GPS distance totally wrong on Charge 3

[BertilDator]

Was doing cross country skiing, and set activity to "run" (as there is very limited activity list). Had phone connected, and got perfect GPS route on Fitbit activity. However, all the splits are way off. Total distance in Fitbit shows 4.8km while real distance was 7.5 km (I know the route, and even double checked via ontegomap.com).

How can Fitbit calculate distance so wrongly even though the GPS route is perfect on the activity? I repeat, the tracked route is 100% correct on the Fitbit activity in question, so there is no disconnections, or trees, or anything between the phone and GPS satellite, nor between phone and Charge 3.

Is Fitbit using GPS route for distance calculation when assisted GPS is enabled during "Run" activity, or does it STILL use stride length?

Should I use "Biking" activity for XC skiing to get accurate distance based on the GPS route?

[Mickael51]

And one more new owner here with the same issue. 

Based on what I can see here, support is awful and no communication regarding a possible fix, already thinking about returning my charge 3.

Pretty shameful of Fitbit 😕 

[tom43614]

My problem is with GPS on for bicycling.

If I could, I would return my Fitbit Charge 3, but it was purchased in January 2019. Good luck.

I certainly WILL NOT be looking at the Charge 4!!!!

[Leeeeeem]

I spent a long time on the support chat... they basically denied any knowledge of the issue, even after I shared this forum, they just pretended my device had a unique issue or that it was an issue with my phone's GPS (despite me explaining that my Strava uses gps and is about 99% accurate) . They also refused to refund since I bought in December 2019. 

The customer service at Fitbit is genuinely shocking. Just hope anyone else looking to buy one reads reviews first and stays away from Fitbit. 

[Nneicho]

Take it further. I emailed the  ceo, you can get the email address on google. Or you request they escalate  the issue to a higher level.

They have a major issue and  alot of people have managed to get a refund because legally you are entitled to it. Look up the 'fit for purpose' legal rules with regards to electronic purchases. As i stipulated that the watch was not fit for use as its meant to track runs, i gave examples of my phone app 'map my run' to prove that my phone was tracking correct and it was the watch that was the issue. And i sent them screen shots of forums etc to prove that this was an issue. 

So if you keep going you will get  your refund. So.dont give.up.

Apologies for any  spelling  and grammer errors, its been a long day.

[tom43614]

Thank you Nneicho.

I have compared my Fitbit Charge 3 with Map My Ride and USA Topo on Android phone to verify that Fitbit is wrong by at least 1/10 of a mile or more per mile (sometimes off by 2 miles in 8 mile ride).

These are flat and straight bicycle rides on a Rails-to-Trails paved path.

I will pursue a refund.

[mfergo]

I too can confirm that using the My Track app on my phone o mesure the same walk with the same GPS produces a right answer when fitbit with the same gps readings get it so wrong. I can also confirm that it occurs equally with my Charge 3 and with a Versa 2.

What I don't understand is why the Fitbit app sends the gps data to the watch/band anyway (if it does). For this measurement, all the data originates in the phone unless the gps dips out, in which case it uses the step count to interpolate.

For me its academic now. I've bought a Polar Ignite which measures the distance accurately with its own GPS and in passing doesn't have any problems with sync.

 I would certainly not recommend anyone to buy a charge 4 until Fitbit have demonstrated that they can calculate the length of a GPS track reliably and accurately.

[Sandles]

**ahem**. Just found this topic after 4 weeks of frustration trying to run the same 5 and 10km routes, and 50 Park runs I've done over the years with Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro and Galaxy Watch among others with Samsung Galaxy S8, S9 and Note 10+. All of which were consistent with distances and segments mapped to Strava...

Felt like a change and they're running out Charge 3 so jumped at it. Each run has been demoralising, apparently I'm running 30secs per km slower, but fact is it's saying the same routes are at least 500m less...

Regret giving Fitbit a go. Only thing I'm wandering now is firmware 1.84 seems the latest but mine is 1.63 and update option isn't available for me yet... Sounds a bit optimistic if there's any chance that will make a difference. 

No charge 4 thanks fitbit. Back to the little Gear Fit 2 Pro until it's EOL. 

[mfergo]

This says that 1.84.5 is only for one subset of users so 1.63.5 is the
current version.

[mfergo]

Sorry it is this:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/New-2020-firmware-update-for-fitbit-charge-3-version-1-84-5...

[Sascha_S]

I have exactly the same issue, even with the new 1.8x firmware - ran 22 km this morning (tracked via Google Maps and my Garmin watch), Fitbit shows 29.5 km (with connected GPS) - used Fitbit connected GPS very often in the past, when it was quite accurate; but at the moment it is completely unusable

[SunsetRunner]

Having the same issue too! Normally get on quite well with my Fitbits, but I'm not liking this issue. 

 This should be a 3mile run! That's a massive loss in distance....

[Rafanapa]

Same issue with my charge 2. Ran to and from the park for other exercise, and the map was synced to Strava. Strava and Google maps said 1.25 km. Fitbit, with the same gps route, days 0.98!?!

Shame for them, as I was going to upgrade to a newer model as I'm running more seriously. Suunto or Garmin it is!

[SunsetRunner]

I know what you mean. I've gotten on well with Fitbit over the years. Seeing lots of people having the same issues makes me wonder. I'm not sure I'll be looking at Fitbit for my next tracker, which is a real shame

[megapool]

Same here!

It worked fine when my Charge 3 was new!!!

Now compared to my old runs, it measures 20% less on the same track. The FitBit support has no clue how their own product works... I was told to start the tracking simultaneously in the Mobile tracking AND on my Charge 3 to make the GPS more accurate.... ridiculous.

I will do my best to make my colleagues write an article about this at Engadget or Tech crunch.  FitBit is a premium product with a low quality, and treating loyal customers like idiots. 

[Rafanapa]

I did some debugging myself, explaining what numbers I was seeing. The
response I got was that apps are different and calculate distance
differently. The fact that every other app said one thing and Fitbit said
another didn't seem to be considered an issue.

Off topic, they also then closed the support ticket before I had a chance
to respond. I actually run a support team for a software company, and
that's far too presumptuous imho. Professionally, I was not impressed.

Anyway, rather than get a charge 4 as I had planned, I've now flipped and
bought a Garmin. Shame for Fitbit, as I was looking at other products of
theirs for my family, and am now out of their ecosystem.

[leftyx]

I have the same issue - FitBit Charge 3 is inaccurately (and inconsistently) tracing activity distance. 

I have been running the same loop for the past ~10 days and noticed today I had to run significantly further for the FitBit to indicate 5kms, note this is the *same* run with the *same* fitbit and using connected GPS to the *same* phone with the *same* settings (according to FitBit this was my slowest run ever).

I exported the activity as a .tcx file from the FitBit app and loaded into GPS Track Editor - it calculates the distance *from the same data* as 5.80km. I removed all the measurement points after the point I use to indicate 5km, and imported as .gpx file into Strava (it is my fastest run ever!).

It seems that the data is there, but the route / distance calculation is incorrect - both on the FitBit tracker (during the run) and the FitBit app (saved activity). 

[mfergo]

For what it's worth, I did a check one time where I switched off bluetooth during the walk for about 500m and then put it back on again. The route shown after had a straight line section for the bit where the bluetooth was off. What this seems to indicate is that the distance calculation is done in the band/watch and not in the phone - but it is still a software issue and still reflects the fact that Fitbit can't be bothered to sort it.

If Google succeed in their takeover, I don't have nuch hope of a change in practice since Google have roughly the same approach to faults in their own software.

[larsll]

What I have done to check this issue is to export the data from Fitbit in TCX format. This is an XML file, which contains both position, altitude as well as a calculated distance. I have simply removed all calculated distances (<DistanceMeters>...</DistanceMeters> tags) inside and uploaded into Strava. 

The result for my small evening walk was:

• Fitbit; 1.6 km
• Google Maps measured distance; 1.8 km.
• Export stripped from distance, imported to Strava; 2.0 km.

The issue seems related to smoothening out of GPS inaccuracies. Looking at the zoomed in picture it is clearly jagged; hence the data loaded into Strava shows  a distance that is high whilst Fitbit somehow tries to compensate, and ends up being too low. 

[Procter101]

Thanks for this and hope you find it helpful. I have crazy calculations.
100 foot walk to bathroom computes as 1000 foot or. 19 of a mile.
Next time 5488 steps is. 86 of a mile

[DaleCooper]

What’s really bizarre for me is that while nearly everyone else in this thread reports theirs consistently undercounting distance, mine is consistently over counting. It always shows my distance as 5-10% higher than other GPS enabled apps and hand measuring on Google Maps.