Ionic and earbuds not having a good connection

[RCA219]

I am new to Fitbit and the Ionic - I've had the watch less than a week.    I'm having serious issues with the bluetooth connection between the watch and my earbuds.     I have been able to download music directly to the Ionic and connecting the watch to the bluetooth earbuds worked perfectly.     The problem is that the music is constantly being dropped - like every two-three seconds - it plays for a few seconds and then drops for a few seconds - constantly.      The situation is impossible and intolerable.  

The earbuds work great from my iPhone so there's not an issues with the earbuds.  They are fully charged.    When I try to listen to music I'm in the gym in "Exercise" mode, no GPS running and my iPhone is nowhere nearby so there should not be any confusion as to which device the earbuds are connected to.         How do I fix this?   

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[SilviaFitbit]

A warm welcome to the Community @RCA219! Thank you for sharing those details about your experience with Ionic and your earbuds. 

Sorry to hear that you're unable to listen to music while you're exercising. Our Fitbit team is aware of it and working to identify a resolution as quickly as possible. 

Sorry for any trouble this can cause. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance. 

[RCA219]

So the crazy thing that I've learned after trying to use the wireless earbuds with my watch is that if I bend my elbow 90° the earbuds work fine.  If I hold my wrist (and therefore my watch) at chest height or higher the earbuds work and the music no longer drops!     It would be absurd to think that the bluetooth antenna in the watch is so weak that it cannot travel the distance from arm at the side to the ears!    It's not really practically to walk around with my wrist up at my neck so that I can listen to music!   BTW the earbuds work fine with my iPhone and the phone can be 20 feet away and there's no music drop - so the problem is not the earbuds!

This is really bad.   Could the watch bluetooth really be so poorly engineered?    

[SilviaFitbit]

Thank you for getting back @RCA219. I appreciate the extra details that you've mentioned. 

I can confirm that our Support team is aware of this issue and working as quickly as possible to resolve it. As soon as there's more information about it, it will be posted by our team. 

Your patience and understanding is appreciated.  

[RCA219]

Is there a specific bug number or bug fix ticket associated with the "support team is aware of the problem"?    I am looking through the community logs and there are hundreds of similar reports that are more than a year old.  If the support team hasn't fixed it by now - can we actually expect the problem to be fixed?     I upgraded my fitbit watch selection specifically for this functionality.  I either need to return the watch or request a partial refund to cover the lack of functionality - but I'd prefer to have a functioning watch with functioning bluetooth connectivity to headphones/earbuds.  

[SilviaFitbit]

Thanks for the research that you've done in the forums @RCA219. Yes, our team has the specific bug number that they will work on. I can't provide you with an specific date about when this will be fixed but I can confirm that our Support is aware and working toward a resolution. 

I'll be around if you have any additional question. 

[JavaChipp]

is there any resolution to music constantly dropping?? I have tried 4 different wireless Bluetooth headphones. This used to work fine at the beginning of the year. These headphones are from different manufactures which point to the Ionic Bluetooth functionality. Since Music off my ionic is a key feature to buy, either Fitbit needs to solve or let the community know when the issue will get fixed.

Which Version of Bluetooth does ionic use?

Like all others, I have rebooted my Ionic more time that one should

[RCA219]

I'm guessing that there's no resolution to the problem and nothing in the works.   Threads on this topic go back almost two years and there's not been an explanation or a resolution posted.