Ionic GPS not connecting

[SlipperySix]

The entire reason I bought the Ionic is because it has a dedicated GPS chip inside the device, meaning regardless of my phone reception, my run should be tracked via the dedicated GPS, well I've been on a few runs now and the watch gets stuck on "Connecting..." and it never connects to the GPS which is a bummer because I don't want to have to take this back and spend an addition $300 

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity 

Moderator edit: Word choice

[SweetMustelid]

If only this were truly a solution.  The IONIC routinely loses connection mid run.  

[Shipton]

I have been having a problem with my ionic since about May - it has always taken longer to lock onto GPS than my friends Garmin when I run with her, but the problem started getting really bad then.  In June I did a 20k run with 'connecting' showing the whole way!!!  It never had signal for the whole thing - clear skies, open Yorkshire countryside, no reason not to have it.  Most runs subsequently have been very intermittent in terms of GPS reception - it comes and goes repeatedly.  Two 6k runs have not had any GPS - one about a week ago and one today.  I am running a Marathon in October and really don't want to have to worry about this while training or during the race!  I have tried all the usual resets/ restarts etc, nothing helps.

[SunsetRunner]

I have the same issue and no help from customer services

[leljhon]

I’m very disappointed with Fitbit! I changed from an I watch to Fitbit because I liked the run/ GPS tracking. Now there is an issue that is no fault of mine, I am reading in the community support blogs this is a common issue! I’ve had my Fitbit for 14 months and now all Fitbit does is offer a discount on my next watch? I will not buy I watch every year I will go back to the I-watch, and deal with there running apps at least they work.

[Superruss]

What's the issue?

[leljhon]

My GPS has stopped working on my Ionic. It continues to say searching. I called support and did everything they asked with no solution found. Since my Ionic is 14 months old they will only give me a discount on a new one. If I had damaged watch I could understand but to fail from nothing I have control of is not right. I had Apple Watch but preferred Fitbit running app more so changed to Fitbit.

John

[NguyenKhuu]

I found that GPS does not function when Milanese Loop with Magnetic Closure is attached to Ionic. It happened to mine.

[Jjic]

Wish I could tell you I figured it out but I wound up getting a new watch. Luckily I had 2 days left on the warranty. Tell you what, after that debacle I buy all my electronics at Best Buy and get extended warranty.

Sent from my iPad

[Superruss]

John, have you recently traveled? Have you tried just placing it on the
ground with a full charge and no obstructions and just leave it for a
while? How about a reboot?

[SunsetRunner]

I'm literally having the same issue which started last week. Took a while to connect then kept dropping out. This week I've not managed to connect it at all. The whole reason I bought the Ionic was for GPS. This is a replacement pebble after my nearly 2 year old Ionic screen messed up. Never had a connecting to GPS issue with that one but the replacement one has always taken longer to connect.

I've tried all the methods listed to help but no luck. Can support help at all?

Thanks

[leljhon]

I was very disappointed with the service. I loved my Ionic till this happened. I went through support 3 times with the same outcome they will give me a discount on next watch. I’ve decided to go back to the I watch. The best part of the ionic was the gps tracking.

I wish you luck.

John

[CaptainPugwash]

How do you do this? Mine takes ten minutes minimum before it finds a GPS everytime. How exactly do you let it know where it is? Thanks. 

To Fitbit, not impressed, if I had known I needed to wait ten mins for the GPS each time I would have bought a different watch!

[Superruss]

How does the GPS work on another device like perhaps your phone, ten
minutes is unacceptable, I live in texas but when I travel to California it
takes some time to find a satellite and when I return it once again takes
some time, but only the one time, power lines do cause interruption on my
route, and it seems ( my own theory) weather has an impact on my
connectivity, clouds,humidity etc..
Have you done a reboot?

[leljhon]

My ionic still does not ever get GPS

John

[CaptainPugwash]

Yes reboot done. Still not working properly, in that the gps kicks in about half way through the run. I’m not happy with it

Sent from my iPhone

[JJPNZ2201]

Hi Pedris, noticed the odd colour of your watchstrap. Was it a third party watchstrap by any chance? I was having the same problem and tried lots of things to fix it (factory reset, soft reset, restart etc...). Turns out it was the third party watchstrap that was causing this issue. Especially if the strap has a metal part that connects directly to the watch body. 

I swapped back to the original rubberised strap and voila! GPS is back and running correctly. 

Hope this helps everyone.

Best,

JP

[JJPNZ2201]

Hi, are you using a different watchstrap? If so, change back to the original rubberised watchstrap and see if that fixes it. Happened to me using a velcro strap with a metal piece that attaches to the watchbody. 

Swapped back and now all good. 

I bought this watchstrap and it was the cause of my issues with GPS:  https://www.wish.com/product/5c2097d8df78b850e24f8737?share=web

[JJPNZ2201]

Hi shipton, are you using a third-party watch strap? If so, swap back to the original rubberised one and see if that helps (worked for me). 

I know it sounds odd, but seriously that's what was causing my issues.

Thanks

JP

[JJPNZ2201]

Hi Nguyen, Thanks so much for posting this comment. I was having this exact issue and hadn't thought about the watch strap at all. I swapped back and now it's running perfectly. 

Who would have thought the watch strap could cause this issue.

Thanks again.

[JJPNZ2201]

Hi RudeCold,

If you're using a third-part watch strap, swap back to the original one and see if that helps. 

I know it sounds a bit odd "how could a watch strap cause this issue?", but it worked for me. 

I was using a velcro watch strap with a metal connector to the watch body. Turns out that was the problem.

Thanks