Ionic review

[Olley777]

Since ‘upgrading’ to an ionic I personally think it’s a waste of money, had loads of issues with notifications not working and not recording exercise, very basic menus on watch, not very user friendly, overall a very poor attempt at an Apple Watch, should of got one instead. 

Moderator edit: edited title for clarity

[NellyG]

I guess it is a matter of opinion. I love mine - best watch I have ever had!

[SunsetRunner]

I was going to send mine back after they screwed me over charging £8 for 7 day expedited delivery and reading the problems on here, particularity with my phone.

A week later it's working like a dream and as a Fitbit with notifications it's perfect.

I wouldn't buy one as a smart watch though and the jury is still out on the build quality.  

[MikeGn]

It is an issue of expectations.

Ionic is more a fitness tracker than a smartwatch.

As a smartwatch it is on 2013 level, no keyboard to answer etc.

I also lost capability to see notifications (no Hebrew support).

As a smartwatch it's worst I had so far (I had Sony Smartwatch 3, Huawei Watch, Samsung Gear S3).

Samsung Gear S3 was best as a smartwatch.

I bought Ionic because of Coach, which changed the way I do fitness.

I don't know any alternative to Coach on Android/Tizen smartwatch.

I don't have experience with Apple Watch.

[Dazzzzbo]

When mine works it does it’s job.   But it’s poor that you can’t see details for previous activities or heart rate graph for the day.     

I had a garmin previously which you could do a lot more with.   Why has the ionic not even got a find my phone app?  

My daughters cheap £10 tracker has that.    

I do like it when it works but doesn’t live up to my expectations. 

[monionic]

I agree. It's plagued with problems.

[sstans]

I am feeling the exact same way!!  I have been a Fitbit user for  6 years and did not want to convert to the Apple Watch so I upgraded to the Ionic 4 days ago and am REGRETTING it worst money spent!  Can't get it to do anything- I have wasted hours on troubleshooting and now HOURS in the help forum 

[soss3osp]

for me it is exactely the same.

the funny thing is that the ionic surpised me with its looks because on the pictures I decided it is more on the ugly side but indeed it looks great.

while all expectations towards its possibilities i have been incredibly disappointed. it is lousy software and it does not meet any expectations of someone doing more that sleeping and makeing some steps toward ones food.

many things could be easily solved by software, some things can never be solved like the fast battery drain (i am talking about sport) and the lousy bluetooth signal. 

but well i did at least accepted to live with the latter: Charging every morning within my first meeting and wearing the ionic on my right writs while running or listening to music via my pixel 2 xl instead of the fitbit

[LarryQW]

I've had my Ionic for 3 months now and absolutely love it. It works reliably and does everything I want. I was indeed looking for more of a fitness watch, with some added features like weather, GPS, NFC pay, text and email notifications,... For much more than that, I want the smart phone's better interface anyway.

I also like that it's waterproof and can go anywhere. Also, the battery lasts 5 days so I can monitor my sleep that's been very illuminating and helpful. Not many watches have the Ionic capability in these regards. 

[edit001]

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@MikeGn wrote:

Samsung Gear S3 was best as a smartwatch.

I bought Ionic because of Coach, which changed the way I do fitness.

I don't know any alternative to Coach on Android/Tizen smartwatch.

---

Samsung Health phone app has a similar coaching feature as Fitbit Coach... and it's FREE !

I used both and Fitbit Coach is better because you can give some feedback so the app can better adapt the program to your fitness level... other then that both have lots of programs, you can sent the video feed to TV (smart)...

One more thing that I liked was that on Samsung, it can read the pulse via the watch optical HR or you can pair a BT (or ANT+ with some phones like Note 😎 chest strap with the phone for 100% accurate HR readings.

On the other hand Samsung Health does NOT have an web interface to view your data.

[edit001]

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@Olley777 wrote:

Since ‘upgrading’ to an ionic I personally think it’s a waste of money, had loads of issues with notifications not working and not recording exercise, very basic menus on watch, not very user friendly, overall a very poor attempt at an Apple Watch, should of got one instead. 

---

It looks to me that an Samsung Gear Sport or Samsung Galaxy watch will suit you a lot better.

Those 2 are more of a smart watch then the Ionic and close to an Apple Watch.

This does not mean you will love them 100%, every watch is an compromise so I would advise you to buy from a reputable shop that accepts returns, test with your usage pattern, judge, decide, return if needed.

[sstans]

UPDATE:  I just spent 2 hours with support trying to get it to connect so I can download music and connect my Airpods- It was useless.  I didn't get anything resolved.  Fitbit has seriously gone down hill- I didn't spend 300.00 on this watch to be a smartwatch- But I definitely wanted the music and Bluetooth head phone's to work- so I don't have to carry my phone on my runs!  Basically I paid 300.00 for 120.00 tracker

[soss3osp]

it is sad to see how apple gains ground with each step in software and hardware.

fitbit is losing its ground more and more. i don't like the look of the apple watch and prefer android to ios but i have to admit: the abilites from the apple watch with respect to health is far ahead my ionic

[MarreFitbit]

Hello everyone! Just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for providing such great feedback on your Ionic experience. I am glad to see some of you are enjoying your Ionic so far! 

Fitbit has many channels of contact, as we care about our customers and I can assure you all, that we’re always working to improve the longevity, durability of our products, and regularly capture and test trackers that exhibit unexpected or undesired characteristics

We're building ourselves every day to be better and satisfy as many users as we can, and this type of comments help us to grow. As a piece of advise, don't forget that you can always contact our Customer Service and let them know the issue you're experiencing or post them on the Community and any Moderator will be happy to help you trying to resolve it or creating a case with Support for further assistance. 

For anyone having a tough time getting Ionic to sync, I would highly recommend performing each of the steps detailed in this article. I know many have found these tips helpful. 

In regards to any discrepancy with the heart rate monitor, I would suggest wearing your Ionic one finger width above your wrist bone when not exercising. During exercise, I suggest experimenting with wearing the device higher on your wrist for an improved fit and better results. For more tips on improving heart rate accuracy, check out this article.  

If notifications aren't coming through, I would make sure that they are set up correctly by following each of the steps, here. For further troubleshooting tips, this article is very helpful as well. 

Also, you may always confirm you have the latest firmware version of Ionic which is Ionic Firmware Release - 32.10.20 so you can have all the updates on your watch. 

I hope that these tips help to enhance your experience with Ionic. If you have any questions, please let me know. 

[Olley777]

I just asked for a refund as the ionic is so bad.
And I still get insulted by Fitbit, offered me £116 as settlement !?!?? I had my ‘faulty’ HR 2 traded in plus I paid £140 so really £116, you need to address this issue and stop insulting customers, you will lose many customers with service like that, lve stayed loyal to your products for a few years and endured endless product faults along the way, so I deserve better !!!!
Please don’t rip me off !!
I’m not impressed.

Sent from my iPhone

[MarreFitbit]

Sorry to hear about the inconveniences you've been having @Olley777.  We don't want to create frustration in our customers. Fitbit has been designed to provide motivation and help you to reach your daily goals to success. Please know that we provide feedback to our team based on community posts and we are always working on improving our devices and overall environment based on that feedback.

If you are still talking to our Customer Support, I'd recommend keeping the conversation with them. They'll be more than glad to offer the options available for you. Discounts and replacements depend on tracker model and other factors based on your Warranty Policy. 

I'll be around if you need further assistance! 

[NachoMedic]

I have been a Fitbit user in some fashion for close to 10 years and have been through many models, from the simplest tracker to jumping on the newest, high end model. My Surge (which I loved) died a sudden death two weeks ago and I "upgraded" to the Ionic last week. So far I am not impressed. While it is visually quite appealing, it isn't doing anything useful. I am fully updated to the latest version of the apps (both on the watch and on my phones), I have the current firmware (27.32.10.20), and have fully charged the battery several times. Here are the problems:

1) The battery drains almost completely in a day

2) The tracker is not picking up steps or activity (I refereed a varsity high school soccer game tonight - ran for 1.5 hours - and the tracker recorded 348 steps)

3) The device keeps requesting me to perform a calibration and then fails (plugged in, on a flat table, not moving).

I have performed numerous resets to factory settings, powered off/on, etc. I agree with many other forum entries that, as it is right now, I made the wrong choice when purchasing my "upgrade." More than anything else, I am actually disappointed that the last several devices I have owned have all been the result of a previous model dying. I'm sure Fitbit is doing what they can, but overall quality seems to have diminished over the past few years.

If anyone else is experiencing the problems I have listed above and has suggestions to address them, I'm all ears.

[Olley777]

You are either very lucky, very easily pleased or work for Fitbit !!!!........ Or all of the above !!! 😂

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @NachoMedic! Sorry to hear about the inconveniences you've been having with your Fitbit Ionic. Thanks for troubleshooting this, nice way to go! 

If the battery on your tracker is draining too quick, please see: Can I improve my Fitbit device's battery life?

 If you're having discrepancy with your step count, first make sure the wrist placement settings are correct. Next, double check that you entered your height correctly. Since we use height to estimate your walking and running stride lengths, you may want to measure and manually adjust these values if your legs are longer or shorter than average.

Sometimes, when you start walking you may notice that your steps may not update on your device right away. After about 10-15 continuous steps, you'll notice the steps catch up and start updating in real-time with each step you take.

To get more information about this, check the article: How accurate are Fitbit devices?

If after taking these factors into account you still think your tracker is significantly undercounting or overcounting steps, please try a step test:

1. Put your wrist-based tracker on your wrist or put your clip-on tracker on your hip or torso.
2. Walk 100 steps, making sure to count a step each time one of your feet hits the ground.
3. Pause, then check your tracker to see your step count.

In regards to the calibration message, I recommend updating to Fitbit OS 2.1. Once you have updated to Fitbit OS 2.1, you may still be prompted to calibrate your Ionic. At this point, please move forward with the calibration by plugging in your Ionic and setting it on a flat surface.

Once you have completed these steps a restart, or shutting down your Ionic (and turning it back on) after you complete the calibration (green check mark) should prevent you from seeing the prompt moving forward. 

Let me know how it goes!