Is my Ionics' GPS off?

[Mchl496]

So I'm a long time Fitbit user.  Have been using the blaze and the surge for a while now.  I've stuck with using the Surge for GPS because my blaze always had problems with connected GPS and without using GPS.  I just got my Ionic and went running and thought my time was slower until I got back to my phone and sync'd and looked at the maps.  I'm guessing the ionic is off.  Attached are copies of runs so you can see the difference.  Early in the run with the ionic...  It showed my pace as 14 mins.

[Mchl496]

When you click on the  button on the home screen that says "days weekly exercise" it brings up the pictures.

I never took my phone with me when I went running and stored it in my car a bit aways from where I went running.

[Snowcrash]

My understanding is that the Ionic is not capable of GPS sharing with your phone.  I believe it’s GPS only functions independently.

Besides, the whole point of the Ionic is to NOT run with your phone.  If I wanted to do that I’d just keep running with my Blaze & Phone.

[Mchl496]

You are lucky that your blaze worked properly with your phone.  I could show those runs where it lost connection for half the run and only tracked 2/3rds the distance

[Snowcrash]

Yes, my blaze would occasionally drop the connected GPS signal - rarely, but it did happen.  

So in our ongoing data collection.  This morning I ran the inside lap of an NCAA certified 0.25 mile track. Phone GPS 0.98 and Ionic 0.97 mile, better than I expected I have to admit!

Then I returned to my 3 mile loop - running both the phone gps and the Ionic at the same time.  (short sleeves today). Phone recorded 2.98 miles, Ionic 2.95 miles.  

So now the Ionic has recorded this identical set of loops as 2.88, 2.81 (long sleeves), and 2.95 miles.

Which bring me to a new question...  Is it erratic?  Or is it learning???

Does it have any tech or algorithm to compare previous results, accelerometer data and gps data to somehow improve its accuracy?  I have not read anything about it being THAT "smart"

I will keep collecting data.  Today was surprisingly encouraging.  I want to like this watch.  I really do WANT this watch to succeed for Fitbit.  I'm still surprised how little discussion there is about GPS on the message boards.  It seems like there is more chat about Starbucks pay...  which is a feature I can't imagine I'd ever use!  lol...

[Mchl496]

Well I went running and walking again and the distances seemed off on just the run

[SunsetRunner]

I'm happy (Ok, closer to ecstatic actually) that the GPS was spot-on accurate for my walk/run this morning.  This route comes in anywhere from 4.0 to 4.09 across various devices.  The Ionic captured it as 4.05.  Perfect!  

Ionic:

Samsung GS8+ via MapMyRun: (The actual distance is 4.05, but for some reason, it is rounded up in the stats listed below)

I was listening to music for the length of the walk as well.  When complete, my battery went from 100% to 81%.  I'd say that's not bad for what I was using it for, but translates to a <5 hour battery life if you are using GPS and music.  

It took about 15-20 seconds for the Ionic to get a GPS signal, which I felt was acceptable.  I started the activity, and then while it was acquiring the signal, put my shoes on, while in the house - so the device was moving around a bit while trying to acquire, and was also indoors, if that makes a difference. 

I noticed that my screen stayed on for the entire walk - is that a setting that I can change somewhere so that it only turns on if I press a button?  I was thinking the screen stayed on because of my arm movement, but I haven't done a lot of homework yet, either, to figure out all of the settings.  I was hesitant to poke around with the menus while walking - I wanted to make sure I captured this first walk accurately! 🙂

Looking forward to tomorrow's walk, and then a hike over the weekend.  

[ggalexgg]

When you're selecting your workout, click the cog wheel in the upper left corner then scroll down and set "Always-on Screen" to off

if that's already off then you might want to swipe left to right on the main clockface and you can turn off Screen Wake, which is the setting that turns on the watch when you move your wrist. 

[shipo]

I just finished my first run with my Ionic, and paraphrasing the immortal Mona Lisa Vito, "the GPS was dead on balls accurate; it's an industry term".

[Mchl496]

Well you are lucky because here's another run with different mile distances.

[SunsetRunner]

I'm not complaining about my Ionic's gps; just completed a bike ride and the Ionic tracked 39.83km vs my Wahoo Elemnt's gps of 39.75km. Well within tolerance.

[SunsetRunner]

Do you start your run using the Exercise option, or do you let the device automatically detect?  I never trust the auto-detect stuff.

[Snowcrash]

Ok- this photo may seem like an odd path, but the Ionic traced it perfectly, and measured it extremely close to what it is measured to be.  (It’s a 1/3 mile path around the university track to keep the locals off the good track 😉

The big difference here compared to my other runs I’ve complained about?  This is a wide open field with a wide open sky.  No trees, no buildings.  Ionic was within 1% of the posted distance.

On my shady path with trees, I’m still seeing distances 4-6% less than actual.

[USAF-Larry]

Took a short walk today using the Ionic Walk exercise with the built-in GPS. The Ionic was very accurate in recording the walk - Google Maps listed the route as 3.93 miles, and the Ionic measured it a 3.92 miles, a difference of 1/100th of a mile, or less than 53'. The walk was partly heavily tree covered road and the rest clear open sky, but the heavy tree coverage did not appear to affect the GPS measurements.

[SunsetRunner]

I ran 6km, a run I regularly do and have measured to be 6km. The Ionic clocked it at 6.3km, which isn't great. Strava and my iPhone clocked it at 6km exactly. It was raining moderately. Which shouldn't make a difference.

If Ionic loses GPS, for the same of argument, does it then begin measuring distance by steps?

[Mchl496]

My ionic seemed to be ok for a while and now it's off by as much as 1/4th a mile in a 2 mile run.

[SunsetRunner]

my experience of the running app has been bad too.  when i inspect the maps on fitbit they usually look accurate.  You say your current pace was particularly inaccurate at the beginning of your run - that's been my experience too.  It might take a quarter of a mile before it correctly displays my speed - by which time it's lost 0.1 miles or more.  I ran a few 800m intervals this week and it was doing this on every interval - not just at the beginning of the run.   It feels like the problem happens  every time there is significant acceleration.  Do you run intervals?  Is the GPS problem much worse when you do this?