How to track bike with my Charge 2

[Mimiruth]

how does one keep track of biking exercise?

Moderator edit: subject updated for clarity

[Rich_Laue]

In theory @HeatherSaldana it is not counting steps but counting the bouncing of the handlebars as the bike bounces over.holes and bumps. 

Some people want bike time converted to the equivalent steos, some want all steos removed. Bith have been suggested, with the we want steps recorded in currently in a very heated conversation and upset tyat it hasn't been added. When i pointed out this, their response was tgen make it optional. This however is unfair for you and me.

Personally I'm on your side of thr fence.

[Andalucia]

I chose the Charge 2 because when I did the quiz and explained that I did swimming and biking, I thought I would end up with a waterproof fitbit that also tracked biking. No, today I rode for seven miles (one hour) and it tracked 28 minutes. What's the point of having one if it's that inaccurate?

[HeatherSaldana]

I had that issue too but I remembered I didn't have my Fitbit on data on
wifi and my wifi reached about a mile diameter.

[LZeeW]

@Andalucia  The Charge 2 is not waterproof and should not be worn swimming.  It is described as being water and sweat resistant -- the instructions go so far as to say do not wear it in the shower.

[Amy1015]

Whenever my Fitbit hasn't worked properly for me, it is because of something I didn't do, not the Fitbit itself. I keep the Fitbit app open on my phone, Bluetooth on, sync on because if I don't, sometimes it all doesn't get recorded, bike mode on and the little cell phone icon is showing with no slash through it. If I do all that and leave nothing out, then I will get the accurate results, with the little map of my ride.

[marshawalton]

This just doesn't work.  I get to the bicycle icon on my tracker, but pressing and holding just turns the display off. 

[Amy1015]

When you press the button at the bike icon it should take you to another screen that has the location icon, cell phone icon with no slash, mileage and the timer has started. Don't hold button too long on the bike icon, just long enough for the next screen to appear. Then let go and look to make sure it is synced. If there is a slash through the phone then it is not synced. Make sure the Bluetooth is on and your Fitbit app is opened on your phone.

[sbrown955]

After about 4 months of working great, my Charge2 quit accurately tracking my bike rides. (FitBit replaced my original C2 for this same issue)  FitBit now tells me it wasn't designed to track distance or pace???!!!  I thought that was the whole idea.  Looks like FitBit is overwhelmed with this defect and is avoiding responsibility.  Specifically their response was... "We'd like to clarify that the exercises you initiate from Exercise mode on your tracker, or activities that are recognized by SmartTrack, will not include distance or pace information in your exercise history.  This is how these features were designed. For more information about tracking exercise, see our help article http://fitbit.link/1SqCoT5.  "

Is anyone else having this experience or did I just get the wrong "team" to respond?

[Rich_Laue]

Whixh one of the 5 exercise modes where you using?

Smart track where you hop on the bike, do nothing with the tracker, and start riding will not give distamce.

Starting the ride event on the tracker without the connected gps will not give a distance.

Starting the ride event on the tracker with the connected GPS, while carrying the phone, will give you distance plus a map.

[sbrown955]

I've been doing this successfully for the last 4 months...phone in gps mode mounted on my bike, select bike on fitbit and press start.  I have changed nothing, it just doesnt work correctly anymore.

[Rich_Laue]

Doesmt work correctly, doesn't give us much to work with.

Do you see a map in the app or web?

Does the Charge 2 say that it is connected to the GPS?

[sbrown955]

Sorry Rich, I have been giving specific details to fitbit and am underwhelmed...thank YOU for your interest.  Incorrect readings...when biking and using fitbit I have my (Samsung S7) gps enabled phone mounted on my bike (approx 12" from my wrist), I go to 'Bike' on my fitbit, then press to start, when I'm done I press to end (and get the finished flag).

I run 2 other apps concurrently during the ride...both give me distance via gps, so I know the phone gps is working fine.  

The readings I get in my app when finished, shows Biking, under exercise.  clicking on that I see Time, Mileage, Pace, Heartrate and a map detailing the ride just finished.  This has worked "perfectly" for the last few months...in particular, mileage matches the other 2 apps, time is correct and map is accurate.

Now however, the time is correct but the mileage is WAY off, for example 1.2 miles vs actual 5 or .2 vs actual 3.2.  And the map doesn't show the actual ride just finished, only some portion of it.  

Fitbit suggested I run the system in "RUN" mode to see if that worked...it did not work any better.

I had this same issue in January and went thru multiple re-sets of the pebble, and multiple removals and re-installs of the app on my phone, and the corresponding test runs requested by fitbit, with no improvement.  Fitbit finally replaced the pebble, the new unit worked flawessly until now.

[Rich_Laue]

Knowing that the GOS works, doesnt tell me if the tracker has connected to the phones GPS.

Many have found that the more the phone is doing, or the less free memory, the worse the fitbit connected GPS will work. Personally i clear everything out of memory but the music app anf Fitbit.

[Juice74]

I purchased my charge 2 following the 'quz' as well. Only to find out that while setting it up, it isn't actually water resistant. Am very disappointed, false advertising from Fitbit I feel. Now, I have no way to track my swimming 4 days a week. As well, I am unable to return it as it is opened now. Had the right not said it was water resistant, I would have gone with another band that is actually water resistant. Disappointing being stuck other an expensive purchase that isn't useful for the majority of my exercise.

[markix]

thanks , very helpfull

[LindsayBy]

Ok I have fitbit and an Iphone6 latest version of IOS. I track all my activity in strava and have the fitbit app set so it deposits all my data into Strava - this works fine and is reliable.

My issue is that I want my heart rate in strava mapped to my activity. Now when I select an activity with my fitbit (via the phone so I collect GPS data with HR) my only options available are walk - hike - run. When strava gets my data from my cycle it is immediately flagged and I have to manually edit in strava to tell it I was cycling not walking.

Now I have my phone mounted so I can see whats happening as I ride - however - the information displayed by fitbit is next to useless - I can see stride length, how far I have gone and for how long. What I would like is speed, where I am, HR would be nice.

It seems to me that I have a HR monitor that is totally unsuitable for cycling and the creators seem reluctant to fix the app to cater for cycling. From the forum this seems to be an ongoing issue and all I see are bandaid fixes for an inappropriate product - wish I had that information prior to purchase. 

[Rich_Laue]

@LindsayBy you will want to use tge Bike mode on the Charge 2, it will connect to your phones gps. Then before you stop the run mode, make sure that you sync the Charge 2. You eill fond your heart rate will then sync iver to strava.

[LindsayBy]

Thanks - I have a charge HR, all I can do is set it into stopwatch mode - there are no options for cycle

[LZeeW]

@LindsayBy  You should try a cycling/running app like Strava.  It links with your Fitbit app.  You can record your rides on Strava -- it uses your phone GPS. 

[LindsayBy]

I am not sure that it works that way - the fitbit integration is an upload of data from the fitbit to strava. If I ran the strava app and fitbit at the same time I expect the end result would be Strava seeing 2 activities rather than 1 and a very short battery life.

The answer to me seems relatively simple - fitbit can auto detect a cycle so they have the code - just cycle can not be selected - my main issue is the info displayed while I am riding by the fitbit app on my Iphone is next to useless. Yes I could just use Strava or as I used to Cyclemeter linked to Strava and give up on any useable fitbit HR info on my workout. What I really want to know is what is my heart rate doing when I push up a hill.