Inspire 2 stats are not the same as husbands Sense stats

[NorthGeorgia]

Hello,

My wife has the Inspire 2 watch.  I have the Sense watch.  We both walk together and do exactly the same path, side by side.  But when we finish and log into our watch's phone software the stats are never the same????  Example: my watch will say we walked 2.22 miles while her Inspire says the walk was 2.1?  My snyced phone software will say our pace was 19'11"  her Inspire says 21'00".

Why is there such a large discrepancy?  Whose stats should we believe???

[Julia_G]

Hi, @NorthGeorgia , you do not say what method you each were using to calculate your distance and pace.  The Sense has a built in GPS chip.  Were you using the Sense chip to track your walk, or were you using your phone’s GPS linked to your Sense to track your distance and pace?

The Inspire 2 does not have a built in GPS chip, so your wife may have been using her phone’s GPS to track her distance and pace, or did she rely on Fitbit’s estimation of her stride length (based on height) to calculate distance and pace?

If you were both using Fitbit’s “Connected GPS” - which links the Fitbit to the user’s phone and uses the phone’s GPS for calculation?  If so, the discrepancy could easily be explained by the difference in accuracy between the two phones, and how long they each took to connect.

I would say that the stats are not really very different considering that it is simply not possible exactly to compare like with like - I think you can comfortably rely on both results, which I expect are very much within the margin of error between phones / trackers.

I hope this helps!

[NorthGeorgia]

Hmmmmm...........

I choose the 'walk' exercise on my Sense and then tap the connect to GPS.  My wife's Inspire allows doing the same: she chooses 'walk' and then taps connect to GPS.  We BOTH connect.  both watches indicate they have 'connected'.  No, we do not do this while using our phones while we are walking.  We sync after we have concluded our exercise.

Are you saying that the Inspire does not connect to GPS even tho it indicates for her do so???  

"Margin of Error".......her watch showing almost a 2 minute slower pace is an acceptable 'margin of error'?  I find that a bit too much of a difference.  10 sec or maybe even up to 30 seconds but 2 minutes???

[Julia_G]

Hi, @NorthGeorgia , if your wife’s Inspire 2 indicates that it is connected to GPS it can only do that using your wife’s phone because it does not have a built in chip to use independently.  It is a Fitbit feature that any device, like the Inspire series, without built in GPS, has the ability to connect instead to the phone.  If you start an outdoor exercise on the Inspire 2 and you have the GPS option turned on then it will attempt to connect to the user’s phone’s GPS.

I cannot say for certain about your Sense, because depending on your default settings it may be using the built in GPS chip, or it may be using your phone’s GPS.  From what you say, if I had to bet, I would be it was using the phone’s.  So your distance and pace info, and the map, will be based on your phone’s GPs and, as for your wife, not on your Fitbit.

I hope this is clearer now!

As I said before, the discrepancy is almost certainly because you are using two different phones (or else your Fitbit Sense and your wife’s phone) to capture the GPS and to calculate from that the distance and pace. From what I have observed from GPS data it is clear to me that the accuracy is such that a .1 or .2 difference in distance between two different devices - phone vs Fitbit or phone vs phone - is well within usual error margins.  I also find that the pace calculations can vary even more significantly.  

I think the takeaway is that GPS is still an evolving science and one device for detecting GPS may be significantly more accurate than another.

[NorthGeorgia]

just a bit of extra info.........I do not even take my phone with me and the phone is not logged into the Fitbit software until I get home and actually log in then.  I have a habit of always logging out after looking at it after doing the morning walk.  I do believe my 'Sense' has it's own GPS abilities.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @NorthGeorgia , in that case when you turn on GPS you will be using the built in chip in your Sense.  As I said before, the Sense definitely has a built in GPS chip.  

However, your wife’s Fitbit (Inspire 2) does not have a GPS chip so she will need to have her phone with her in order to use GPS.  But you are still not comparing like with like.  You are using your Fitbit in order to get pace and distance.  Your wife will be using her phone’s GPS connected to her Fitbit.

If your wife does not take her phone with her, she will be unable to connect to GPS.  In that case her pace and distance will be, as I mentioned earlier, calculated using her estimated stride length - based on her height.  That will only be an estimate - if her stride is longer or shorter than the average person her height that will affect the calculations.