Versa 3 inaccurate GPS/Distance/pace

[Joneian]

Fitbit versa 3 showing slower pace and lower distance than RunKeeper which I've used for years. I now have to run much harder to get the same pace! 120M and 4s pace difference over 5k is quite a difference.

Runkeeper on my phone:

Fitbit on versa 3: see it misses a corner in the road totally!

Any tips to improve accuracy?

[James291]

I don't have a solution other than suggesting making sure the watch isn't covered up too much.

I see a similar inaccuracy with mine. It tends to under read almost always. About 100m in 5K.

Yesterday, hopefully a one off, it was even worse, it measured a 5K run as 5.58K. I could tell something was wrong during the run as the average place was clearly wrong. Hopefully a restart will fix this.

How do you find the heart rate accuracy during running? Mine is really bad. Nearly always reading 20-30 above. Looking at the spiky up and down line on the dashboard chart it clearly hasn't got a clue.

[SunsetRunner]

"Mine is really bad. Nearly always reading 20-30 above. Looking at the spiky up and down line on the dashboard chart it clearly hasn't got a clue."

Had the same issue - spiky, elevated numbers often above my max HR, on a slow run!  On a whim I tried wearing the Versa3 well up my wrist... pretty much on my forearm. That made a HUGE difference.  I've only done one run wearing it in this somewhat odd position but the the HR readings were much more steady, and right where I'd expect them to be, and not a single spike for the entire duration of the run.    

As for the GPS - it definitely cuts corners and really wanders off track sometimes.

[rbrt_brln]

I've noticed inaccuracies as well but for the most part activities have been similar and nothing for me to worry about, some surprisingly spot on, even with longer distances. However after my run this morning I noticed this:

Fitbit says 5.01 km and 30:05 minutes, Runkeeper says 5.01 km and 31:50 but when I go to edit the activity in Runkeeper it jumps to 5.17 km.

By calculation, in 1:45 I could have ran 170 meters farther, but did I?

[rbrt_brln]

Fitbit definitely cuts corners! I recently ran the fastest 10k (in my later years) and Fitbit tracks only 9.75 km.

After syncing Runkeeper does not show this as my fastest 10k 😞

[James291]

I had another distance glitch last week. A 5 km run was measured as 5.7 km by the Versa 3. I was really pleased with my pace until I realised! The GPS track looks normal but the distance is wrong.