Spikes and incorrect distances in GPS tracking for Versa

[SunsetRunner]

Hi, I have a fitbit versa and have used it for some months to track running, hiking and cycling. It worked great. However, some weeks ago, the GPS tracking started to act strangely. I see two main issues in roughly every tracked activity:

1. Spikes are added to the GPS signal. These are strange extra distances that suggest that I have run at light speed to some point not too far from the track (usually around a kilometer away) and then back again. Although these spikes are not added to the activity distance, Strava does not like them and computes a different activity distance afterwards.
2. Laps that are according to fitbit a kilometer are significantly longer in reality (e.g. 1.6 kilomter). This makes the activity distance much lower than it should be. Usually most laps in a run are fine, but only one or two stand out.

I have done tracking with Strava in parallel and Strava always seems to track fine. My girlfriend has the same watch and had the exact same issues. Since the issues started some weeks ago (maybe some months) it seems to be a software bug.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Or does anyone experience the same issues?

[kcronin]

@SunsetRunner  If you search the Versa Help threads you'll find many, many posts that describe similar experiences to your own.  Problems abound.  The degree seems to be influenced by the phone you use (older, fully compatible phones have less problems), which Connected GPS exercise you select (Bike is the worst) and the area where you are.  Some tips are available.  (Turn off WiFi, make sure app can run in the background, make a fresh sync just prior to heading out)  Some suggestions that the new firmware update will help but that update is slow to be rolled out and (again search the forum) many, many are having trouble installing it.

Best suggestions are to track with your phone only and forego the stats on your wrist or to get a tracker with a built-in GPS.  Fitbit has grudgingly barely acknowledged this issue even though the "Connected GPS" feature is a major selling point in their advertising.

*Heavy Sigh*

[SunsetRunner]

@kcroninThanks for your reply. I indeed found many postings on GPS connectivity. But I did not find many posts regarding the connected GPS to simply be wrong even though it says it is connected. But possibly my search was not thorough enough . I have tried the fresh sync before run and the fitbit app is configured to run in the background. I did not try turning off wifi yet, I will give that a try on my next run.