Charge 4 GPS

[Aceboogie1]

Looking over old posts about Charge 4 GPS connection failures going back to 2020, I can say nothing has been fixed. I'm a runner, and track my miles and mapping only if the GPS has a steady connection. I had a Charge 2 for years, before getting my Charge 4 as an upgrade. The Charge 2 was extremely built tough! GPS connected quickly, unlike the Charge 4 that takes anywhere from 20+ seconds or more to connect, even though my phone is in my hand. Sometimes it won't connect, and I'll have to sync just to get it to connect. Never had that issue with the Charge 2. I run 5ks to half marathons. Went for a few short runs the last 2 weeks, and I will say the Charge 4 is terrible. When finishing runs, I'll pause and finish my program on Charge 4, but realize every single time seeing "lost GPS connection message" on the screen that ruins everything. I'll sync to look at the map, and so many areas not being recorded or nothing at all. My phone carrier is Verizon, and their service is great throughout the area. It has nothing to do with tall buildings, trees, etc., as Fibit claim to be the issue. Never had that issue with my Charge 2, even in spotty cell coverage areas. Everything still recorded. My last half marathon runs with Charge 2 recorded everything, and it was accurate time wise with the events official clock times when I finished the runs. I have big runs coming up next month, and considering looking for another Charge 2 to wear that's way more reliable for tracking, along with excellent Bluetooth connection. I also see the Charge 5 is having the same issue. Take a look at my run this morning, and notice the chunk missing with lost GPS connection? 

[Rich_Laue]

Hi @Aceboogie1 with the Charge 2 you where using the phones GPS. 

With the Charge 4 we vocab choose to use the built in GPS or the phones GPS. 

If using the built in, we have the choice of GPS or GLONAS. I always found that GLONAS worked best for me. 

[Rufous44]

There is a serious bug in the firmware where if the GPS is lost then it never tries to fix the GPS signal. Another bug that Fitbit seems not interested to fix.

[tompabes]

Hi Aceboogie... regardless of if the Charge 4 has any problems or not, there are a couple of things to clarify.

First of all, the carrier you're on doesn't matter. Or, well... it *could* because your phone could potentially use BTS (carrier antennas) localization to get a very coarse location when it cannot get the GPS signal. But, apart from that, GPS signal comes from satellites and does not require you to have any phone signal nor any internet connection.

Then there's a fundamental difference between the Charge 2 and Charge 4: the former did not have an integrated GPS receiver. Meaning that it simply asked the position to the phone. Fitbit calls this "Connected GPS".

Charge 4 has an integrated GPS. Now, for obvious reasons, the GPS in a phone is more precise than the GPS in the tracker. First of all you have more space in a phone to put more powerful antennas, and you can also use more power as you have a bigger battery available. Second, as I was saying before, the phone can integrate position data, if needed, with other sources like BTS antennas or detected wifi networks nearby, and get a coarse position when there's no GPS signal.

The Charge 4 has three different settings for GPS: only connected GPS (i.e. it does not use the integrated GPS and relies only on the phone, thus saving battery as well as the GPS on such a small battery can drain it very fast), only integrated GPS and automatic (uses the phone if available and switches to integrated if there's no phone available).

I suggest that you check that you're using either automatic or connected GPS (or, just to be sure, set it explicitly to connected GPS). This way, you're putting yourself in the same situation of the Charge 2 and using the phone's location tracking.

If you're running with your phone, there's no need to use the integrated GPS which is of course less accurate and drains the battery.

My guess is that currently you're set to use the tracker's GPS only.

[Jeperet]

Same thing here! Lately every workout I do using the GPS (running, bike and even walking!) I have the same issue. It randomly stops tracking and I have inaccurate data. So, completely useless band for me. I read similar issues with the Fitbit charge 5.
I’d stay away from Fitbit if you are a runner that wants to track your runs. My wife has a Garmin forerunner and she has 0 issues. I’m going to get one for me soon. 

[Rich_Laue]

With the Charge 4 having 3 options with Satilite location, it would be helpful to include which of the 3 modes being used. 

For me GLONASS is the most reliable.