Ionic impressions after about 2 weeks

[GeneDoc]

For my background in smartwatches, I own a Pebble Time, Pebble Steel, and Asus Zenwatch 3.  The first two were great, though admittedly limited.  The Pebble watches are reliable, sturdy, and their batteries last forever.  Their finish durability is poor on the bands and they don't have touchscreens or additional apps, so I looked for other options.  The Zenwatch was interesting, but has no battery life and is a dead-end product.  So, I look again looked around and went with the Ionic, in part because of Fitbit's acquisition of Pebble and I wanted heart rate information, not to mention the sleep data.

Pros:

• Battery life has been wonderful.  I can go days without a recharge.
• Sturdy feel that is comfortable and light.  Sleeping with it on hasn't been a problem.  The thickness of the device isn't problematic.
• Screen is great and attractive.

Cons:

• Unreliable syncing.  I have read a number of posts, gone through the app uninstall and re-install, unpairing and repairing, verified I have the current app for my Galaxy S7, hard reset the watch, yet still data (e.g. sleep information) are not consistently transferring to the phone.  The only fix seems to be a watch soft reset.
• Unreliable screen wake.  I have ensured the watch is set on Auto, but it takes too much effort to get the time to display.  With the Zenwatch, it took minimal effort to show the time and I had options on how long the time was displayed.  With the Ionic, I frequently have to touch a button to show the time, which is unacceptable.  It is first and foremost a watch.  I need to be able to lift my wrist, albeit possibly with a wrist flick, and show the time.  If that isn't consistently available, the Ionic fails as a watch.

Wishes:

• Respond to messages.  I have read opinions on the ability to respond while driving and will not open that can of worms. What about responding "while bundled in the woods or winter" as a time when a quick response is needed?  When I need to go out into the woods with a chainsaw or other equipment, particularly while it's cold and/or rainy and I am bundled, I have enough safety/comfort gear on that getting out the phone is a pain.  No, I don't need comments about safe chainsaw use.  In these situations, I take my Pebble Steel and can respond when I'm in the thick of things reliably.
• Watch faces.  I would like more watch faces and/or more detail in the existing watch faces.  For instance, my work requires tracking seconds, or having a second hand, and I cannot find many watch faces that show digital seconds.  Yes, I bought the device knowing I am an early adopter and will have to wait.  I downloaded the SDK and realized my programming skills would need to be updated to be serviceable with Java, so that'll take time.  The "Hello, World!" portion worked, but I lost interest when I realized I didn't have enough time yet.  The interesting part is I saw how easily you can add seconds to the time, so hopefully some developers will include that as an option.  My pipe dream is that there will be a desktop application that will allow people to create their own watch faces, much like Visual Basic allowed beginners to create their own programs.  It'll probably never happen at Fitbit, but perhaps 3rd party developers may see a niche, much as NSBasic did with handheld computers.
• GPS sync requirement.  I don't understand the requirement to have the GPS on to sync.  I don't leave the GPS on on my phone, as my work shifts of 24 hours+ often drain my battery, so I have to protect the phone battery.  I have seen some posts saying it's an Android requirement to have the GPS on to sync, but data are transferred between my Pebble watches and the phone without a problem without GPS, so there must be something more to it than simply being an Android requirement.

As a Fitbit consumer for years, as well as a Fitbit stockholder, this foray into the smartwatch arena is impressive for its abilities, but concerning for its weaknesses.  I understand the need to get a device to market in time for the holiday season, so I cannot fault that effort.  My hope is that the cons above will be addressed soon, as they seem to be true functionality issues and not unrealistic hopes.  Sure, having the wishes addressed would be nice, but that's a risk of being an early adopter and I can be patient.

[SunsetRunner]

Unfortunately, I too experienced the unreliable cons you have mentioned in your post. I too was a Pebble fan from the first Kickstarter Pebble, to the Steel, to the Time. I enjoyed these simple and reliable watches immensely and was hoping to see some of the Pebble DNA in the Ionic. I too was disappointed.

My wife, after seeing my disappointment with my Ionic purchase, bought me a new Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE for my Birthday a few days ago. I was grateful, but sceptical, as I unboxed and started to use the watch. I have to say the Apple Watch series 3 experience is extraordinarily better than the Ionic. It just works without any frustrating unreliable screen wakes and has a plethora of features and apps which categorically make it a smart watch. 

I fear this is the beginning of the end for Fitbit. I still have the Ionic, but haven't used it since getting the Apple Watch. 

---

@GeneDoc wrote:

For my background in smartwatches, I own a Pebble Time, Pebble Steel, and Asus Zenwatch 3.  The first two were great, though admittedly limited.  The Pebble watches are reliable, sturdy, and their batteries last forever.  Their finish durability is poor on the bands and they don't have touchscreens or additional apps, so I looked for other options.  The Zenwatch was interesting, but has no battery life and is a dead-end product.  So, I look again looked around and went with the Ionic, in part because of Fitbit's acquisition of Pebble and I wanted heart rate information, not to mention the sleep data.

Pros:

• Battery life has been wonderful.  I can go days without a recharge.
• Sturdy feel that is comfortable and light.  Sleeping with it on hasn't been a problem.  The thickness of the device isn't problematic.
• Screen is great and attractive.

Cons:

• Unreliable syncing.  I have read a number of posts, gone through the app uninstall and re-install, unpairing and repairing, verified I have the current app for my Galaxy S7, hard reset the watch, yet still data (e.g. sleep information) are not consistently transferring to the phone.  The only fix seems to be a watch soft reset.
• Unreliable screen wake.  I have ensured the watch is set on Auto, but it takes too much effort to get the time to display.  With the Zenwatch, it took minimal effort to show the time and I had options on how long the time was displayed.  With the Ionic, I frequently have to touch a button to show the time, which is unacceptable.  It is first and foremost a watch.  I need to be able to lift my wrist, albeit possibly with a wrist flick, and show the time.  If that isn't consistently available, the Ionic fails as a watch.

Wishes:

• Respond to messages.  I have read opinions on the ability to respond while driving and will not open that can of worms. What about responding "while bundled in the woods or winter" as a time when a quick response is needed?  When I need to go out into the woods with a chainsaw or other equipment, particularly while it's cold and/or rainy and I am bundled, I have enough safety/comfort gear on that getting out the phone is a pain.  No, I don't need comments about safe chainsaw use.  In these situations, I take my Pebble Steel and can respond when I'm in the thick of things reliably.
• Watch faces.  I would like more watch faces and/or more detail in the existing watch faces.  For instance, my work requires tracking seconds, or having a second hand, and I cannot find many watch faces that show digital seconds.  Yes, I bought the device knowing I am an early adopter and will have to wait.  I downloaded the SDK and realized my programming skills would need to be updated to be serviceable with Java, so that'll take time.  The "Hello, World!" portion worked, but I lost interest when I realized I didn't have enough time yet.  The interesting part is I saw how easily you can add seconds to the time, so hopefully some developers will include that as an option.  My pipe dream is that there will be a desktop application that will allow people to create their own watch faces, much like Visual Basic allowed beginners to create their own programs.  It'll probably never happen at Fitbit, but perhaps 3rd party developers may see a niche, much as NSBasic did with handheld computers.
• GPS sync requirement.  I don't understand the requirement to have the GPS on to sync.  I don't leave the GPS on on my phone, as my work shifts of 24 hours+ often drain my battery, so I have to protect the phone battery.  I have seen some posts saying it's an Android requirement to have the GPS on to sync, but data are transferred between my Pebble watches and the phone without a problem without GPS, so there must be something more to it than simply being an Android requirement.

As a Fitbit consumer for years, as well as a Fitbit stockholder, this foray into the smartwatch arena is impressive for its abilities, but concerning for its weaknesses.  I understand the need to get a device to market in time for the holiday season, so I cannot fault that effort.  My hope is that the cons above will be addressed soon, as they seem to be true functionality issues and not unrealistic hopes.  Sure, having the wishes addressed would be nice, but that's a risk of being an early adopter and I can be patient.

---

[Venkats]

@GeneDoc

Now that is some really balanced view. Of-course you haven't mentioned a few other hardships such as GPS crashing, workout track crashing, unreliable heart rate, issues with transferring music, pandora sync issues (looks like it is resolved now)etc. There was even an engineering defect with respect to bezel and glass alignment, which has since been acknowledged by Fitbit.

Earlier I saw another one which was a monthly summary where everything was listed as positive.

[RL7]

Fair criticisms. I'm frustrated and at times want to contact fitbit for a refund.  But another part of me realizes how much my level of fitness improved after working a charge 2 into my workout routine and how well the app kept track of everything.  Fitbit was really instrumental in keeping that information and data organized and goal oriented.  

I actually had the bezel and glass alignment issue but it did not compromise its water resistance.  But Fitbit realizes it's a problem nonetheless and seems to be proactive at addressing it.  

The syncing glitches. Yeah, that's a big issue also for many here.  I have fought with it myself.  

I'm surprised by the higher heart rate data as well.  One could say the sensors are improved and these are the more  accurate numbers, but I don't believe it and as I had two other Fitbit trackers that gave consistent results.  This tracker is off the charts sometimes with heart rate data and calories burned in a workout.  

I want the Ionic to succeed but so far I'm left with fading enthusiasm. Mulling over a return daily.  It just doesn' feel like a $300 product right now. The potential is there however.   

[Venkats]

@RL7

I was exactly feeling like you. Fitbit's prior products have been helping me a lot. I dabbled with IONIC for a while but returned it for its issues in reporting heart rate. Once heart rate is off, several things that depend on it are off and I don't find a use case for IONIC in that scenario as of this moment. 

[RL7]

---

@Venkats wrote:

@RL7

I was exactly feeling like you. Fitbit's prior products have been helping me a lot. I dabbled with IONIC for a while but returned it for its issues in reporting heart rate. Once heart rate is off, several things that depend on it are off and I don't find a use case for IONIC in that scenario as of this moment. 

---

Exactly. Heart rate is a such a very important part of tracking my fitness. I realize these watches won't be as good as a chest strap heart rate monitor, but older Fitbit trackers seem to me more on target than the Ionic.  I went from fit to being a 78 year old man with emphysema with these new numbers.  

The Ionic has leveled out some and is not as high after wearing it for a couple of weeks, but I'm still noticing higher rates than my Charge 2 or Blaze.  

Perhaps an update will fix it in the future.  But I am not feeling confident in using my hear rate data based only on the Ionic at the moment.  

[CAHHWH-C]

I agree that the Ionic is a step forward, but there is lots of room for improvement.   I turned to Garmin VivoActive for almost a year waiting for the Ionic to be released and really liked many of their features.  Not a fan of the VivoActive HR design, I decided to give the Ionic a try rather than drop twice that amount on the Fenix.... Here are my thoughts on the Ionic. 

Pros:

- Waterproof!!!!  🙂 Finally I can wear it in the shower and swimming (which I plan to try out soon).

- Color face

- Can re-arrange the apps

- Removable watch straps (the dreaded wrist rash struck my Surge....) and replace with a metal mesh band that fits better than the silicone strap.

- Customizable watch faces

- Email and text message notifications

- Better battery life of 3-5 days (however, Garmin Vivoactive can go 8 or 9 without using the GPS....)

Cons:

- Syncing is unreliable.  Even with the all day sync, it doesn't.  I have to open the app and sync every morning to get the sleep data.  I have to resync thru the day to get the weather information. 

Recommendation: To avoid phone and watch drain with a true all day sync, provide the option to sync at certain times thru the day (0600, noon, 1800, 2200)

- Limited apps.  Even though you can rearrange the order, there are few apps to choose from.  I was impressed with the amount of apps Garmin has created from watch faces, fitness apps, productivity apps.  Super simple to select, sync, installed. 

Recommendation: Develop more apps that bridge the functionality of a smart fitness watch like calendar reminders, water tracking, simple calculator, ability to download widgets to control Hue lights or other smart devices. 

- Off display to save battery life.  The Surge always on watch display was a plus I'd hoped would be included in the Ionic.  I have to flip my wrist around akin to batting away an invisible bee to get the face to illuminate.  It's annoying.  

Recommendation: Give us the option of always on, automatic, or manual.  Even better - allow us to set the always on time from 0600-2200 then automatic during the off hours to reduce the drain on the battery.  Sure it will require me to charge the battery a few hours or a day sooner, but I like my watch to display the time. 

- Limited Workout tracking.  It's nice that there are several types of workouts already in the cue, but it doesn't cover them all.

Recommendation: In the options, allow us to add workouts like Walking, Yoga, Pilates, Golf, Kayaking, or Elliptical and remove bike and running. 

- Sleep monitoring.   The sleep monitoring is improved, but I don't think it's accurate.  I am diagnosed with sleep apnea and would very much like to be able to add notes into the app about how I slept and if I wore my mask to be able to better track my sleeping trends. 

[RL7]

@CAHHWH-C

From your impressions of the Ionic so far, will you remain with Garmin? 

[WavyDavey]

---

@GeneDoc wrote:

For my background in smartwatches, I own a Pebble Time, Pebble Steel, and Asus Zenwatch 3.  The first two were great, though admittedly limited.  The Pebble watches are reliable, sturdy, and their batteries last forever.  Their finish durability is poor on the bands and they don't have touchscreens or additional apps, so I looked for other options.  The Zenwatch was interesting, but has no battery life and is a dead-end product.  So, I look again looked around and went with the Ionic, in part because of Fitbit's acquisition of Pebble and I wanted heart rate information, not to mention the sleep data.

Pros:

• Battery life has been wonderful.  I can go days without a recharge.
• Sturdy feel that is comfortable and light.  Sleeping with it on hasn't been a problem.  The thickness of the device isn't problematic.
• Screen is great and attractive.

Cons:

• Unreliable syncing.  I have read a number of posts, gone through the app uninstall and re-install, unpairing and repairing, verified I have the current app for my Galaxy S7, hard reset the watch, yet still data (e.g. sleep information) are not consistently transferring to the phone.  The only fix seems to be a watch soft reset.
• Unreliable screen wake.  I have ensured the watch is set on Auto, but it takes too much effort to get the time to display.  With the Zenwatch, it took minimal effort to show the time and I had options on how long the time was displayed.  With the Ionic, I frequently have to touch a button to show the time, which is unacceptable.  It is first and foremost a watch.  I need to be able to lift my wrist, albeit possibly with a wrist flick, and show the time.  If that isn't consistently available, the Ionic fails as a watch.

Wishes:

• Respond to messages.  I have read opinions on the ability to respond while driving and will not open that can of worms. What about responding "while bundled in the woods or winter" as a time when a quick response is needed?  When I need to go out into the woods with a chainsaw or other equipment, particularly while it's cold and/or rainy and I am bundled, I have enough safety/comfort gear on that getting out the phone is a pain.  No, I don't need comments about safe chainsaw use.  In these situations, I take my Pebble Steel and can respond when I'm in the thick of things reliably.
• Watch faces.  I would like more watch faces and/or more detail in the existing watch faces.  For instance, my work requires tracking seconds, or having a second hand, and I cannot find many watch faces that show digital seconds.  Yes, I bought the device knowing I am an early adopter and will have to wait.  I downloaded the SDK and realized my programming skills would need to be updated to be serviceable with Java, so that'll take time.  The "Hello, World!" portion worked, but I lost interest when I realized I didn't have enough time yet.  The interesting part is I saw how easily you can add seconds to the time, so hopefully some developers will include that as an option.  My pipe dream is that there will be a desktop application that will allow people to create their own watch faces, much like Visual Basic allowed beginners to create their own programs.  It'll probably never happen at Fitbit, but perhaps 3rd party developers may see a niche, much as NSBasic did with handheld computers.
• GPS sync requirement.  I don't understand the requirement to have the GPS on to sync.  I don't leave the GPS on on my phone, as my work shifts of 24 hours+ often drain my battery, so I have to protect the phone battery.  I have seen some posts saying it's an Android requirement to have the GPS on to sync, but data are transferred between my Pebble watches and the phone without a problem without GPS, so there must be something more to it than simply being an Android requirement.

As a Fitbit consumer for years, as well as a Fitbit stockholder, this foray into the smartwatch arena is impressive for its abilities, but concerning for its weaknesses.  I understand the need to get a device to market in time for the holiday season, so I cannot fault that effort.  My hope is that the cons above will be addressed soon, as they seem to be true functionality issues and not unrealistic hopes.  Sure, having the wishes addressed would be nice, but that's a risk of being an early adopter and I can be patient.

---

Hi @GeneDoc,

Thanks for taking the time to post this. A few thoughts came to mind:

Someone else may benefit from hearing this--it's a REALLY not a good idea to try and text while operating a chainsaw.  If you can get away with it--cool, but someone out there might not be so careful and lose their fitbit with their hand.

/offmysoapbox

As far as screen wake, it does take some time to get the wrist flick down. But it does work.

Have you tried the different sync options like always-connected and all-day-sync? Those are made to help with sync.

There are folks developing fitbit apps and clockfaces as we speak. Some of them include analog and digital seconds. And they look really slick!  I've also seen a GUI-front end that will allow making custom watches easier for those who don't code for fun or profit.  I think there's a high probability you'll see a watch face that meets your needs.

The GPS sync issue is really tough to understand. It's taken me some time and research to figure it out. If you're familiar with MAC addresses and such, check out this post that explains it well. It's actually a security improvement despite appearances. Obviously, non-GPS fitbits still have to be able to sync. Titbits with GPS should take advantage of the enhanced security.

I think your acknowledgement of being an early adopter is a really healthy way to look at it and manage expectations. Patience is key, and a rare commodity these days.

[CAHHWH-C]

NOPE. I kept it for about a month and was frustrated by it for one reason
or another each day. When I saw an commercial for the new Garmin
Vivoactive 3..... I returned the Ionic and ordered the V3. LOVE IT. My
only gripe about the V3 is that the notification buzz is very, very faint -
even on "high". I get all gmail notifications and all phone
notifications. The GPS fires up in the matter of 30 seconds, not minutes
for the Ionic. And most importantly the face is ALWAYS on. It subdues
when it is resting and brightens up when you turn the watch or tap the
face. I got the V3 on sale for less than the Ionic. Garmin watches seem
to be really under the radar and I plan to stick to them. Highly
recommend.

[indianwin2001]

---

@CAHHWH-C wrote:
NOPE. I kept it for about a month and was frustrated by it for one reason
or another each day. When I saw an commercial for the new Garmin
Vivoactive 3..... I returned the Ionic and ordered the V3. LOVE IT. My
only gripe about the V3 is that the notification buzz is very, very faint -
even on "high". I get all gmail notifications and all phone
notifications. The GPS fires up in the matter of 30 seconds, not minutes
for the Ionic. And most importantly the face is ALWAYS on. It subdues
when it is resting and brightens up when you turn the watch or tap the
face. I got the V3 on sale for less than the Ionic. Garmin watches seem
to be really under the radar and I plan to stick to them. Highly
recommend.

---

Just to show you how different people are, I did the complete opposite. I bought the Vioactive 3 and was getting ridiculously high heart rate readings while lifting. I than bought the Ionic and couldn't be happier. --lol