Ionic stopped tracking a run during my race, twice now

[AndrewPf]

Approximately 4.5 to 5km into my last two races, my Ionic stopped tracking my run, and had no record of the distance I had just covered.  I had to restart the exercise tracking.  GPS was shown as connected both times.  

Perhaps interestingly, this has not happened during a non-race run or exercise.  

So, has anyone else experienced this?  Could it be the GPS demands of all the other runners in the race are pushing the IONIC off signal, making it annoyed and it decides to shut off the exercise? 

Edit: the Ionic did not fully shut down, only the exercise tracking stopped. 

[bbarrera]

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@AndrewPf wrote:

Could it be the GPS demands of all the other runners in the race are pushing the IONIC off signal, making it annoyed and it decides to shut off the exercise?  

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No, its not 'the gps demands' and instead its likely one of two possible reasons:

- your wrist stopped the activity, by accident

- bug in Ionic software (e.g. when Ionic first launched, notifications would sometimes kill exercise tracking)

[AndrewPf]

Thanks for the reply @bbarrera, I'm working on eliminating the possibilities.  

It would be interesting to know if others have experienced this issue, which would indicate a bug.  My wrist and arm were moving the entire race, and that part of the route was through a 2-story neighborhood that would not block GPS.  

[bbarrera]

@AndrewPf the lack of screen lock has caused exercise tracking to stop, and that has been widely reported on various threads.

[AndrewPf]

I did not see this "widely reported" issue when searching this forum's message threads with several search terms, and I am not browsing them daily or hourly.   

It's not crazy to imagine a wet jacket pressing down on the screen directly on top of the Ionic's pause button and then the end exercise button (but to not have any record of the exercise at all and it happening only during a race in sunny weather?). The Surge had a similar issue in the rain, but I have yet to experience that using the Ionic.  By the way, I have turned off the run distance prompts on my Ionic, since they sometimes don't clear cleanly.     

[Gibbnob]

Hi nice to hear your having the same problem I am my Ionic was fine until a week ago now when ever I run witch is mostly on my own GPS drops in and out as and when it feels like it making it hard to see distance traveled and pace have you had and luck in finding what maybe causing this issue 

[Cantryboy]

This was happening my fiance so I just had to do a hard reset of her Fitbit and now it works

[bbarrera]

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@AndrewPf wrote:

I did not see this "widely reported" issue when searching this forum's message threads with several search terms, and I am not browsing them daily or hourly.   

It's not crazy to imagine a wet jacket pressing down on the screen directly on top of the Ionic's pause button and then the end exercise button     

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One issue, as you know, is the lack of a screen lock on all Fitbit trackers/watches with touchscreen. While not widely reported on the Ionic forum, it has been reported on a number of forums (including this one) and therefore a possible reason for the issue. More recent reports about losing GPS lock than this, so I agree it may not be an issue.

Definitely try restarting the Ionic in case its an intermittent bug, as mentioned above.

[WavyDavey]

There was recently a proposal to add a screen lock during exercise to the Ionic. Feel free to add votes there so Fitbit knows there's interest in this feature. I think it would be very useful.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Ionic-Exercise-Lock-Screen/idi-p/2631837

[AndrewPf]

Before I head over via that link, I have to say this is a good idea, and hopefully smarter people than me can implement it well.

This issue really seems like it's part of the distinction between: 1) people who want an all day tracker and biometric feedback versus 2) more serious runners who are holding off that urge to get a Garmin. 

Fitbit might be well-served to introduce additional runner-focused features like tracking cadence. 

[Coachcritty]

I have this issue since the last update.  It stops during runs and my bootcamp workouts.  Coupled with my HR readings being majorly off, I'm frustrated with my Ionic!!

[bmw54]

@AndrewPf:

in several threads I have mentioned these issues with my ionic:

loss of GPS connection

interruption of the exercise (sometimes stopping the run tracking and auto-starting other unrelated exercises)

wild inaccuracy of distance and pace when racing

(never mind all the drama related to changing some of the running cues)

There have been no satisfactory fixes: I'm on my second ionic now, I do all the resets, I set auto-wake to manual and nothing works.

Most of those threads have ceased activity as competitive athletes realize the ionic is not spec'd for them. I no longer race or seriously train with mine; in yesterday's Boston Marsthon I wore both my Surge and Ionic. Tomorrow I will post the comparisons in my Surge vs. Ionic thread. The Ionic performed dismally. 

If you're a competitive road-racer, there's just two guarantees with the Ionic: it will fail you. And any number of Fitbit loyalists will doggedly defend it.

[AndrewPf]

@bmw54 you easily win the Rough Times with the Ionic Award of 2018. 

• I have lost GPS connection on cloudy and snowy days, and need to find out if there have been proper evaluations of Fitbit's vs. Garmin's GPS capabilities.
• I have of course now twice seen a run (race) stop tracking and disappear as if it never happened (the original topic of this thread, which I did not see mentioned previously in detail). 
• I have not experienced crazy inaccuracies of pace when racing or regular running.
• I'm not sure if running cues were causing problems, but they weren't worth having on.
• Wake when raising works fine for me.

I had always wanted a Blaze with GPS, and that's what the Ionic promised.  My personal jury is still out. 

[Celtic_pt]

Same problem today.

Running with GPS OK. Battery ran out but when sync was made no exercise was recorded at all.

[fgr62]

happened to me twice recently: I've had my fitbit Ionic since October and it never did it before but, suspiciously, it has done it now since the last firmware update. As an aside, my old Fitbit battery died last week and I got a replacement, so the crashes during runs have now happened both with my old and with my new tracker. As many report here, the watch just stops half way through a run and keeps no record of the activity, but it's still alive. I was about to report the problem to Support, I'm glad I'm not alone in this mess.

[AndrewPf]

@fgr62 I'm glad someone else experienced this, but also sorry you had to.  For some reason I've only  had this happen during a race.  I've had GPS drop off in snowy or very cloudy days, but the Ionic still captured and estimated my distance. 

[nomis]

This has happened to me today which is very annoying. It was reading fine at 11 miles of the Milton Keynes half marathon. The next time I looked it had gone back to displaying just the time. I restarted the running app again but all I have recorded is the last 1.5 miles. The first 11 are no where to be found. 

[AndrewPf]

@nomis it's a weird feeling, isn't it?  We know we ran them but we just want to look back and see the miles covered...  Two races ago my Ionic lost GPS signal, but at least it did not suddenly end tracking entirely.

I have to admit I have started being 'that guy' who wears two watches while running.  I no longer care if my Ionic captures all of my run because I've now got a trusty Garmin 630 on the other wrist.  Sorry Fitbit, but it's your fault. 

[Gibbnob]

As above I was having this issue but since doing the hard reset I have done 3 runs and it's been spot on no issues what so ever .. but I now have strava running on my phone as a back up just incase lost faith in the Fitbit Ionic a bit 

[VandyCWG]

My last 5k, at the 4.5k mark, my watch stopped recording the run.  Music continued playing, run stopped.  I was unable to "Add" a run, the ionic didn't auto record the run.

Very unhappy.