Ionic GPS Inaccuracies

[MP4]

Hi, 

I'm a new Fitbit user, bought an Ionic on Monday and I'm having some issues with the GPS. Went on a couple of runs (at a track) and the gps seemed to be completely out both on the distance travelled and pace per kilometre.

I'm a long time strava user so yesterday I went for a run with both the Fitbit Ionic going and the strava on my iPhone running at the same time. Here are the results:

Strava - 7.9km   @ 4:15/km

Fitbit - 7.2km     @ 4:34/km

The difference of 0.7km is quite big and the difference in pace is also worrying. I waited till both had connected to gps before starting the run and I run in London where gps signal should be good. 

Is my Fitbit Ionic GPS not working correctly? Any help/advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks

Matt

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject for Clarity

[shipo]

@Tunah85, interesting.  Most of my runs are long loops or fairly straight out and back runs down a local rail-trail.  Maybe that's why I rarely see a variance of much more than a tenth of a mile on a ten-mile run.

[SunsetRunner]

Well that certainly wasn't the case before the update. I was initially
suspicious that it would use stride length at all, but it definitely did.
I entered an enormous stride into my settings and jogged along an my watch
suggested I was running faster than world record pace. I'll try it again
now I've had the update.

[Denodan]

Instead of  moaning why dont you guys get around it with the workaround and just use the bike setting for runnung Records in gps mode and found it fairly accurate.

[krkirkham]

My pace still isn't showing an accurate read while I run. It syncs close to right as a summary on Strava at the end but I cannot use my watch to tell pace while running. For example, last week I ran in the Mesa-PHX half marathon. I would check my watch every 3 or so miles. The pace would read something like a 9:30 mile. Those I was running with told me not to worry or slow down as I was really running closer to an 11 mile. They were right. Their watches were spot on. Glad I ran with other people or who knows what my pace would have changed to or if I would have finished without walking. When I email customer support, I receive the information that this is normal and expected behavior for the watch. After the run was over my run time synced to closer to correct. It matched the overall time of my marathon chip and was just a little off on distance. The chip read 13.1, my watch read 13.5. Still bummed that this is not a watch that can be used for checking pace accurately during the run. It just records what you've run. This is the case for me. I have tried wearing it different tightness levels and restarted it. Great watch for steps and music. Hard for setting a pace. At least so far for me. 

[Denodan]

Stop and use the bike activty then you have correct running data as it uses gps only abd find biking is accurate. Gives speed, pace, etc just like running but more accurate.

[Kierownik]

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@Denodanwrote:

Stop and use the bike activty then you have correct running data as it uses gps only abd find biking is accurate. Gives speed, pace, etc just like running but more accurate.

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Will it keep counting steps as normal when using bike activity for running?

And how is it even possible that bike mode is more accurate than normal run mode?

[SantiR]

Hello again! Thanks for your reports and the feedback you have given so far on this thread. This information has been forwarded to our team! 

As you know, the latest update offered changes that help the GPS distance accuracy. I think it is a step in the right direction, right? 

Also, for any new users who may be experiencing this, please check this post for some GPS best practices. 

I will update you all once I get any further information from out team.

Thanks for your patience. See you in a while! 

[groberge]

I don't know about others but I've also tried the bike activity and it's still off.  Besides,  if I pay $300 for an activity tracker,  I shouldn't have to use a work-around for it to work correctly. 

[Tex52]

@Denodan are you serious? So I paid 300 dollars for an Ipod that counts steps? The bike app only has cues every 5 miles and they are in mph. If they weren't so bent on trying to integrate steps into the run app, which makes absolutely no sense they could have just used the parameters for the Bike app for the Run app but used the Run cues, Voila! If I wanted a workaround I would still be using my Charge HR with my phone. Even though I had to carry my phone during the run it was 99.9 percent accurate. Even with the update the Ionic is off by 8%. Completely unacceptable, especially knowing that the GPS chip in the watch is capable of the same 99.9% accuracy my phone has.

[Tex52]

@Denodan not trying to be rude but if yours is working that doesn't really help the rest of us that are having problems with ours. Congrats I guess but that doesn't solve our problem which is the point of this thread.

[Smackems]

Or we could continue to pressure Fitbit to fix the issue.  They made progress with their update, so why in the world would I settle for using the bike app?  If you're tired of the "moaning" then stop coming to the thread.  Especially if you're satisfied with whatever method you use to track runs.  

There's a large contingent of folks who aren't satisfied .

[Denodan]

Dont need steps in running. Just need speed and pace which biking gives you.

[Denodan]

Less calculations needed biking

 Pure gps so needs not worry about extra calculations like steps which are not even accurate when running as steps are different than walking.

[Denodan]

Just wondering why it seems you guys are having issues when so many are not? I am one of those who are not having issues with gps accuracy.

Have and use a garmin gps bike computer with live map and directions and know its as accurate as you can get. If anything my ionic is so close its negitable. Even speed checking both is within .5kms of each other. Not everyone is having issues, and got mine a launch, but not from fitbit.

The only issues i had were sync issues but less of an issue.

The thing i still hate is app is extermely slow in syncing at times and has taken 2 or 3 mins to get a sync. App is very slow in loading apps abd watch faces.

The whole app is slow.

Sync my Samsung gear sport and almost instant sync. App much faster.

I have used a step calculator and there are online ones and nobe of these watches correctly measure steps.

Its impossible as your steps can be always slightky different, thoughtout the day.

Found fitbit miles underestimated. Samsung overesrimated but closer to being the more accurate.

Changes in stride woukd account for it and through the day, depending on how tired you are your steps will very, so its impossible to get accurate steps. All these watches you should be taking with a grain of sand and aproxmt only and a guide.

[Tex52]

@Denodan This thread is for people that are having GPS issues, not those that aren’t.

[SunsetRunner]

Some of us like to see split times when we're running

[shipo]

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@Tex52wrote:

@Denodan This thread is for people that are having GPS issues, not those that aren’t.

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Kind of a myopic view don't you think?  The thing is, many of us who have no issues are also here to try and figure out how to help those of you who do.

[Tex52]

@shipo, that's great for those that are trying to help. Sorry if I don't think comments like "stop moaning and use the Bike app" and "don't know why you guys are having so many problems mine is working fine" are actually helping solve the problem. 

[groberge]

And we keep wondering why you continue to post in a thread called GPS Inaccuracies if you're not having them.  Obviously this problem does not affect everyone and you're one of the lucky ones.  You've suggested using the Bike activity, which happens to work for you but not for others.  If your GPS is working so well using the Running activity, why are you using the Bike activity?

I wonder why you're having such problems syncing when I'm not having that problem and it doesn't seem that many other people are having them.  

Someone else said that this is a myopic view because people who aren't having the trouble are coming in here posting that they're not having the issue and we're commenting back.  I agree that the first mention of using the Bike activity may have been helpful as a work-around but that isn't helping all of us and most of the other posts are not being helpful at all.

Not every single user of a certain app, program or piece of hardware are going to have the same results or issues but many do.  Congratulations on being one of the lucky ones but your comments that wonder why we're having the issue while your not are not very helpful.  It seems pretty obvious that even Fitbit doesn't know yet why it's happening and haven't figured out how to read a simple .tcx file like any other activity monitor seems to be able to do.

Unless you're being helpful, please refrain from making comments that are harping on using work-arounds that you have been successful with as they are not working for others and shouldn't be necessitated by users of a $300 activity monitor.

[Tunah85]

Lot of talk on here about the bike mode, and while it was an improvement over the running mode pre-update, they are giving me the same (poor) performance post update.

My most recent run was tracked with Strava on my phone, and the Ionic 'Bike mode'.

Strava total distance was 5km - Ionic (Bike mode) distance tracked was 4.89km.  A difference of just over 2%.

It was a very consistent difference as well...

Pace comparison

Km      Strava (phone)            Ionic (Bike mode)

1             5:13                                  5:20

2             4:46                                  4:52

3             4:57                                  5:00

4             5:12                                  5:21

5             4:57                                  5:10

As you can see it was consistently losing time every single km... even when using bike mode.