Connected GPS Behaving Today

[kcronin]

Like many, I've struggled to have the Connected GPS feature of the Versa work correctly.  Predominately the Versa seems to lose connection with my Phone resulting in short milage measurements and then the stat error that cascade from that.  Today I had a successful Connected GPS tracking.  I thought I would share the configuration that worked for me.  What I can't account for is whether Fitbit Central has made changes as well.  The only app update I've received was pushed out in later April so there wasn't an sudden app update for me.

1.  I removed my Charge2 from my account and as a paired device with my phone.  I hope this isn't the root cause because I'd really like to have the two devices on my account.

2.  I removed an Animated Samsung Theme from my phone and replaced with a non-animated one.  My gut says this might be the critical cause but I haven't tested it specifically.

3.  I unpaired my BT headphones from my Versa.  I've previously tested without any BT headphones running and it didn't make a difference.

4.  My WiFi on my phone was on.  I actually forgot to turn it off but I would prefer to leave on since I've forgotten to turn it back on when I returned home and I've used more data than I would like.

5.  GPS setting in my phone is Phone Only and not High Accuracy.  I had already changed this but I share in case someone needs to know.

6.  Before my walk but after all these changes, I rebooted my phone and my Versa.

7.  I have a Samsung S7 running Android 7.0 on Verizon.

I chose to simultaneously run Strava on my phone.  Strava mapped the distance as 3.6 miles and my Versa as 3.53 miles. Woo-hoo!  That's a match in my book.

Of course, this needs to be repeatable, reliable and consistent to be a real win but I'll take this as a first step.  My plan is to add back in those things which I really want like my Charge2 and paired BT headphones with my Versa.  I can live without an animated Theme.  It was eating my battery anyway.

Good Luck to any still trying to get this to work.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @kcronin, I hope you're doing well, I appreciate you have taken the time to provide your insight about connected GPS on the Versa. 

I would like to thank you for sharing the process you've followed in order to make this work in your Versa. At this moment I would like to suggest you to update the firmware on your Versa and keep monitoring it to check if the connected GPS improve significantly. 

Thanks again for your insight and suggestions, happy stepping! 

[StarkRaven]

Hi @kcronin. Please do let us know how this works after you get the new firmware (32.32.10.15). As I had mentioned in my thread, my Versa would connect to the phone GPS most of the time before the update, but I can't get it to connect at all since applying the firmware/software updates.

Moto G

32.32.10.15 Firmware

2.71 App

[SunsetRunner]

@StarkRaven @kcronin @MarcoGFitbit 

I just came back from a 1.85 mile walk with a 16.47 pace.  According to my Versa, I walked 1.41 miles at a 22.04 pace.  Not accurate.  I had WiFI off and no other Bluetooth devices connected.  My phone, S7 Edge, was in the same hand that the Versa is on.  😞

[kcronin]

@MarcoGFitbit  I would LOVE to update to the new firmware. However, as I'm sure you are aware, this is being pushed out slowly and the update hasn't been offered to me yet.  If you have a way of forcing it to happen when I want it to, please let me know.

@StarkRaven  That's what I'm afraid of.  I've managed to come up with a combination of settings that are working for me but probably, most have nothing to do with this issue and the firmware is going to rock the boat and put me back into bad tracking.

@SunsetRunner  I feel your pain.  I'm sorry I've not been able to help you find a configuration you can work with.  An error of +/-5% is livable since we're not training for the Olympic trials.  However, errors of 25%-40% are unacceptable.  For those people trying to balance calorie intake/output, these errors resulting in incorrect calorie burn become a health risk.

[SunsetRunner]

No worries @kcronin. While we're not training for Olympic trials, we could be training for a marathon and really depend on the stats from our Fitbits to tell us if we're progressing in our pace. While we may be able to determine if we're walking further, you don't really need a Fitbit to tell you that, but a device that can tell you what your pace is is nice. It's the only way to know if you're getting faster or not.