Distance on GPS map doesn't match with exercise summary

[Andyn1970]

Hi all

Firstly love the Fitbit Versa does everything I need also the app is great.

BUT over the last couple of weeks the distance recorded by the app is way off. 

I use it connected to my Samsung Galaxy S9+ and its always been very accurate to a tenth of a mile or less. 

But on my last few runs of about 3.4 miles it can be a whole mile out, but just the distance the route it records is spot on but the mile points are in the wrong place for example it recorded 2.44 miles in 30.29.

My wife who also has a Versa connected to an IPhone recorded 3.43 miles in 30.30 this is correct and matches our pace of about 9.30/m

Prior to the last weeks it has always been almost exactly the same as my wife as we run together. 

I have Re started the Versa and the phone, I have cleared the data in the Fitbit app and I have also uninstalled the fitbit app. 

Same result its not always out the same, a couple of runs back it got to 2.89m on the same route. Then on Tuesday it was spot on. 

Any ideas it seems like a small thing but not having an accurate record of your work turns out to be extremely frustrating.

Anyone else had this? 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarioDings]

@LostEchoes,
Runkeeper gets the tcx + the wrong summary. That’s why. Stride length should not be used when using gps. I’m only saying, the problem is the app on the Fitbit and the function in the Fitbit-app on the phone. My own app count the distance correctly. Runkeeper counts the distance correctly. I’ve proven my point.

Third party

[astiesi]

3.10.1 is still off, although today's was closer than usual. Only about 1/4 mile off over 4 miles.

[Andyn1970]

I still have V 3.8 with no upgrade available no idea why. 

Although as it still does not work it doe not make much difference. 

[Jackos]

Fitbit have admitted that they have a problem, and have told people who have posted on this thread it is not fixed, and that they do not have a time scale for the fix, so there's no reason to think the problem will solve itself. It would help a lot of they were more transparent, had provided a bug number and description, but they are unable to do that fot some reason.  I have no idea how normal this for them as I have only had my fitbit since April,  but it is disappointing.

[astiesi]

Correct, but they do say a fix will come out when ready without notification, hence it's worth noting the status with every new version.

[ONS-n]

Another one here with a super inconsistent GPS on my Fitbit 3.

I have it synced with a Samsung S9. The Fitbit app is nowdays on a normal run about 20% off (while the Samsung Health app is spot on from the same run). PLEASE do something, I’m about to throw this in the bin and use my old Garmin instead.

[Timppe]

Yesterday's 4.8 km walk: 

Runkeeper: 4.79km, Sports Tracker 4.82km and Fitbit 

 Both are at least 10% off.

I wrote a small Python program which calculates the distance using the stored GPS coordinates in the Fitbit-generated tcx file. The two most common library algorithms gave the following results: Great Circle: 4.83 km and Geodesic: 4.84 km. So the <DistanceMeters>-tags show bad values but GPS <Position> is correct.

I wonder how long it would take to fix this... The distance used to be just OK before some of the "Bugfixes and improvements".

[Twillis1635]

It’s very frustrating. I just bought a Garmin Vivoactive 3 because I’m
sick of dealing with the GPS issue with Fitbit.

I’ll look at Fitbit again once it has gone through the Google
transformation. I far prefer the Fitbit app so this is a necessary
transition that I wish wasn’t so but here I am.

[RunHolmanRun]

I ditched my Versa about 2 weeks a go. I got myself a Forerunner 45, I looked at the Forerunner 245 but it was a bit pricey and had more than I really needed. It's a little nicer looking than the 45 but I still think the 45 is really nice. I looked a the vivoactive 3 but decided against it.

The great thing is I've done 53KM worth of runs since I've had it and when I've corrected it with strava the total corrected is 0.14km with the highest a run was out was 0.03km. 

[Twillis1635]

Amen! Fitbit has not shown any distinct effort to address the issue so I’m out. I bought a Garmin even though I far prefer the Fitbit community. It’s a shame.

Sent from my iPhone

[Davie1888]

Yup I preferred the fitbit app but I like the diagnostics on my new watches app, cant say the name as the mods will delete it😂. I wish the fitbit tech guys cleaned up their act as quick as the mods clean up these threads because leaving customers in the lurch like this isn't good enough. I'll not go back to fitbit now even though my wife and kids use them still, game over Ftibit well played! At least Amazon refunded me for a smart tracker that dont track so smart😣

[AEM2007]

I gave my Versa to my 12 year old and bought a Garmin. Problem solved!!

[vixxsster]

I have a samsung s9 and fitbit versa and have noticed the same issue for a couple of months now, mostly my fitbit seems to under report on distance but I tested it out yesterday against my strava app on a route that I know is 4 miles and it over reported by 0.3 of a mile.....the strange thing is that I kept an eye on both apps whilst running, sometimes the mileage matched, sometimes it was out by 0.1 (so fitbit showed I'd run 1 mile but strava showed 0.9) but by the time I got home strava was showing a run of 4.14 miles vs fitbit showing 4.46 miles, it's all over the place and now has me shopping for a new watch. Wish fitbit would just fix this as every run now is wildly inconsistent, it's really frustrating!

Should also add that this is my first run since the 3.10.1 update last week and it's now worse than ever.

[Jackos]

@AEM2007  That's my plan as well, my kid is ten though, being tight I am waiting to see if there are any decent Black Friday offers on Garmin's before I switch. I should add thought that my app was updated to 3.10.1 a couple of days ago, I went for a run yesterday and the runkeeper now show very similar numbers.  From a diff of 1-2KM over 10-12km the different yesterday was only 200 meters.  Hopefully it wasn't a one off. 

[Davie1888]

The forerunner 735xt I bought for £199 has dropped to £185 on Amazon as of last night when I looked, I like it. The screen could be brighter but it'll do me fine considering I'm looking at a Loch Lomond swim/run event next year.

[Davie1888]

Good luck, I'll use mine on my first GPS run this morning so fingers crossed it goes well aa I've been out at sea for two weeks. Supporting someone running their first 5k today so I'll see how it tracks.

[Jackos]

Hope that 3.10.1 might help evaporated this morning after a 14k run was recorded by fitbit as 15.5k.

[Andyn1970]

Went back to CS and told them that it was still bad on V3. 10.1

2.5 miles on a 3.4mile run almost a mile out.. 

I also said my workouts are automatically uploaded to Strava and is I use the distance button it corrects everything so the GPS is obviously OK. 

This is the reply, anyone care to translate what they are saying about Strava other than it works and Fitbit does not. 

We appreciate you for the response and doing the troubleshooting prior on contacting us.

We'd like you to know that Strava application is our 3rd application that we do have and since we do have the Fitbit app, they do have a different algorithm or computation.

We acknowledge you for your cooperation and patience on resolving this issue. For any other queries, feel free to reach out to us.

Moderator edit: format

[Twillis1635]

Fitbit has run the white flag up the pole. They are in a state of “frozen animation” until the deal with Google is finalized or is dead so there won’t be any advances coming from them any time soon and that means no fixes either.

Sent from my iPhone

[jorritvandommel]

Apparently this is a very common issue. I just cross post from my thread I made yesterday. Here are my last two runs. The maps are both 100% correct. The length should be 12km. It always has been between 11.9 and 12.1 km, never a bigger deviation. This started a couple of weeks ago. In September it was fine. I am also a Sumsung user (A40).

I hope this will be resolved, but after reading a bit through the forum, I am a bit worried that it won't be. I choose fitbit because it is focused on sports and health. If it stops doing that, what is the point of having one? And also, it should be so easy to fix. It worked perfectly for years. It is not a hardware issue, because the GPS is working just fine; the map is perfect. It is only a silly code that is wrong, couldn't be that hard to fix right? They should put all effort in getting the primary function of their product back.