Dynamic GPS on Charge 4

[Asnoeren]

hybrid gps is there

 https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1874#settings

Questions to the moderators ( @LizzyFitbit )

- i understand that when Glonass is ON it uses this additionally  and not instead of the other GPS network. That is why more battery consumption is advised. Can you confirm my assumption.

- low power mode will give lower accuracy of gps? ( but preserve battery)

 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity.

[Rich_Laue]

I'm not sure of the Question @Asnoeren 

You can now choose if you want to use the GPS on the Charge 4 or the GPS on the phone. Also on the Charge 4 you can choose GPS or GLONASS. 

There is no and/or it is only an or.

You can use the built in or the phones GPS. Not both.

[N8teGee]

@Rich_Laue In the help article it mentions the following.

GLONASS

For exercises with built-in GPS, this setting can shorten the time it takes for Charge 4 to find a GPS signal and enhance GPS performance. Note: Turning on this option can reduce battery life on your tracker.

It would appear that we will have the ability to choose between GPS or GLONASS with the latter having an impact on battery consumption. Hopefully this will solve some of the GPS connectivity issues I'm having in the UK. 

[Asnoeren]

@Rich_Laue the question is about c4 GPS. When selecting Glonass. Does it use both gps and Glonass or only Glonass. It's not documented.

[Asnoeren]

@N8teGee maybe it uses both like some phones do. That would explain higher battery usage?

[N8teGee · Accepted solution]

@Asnoeren Yes I would probably say you were right, it would seem a bit pointless using one or the other. They mention it improving accuracy, and from what I've read GLONASS on its own is slightly less accurate than GPS. So I'd lean to saying its using them combined, and as you've pointed out would explain the hit to the battery.

Hopefully a Moderator can clarify this? 

[Asnoeren]

@KateFitbit can u try to answer my 2 questions?

[t.parker]

@N8teGee my understanding is that GLONASS works only when you use built-in GPS and is optional in this particular mode. My watch also uses GLONASS as support, it is very common solution among GPS sports watches. I am not quite sure whether it will help solving GPS connectivity issues. On my watch, I never turn GLONASS on and watch has no issues EVER with acquiring connection (takes 1-2 seconds, also UK) and keeping it all time with great accuracy. If GPS in C4 cannot handle it I hardly believe GLONASS will make any significant difference. But I must admit, it is good to see Fitbit finally managed to deliver something (sort of) promised and requested by users and it didn't take next 5 years.

[yhw22]

It will normally take more than a minute to get connected to GPS. Yet to test with the new feature, GLONASS enabled, can anyone feedback it? Thank you.

[N8teGee]

I'm still waiting for the update myself. I've had to pair my C4 with another account on my tablet in hope that it will perform the "trickle" download. I've been using my Versa 2 day to day as the C4 was unusable for me in it's current state, I'm unwilling to switch to it again until the FW has been updated.

Despite that, I'm remaining optimistic that this will at least improve GPS connectivity. I agree with @t.parker, overall this seems like a decent update so credit to Fitbit if it delivers. I just hope this addresses the crashing of the exercise app bug, we can have as many nice new features as possible, but this bug renders the device as good as useless. 

[Asnoeren]

@yhw22 for me lock time is same with.glonass.approx 1 min

[N8teGee]

@Asnoeren How is the battery consumption with GLONASS? with the prior firmware it was around 20% per one hour of GPS usage, have you noticed much difference with GLONASS on? 

[Asnoeren]

Not yet..will watch that

[N8teGee]

Got my update today. 

Went for walk with it set to device GPS with GLONASS on, charged to 100%. The initial search for signal was very slow, maybe around two minutes, but once it got signal it was rock solid for my entire walk, in fact I did not see it lose connection once (I check often). Previously I'd see it connecting almost every time I looked down at it. So far for me this has made a huge improvement, although I will need to do some more tests before I make a full conclusion (walk a known route it struggled multiple times before).

As for battery my walk was 57 minutes, I went from 100% to 77%, so a loss of 23%. Prior to this 1 hour would usually cost around 19-20%, so it's really not as bad as I thought. 

[PnwCoddiwompler]

I just updated my Charge 4 today.  I'm encouraged that the device battery will be conserved by using my Android GPS sensors.  My question is, do I have to open my Android Fitbit app or does the Charge 4 device automatically connect with the phone GPS without the app running as well.

[Rich_Laue]

@PnwCoddiwompler while your fitbit app needs to be running, there are 2 parts to the fitbit app. The background that also handles the notifications and the user interface. 

Only the background part needs to be running and this starts with the power up of the phone. So no you do not need to open the Fitbit app dashboard. However with some phones, if the Fitbit app dashboard is running, it needs to be moved to the background. 

If my tracker doesn't get a GPS connection I restart the phone and long before the phone is usable, the GPS connects. 

[Rich_Laue]

@N8teGee I'll have to test this, I changed mine to GLONASS because I found it linked up faster. 

The reason I like using the built in is because it lasts a lot longer than the phone. 

My brother managed a test where users installed a custom app to monitor battery usage, any app that uses GPS will have the highest battery drain. 

I would expect it to be the same with the Charge 4. 

[bookbrowser56]

Id love to connect my phone GPS but don't know how.

I  wouldn't consider it, but the GPS on the Charge 4 is pathetically unreliable.