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

[Tonyciaf]

I think mine is going back.  I had it a week and am unhappy with the inconsistent sleep graphs, lack of tech support, inability to track spinning sessions, poor design and general buggy-ness. 

[Kierownik]

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@USAF-Larrywrote:

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@Kierownikwrote:

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On top of that the Fitbit app drains 0.5% of my battery per hour for absolutely no reason (all day sync - off, always connected - off, live data - off) even tho I'm only syncing once a day. 

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That is interesting...  1/2 of 1% per hour comes out to something like 12% over 24 hours. That isn't a lot of battery drain compared to other phone features, such as Bluetooth, the phone OS, etc.. At that rate, it would take 8 days for the Fitbit app to drain the battery.

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Yes, you're right but... since I swapped my Gear S3 with Fitbit Ionic, the battery life of my phone dropped dramatically. It would normally drop about 5% over 8hrs at night when I'm not touching it, now it drops 15% or more. Coincidence? Don't think so. And I tried everything, rebooting, clearing catche etc etc.

[Kierownik]

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@USAF-Larrywrote:

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@Kierownikwrote:

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On top of that the Fitbit app drains 0.5% of my battery per hour for absolutely no reason (all day sync - off, always connected - off, live data - off) even tho I'm only syncing once a day. 

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That is interesting...  1/2 of 1% per hour comes out to something like 12% over 24 hours. That isn't a lot of battery drain compared to other phone features, such as Bluetooth, the phone OS, etc.. At that rate, it would take 8 days for the Fitbit app to drain the battery.

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Yes, you're right but... since I swapped my Gear S3 with Fitbit Ionic, the battery life of my phone dropped dramatically. It would normally drop about 5% over 8hrs at night when I'm not touching it, now it drops 15% or more. Coincidence? Don't think so. And I tried everything, rebooting, clearing catche etc etc.

[ConnieL429]

Crazy-Fritter

I have both Ionic and Gear S3 still. Each has its issues. Gear since flawlessly. My only concern is accuracy. Steps are fairly different between the two and Gear doesn't seem to record steps well. I don't know which I want as my primary. 🤔😒

[Kierownik]

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@ConnieL429wrote:

Crazy-Fritter

I have both Ionic and Gear S3 still. Each has its issues. Gear since flawlessly. My only concern is accuracy. Steps are fairly different between the two and Gear doesn't seem to record steps well. I don't know which I want as my primary. 🤔😒

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Yeah Gear S3 does miss some steps but then again Ionic does count steps when sometimes it shouldn't do. However, surprisingly when I had my gear along with charge hr, gear was showing more steps than charge and I was wearing charge on my dominant hand.

My only issue with Gear was the all day heart rate monitoring, which was basically useless unless I was not moving at all. 

[ConnieL429]

Darn auto correct. I meant to say Gear doesn't seem to do well with floors which Fitbit does. 😯 I keep going back and forth. I'll probably wait and see what this recent Fitbit firmware update does for it - if anything 

[nitenurse]

@ConnieL429 get your money back if you can, mine stopped working correctly conviently after the 45 day return window, the only thing fit bit support does is send a link for trounle shooting or they will give the generic " we are working on it but have no idea when it will be resoloved" 

[Ralendil]

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@ConnieL429wrote:

Darn auto correct. I meant to say Gear doesn't seem to do well with floors which Fitbit does. 😯 I keep going back and forth. I'll probably wait and see what this recent Fitbit firmware update does for it - if anything 

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Sorry to say it... But no

Try to get a lift and you will see your stairs climbed increasing a lot.

Only watch that i have seen counting them correctly is the garmin watches. At least you have to walk to get stairs increase

[Davem10]

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@Ralendilwrote:

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@ConnieL429wrote:

Darn auto correct. I meant to say Gear doesn't seem to do well with floors which Fitbit does. 😯 I keep going back and forth. I'll probably wait and see what this recent Fitbit firmware update does for it - if anything 

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Sorry to say it... But no

Try to get a lift and you will see your stairs climbed increasing a lot.

Only watch that i have seen counting them correctly is the garmin watches. At least you have to walk to get stairs increase

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My floor count is never right with the Ionic. Some floors missed and some added. Pretty hit and miss really. 

[Ralendil]

Check the ionic notice.

It says that every 3 meters of elevation the watch count one stair.

It is not related to the fact you walk or climb stair.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1141#floors

Btw, they say physically... But as I say, even if you don't walk, the ionic count floors

[SunsetRunner]

As a programmer, I looked into Fitbit Studio and SDK and it's so poor that I'm not surprised there's only handful of apps. It's been a few months since the release ( it's almost half a year ) and I may understand why it's not raining apps. First, the Fitbit Studio ( right now, when I write this post ) doesn't open at all. I managed to open it before. Now the IDE ( which is only available online ) seems to be dead ( shows the message "now arriving, Fitbit Studio is loading" ). I went through API and comparing to other hardware it's the poorest choice of functionalities exposed to the developers. Still, I wanted to see what I could do with it but apparently, it's not possible when Fitbit Studio website is down. No offline toolchain, API suitable mostly for making watch faces. I'm not saying to support GLES3 or Vulkan, as this hardware isn't even near those technologies but at least give something reasonable to work with to the developers. At least, the offline IDE and toolchain.

To test Fitbit Pay in the UK I opened the account in this doggy bank in the UK that nobody ever heard about - Starling. Today I received the card and this time everything went well and I registered it with the Fitbit wallet. Tomorrow I will try to use it. I'd rather have working known banks in the UK like HSBC, TSB, Lloyds, Natwest, Nationwide, Halifax or Citibank but sadly, looks like big players don't want to play with Fitbit. Since I put only a few pounds there even if suddenly the Starling cease to exist I won't cry. I just want to test every aspect of this device.

Still, I'm not giving up yet. As a positive thing, the notifications work really well, the silent alarm wakes me up with no problem, which is a very useful thing. Battery life is amazing ( no surprise here but still it's something worth noting ). There are few nice watch faces ( I like the one looking like Pip-Boy from Fallout, pity it's unlicensed hence it can't use original graphics ). The watch is easy to use even without any instruction. If the price was lower ( let's say 150 pounds ) it would be a great middle-range mix of the smart watch and fitness tracker with decent visuals and few neat options. I think users expect more mostly because of that price.

[ScrappyDad]

Wanting more of a runner's watch, I purchased a competitors M430. About $100 cheaper. I've been much happier with it for the last two weeks I've been using it. The HR is much more accurate and no need to mess with trying to get the watch positioned optimally on my wrist, which is kind of an absurd request when you think about it. Also, so far the GPS seems a lot more accurate. Regarding the Ionic, it looks a lot nicer style-wise and as far as display, but I'm all about function over looks. If the thing isn't accurate for HR and distance, how can it help me with my running?

I kind of doubt they'll be able to address these issues in software, but I'll give new firmware updates a try ( I see there's an update available, so will give it a try). And, I'd be willing to test out an Ionic 2 if it's offered as a replacement... I won't be shelling out any more $$. For now, the Ionic is going to my partner who mainly walks for exercise.

[Davem10]

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@Ralendilwrote:

Check the ionic notice.

It says that every 3 meters of elevation the watch count one stair.

It is not related to the fact you walk or climb stair.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1141#floors

Btw, they say physically... But as I say, even if you don't walk, the ionic count floors

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Yes I have read all of the help articles etc. My stairs at home has an elevation of approx. 15 feet. Most of the time it will record them but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes floors are added even when I haven't been upstairs. I have read that this is due to the way the internal barometer records changes in air pressure etc. It all adds up to a rarely accurate count, but I think that is just a limitation of the technology which is common with all trackers, not unique to the Ionic. 

One thing that could worsen the count with Ionic is water under the strap (where the barometer reader is) I read that moisture sweat etc on other non-waterproof trackers can effect the barometer, so this must be exacerbated with the Ionic.

[Ralendil]

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@Davem10wrote:

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@Ralendilwrote:

Check the ionic notice.

It says that every 3 meters of elevation the watch count one stair.

It is not related to the fact you walk or climb stair.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1141#floors

Btw, they say physically... But as I say, even if you don't walk, the ionic count floors

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Yes I have read all of the help articles etc. My stairs at home has an elevation of approx. 15 feet. Most of the time it will record them but sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes floors are added even when I haven't been upstairs. I have read that this is due to the way the internal barometer records changes in air pressure etc. It all adds up to a rarely accurate count, but I think that is just a limitation of the technology which is common with all trackers, not unique to the Ionic. 

One thing that could worsen the count with Ionic is water under the strap (where the barometer reader is) I read that moisture sweat etc on other non-waterproof trackers can effect the barometer, so this must be exacerbated with the Ionic.

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Can't test for the water disturbing the barometer

However, i can say that the ionic count floors when you get a lift.

At contrary, the garmin fenix 5 don't

I actually live in a city built with a lot of heigh difference. And I work in a building with 4 floors with a lift to acess to them.

The difference is huge between the 2 watches. 

Since I have got the garmin, I am pushed to make exercises. i usually get 18 to 35 climbed or stepped out.

This was the number of floors climbed I had with the ionic when I was not doing exercise.

Cause Ionic just record every 3 meters elevation, not only if you walk.

This mean, taking a lift, driving a car, using an elevator lead to an increase of floors climbed.

I have even tried wearing both watches, one on each wrist. The difference showed quickly...

[ConnieL429]

I've decided to put my Ionic aside for now. I'm currently wearing my Gear S3.  The last week or so, my HR on Ionic had been unusually high. I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. Today I put on my Gear and my HR is right where I expect it to be.  I don't understand what changed but until I see some more updates and fixes, I have to go with accuracy.  I'm not giving up on my Ionic but I'm not happy with where it's at right now so I'll just wait till Fitbit gets it together while I'm enjoying my Gear S3

[SantiR]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your continued participation on this thread about your experiences with Fitbit Ionic. I'm sure a lot of users will find this interesting. 

For the moment, I haven't had any trouble with mine. So far so good, features working great. Only problem is that my mobile device is not a supported one, but that is not my Ionic's fault. Loving this device everyday.

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If you happen to encounter any trouble with Fitbit Ionic feel free to check the Ionic Board for specific threads for answers. If you don't find any, please create a new original one.

Also, have you checked the Feature Suggestions Board? If you have any ideas for future features you would like to see on your Fitbit device, this is the best place for asking. Feel free to search for existing feature suggestions or add you own original one!

See you around! 

[ronjonb]

I brought my spouse a Huawei Smart Watch 2 yesterday and I'm depressed that it is so much better than my Iconic.  Maybe the fitness side isn't as good can't tell at this point, but it pairs to our phones easily, connects to WiFi without any issues, you can answer your calls on the watch, reply to texts or FB messenger by typing or voice, you use most music services like Spotify etc, android pay works with most banks, you can have multiple clock faces and that is just a few of the things we noticed.




I think I'm going to ditch my Fitbit, sad to say that as I had high hopes for it but it isn't delivering half the things I wanted. Right now it is the same my Surge with the added bonus that I can have music if I can be bothered to transfer it.




Regards, Ron Banerjee

[shuffler]

I think my Ionic is brilliant and so what if it`s a beta product, I wait with anticipation to see how the Ionic develops.

[AlexSt]

You can track spinning, you just have to get “spinning” as an exercise on the watch and remove one of the preloaded exercises, e.g. swimming. 

[Binky1]

So how do you take an exericse off and add one.....I'd like to add rowing.