GPS accuracy during exercise

[wrebble]

Picture says more than thousand words so... picture first.

How can it be that the same lap is measured THAT wrong. It is 1,27 km difference which is BAD. Both lines run on the same road so it can not be just "difference". Step count is the same and also the time. Which one can I trust at all? It isn't the first time it has happened (at least once more). 

FitBit app is up to date. My Versa 2 is up to date.

I started my run the same way: opened exercise - choose "run" - wait FitBit to connect with "connected GPS" - start!

Also the settings are the same when I start the run. I activate "do not disturb" and "always on display".

Am I doing something wrong? Is the app so bad that it does not know how to calculate distance? Is it problem with my watch? I looked into it and it seems this problem has been with you for 3.5 years. Is there seriously no fix?

Anyways, I posted this in "App" section because it seems to be problem with an app. If not let me know.

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity 

[sumuchigu]

Tested Fitbit Versa 2 first time on on walk/run yesterday. I tracked the run with app called RunnerUp on my phone and with Versa 2. As the results were so different I retraced the route also with Google Maps. Results:

- Versa 2: 9.81 km

- RunnerUp: 12.91 km

- Google maps (manual trace): 12.04 km

Now Google maps trace is not super accurate due to parts of my route going through forest with unmapped trails and about 7% difference to RunnerUp data is in the expected range of error in this case. About 20% difference to Versa 2 reading however is hard to understand. I mean it should be based on tracking by the same gps in my phone!?

I just got Versa 2 last friday and lack of spotify controls during exercise was already on my disapointment list. Now this kind of problem with core feature? I'm wondering if I should try returning Versa 2 even if I really like the app and sleep tracking.

[wayneramp]

I did some further experiments this weekend.  Need a few more to have some conclusion.

Using Samsung Phone and Versa 2 Watch, started FitBit app, on watch started the app selected run. It connected(typical very long connect time).  I had bluetooth headphones playing music.  Did my run 5 miles with others.. Every mile I was losing .25 of a mile, noticed the watch is saying connecting....  Opened the phone and started the "track my run" in the Fitbit app.  In other words double tracked.  For the remainder of the run the watch reported correctly.  Both exercises showed up in the app.  But the Fitbit app is missing the heartrate information.. (another problem for another day)

Sunday, I dusted off my old iPhone5.  Just the phone, no data enabled.  Paired it to my watch.  Ran 7.5 miles with others.  No issues with tracking, accurate distance.  

Semi conclusion: Issue is the sync between the watch and the phone.The watch seems to be doing its job fine.  

[eepyaich]

FWIW - I don't think this issue is related to stride determination of distance as I've seen this problem on cycle rides.  I've done three identical rides (which Strava's analysis of the TCX file synced from Fitbit tells me are 5.3 miles) and my Versa 2 has recorded them as between 4.3 and 5.5 miles.

In terms of the information that @MarreFitbit asked for:

- Model/brand of the phone you're using 

Samsung S10

- OS of the phone 

Android 10

- When exporting the Fitbit GPS data (TCX file), is your distance accurate?

Yes - the TCX files run through a separate analyser (or Strava) provide the right distance.  Also note that the mapped tracks are very detailed (i.e. I can tell what side of the road I was on, etc.).

- When finishing your run/walk on your watch, do you see the same information (when checking the summary) on the watch than on the Fitbit app? 

Yes - both app and watch report the same (inaccurate) total distance

- As you all are on Android devices, confirm you've done or checked the following requirements:

Yes - all done. 

Note that when I first had my Versa 2, despite setting the app permissions correctly, I had a lot of issues with GPS completely failing to track (watch would lose connection and any map from a walk or cycle was just made up of a few points with lines between them).  I finally tracked this down to the separate Samsung power settings in their "Device Care" app.  Once I moved from the "Medium" setting to "Optimised" GPS appeared to track properly - as above, I get very detailed GPS tracks on the map now.  However, I've now seen these "wrong distance" issues now that I've been tracking the same cycle multiple times.

[xxan]

Just wanted to say that I restarted my phone (pixel 3, Android 10) instead of the watch, as suggested by someone on this forum, and my distance has been tracking fine for the last 2 runs (~3-4% off, but acceptable). 

Then again the same thing happened about a month ago, and the distance tracking was working fine, before malfunctioning again the past 2 weeks. So I'm not sure how long this will last...

[MarreFitbit]

Hi there! Thanks everyone for all your responses, I've received an update today from our team and they advise to please try turning "off" auto-stride length. I saw a few of you tried this with good success, could you all try so? 

First of all, I'd try restarting my watch and phone prior to making the changes and of course, sync afterwards. In case you need some guidance to make the changes, see: Can I change my stride length in my Fitbit account?

Please give this a go and let me know the outcome. We truly appreciate your patience and your input with this.

[busterandwoody]

Thank you for the update but the whole.point of connected GPS is to use GPS off the phone not manual steps from the watch??? I ran again tonight and have consistently had measurements way below the actual distance. I have tried all the suggestions. This is so frustrating and I'm with the person who mentioned Watchdog. Why the heck are firmware updates being rolled out that brick the watch, kill the battery and mess up perfectly working functions. Test strategy needs looking at!! Is there a way of reverting back a few firmware revisions. Thanks. 

[eepyaich]

Happy to try, @MarreFitbit, but do you expect this to fix problems with
those of us who have seen these issues on bike rides?

[M3tr1c]

Went for a run today and may have found something.

During my run I noticed my pace went down to a 6:50 mile which there was no way I was run that fast the way I was going. While I was running I turned off the adaptive battery option on my phone. My pace jumped to 10:05 which is what I normally do and the distance was shorter than the way off it usually is. 

Way to tired to try to see if that was the problem but I'll do another run tomorrow and see if my pace and distance looks right. Tired to trying to figure out this issue. 😠

The only time run worked properly was last week Thursday, when i first got my versa 2, where it matched what my wife's versa had though she is connected with an iPhone. After that its been way off ever since. 

[wayneramp]

I have had mine set with auto stride off for quite a while with no
noticeable improvement.

[jackski]

I have had autostride both of and on with no difference.

[DawnH1]

I can confirm that I have tried auto stride length on and off, both are unreliable as each other.

I will reiterate what I did. Which was calculate my average stride length over my regular run. I'm not sure how more accurate you can get as doing it this way reflects stride length changes that happens over the run. Surely if fitbit are using stride length to calculate distance, this is wholly inaccurate because it cannot take into account the subtle differences in your stride length over a single run or over different runs? Why are we not using the gps data, when according to the TXC  files gps is strong and gives the correct distance when Strava fixes it? Tbh this is a bit of a cop out! 

Recently I moved back to allowing the app to automatically detect the stride length, initially it was over, then about the same and then less. I checked the stride length and it had put it up to 37inches. My stride length has never been anywhere near this from my calculations. The reason why I went back to auto was because being off was not reliable at all. Why cant you just use the gps data, which the watch is advertised to do? 

[Tjj707]

I had tried turning off auto-stride length in past attempts to see if a workaround can be found and it didn't change the inconsistency of the results.   For grins and giggles I tried it again for my morning run with the following results:

Endomondo recording directly on phone: 6.03 km

Fitbit connected GPS:  6.93 km

Exporting the tcx from Fitbit and reading into MapMyRun: 6.06 km

I have been tracking this issue since I purchased my Versa 2 back in October and modifying this setting has been tried by many people without any success.  It is a bit concerning that this was a suggested workaround as it appears the root cause of the problem can't be identified or understood.  

The fact that the bad results are not consistent in the same way either too long or short (and occasionally correct) is very troublesome.  This means that some variable component is influencing the results as you can see from the large number of replies the GPS information in the tcx files is correct.  This means the algorithm is using some other variable component in its calculation as the GPS data appears to be consistent from the large amount of data users have collected. 

The frustration is that after 9 months this has not been fixed or even a root cause identified yet the feature of "Real-Time Pace & Distance using Phone GPS: See your real-time pace and distance by connecting to your phone's GPS, then get a map of your route in the Fitbit app" is still marketed as a feature yet a large number of users have provided evidence that it does not work.  While the percentage of customers that may use this functionality could be small, it was an important component in their decision to purchase.

[M3tr1c]

Well did a run again today. No dice. My pace and distance were way off with the adaptive battery off and the auto stride off as well. I'll give it a go for a bit longer. Please keep us posted mod team of any developments. 

[BornClimber]

@MarreFitbit   if all the tens of users on this forum are saying that they are getting accurate GPS maps of their runs both within FitBit app and in other apps on their phone, then what does inaccurate distance calculation have anything to do with "auto stride length". This reeks of bad underlying algorithm that is using stride length even when GPS is available!?! And what about users who are biking and getting wrong distances.

A better thing for your team would be to directly engage with users on this forum and get to the root of this problem if they are really interested in solving this. The fact that users are continuing to write means that want Versa to work or they would have trashed it long ago.

Anyway... here is a report for the benefit of the wider user community on some of my recent Versa experiences. 

GOOD News: Based on some other users' feedback, I restarted the phone a few days ago (I typically go months without restart it as it never runs out of battery at end of day) and have had better results. Note that before the restart, Versa was giving me 25-33% shorter distance. After the phone restart, Versa gave me 2.96 miles for an exact 3.0 mile run. Not bad, considering how **ahem**ty its performance had been.

BAD News: The watch gave 2.92 miles, but the FitBIt app (on which I had also started the run) gave me 2.86 miles. This is crazy as both are using the same GPS in the phone!

Further BAD News: I ran the same route twice again over the past few days, and the second time Versa gave me 3.06 miles, and then 3.19 miles !!!???!!!  I suppose my health stats are juiced up due to this overestimation but the watch and FitBit distance calculation algorithm are still full of crap.

Here is a side by side comparison of the three runs and shown on FitBIt dashboard map.

Will try again on Saturday, and this time again map it simultaneously on FitBit app.

[Donnakins30]

Hi 

I bought Fitbit last week and I am having same issues, I tried using watch only to track a route and my distance was lower than when my partner tracked it on his device 

I also tried using the app only to track a route and the autocue told me I had done 3.3km and a minute later it came on again to say 4km,  I have auto stride switched off so I am at a loss as to what to do? The reason I changed from my older Fitbit charge 2 was that I wasn’t getting accurate readings and now this is happening with new device 

[xxan]

I restarted my phone and it got bettrr. Then turned off auto stride as
suggested by Fitbit on this forum, and it got worse. Please fix this.

[MarreFitbit]

Hello everyone!

Thank you a lot for your feedback and for taking the time to try what we've advised above. Please know your reports have been forwarded to the appropriate teams.

On a side note, if you already have an open case with our Support Team the best thing to do is to keep the conversation with them as they'll know what's the next step to follow after they do a closer look into your case.

We're sorry for any trouble. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting you back on track.

[paularozen]

I never had this problem with my old versa, but because it was getting a bit old, I decided to purchase the versa 2 thinking it would be an upgrade, but what a disappoint that was. First walk and, although the map was correct, the distance was far different then when using the old versa. I have a much accurate distance if I start my walk from the fitbit app on the phone, but if that is what I wanted to do I did not need to buy a watch worth £200. And starting from the fitbit app on the phone it does not give me my heart rate, so obviously won't give me the accurate calorie burnt. And when buying a watch that price we expect a lot more that what is happening right now. People complaining about this issue since last year at least. 

So it is definitely something with the watch because I have the same phone, same app, just changed the watch and is not accurate anymore. I really like fitbit and the app, but it is useless if it is not accurate. Please fix this issue. 

[paularozen]

Again today, same route, GPS accurate but distance far difference.

 

 

 

 Phone GPS 6.5km, watch tells me I did only 5.76km. This is really unacceptable. Hope they see how many people are getting affected with this and give us a fix. I guess I still have time to return if I need to as I have just bought it a few days ago. 

[BaseballMusic]

Is every Versa 2 owner facing the same issue? In other words, if I return my watch for another will I likely get a watch that actually works or this same bull**ahem**?  It's extremely frustrating and I'm about to throw in the towel and just get a Garmin or something else.