Ionic vs. Surge: a runner's perspective

[bmw54]

Having burned through three surges in less than two years, I was excited by the announcement of the ionic and preordered mine immediately. After receiving it I took my surge off and never looked back. The ionic was so feature-rich I couldn't wait to start using it.

Within days I was caught up in the drama of how to set running cues (without them reverting to factory settings within a day) and just figuring out how to use my ionic, the ecosystem of settings are scattered across the tracker, the app and the Fitbit website.

Running with the ionic seemed ok, aside from learning how to jerk my arm up to get the screen to display (or should I just tap the screen a couple times? Or should I press the left button?) and when it displays, look fast, because it will vanish in seconds!

All that I learned to live with. And then I ran my first race. Strange, ionic was measuring  me at 12 minute miles. Chip-time indicated a more reassuring 6'20". And distance, ionic measured the 3.1 mile course as 2.3 miles. That's strange, I must have done something wrong.

But it was the same with my next few races, crazy inaccurate pace and distance. A full log of my experiences and discoveries is scattered through the GPS Innaccuracies thread.

Then, after 5 months of use, I woke up Friday morning and ionic's screen was black. And wouldn't respond. After an hour with Fitbit support (which entailed the production of a detailed video of me following all their restart instructions) I was authorized a replacement ionic. I fedex'd the dead one immediately.

This left me in the middle of Boston marathon training without a tracker. Until I remembered my surge. After finding it I put it on charge and reactivated it. Today I wore it for an easy 10-miler.

The surge erased all of ionic's aggravation:

Imagine! When you glance down at the surge the screen is on, with large numerals that are easy to read and don't fade away in seconds.

After months of winter running, I didn't have to care that my long sleeves might brush against the screen and pause or stop the exercise. This has happened to most of my longer training runs this winter, even after I set ionic's screen wake to manual, strange things happen to it under long sleeves.

Once I realized how trouble-free the surge was I came to realize what a pain in the **ahem** my ionic had become: difficult to read, prone to interruptions (during long sleeve season, anyway), and most critically, very inaccurate when most needed.

I will be happy when I receive my ionic replacement, it's attractive and measures my sleep, sometimes it shows me text messages and I like the trek watch face. Plus the battery holds a charge for days and I should be able to swim with it on.

But for any run that involves strategic pacing, the ugly surge will be trapped to my wrist. Ionic's not up to the task, it has failed every time I most relied on it.

[Andyfor]

Hi @bmw54

Thank you for your answer. 

I have the same concerns you have related to the gps accurarcy and disconections. I'm not a professional runner, but i do train 20km and more once a week (i train three times a week shorter distances), and may be i will try a marathon next year. 

So i'll evaluate the risks involved. 

May be @SantiR can add some fresh data about this issue (if it was fixed, if it is a known issue and so). 

Thank you again and best regards,

Andrea

[bmw54]

@Andyfor / Andrea, good luck in your pursuit of the marathon. Whatever gear you strap to your wrist will be secondary to your level of training, proper pacing and mental attitude (the last 10 kilometers are mostly a head game!)

As I move away from the Ionic, I'm considering a smart watch paired up with a good foot pod - I too, am by no means a professional, I'm just trying to make the final decade of my running career as competitive as I can.

Completion of a well executed marathon is one of the sweetest running experiences. 

[SantiR]

@Andyfor Thanks for your reply and for your interest on this. I can speak for my own experience and GPS has worked perfectly every time. Feel free to take a look at different threads on this board, you will find different experiences.

You will find users experiencing some difficulties with GPS; we provide troubleshooting steps in order to sort that out. If that doesn't do the trick; we have a customer support team prepared to help you out with any further assistance you may need. So you are all covered!

@bmw54 Thanks for sharing your experience in marathons. That's very useful for the Fitbit Community! 

Keep me posted! 

[Whistler888]

“fitbit's business model is selling the concept of fitness; not addressing the needs of competitive athletes. Others beat them at that game years ago.”

Hmm?  Interesting comments and aligns perfectly with my experience with the Ionic randomly crashing.  Looks to still be an ongoing and possibly inherent problem.

Using other devices have never experienced loss of GPS signal even in dense high tree covered areas.  To the Ionic credit it has performed ok in that.  Not super accurate but close enough for my purposes.  Much more disturbing is the random crashing of any exercise for no apparent reason.

In that regards would agree the Ionic is more of a general interest smartwatch vs serious GPS tracking training device.  Even my very old tech Timex Marathon GPS tracks much more accurately and reliably.  Plus with more continuous GPS tracking hours than the Ionic.  Has near unlimited time intervals btwn charges as it keeps on holding accurate time for months at a time.

So best to have other devices like a race tested Garmin or even Timex for serious GPS tracking.  Hopefully Fitbit can learn from this as I would like to see this brand succeed.  Pretty watch yes -> but does have stability issues and other glitchy problems.  Am very surprised with the number of problems posted in this forum.  Plus the number of replaced Ionic devices -> sometimes multiples.  Says something about the product.

[Heimdaal]

I use my Fitbit for tracking. Never had a problem. All the issues I saw here, stopped me buying the watch. But after a very clear signal that all the issues had been addressed I purchased my watch.

Performs great. No crashes. Syncs great tracking works as it should.

If you are getting random crashes. I would send the watch back for repair.

Danny

Sent from my iPhone

[Whistler888]

You might have a valid point there.

The Ionic has crashed on me 3 separate times.  Interestingly each time during an exercise function with music playing on headphones.

Do you use your Ionic with music?

Hmm?  Just contacted Tech Support and they verified my Ionic was indeed reset to factory -> then crashed after that.  They have the data records passed on to them whenever you sync up.

They informed this was not normal and deemed the watch defective so are sending out a replacement.  So would recommend you contact Tech Support directly if you have any issues or problems with your Ionic.  That seems to be the most expedient method to resolve serious matters posted in this forum.  There may be manufacturing QC issues that cause various problems depending on watch serial numbers.

Was told the Ionic should work properly and should not crash.  Top marks to the Tech Support team for addressing this matter immediately.  Hopefully the replacement will not have any problems.

Moderator edit: Merged replies

[SunsetRunner]

@bmw54  Nothing you said really surprised me.  Fitbit usually takes a lot more firmware updates before the device is close to accurate and the Surge has had several more than the Ionic.  I am my 4th Ionic, first one was because of step counting accurately and how it would randomly delete steps it already counted.  The next 2 were replaced due to battery issues.  

I must say though that you are the first Marathoner I have heard of around Boston that relies on a Fitbit.  Most go for a more serious running watch like a Garmin.  Fitbit is targeted towards a the casual user and has never been known for being a great running device.  Then again the Apple watch is equally as bad for running if not worse.  Most people with the Apple watch tend to use a different device when running.

Some good articles to check out.

https://www.androidpit.com/best-running-watches

This lists the Ionic as one of the best mid-range devices (mid-range on price not features) but also states "The Fitbit fitness trackers, in general, are not ideal for runners"

https://www.wareable.com/running/best-running-watch-6505

This one also ranks the Ionic well but compares it to the entry level line of Garmins.  

It is all about what you want to get out of it.  Basic watch functionality, some very random apps, and GPS tracking the Ionic is the watch to go with.  If you need more details like cadence or power then you might want to consider a purpose built watch that works with external sensors.  

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi there guys, thanks a lot for sharing your feedback on the Fitbit Ionic and the Fitbit Surge.

It's great to see you all participating in the Forums! If you need assistance with anything specifically, you can let me or any other moderator know and we'll be happy to help!