Versa 2 connected GPS wildly inaccurate.

[cbloyer81]

My wife had a Versa for a week, and now a Versa 2. Below is the results of her connected GPS run. It's wildly inaccurate. I wear a surge, and the GPS is pinpoint accurate. Is this the best she can expect from connected GPS? It's garbage if it is.

After doing some research, I'm wondering if it is because she is using bluetooth earbuds and interrupting the connection with the GPS?

Moderator edit: Updated subject for clarity 

[aby_online]

It shows the map alright I guess, but what about the distance consistency?

[blhill09]

GPS is giving me different readings everyday. My husband's charge HR seems to be spot on and the runkeeper app is even better than my upgraded versa 2. Any suggestions on how to resolve this is extremely frustrating. 

[Pspence]

This is the same for me...please let me know if you can find a fix or if I have to return it. Cause it's garbage otherwise 

[Pspence]

Using android

Fitbit app version 3.20

And have a Versa 2

[aby_online]

I dont think Fitbit cares or reads these anymore, probably not since the Google takeover. I am 5+ year customer of Fitbit and have owned every single gadget that they released. Versa 2 by far is the worst device in terms of consistency, its just a joke. My partner uses Ionic and it is fairly consistent.

Here is the proof of the rubbish called activity tracking!

On the same track, on two different times:

1) Well far from accurate

2)  Too much credit! Making up for the loss in the last one?

3) Strava on the same path is fairly consistent.

So, I've decided that enough is enough, and hence, I am working on writing a program that will help me move all of my data into Garmin. Currently exploring APIs. And once that is done, I will consider getting a Vivosmart 4, perhaps to start with, and then maybe if I like it, I will move on to Fenix 6. Time to bury the Fitbit hatchet, been fair ride, adios!

I will do everything that I can to make this a free app to help people get rid of their Fitbits. I have been held hostage due to my Data, now, I am planning to take that back.

[Snflwr81]

I also have the Versa 2 and Pixel 2 and my GPS is not tracking my miles correctly at all. I walked roughly 40 blocks on Friday and Fitbit is showing that I walked 0.79 miles. 

[Jpcsoccer]

Can you explain the low power mode? Is that a phone mode? Or a Fitbit mode?  How do I change it?

[JesHub]

It's a setting on your phone. Check under settings-battery

[Nursechubb]

I tested my versa 2 tonight after getting bad results the past week (just purchased).  It is way off.  Distance is off, route is off, timing is off.  However, when I run 'map my run' on my phone, it works great.  Not sure if I need to return it and go with another fitness tracking smart phone/device.  Was using the Samsung Active.  Will this get better, I'm in a suburban area, and again, have no issues with other devices or my phone's GPS tracking.  

[aby_online]

Folks - I just realized that this thread is marked as closed. I think we should open another thread to let Fitbit know that this is a persistent issue and has not been fixed.

[Dlarsen07]

I find my step count is very inaccurate.  There are times where I have been sitting for hours and my watch states I was walking. Is there a reason or a fix to this?

[aby_online]

I would recommend reposting issues under the open thread.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Versa-Smartwatches/GPS-accuracy-during-exercise/td-p/4226801/page/3

[Panduss]

Keep me updated how is it coming along. Actually, I don't know how far you got with it yet but we could work on it together as well if you have a repo somewhere? Let me know. 🙂 

[SunsetRunner]

Hi everyone, the problem that the Versa 2 (and actually most Fitbits) have is that the distance is calculated using a combination of stride length and connected GPS.  It's a major cause of frustration for us in the CC as well.  The way it works it that the tracker will estimate your distance using your stride length and then use GPS to 'fill in the gaps' so to speak.  It also has an overly aggressive smoothing algorithm that can massively reduce any corners.  I generally track using both my Versa 2 and Garmin Venu and find they can be very different on all my runs.  As the Garmin has built in GPS and the .gpx files are the same distance when imported into mygpsfiles.com I'm far more inclined to trust the Garmin.

[aby_online]

Well that was a dream, that did not get legs since I got butchered under a pile of work at work 😕

I have not published any repo yet, but if I do, it will be here: https://github.com/abydesuyo

While I was at it, 3 weeks ago that is, I was checking out simple interface builder and current API limitations on Fitbit, Garmin etc.

So, here what I was able to put together:

1) Fitbit will let you read almost all of data for personal use (that is your own data) without much hassle. GREAT!

2) Fitbit cannot update distance / activities etc if it was manually tracked . Not so great, in fact, this would have been the simplest fix.

3) Garmin on the other hand is very stingy with Data sharing and does not read Fitbit's sleep or heart data - shame!

4) Both Garmin and Fitbit have python APIs (3rd party) that can read and export data to certain bit.

5) kivy is a greate free API what works with Python for building out simple UI interface (cross platform as well)

I wanted to put things into a common place outside of all these apps so that our data is our own and can be easily used later. Didnt get past the design phase on this (tried bunch of things like csv, json etc - time series data is painfully large)

For now, I wear my Fitbit on right hand and Garmin on left hand (lol) until I find a simple way of integrating the both.

Would love to do collab stuff in Q3 in 2020 if anyone fancy doing that! 

[Panduss]

I followed you on GitHub just now, I'll also look into it a little more on the weekend!

[aby_online]

For folks who are unaware, there is a another thread:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Versa-Smartwatches/GPS-accuracy-during-exercise/m-p/4341978#M199533

Which shows that Fitbit may have fixed something in the last release. I can confirm similar behaviour for me (compared with my Garmin). Please update the thread if your Fitbit devices have started behaving normally. Ideally, we would like to rule out freak luck ;o)

[RonPowles]

OMG the work to connect and ask is beyond annoying Why after a few good days I am unable to connect gps during ride I connected 2 mins out of 2 hours trying today I know it’s cloudy but come on How do I return this crap watch?

[aby_online]

Just to let everyone know that it has been pretty darn accurate for over a week now (except on 2nd July, where it lost 300 meters to Garmin).

Here are the stats /proof for the geeks:

But at this point am too invested into Garmin, so if anyone is still onboard writing a platform agnostic web api or so that can capture and track these metrics, I'm happy to collab (from August-2020).

I will keep Fitbit Versa 2 up until end of this month and keep comparing and report back if there are notable differences.

[Asub0]

Can you tell me how to disable the low power mode?