Ionic is larger than I expected

[Azrider]

The main reason I am returning it is because it is a BRICK! It is so huge on my arm that I just can't keep it. I am a 5'7" woman with fairly small wrists and this is just a deal breaker. Sorry Fitbit, I think you have a fairly good product here, but it would have to be at least 2/3 the size of this beast for me to even consider keeping this. Perhaps a good size guy could carry this off, but not me. 

This disappoints me as I do love your APP and website and I really wanted to love the watch as well. It certainly is not a replacement for the Apple Watch because of the size. 

With that said, I thought perhaps I could overcome the hugeness and perhaps keep it for activities. But alas and alack - too many other issues.

I have only used it once (last night & today) but here is my (humble) opinion. BTW, I am not going to do any further exercise with it because I'm really not going to keep it. But, please read on to give you both the good and the not so good news. 

• I got it yesterday and found the setup fairly easy, even with the few glitches I experienced. 
• The screens are fairly intuitive after a bit of practice and they are bright, colorful and extremely well designed. I really loved the design of each screen. 
• Sleep tracking last night was absolutely spot-on.
• I tried the music sound management to raise and lower the volume from songs playing on my iPhone 8 and it worked flawlessly. Love that!
• The timer and alarms work just fine, so that must have been fixed. 

Now here is where it started to break apart for me...

• I bicycled 50 miles with it today on a route I ride frequently.  I also tracked the route on my Garmin Edge 810. Good news, the gps was spot-on for mph, elevation, routing, time and mileage. NICE!
• Wait! not only did I get all of the above information but the APP also showed for this exercise that I climbed 45 flights of stairs and stepped 17,000+ steps - really?!?!
• I did not map this device against a chest strap, but am very familiar with my heart rate as I have been riding 25+ years and am also a fitness instructor & personal trainer. I found that the HR was at times accurate, but dropped significantly each time I went up a hill. There is no way I was at 95 bpm going uphill. It did that several times. For the most part it seemed to track okay on the flats and downhills. 
• Last night I set up my Starbucks card with ease! Bummer was that I couldn't use it as I could not figure out how to pause my bicycle workout to get to the APP. It looks like I would have to stop the ride and then restart it after using the card. I used my phone instead. Perhaps user error?
• Autopause set and it did work. Each time I stopped it did pause and even gave me a little vibration. However, even the the slightest move got it started again and so when we took a break, it kept going on and off and sending me a vibration each time. Kind of annoying. It would be nice if there was a way to set it to pause under a specific mileage setting, say 3mph - but certainly not a deal breaker. 
• Battery life NOT 4-5 days. I rode for a little over three hours and when I went out my battery was at 70% and when I got home it was at a pathetic 27%!
• The strap is a nice blue-grey color, but got very warm as we rode and my wrist was sweating. I would definitely need a different strap (cost $29)

• SO SORRY FITBIT, GET READY FOR MY RETURN! Tried to post a photo, but I could not figure out how to do that. 

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[SnowWight]

Sorry you are returning your Ionic. Although the battery life is 4-5 days Fitbit clearly state with GPS enabled (during your bike ride) it is less than a day. Also the elevation is converted to stairs climbed and your distance to steps so it has functioned just as it should.

[soguilk]

I love the non-biased review! Frankly there are definitely areas that needs to be improved. In regards to battery life, did you happen to use music while using the GPS during the cycling? I found that when combined, it really takes a hard hit on the battery.

[Azrider]

So pretty much a six - seven hour ride would be out of the question. That is why I was coming to Fitbit from the Apple Watch. Wanted more battery life.

BTW Your answer does not address HR poor tracking and HR drop issue going uphills (a big deal for cyclists). That's why I'm going Garmin as I also have the option to add a HRM strap which Fitbit does not offer.

Any help on the Starbucks card without having to stop an exercise?

[Azrider]

No music

[racertempo]

Fitbit and all other manufacturers clearly state that GPS kills the battery. When not using GPS, I easily get well over 4 days with no problem.

No wrist based HR monitor will ever be as accurate as a chest strap, ever.  Expecting as much is expecting too much.

If you compared the Ionic HR to another wrist HR I would be curious how it compares. 

[SnowWight]

I don't think you will every get as good a result on HR as you would with a chest strap. I guess you could bike ride without the GPS running. Sorry, no help on the cards as this is not available in the UK yet.

The battery life is pretty amazing and I am not sure you will get better until technology improves. Considering it fits on your wrist it is pretty clever. I think Fitbit has tried to make a good compromise between a fitness tracker and a smart watch. I am sure there are better fitness trackers. For me, despite having tiny wrists, it fits my life perfectly. I am no serious athlete! I need something to track my activity during the day and encourage me to do a bit more. Plus be able to see my messages, emails and phone calls as I cannot take out my phone at work (Advanced Nurse  Practitioner).

[Azrider]

I totally understand that there is not a wrist based HRM that will do as well as a chest strap. I have been riding for years and have ridden with many many HRM and straps. I just wrote my review based on my experience today. I have used other wrist based HRMs (Garmin) but never saw such a huge fall out going uphill. With that said I am going to try a Garmin watch that also supports a HRM strap. 

My biggest issue is with the size of this thing - wow, it really is huge! I am glad that others like it and if you read my review, I did have plenty of positive comments about this tracker. If it were smaller, I would have kept it, flaws and all. But I personally don't want to wear a device that is the size of a small smart phone on my wrist. 

[NellyG]

But I personally don't want to wear a device that is the size of a small smart phone on my wrist. 

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🤣🤣 You made me laugh!

[SunsetRunner]

I'm sort of laughing here. People think we are living in 2020. Fact is that GPS/battery life and the sensor is going to make a watch this big. We aren't there yet, so if you don't like it come back 2020 and I'm sure there will be the perfect Watch for you. Or buy a HR2 or iWatch or whatever.

This was smaller than I expected and I'm happy for it to be on my arm. Maybe the watch just isn't suitable for certain categories of women. I'm not sure midgets or dwarfs would like it either.

[SunsetRunner]

Battery life tips.

Turn off all day sync.

Turn off always connected.

Turn off GPS.

Doing this actually improve the connection using Android (ironically!).

[mariossp]

I couldn’t agree more with you. And I am also wondering how come such an experienced lady was taken by surprise size wise.

[Azrider]

I did look at videos and somehow it just didn't look as big as it is. I certainly didn't measure it and was hoping for the best. I thought I would give it a shot and really didn't expect it to be so large. 

I am ending this conversation now as I have mailed it back. All of you that have and love the watch - please enjoy. As I said in the beginning, the review was just one woman's opinion - you certainly don't have to agree with me.

[shipo]

A few comments in no particular order:

• I was delightfully surprised on  how small the Ionic is; I'm only 5'8" and have fairly small wrists and yet the Ionic fits there like it belongs.  No, it isn't as small as my regular wrist watch, but it is certainly smaller than my former Fitbit Surge.
• Based upon my own usage, I would think with a full charge, you should be able to get a six or seven hour bike ride in when tracking your route via GPS, however, I'm thinking that's about the limit.
• As with my Surge, I've found I need to notch the band of my Ionic down one or two more than how I wear it when I'm not exercising; doing so makes a dramatic difference in  how accurate the Heart Rate is tracked.

[bbarrera]

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@Azrider wrote:

So pretty much a six - seven hour ride would be out of the question. That is why I was coming to Fitbit from the Apple Watch. Wanted more battery life.

BTW Your answer does not address HR poor tracking and HR drop issue going uphills (a big deal for cyclists). That's why I'm going Garmin as I also have the option to add a HRM strap which Fitbit does not offer.

Any help on the Starbucks card without having to stop an exercise?

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I've read other forum posts that stated using Starbucks card required stopping exercise mode. It seems that app switching and multi-tasking is either not supported, or limited and doesn't support this scenario.

From other reviews your HR tracking experience is common - its hit or miss with cycling. This is the reason why I want a Fitbit that supports external HRM option (either chest strap, or arm band).

[Waterbaby12]

  I am a female swimmer, however I would like to purchase the new Ionic, however I have a small wrist and the face of the Ionic is large.  In your ad, the Ionic looks good on a male wrist, but it's much too large for a female unless you are fat. Most women do not have a large wrist so the Ionic looks like women will be wearing the kitchen clock on there wrist. The apple watch come in two face sizes one large and one smaller, however the apple watch only works with apple products. The fitbit trackers can work with any smartphone.

Having just one tracker would be great. Can you please consider making the ionic in a smaller face size. It would be most appreciated by women. 

[hs100789]

I really don't feel like the Ionic is that large on my wrist. I'm a 5'2" female with fairly small wrists. And while yes it is large, so is the Apple Watch. I by no means feel like I'm wearing a "kitchen clock" on my wrist.

[Waterbaby12]

It you are in denial.  It is BIG.




Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[CopperWolf808]

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@hs100789 wrote:

I really don't feel like the Ionic is that large on my wrist. I'm a 5'2" female with fairly small wrists. And while yes it is large, so is the Apple Watch. I by no means feel like I'm wearing a "kitchen clock" on my wrist.

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I totally agree as I am 4'10 so my wrists are fairly small but I'm not skinny and I think it doesn't look huge and no I am not in denial (speaking to that one person) I think it looks great even on a small person 🙂

[mariossp]

It looks just fine on your wrist!