Versa tracks distance and pace incorrectly.

[Lafo555]

I have been a Fitbit user for years.  I have owned 4 or 5 fitbit watches over the years.  I was excited to upgrade to the versa. I have been extremely disappointed with the tracking of miles and pace on my outdoor runs and even treadmill runs.  I spoke to their tech department who told me to restart  it..... that was not the fix.... then they asked if there are trees and buildings where I run...hmmmm really? After much research I will be returning my Versa and switching to a Garmin watch. When you search online for this issue it seems everyone is having this problem,  but no resolution is in sight.  

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Lafo555, thanks for joining the Fitbit Community, it's great to have you on board. 

I appreciate you have brought this to my attention and for letting me know you have already contacted our Support Team. Tell me, are you using the Exercise tile when tracking your runs? If so, have you paused the run at some point? Does the Versa connects to the GPS on your phone before you start running? Is the map showing correctly at the end of the exercise? 

I will appreciate if you can reply to me with this information so I can assist you further. Additionally, a screenshot of your exercises will be very helpful as well. 

Thanks for your patience and understanding, I'll be waiting for your reply. 

[Eli_K]

Hi Fitbit troubleshooting/users,

I'm having the same issue and from what I understand so are many others.  The issue is that even when connected to GPS via my phone, the Versa is tracking the run via the pedometer and not the GPS.  It is under-reading the distance and therefore giving me a slower pace.  I know this is the case as I have tracked the same workout via other apps like Map My Run, Strava, a Garmin GPS watch and Google Earth which all give me the same reading, while the Versa is giving me (via GPS) a distance which is always around 5% less (ie around 950m to the 1km on the GPS devices).  I've done all the normal steps such as ensure my phone's wifi is off, starting the GPS connection while outside away from trees and building etc (which mind you should affect all my other GPS devices the same way) so I'm fairly confident there's something going on with the software of my Versa.  I'm happy to send screenshots etc.  Any other users experiencing this?

Eli

[Rwippi]

I have exactly the same problem. The  Versa shows always  between 5 and 10 percent less.

[Lafo555]

Thanks for the reply, but since I already tried trouble shooting this with your team to no success,  I decided to change watches.  Seeing all of the comments online and how many people are having this issue when we didn't have this problem with other fitbit devices, I feel there is more to the issue then can easily be fixed.  I'm returning mine tonight and already placed my order for a Garmin watch.  

[Apultorak]

I have the same exact problem and I'm highly disappointed. For the amount of money the watch it worth I cant believe this is a constant issue. 

I have tried all the steps that I have read in the forum concerning this issue and have had no luck. 

[Meghannicole]

I am so disappointed to see that others are having this issue as well. My pace is consistently 2 minutes slower and the distance proportionally less. I have tested this both outside and via treadmill. Support told me to try retesting my stride, but I feel as though it should be working in the first place. If this can’t track my outdoor runs I might as well be using an app and saving the money on a watch.

[AlexandraFitbit]

Welcome to the Fitbit Community forums @Apultorak et @Meghannicole! I'm sorry to hear that you both feel disappointed as your Fitbits are tracking distance and pace incorrectly. I appreciate your input and the fact that you shared your experience and provided all those details. Thanks for all the troubleshooting you tried. Can you please both answer to the questions @MarcoGFitbit asked on his post? Here is the link on how to add screen shots to your posts. Also @Apultorak please try adjusting your stride length and restarting the tracker if you haven't done so.  

I will be waiting to hear from you! 

[Meghannicole]

Hello! I have tried restarting my fitbit, but no luck so far.

I am hesitant to re-adjust my stride because it seems time consuming, the technology should be estimating my stride without me (why I purchased a Fitbit), and even the runs with the GPS are not measured correctly. I am very disappointed and feel that Fitbit should be the ones coming out with products that work, instead of me manually resetting parts of it (other posts describe users having to tweak the stride over and over).

The more I use my Fitbit, the more I realize how useless many of the measures are with the incorrect pacing. For instance, my heart health score can’t be correct if the GPS doesn’t work on my runs to measure my heart rate in accordance with my

pace.

I am not sure what steps to take from here, but I am extremely dissatisfied with my product. I feel as if I just purchased an expensive pedometer that tracks my heart rate, since every other measure seems to be off. What options are there from here? Reading these other posts is frustrating because it sounds as though other people are experiencing the same thing. Ideally I would like a refund.

[Derrek]

Hi, just curious did you ever try triming your stride length down or increasing it significantly...

I'm going to give that a go, and tweak it to the extremes just to see the impact. I'll update you on the findings - Derrek

[Meghannicole]

Hi Derrek,

I ended up not messing with the strides because it was tracking distance correctly when I was walking, but not as much when running.

I am currently using the NikeRun app to track my distance (FitBit GPS won’t turn on most of the time) and the FitBit for my heart rate.

Best of luck with the strides!

[Derrek]

Hmmm.
I have a Suunto watch, that I was using previously (and tracking in Strava) and am doing some parallel testing...
My Versa's really off so far, and that is frustrating for sure.
thanks for the note.

[Derrek]

Of note: the versa, on the 'activities dashboard' though is much closer to accurate: 

4.63 mi, 40:20 mins, 8'43" pace, 157 bpm, 522 cals

My Suunto had me at 38'51 and the same distance... Pace ~ 8:30's

Nerd'ing out some what and comparing the TCX files...

Thanks for the responses and updates.

[FoxWalker]

FYI, when I go back to the previous way of tracking my walk with the Fitbit App on my phone, distance and pace are accurate, but even turning on GPS for the Versa Lite, it's not accurate. A walk that IS 1.75 miles (according to ever possible mapping device you could possibly use) is only 1.3 to 1.5 miles on the Versa Lite. And therefore, obviously, my pace is completely different than it has been consistently for years.

[Jackie1980]

Hi - i dont commect to gps for runs bec i dont take phone with me. Pace and distance is off. How do i fix pls? My Garmin is accurate but not my fitbit versa 2 :(((

[Gymlicious]

I've had similar issues except my fitbit versa 2 displays a faster pace than MapMyRun. When I use MapMyRun my pace is has at least a 5' difference which is a lot. Is there a way to fix this so that it is more accurate?