What do you Think of your Ionic so Far?

[gibbyhome]

So I just ordered the new Ionic and it should arrive on Friday and was wondering about the ones that have received their Ionic so far what do you think?

• is it very heavy or light ?
• is it to big ? 
• what to you think about transferring music?
• how is the battery life? 
• is the screen bright enough?
• do it stay on long enough to read your text messages and can you respond to texts from the watch.
• how is the accuracy 
• I'm sure I will have a lot to say once I get mine in, i'm going from my Microsoft Band 2 that I loved and will miss dearly

[RazorRay]

I've had mine for a week. So far I've struggled with synch issues, gps issues, heart rate monitoring issues and auto detect issues. And despite all of this, I'm still willing to keep giving it time, only because the support folks at Fitbit have been great. I just did a firmware update, so hoping that this will settle everything down. It's a beautiful piece of kit and when it's working well, it's awesome. But I must say I'm getting tired of rebooting it, rebooting my phone, turning Bluetooth on and off and deleting and re-installing the App. It shouldn't be this hard for a pricey piece of cutting edge tech.

[Binky1]

Hi

I absolutely LOVE my Ionic. Staff was great and I have it synched to my i phone and my mac mini. I just have to remember to turn off the blue tooth when I am synching one device or the other.

I have been using the LoseIt App and so it the Ionic and the LoseIt app talk to one another and I can know how many calories to take in vs. my exercise. I've lost 5 pounds.

It has been great with swimming and I love the workout modes.

Keep working with it.

Lacy

[USAF-Larry]

Great to hear, @Binky1!  I, too, love my Ionic.

[Crazy-Fritter]

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@RazorRaywrote:
I've had mine for a week. So far I've struggled with synch issues, gps issues, heart rate monitoring issues and auto detect issues. And despite all of this, I'm still willing to keep giving it time, only because the support folks at Fitbit have been great. I just did a firmware update, so hoping that this will settle everything down. It's a beautiful piece of kit and when it's working well, it's awesome. But I must say I'm getting tired of rebooting it, rebooting my phone, turning Bluetooth on and off and deleting and re-installing the App. It shouldn't be this hard for a pricey piece of cutting edge tech.

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I agree Fitbits customer support is some of the best I've ever dealt with, and they are amazing for what they have to deal with.....they are what has kept me around 😉 The mods here are also amazing, they do a great job of keeping us informed and helping in every way possible, even when they're stuck in the middle 😋👍 

The real problem is on the tech side, I think Fitbit's made some bad choices with manufacturing and software which has really hurt them. I really hope they can turn it around 👍 

But if I were you RazorRay, I'd return the Ionic for now and get yourself something to tide you over until we see where Fitbit's heading. I'm hoping to pick another Fitbit up eventually, but that's when they actually make something with built-in GPS that's truly worth picking up 😋

[NHMike]

Ive had mine for about a week.  I purchased a different band for it via Amazon after reading through reviews there.  So far, I've had no issues with it other than failed GPS connection for a couple of days which I've attributed to weather since that issue no longer occurs.  The functionality is all there for me.  No app problems, very responsive UI, no sync problems via my iPhone, firmware update via wifi was very quick, GPS distance when biking seems to closely match the distance shown on my iPhone app.  All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase.

[FitEmYao]

I'm enjoying mine a lot! it sync's with my iphone instantly, gets connected
with GPS within 1 minute, and automatically uploads all my runs to Strava.
Heart rate monitor works flawlessly, as I constantly check the readout from
my treadmill.

I have no major issues with my Ionic except GPS connection gets cut when I
switch to other modes. So when I'm connected, I don't touch other functions
anymore unless I'm willing (or have time) to reconnect which takes about a
minute.

I also hope that the summary readout of my run can be viewed again whenever
I need to. The reason is I always share the "run summary display" over
social media via taking a photo of it with my phone. And since I don't need
my phone now when I run outdoors, it takes a while before I can get access
to my phone, and all the while, I'm unable to switch screens for fear of
losing the display. Which also means I can't view the time.

Other than that I love my Fitbit ionic and I look forward to future updates
that will improve the watch further.

Emerson

[byankster]

I'm really itching to get an Ionic. I currently have a Charge 2 and I have been hanging out in the community forums for the last couple weeks.  I missed the sale around Christmas and I can't pull the trigger right now when it was just on sale (that I missed).  Can't wait till price drops again. 🙂

[Heather-S]

Really loving my FitBit Ionic and I left a very positive review on Amazon.  I love the big, bold screen.  It's much better than I anticipated compared to my Blaze.  And I didn't think I'd enjoy showering or swimming with my FitBit, but I have to say I really love it.  I went to the pool last weekend (yay for it being summer in South Florida already) and was very glad I didn't have to take off my Ionic when I wanted to take a dip in the pool.

I've had no issues at all and I'm truly loving it!

[lornrocks]

I've had mine since launch and I'm not super impressed. It needs wifi for half of the apps to work but it won't connect to wifi almost ever. Weather requires me to sync with my phone which defeats the purpose, the app selection is mediocre, raise to turn on works only sometimes and I find at times steps and heart rate are not accurate. Additionally I can only use the watch to control music playing from Apple music or the podcast app, not other apps lie 8 tracks. On my Blaze, I could start, pause and skip tracks for whatever media my phone was playing. The battery life lasts about five days but only if notifications are turned off and I don't use features besides step tracking and the alarms/timer. For how much it cost, I figured it would be an improvement on the Blaze but it's not. The only reason I still have it is because I've been told the third party app store will improve things, but most the apps are useless. Plus, I can't even trigger the camera shutter, something almost all smart watches can do. Sort of disappointing. Unless something changes in the next few months I will probably get a different device. 

[SunsetRunner]

Not much to say yet. Got mine yesterday shopping in the duty-free area. At the moment I have experienced syncing problems. It's just ridiculous. Before I had the same problems with Charge 2. Looks like syncing is an ongoing issue in Fitbit world ( slow and very often not working at all ). With Charge 2 my HR was not being read at all on many occasions. Ionic seems to be better. I've seen "two dashes" once for short while. Not sure yet about accuracy. For sure Charge 2 was far from being accurate. I don't expect miracles here either. What pissed me most was not working Fitbit Pay in the UK. One of the first features I wanted to configure was a contactless payment system ( I should have done some reading earlier but didn't even expect myself to make a purchase ). Oh, what a disappointment when I found it supports two banks I have never heard of and that's it. I know Fitbit is US orientated company and anything UK related is a second category issue for Fitbit but come on. Advertising a feature which is not there is a lawful reason to return the device. Today I'm planning to test it in the pool and I'm really hoping it is as waterproof as advertised. So far it's a bit of disappointment but I will give it a chance. It feels quite comfortable to wear ( lightweight ) although I may need to look for an alternative strap ( I just hate straps Fitbits come with, I replaced the Charge 2 wristband in the Charge 2 for the very same reason ). Not many apps there yet and it looks like the device is quite underpowered so I don't expect much. I mostly want the swimming tracking working, clock faces ( finally I can select one which actually shows only what is relevant for me, Charge 2 was very poor in that aspect ), setting alarm on the watch is a good thing ( I like silent, only-vibration alarm, wakes me up easily, doesn't wake up my wife ). Yet still, I need to check the Coach app ( I started using Coach app recently and it's yet another reason I bought Ionic ). I believe apps like Spotify won't appear anytime soon if at all so the music feature is no importance to me. Considering some sort of partnership between PureGym and the Fitbit in the UK ( I've seen some FB notifications in my feed and ads in the gym ) I would be very careful how the device is advertised here. False advertising isn't a good way of approaching the market ( to clarify, I mean here mostly Fitbit Pay which may lure new customers as contactless payments made with phones and watches are incredibly popular here ).

[SunsetRunner]

I just tried to use it in the swimming pool and hurray! It is waterproof! I didn't turn on tracking the swimming activity. It didn't detect it on its own but it might be I'm not such a great swimmer and my swimming is more like trying not to drown 😄 So HR monitor was running all the time but it was absolutely unreliable. It was showing mostly 60-70, the highest BPM was around 90 - rather very incorrect. Also, somehow it switched screen waking off. I've seen that before in other devices that touch screen may receive touch events while being in the water. For example, try to sprinkle little of water on your phone screen ( not so much to actually damage it 😄 ) and see how erratic it's going to behave. Maybe it would help to cut off touch events on demand ( option in settings would be perfect ).

[nitenurse]

It was great the first 2 months then the ionic stopped syncing correctly to challenges. You get zero support from fitbit. THey are aware of the problem but are doing nothing to correct the issue. Save your money 

[nitenurse]

my ionic will not sync correctly to challenges, i spoke with fitbit support many times and no resolution. no wonder stock prices are dropping , fitbit takes your money and runs 

[Davem10]

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@SunsetRunnerwrote:

I just tried to use it in the swimming pool and hurray! It is waterproof! I didn't turn on tracking the swimming activity. It didn't detect it on its own but it might be I'm not such a great swimmer and my swimming is more like trying not to drown 😄 So HR monitor was running all the time but it was absolutely unreliable. It was showing mostly 60-70, the highest BPM was around 90 - rather very incorrect. Also, somehow it switched screen waking off. I've seen that before in other devices that touch screen may receive touch events while being in the water. For example, try to sprinkle little of water on your phone screen ( not so much to actually damage it 😄 ) and see how erratic it's going to behave. Maybe it would help to cut off touch events on demand ( option in settings would be perfect ).

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That is one thing that drives me mad about the Ionic. It is water proof but has a touch screen which you cannot lock, which means water can send it crazy, either swimming or showering (especially showering). It is really annoying to have a shower only to discover a few hours later that notifications have been switched off and screen awake has been set to manual, all due to the water.

I would suggest Fitbit introduce a manual lock option by holding down the left and top right buttons for two seconds to activate or deactivate the touch screen. There is a vote here to introduce a lock feature: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Feature-Suggestions/Lock-Touchscreen-to-Clockface/idi-p/716414/page/35#comments But it seems to have been 'under consideration' for three years, so not holding my breath!

[DamoStraya]

Bit disappointed really. Same price as an apple watch with few of the features. Like said before, I feel like I've paid a lot of money to beta test this. Tried to load my credit card on it only to find out there's a small handful of banks that are supported in Australia. Some of the biggest ones are omitted.

[nitenurse]

i wouldnt even attempt to use a credit card with it, they cant or wont resolve the sync issues and cant imagine the credit card would work. Im out 300.00 but i will warn everyone about fitbit and their practices 

[SunsetRunner]

Still having problema with syncing. Being waterproof is not enough considering other major issues staying unresolved. My HR is off usually around 30bpm during exercise as I checked this morning in the gym which brings no improvement over Charge 2 whatsoever. But what made me regret the purchase was seeing today in the store Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro for £209. It is less than I paid for Ionic and featurewise it is actually more ( including being waterproof ). I have been with Fitbit for almost a year and this is my very first fitness tracker but I cannot understand the politics and strategy the company follows. Releasing unfinished product and charging in some cases more than competitors shows that quality isn't the main focus of Fitbit. I forgot to add that bluetooth connection very often breaks which doesn't happen to Charge 2. I wanted to save £10 and looks like I wasted lot more than that. I tried coach app too and wasn't impressed with it. Overall, it feels like larger Charge 2 with color display and costing twice as much.

[thedude1]

Well, I have had min roughly 15 minutes. It wont charge out of the box. I have tried the wall and my PC.

I likely won't have it 8 hours before it goes back.

pretty disappointed.

[thedude1]

came back to say i gave it one more try and it started charging. it is currently updating.

[Davem10]

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@SunsetRunnerwrote:

Still having problema with syncing. Being waterproof is not enough considering other major issues staying unresolved. My HR is off usually around 30bpm during exercise as I checked this morning in the gym which brings no improvement over Charge 2 whatsoever. But what made me regret the purchase was seeing today in the store Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro for £209. It is less than I paid for Ionic and featurewise it is actually more ( including being waterproof ). I have been with Fitbit for almost a year and this is my very first fitness tracker but I cannot understand the politics and strategy the company follows. Releasing unfinished product and charging in some cases more than competitors shows that quality isn't the main focus of Fitbit. I forgot to add that bluetooth connection very often breaks which doesn't happen to Charge 2. I wanted to save £10 and looks like I wasted lot more than that. I tried coach app too and wasn't impressed with it. Overall, it feels like larger Charge 2 with color display and costing twice as much.

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I have seen some very bad reviews for the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro. So you might still be better off with the Ionic.