Why I am keeping my ionic and returning my apple watch 3.

[soguilk]

My situation: Purchased both the Ionic and the apple watch 3 on Oct 1.

Lets be honest. Being an early adopter of the fitbit ionic has been the most agonizing and frustrating experience for me. There are a ton of bugs, took half a day to implement stuff (pandora, stava, update), applications that are not available at launch (fitbit pay - no chase, spo2 data, no calendar) and at least 1 year behind in apps availability compare to the apple watch 3. I feel like I am a tester for an open beta that is schedule to be release on November. Compare it to the seamless process of starting an apple watch 3, its like heaven and earth.

So why am I keeping the Ionic and returning the apple watch 3? Well, it has by far a better Hr monitor, sleep data info, better battery life (by a huge margin), and a heck-of-a lot of potential. However the two biggest reasons are listed below.

1st. Fitbit announced several months ago that "Fitbit co-founders CEO James Park and chief technology officer Eric Friedman will take $1 in salary." I believe that many of the employees that are staying with Fitbit are seriously passionate people who have a lot riding on Ionic. With passion and dedication, I believe that the ionic can truly shine in the future. This leads me to my second reason

2nd. The ionic has so much potential. I work in the medical field and being able to see spo2 data is used for many many forms of diseases. I am not overstating when I say that this has the potential to save lives. On top of that, It was recently announced that a partnership with a Dexcom (glucose monitoring company) also came about. Now it is up to you team of talented people to make this a truly remarkable product. keep at it guys.

(I really wish we have spotify on ionic and be able to control cellphone camera with the ionic)  - Already requested feature.

[SunsetRunner]

Very interesting, didn't knew the ionic had this sensor until reading your post.

Had to google.. 

The investor article came up: Fitbit and Dexcom to Develop Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Experience for People Living with D...

How it works to measure: credit to wikipedia article authors. (had to look up). 

[NellyG]

Interesting link @SunsetRunner (the Wikipedia one)

[SunsetRunner]

Put simply one is a smart watch with leanings towards fitness tracking, the other a fitness tracker with leanings towards being a smart watch. Take your pick based upon priorities. 

[SunsetRunner]

Can't choose.. actually.. already did.. 

[ConnieL429]

You make some valid points. I returned my Gear S3 for the Ionic. The Gear is a much more feature rich device for about $50 more and it actually is a great device.  That said, it's supposed to work well with all the Under Armour apps like MapMyFitness and such. I had a really hard time trying to get everything to sync accurately across apps and because of this, I could also not depend on using with Yes.Fit virtual races.  I had the added issue of not being able to compete with my Fitbit friends so I ended up wearing the small Fitbit Flex so I could. It all got to be a bit much. For as good as the Gear was, it was just a tad to big for me as well. It was comfortable however I just couldn't see sleeping with that bad boy strapped to my arm.  🙂  I will say though, it was a beast for battery life (assuming you aren't using the GPS for a long time.  There are pros and cons for both but in the end I elected to stay with the Fitbit ecosystem, as much for the app as the device itself. 

[SunsetRunner]

HRM is pretty horrendous to be fair to the Ionic. It's fine Fitbit saying it's their "most accurate" but it isn't. It's less accurate than my 2 year old Surge.

[shipo]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

HRM is pretty horrendous to be fair to the Ionic. It's fine Fitbit saying it's their "most accurate" but it isn't. It's less accurate than my 2 year old Surge.

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Interesting; my Ionic *seems* to be more accurate than my Surge.  That said, I'm only about 10 hours into wearing my Ionic and have yet to do a long run with it.

[soguilk]

My comparison was in relation to the apple watch 3 and the fitbit ionic. In one of my test runs, I ran with both watches. The apple watch 3 peaked at 180bpm (Can't see in the picture) with an avg of 153bpm while the peak on the ionic was only 163bpm and avg 149bpm. The run was roughly 1.1 miles at a pace of 11min/mile. I was consistent with my pace and did not sprint.

[bbarrera]

"In a word, it's uneven. On another run, it did a good job of keeping up with the Polar H10 as we kept up the higher intensity in the second half of the run. At the end the Ionic read a high of 182 against the Polar's 183, with averages of 166 bpm and 167 bpm respectively.  More concerning was the next run, where readings went totally AWOL. To start, heart rate was spiking on the Ionic even before we began running, 20-30 ppm higher than what the chest strap read, and that continued for a while at the start of the run before evening out."

source: https://www.wareable.com/smartwatches/fitbit-ionic-review

Ionic HRM: inconsistent.

and Apple Watch

"The sensor setup that's making that monitoring happen is near identical to the one on the Watch Series 2, so results should be the pretty much the same. Good and reliable, but not perfect. That statement could apply to a lot of wrist-based heart rate monitors though."

source: https://www.wareable.com/apple/apple-watch-series-3-review

AW HRM: inconsistent.

Honestly I think you'll find Ionic and AW3 are fairly evenly matched. The real difference is that if you want more accuracy, its possible to pair AW3 with Bluetooth heart rate monitor. All the Fitbit devices are closed (no BT chest straps) - and its impossible to import more accurate HR into Fitbit world.

[JimboSlice001]

Returned my Ionic today. Battery life isn’t that great, I workout 4-5 days a week. I was charging by day 3, 1 day over my Blaze, which lasted 2 days if I was lucky, even though it’s advertised as 5 days of battery life on the Blaze, right. 

Was not pleased at all being a “beta” tester for a rushed product with little to no benefit over my Blaze, for a whomping $300. Going to a series 3. I’ll give it a try, if I don’t like it I’ll return that too, and just go back to my Blaze or Alta. 

I just wanted a Fitness watch with modern apps, I felt neither a fitness improved watch, or a smart watch app feel. It does neither well. Now I’m curious about what the Series 3 offers, as I been a die hard Fitbit user until now.

All I really have to say is, Fitbit needs to stick to what it knows, Fitness. Remember why your customers bought a Fitbit in the first place.