, my Fitbit died. No reason,  no damage,  didn't do anything I don't usually do. Synced at 5:51, dead at 6:15. All I did was walk across a parking lot to eat breakfast. 

Caveat emptor.

[PeteG-1]

Hmm, strange experience, relative to this, recently.

I moved back to my Charge2 (returned my Ionic a couple of months ago due to ongoing sync issues), and so my Charge2 was "humming along", until the battery died.  All of a sudden it will last 10 minutes to maybe 2 hours or so, and recharges in minutes (0%->100%, maybe 5 minutes).

FB support ran me through the basic troubleshooting, and replaced it (it's still on the way).

In the meantime, I mentioned this to my wife, who'd stopped using her Charge, because of sync issues (apparently I should've paid more attention when she first mentioned this, oops ;-]), and she insisted that I should use that for now, since she wasn't.

So, I've been on the Charge HR now, for a few days, and the HR appears to be FAR more accurate, for high-intensity exercise (or at least "differently accurate").  I haven't brought out my old HRM unit/belt, for a comparison, but the actual times at Peak and Cardio look a lot more like they actually correspond to hills and sprints, on my rides, and at least they're there, my Charge2 (and Ionic) seem to only see a small subset of these.

Weird, eh, that the oldest-tech of the 3, sensor-wise, appears to be the most accurate.  It'd make for an interesting write-up, if someone had all 3, and a belt-HRM, to "run the numbers", on a fixed route or something, or maybe you could put two on one wrist (both Charges) and one on another, and the belt HRM on the handlebars.  Kind of a pain, but I bet it would be "telling".

I get that none of these devices are supposed to be for high-intensity tracking, or at least have marginally claimed accuracy for this, but you'd think they'd all be somewhere in the same ballpark.

It'd be cool if a PM at FitBit would comment about the algorithms, for each, and give some insight.

I didn't realize too, how much better the >Charge sleep data is, until I was back on the old model, the newer ones are a LOT more sophisticated. 

I guess I didn't realize how "addicted" I was, to the numbers, but I have spent a lot of my life running them, doing s/w, managing it, and designing/debugging/tracking it, so lots of number crunching/trending/graphing/presenting, in various ways.

Sure hope my replacement Charge2 battery lasts a bit longer (9 months), these don't seem to be built for a very long lifetime, from reading posts about it, and some of the other models...

[PeteG-1]

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@Lullabugwrote:

Wanted to update my post. Yesterday, my Fitbit died. No reason,  no damage,  didn't do anything I don't usually do. Synced at 5:51, dead at 6:15. All I did was walk across a parking lot to eat breakfast. 

Caveat emptor.

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@Lullabug I'd ping support (you can do it via chat, pretty handy), I think they'll take care of you.

I'm starting to really wonder about the QA on these things though, overall...

[Lullabug]

 Thanks much,  have done. Got the usual "clean the contacts blah blah". Going to have to return. My guess is it didn't tolerate the altitude change from WI to CA and something inside gave. Such is life. Not sure I'd buy again,  though. I wonder if the new one has these issues?

[MattJ71]

Previously I thought that the Ionic was inaccurate with the HR measurement, but recently (perhaps it was the latest firmware update?) it seems to be good.  When I'm on the treadmill the treadmill HR sensor and Ionic are within a few beats of each other.