Run exercise stops after one mile

[SunsetRunner]

After the latest Ionic update my watch now stops the run exercise after one mile quite often. I connect to GPS and begin my run. I get the vibration for one mile. Some time later I am approaching what I know to be two miles and I get no alert. I look down and my watch is just showing the clock. My run has stopped. The mile a ran is recorded but nothing more.

I am attempting a factory reset right now (such a pain. bluetooth setup never works). Anyway, another fitbit fail. Anyone wanna chime in with a resolution or to vent please feel free.

[Des3]

Ive had the same thing happen to me. Quite frustrating to say the least. Ive had mine turn off on me even though my iconic wasnt dead. Im last the 45 days for a return .... not sure what to do at this rate. 

[staceylizabeth]

Mine does the same thing almost every time. Makes me very nervous to use during my marathon coming up next week. People at Fitbit don’t help either. One lady actually told me it was happening because I had it cueing every mile....wtf? They’re **ahem**s. Thinking about getting a Harmon instead. Fitbit is getting worse and worse. 

[MaginB]

It's great to see you around @SunsetRunner @staceylizabeth and welcome aboard @Des3! 

Thanks for you patience and bringing this to our attention, let me help you out. I'd recommend performing a restart and keeping an eye on it just to confirm if you're still having trouble. @SunsetRunner Please let us know if you got it fixed by performing the factory reset. 

Keep me posted, I'll be around! 

[SunsetRunner]

@MaginB, the factory reset did not resolve the problem. It happened soon after.

What might be a work around is being in contact with your watch prior to mile marker one. By this I mean simply waking the watch (raise your wrist or pushing a button). If you do this prior to mile one it appears to never crash/reset the run exercise/GPS. Not ideal so I do hope there is a fix in an upgrade in the near future.

[SunsetRunner]

The latest OS update did not fix this issue. I'll bring out my Surge for now. Message me when it's fixed.

[Frodo007]

It’s the same for me, if I go swimming: the exercise app and/ or my wfitbit Ionic crashes randomly.

[bmw54]

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@staceylizabeth wrote:

Mine does the same thing almost every time. Makes me very nervous to use during my marathon coming up next week. People at Fitbit don’t help either. One lady actually told me it was happening because I had it cueing every mile....wtf? They’re **ahem**s. Thinking about getting a Harmon instead. Fitbit is getting worse and worse. 

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Warning! my ionic's never stayed GPS-connected beyond an hour or so. Maybe yours has performed better than that in training, but two of us it these forums both had our Ionic fail at around the 5 mile point in Boston Marathon. Granted, it was raining but on my other wrist I wore my fitbit Surge. It succeeded in tracking the entire distance. Accurately.

Which reinforces my conclusion about the Ionic: the more I'm depending upon it, the more likely it will fail.

[fumbling81]

I'm having the same problem, GPS stopped on my morning run and did not restart for almost 5 miles. What's the point of having a GPS if it doesn't work half the time. Never had this problem before the 2 OS updates. I'm doing a factory reset as a last resort but I'm not hopeful it will help. As a runner the GPS is what attracted me to this watch in the first place.

[staceylizabeth]

I do have success if I raise my watch before I hit one mile. This has worked every time since I tried it. Unfortunately, this is a pretty ridiculous thing to have to do when you pay $300 for a watch. I had a woman come up to me in a store this weekend to ask about my watch, and, sadly, I had to tell her to stay far away. Poor quality and poor customer service. 

[bmw54]

Agreed. If you start adding up all the things we need to do (many of them seem superstitious to me) in order for the Ionic to work correctly:

Multiple restarts, pre-run resetting of cues and other settings, holding our arms up at particular miles, repeated flicking wrists in order to start the screen...

It becomes apparent that we exist to serve our Ionics. 

Most runners reasonably expect their gear to serve them and assist in improving their performance. With the Surge, Fitbit used to to meet that expectation. The Ionic has been an ongoing drama.

[SunsetRunner]

Update: Latest Ionic OS update 27.32.10.20 did not resolve the issue

[GJ_Hardie]

This is concerning.  I'm just about to invest in one of these devices.  Would I be wasting both time and money?

[SunsetRunner]

@GJ_Hardie The device is still pretty good but I can understand if you looked at other watches or brands.

The work around is to raise your wrist (essentially, wake the device) prior to mile marker one. Each time I have done this the GPS/Exercise does not crap out after the one mile alert and everything works correctly no matter how far I run. Hope this helps

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner I have found that if I interact with the Exercise screen on my Ionic before the 1 mile mark, it does not stop tracking. I simply swipe between information elements. The other option I've heard is to not enable auto-lap cues.

[staceylizabeth]

I would not spend the money on this device. It's a huge headache. I'm sure there are better options. Best of luck.

[GJ_Hardie]

Good morning Stacey,

Unfortunately, the horse has already bolted…that is to say I have the device now. That said, so far its met needs, which has been swimming and cycling. Running is later down the line for me…hoping by then the issue will have been addressed in software.

Kind Regards, Graham

[PaulinaEmCee]

Chiming in here because I work in customer service experience and I know how important feedback can be to get an issue resolved even though this remains to be solved.

Prior to the Fitbit Ionic, I had the Fitbit Blaze. Approximately 6 months into my use of it (this is a huge guess), when I occasionally went on a GPS-connected run via my iPhone my Blaze would quit out of the run without any prompting after the 0.5-mile cue. I'd restart and sometimes the issue would persist again, but not usually. (This would almost always happen after the 0.5-mile cue.) This problem continued to persist to the point where Fitbit replaced my Blaze since the issue could not be resolved. I thought I had a faulty Blaze, but then my replacement continued with the same exact problem. 

Last October, I was deciding between a Garmin and the new Fitbit Ionic and—despite my unresolved problems with the Blaze—I ended up getting the Ionic since I liked the interface for the Fitbit app, I was used to the OS, and I believe in brand loyalty. But then what starts happening approximately 6 months into my time with the Ionic? GPS-connected runs continue to quit out without my prompting after the 0.5-mile cue I have set as the default.

I have reached out to Fitbit Support on Twitter and their trouble-shooting has not gotten me anywhere.

I have given Fitbit the benefit of the doubt but the problem remains that they are rolling out OS updates that do not resolve issues that need to be resolved. My next watch will be a Garmin and I will relegate my Fitbit to a box of other junk since I don't want to pass on a problematic device to someone else. I am the laughing-stock of my run clubs and I can't wait for the right opportunity to finally get a real fitness watch. Thank you, FItbit, but you need to work harder.

Moderator edit: Format

[bmw54]

@PaulinaEmCee: you've summed up Fitbit very well. I also "graduated" to the Ionic last year thinking each of its features would function as advertised and described in the manual. I was very excited about its potential. Then I tried to race with it and discovered deep and persistent problems.

My loyalty to the company was so fierce that I thought they'd welcome my feedback; that we'd team together to make Ionic the instrument it was designed to be. As a regionally-ranked runner (in my age class, that is) I thought I had some amount of credibility.

Instead, the best we seem to get from the company is 'restart three times' and 'we're aware of the problem'. Too bad.

[excaliber88]

The Ionic has one feature that none of the current Fitbit's have and that is standalone GPS.  You think it would be reliable but the answer to that would be no.  I have lost close to 50 miles total due to reboots and have completely lost faith in the watch and the company (this is my 3rd different model and as a family we have 5 in use).  

It is so demoralizing to lose say 8 miles.  With the latest firmware (27.32.10.20) it looks as though they are saving the data prior to the reboot which is progress (previously you lost it all).  But I am done.