I thought I would share my limited experience with the Ionic since i am returnign it today. I've been a surge owner for 2 years. I've enjoyed it very much and found it to be a pretty high quality product. I have one with the XL band since I'm a tall, built and therefore large wristed guy. I've had no problems with the unit since I've owned it. When I read about the ionic I thought it would be a great upgrade since I wanted something a little more smartwatch oriented, something i could swim with and something that had music storage. I received the ionic about a week ago and began putting it through its paces. I was very impressed. It was stylish and had all the features I wanted however I did run into 2 issues. First the band. The large band that came with the ionic is way smaller than the xl band on my Surge. Small enough that it would leave marks on my arm after removing it for quite some time. It wasnt awfully uncomfortable but enough that I could not wear it for extended periods. 2nd I had issues with the heart rate monitor. It would not read accurately at higher intensity levels. It was a much as 40 bpm off compared to actual readings taken manually. I have never had this problem with the Surge. After trying numerous online solutions I had no improvement. I finally attributed this to either the weaker light(than my Surge) used to detect heart rate or more likely the tightness of the band or maybe a combination. Either way this was a deal breaker for me. Fitbit if you guys read this, you have an excellant product for a percentage of the population but you leave many of us big guys out after providing such a well fitting product in the Surge. Please make an XL band and I'll buy an Ionic again if it solves the heart rate issue I encountered and comfort problems.
