I'm a little sad to say goodbye to Fitbit as our relationship started out so well. It began with a Charge 2 HR that, other than being a little wonky at times, worked very well. At a minimum it worked as advertised. It tracked my heart rate and steps (questionable accuracy as a sneeze could trigger a step) and the connected GPS seemed stable most of the time. In addition, it received notifications reliably. With such good success I began eyeballing an upgrade in the form of the Versa.
I decided to acquire the Versa via a health incentive program that awards points for healthy behavior like exercise. I also registered for my first marathon with the goal of acquiring the Versa in time to use it for the marathon. I worked hard, was patient, and finally accrued enough points to redeem the Versa.
Upon receiving the Versa, I had no trouble paring with my LG V20 phone. The watch was comfortable and I quickly learned how to navigate the OS. The screen was bright, colorful, and clear. My only disappointment was the size of the notification text was too small and could not be adjusted. Oh well. I took it out for a short run and that's when everything went sour.
Here's a link to my post detailing the issues and all I tried to get the Versa to work.
Here's a quick summary of problems:
- The connected GPS feature would work for about 10-20 minutes then disconnect. Sometimes it would come back, sometimes not.
- Notifications would work until the phone got out of Bluetooth range. Once the phone and the Versa were back in range, notifications would not "reconnect" until I rebooted the phone.
- Using Bluetooth headphones would cause the Versa to stop syncing until I rebooted the phone.
Remember the marathon mentioned above? Here's the map as recorded by the Versa:
Yep, of the 26.2 miles, the connected GPS worked for about 2. The only reason I got these 2 miles is I rebooted my phone hoping to get things working. I cannot express how disappointing this was.
After the marathon I tried multiple things to get the connected GPS working. I did finally get it to stay connected for a run by completely wiping the data from my phone. Of course I had to log in to Fitbit again and it started having connection problems again after the first run. In total, the connected GPS stayed connected for 3 runs.
I found a permanent solution. I sold the Versa and purchased a Garmin Vivoactive 3. If you are more than a casual exerciser, do yourself a favor and skip the Fitbit and get the Garmin. It has been fantastic. The notifications work, it reconnects with my phone after being out of range, and its GPS (onboard) is rock solid. I wish I'd had it for my marathon. In addition, the activity tracking metrics are miles ahead of Fitbit.
I've exported my data and will soon delete my account. Goodbye Fitbit.
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