Ionic is not for runners: GPS and Splits/Average Pace

[SunsetRunner]

I used the Surge 1 and 3/4 years. It got the job done for running. So simple and efficient. It worked!

The Ionic is clearly aiming to be a smart watch and not just a simple run/exercise watch like the Surge was. However, when my Surge was in need of a replacement I needed a new GPS enabled watch. I wanted to stay with Fitbit so I chose the Ionic.

I'm a runner and here are my problems with it:

-The Run exercise crashes at one mile into a run about 10% of the time. This happened after an update to the watch back in March. It used to work fine. The work around is to make sure you wake the watch (push a button or raise your wrist) prior to the mile marker. Otherwise there is about a 10% chance it will crash and the Run exercise, and GPS, will stop and revert back to the clock screen.

-At each mile (or other distance, depending on your cues) you get alerted and the watch shows your Average Pace. This needs to show your split! I am sure Fitbit is conveying the same thing but as you get longer into your run it takes more time to be presented with your Average Pace. What I mean: by the time you get to mile 6 or 7 you're not getting alerted until 6.03 or 7.04 into your run instead of simply at mile 6.0 or mile 7.0. It's taking time because the watch is calculating your Average. Please just do simple math and present me with my split. It continues to take more time to calculate the further you go.

-Same thing goes with the end of the run. The watch shows your Pace and Duration. They are always the same exact thing if you ran exactly mile increments. Just show me my splits when I am done. I am a runner. That's what I need!

I miss my Surge.

Please join me in venting if you have the same experience.

[Rich_Laue]

We sre seeing reports of the Ionic ending exercises on their own, some have said it started with the last update. 

[jarhead_0311]

I totally agree Ionic is NOT a runners watch, and for me, it was a total waste of money.  I've had a Charge 2 for years and it works great, but you have to carry your phone to get both GPS and music.  I thought I understood the marketing on Ionic well enough.  It was supposed to allow me to get rid of my phone, but I have found that to simply not be the case.  As you point out, the Ionic will not reliably continue to track your run.  It freezes, crashes, sometimes just exits out of Run mode mid run.  When it does this you lose all stats from the run.  It's motion sensing/tracking simply doesn't seem to be as good as the older trackers, perhaps because there's more stuff jammed onto the chip I don't know.   Then there's the simple things I miss from the phone/Charge 2 combo, like being able to listen to music, then have the Fitbit lady chime in with my milestones like distance, split pace, etc.  The Fitbit mobile app is smart enough to mute the phones music so it can give you your stats, then it unmutes the music.  The other thing I constantly wrestle with is the Ionic losing its connection to my wireless earbuds.  I have used the Beats wireless earbuds with my phone and Charge 2 since the Beets came out  and the connection between earbud and phone rarely drops or freezes, unless the earbuds run out of power.  With the Ionic however, the connection gets constantly dropped throughout my run.  I don't know what it is, but the bluetooth receiver on the Ionic just doesn't work reliably.  Maybe FitBit cheaped out on the radio for this watch, I don't know, but something has changed.  No device connection with my Ionic is stable or reliable I have found.  Bottom line, the Ionic is NOT functional as a runners watch.  Not if you need all connections to work all of the time without interruption.  Going back to my iPhone/Charge 2 combo using the FitBit app on the phone.  Don't waste your time/money on the Ionic if you plan on using it for running.  Expensive piece of junk that doesn't work as good as FitBit's gen 1 trackers. All in my humble opinion.

[Rich_Laue]

I'm not sure if Fitbit is going after the professional runner. 

However if you want the Fitbit app to record your run, there isnt a need to have any tracker on the arm. 

As for the silencing of music while the app calls off times, this is a function of your music app, not Fitbit.