Track Kayaking with Ionic's GPS

[blueorbits]

I love my fitbit Ionic and have owned almost every other permutation of a fitbit since 2011.... that said, it is dreadfully inaccurate for kayaking!  I never know whether to track it in the "hike" or "bike"  or "walk" mode and it never counts the correct GPS coordinates regardless of what I've tried.  In biking mode, it starts and stops and my 10 mile paddle turns into a 1.5 mile track. 

Is there any way to add a paddling option to the fitbit for those of us who are avid river and lake paddlers? I am currently having to track this activity on Strava or considering getting a Garmin to fill this void because my fiancees Garmin does such a better job when we are paddling rivers together.

I hope there is a solution you guys could help me with?  I don't want to give up my fitbit, but I spend a lot of time on water and the "swim" option is not accurate and doesn't provide a GPS track.

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject for Clarity

[SantiR · Accepted solution]

@blueorbits I hope you're doing well! Thanks for being such a consistent Fitbit customer all of these years. Also, thanks for reporting the experience you have had while tracking kayaking with Ionic and for trying all of those GPS activity options.

It would be great to have an option to track that kind of activity using GPS. I have read that some users are using the Run option and that it tracks good. However, they cannot change the name to "kayaking" after finishing the activity and it may not be accurate every time as it was designed for Runs specifically. In this case, the best workaround is to log that activity manually. However, it will not provide GPS data.

I was making some research in the Feature Suggestions Board and found these ideas:

• Add Canoeing/Kayaking/Paddle Boarding as an Exercise Shortcut
• GPS Use for Kayaking (users here are saying the Run option works good for kayaking, but you can't change the name of the recorded activity afterwards).

Feel free to cast a vote for this idea and leave a comment to show support. Also, as you are using an Ionic; an app for this would be great too. Feel free to post that idea if you find it interesting.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted! 

[Hawaiiexerciser]

I'm late to this convo, but I'm in favor of adding a shortcut for ocean/river sports. In the least it would be great to be able to use gps for this activity. I'm starting to get jealous of my paddling Garmin friends who can track each excursion. 

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community @Hawaiiexerciser! Feel free to cast a vote for the ideas and leave a comment to show support. 

• Add Canoeing/Kayaking/Paddle Boarding as an Exercise Shortcut
• GPS Use for Kayaking 

For anything else you would like to see implemented in the future, consider visiting our Feature Suggestions board. This is a space where Community users can post features, ideas, and suggestions that they'd like to see in future Fitbit products, accessories, and software and top-voted suggestions get relayed to our product team for review. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. 

Let me know if there's anything else I may do to assist. 

[Tundrafox]

Yes, I vote for this. Currently FitBit is not willing to add kayaking or canoeing to its activity list. I use my Garmin for this. It’s a pain switching between two devises, but kayaking is important to me. Due to this, I’ve been using my Garmin more and more often including runs. This is my third FitBit, but I’m tired of having to switch devices to get accurate readings. 

[MarreFitbit]

Hey there @Tundrafox! Thanks so much for up-voting for the recommended feature suggestions. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs. 

Thank you for the thorough feedback for the Fitbit devices. 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.

Please let me know if there's anything else I may do to assist. 

[SunsetRunner]

Would really love to see Kayaking added as an exercise. It's on Samsung Health and works great with my S9 but I dont want to have my phone on me on the water. Love my fitbit ionic but this app is a must. The technology is out there byes so make it happen !!!

[Tundrafox]

I discovered that just jogging with audio, gps, and run mode, battery life was very short. Most of my kayak legs are 2 to 10 hours. Battery seems to be the issue more.

[SunsetRunner]

Thanks for the info bud. I will probably stick with the Samsung health app. My trips are usually between 2 to 3 hours and I like to see my split times. I love my Ionic but Fitbit can easily add this exercise as the technology is already out there. Hopefully they roll one out for us as it's a popular activity. Cheers man and keep paddling !

[dodoegg]

• Garmin and apple have trackers. You need to work on this. 

[Peripatetic79]

It pretty embarrassing that the Samsung Health app lets you map and track kayaking but the Fitbit doesn't, given that it is so much more focused on tracking fitness.

[Hawaiiexerciser]

I have abandoned Fitbit for Polar. I outrigger paddle & there's a canoeing
option. Plus it still works, my ionic doesn't even turn on.

[SunsetRunner]

Yip and the fact the technology is there and they refuse to listen to
customers asking for it is why I will switch to Garmin. When this one craps
out im getting the Garmin. Better interface and more options

[mata]

2018??? And "Walk" "Run" and "Hike" are STILL the only options for logging with gps.

My 12 mile paddle shows up tracked on a map in Fitbit, but is logged as a hike. I can't edit Hike to anything else. The fitbit also logged the same activity as "Swimming". Maybe I don't know how to use the custom exercise log but it seems kind of lacking.

[SunsetRunner]

I gave up on fitbit and gave it to my son. Got tired of this bunch not
listening to what the consumers want. And these apps like kayaking have
been a basic tracking on Samsung health for years. I've gone to Garmin and
couldn't be happier with the leap in technology. Fitbits are getting left
behind and by the time they eventually listen it will be too late