Sense 2 GPS worse than Sense 1?

[rewbs]

Hi all,

I recently upgraded to a Sense 2 after my original Sense died. I've noticed the GPS seems distinctly worse. I'm wondering if other have seen this, and if anything can be done to improve the situation. Issues include:

- GPS takes longer to connect at start of exercise.

- GPS drops more frequently during exercise.

- Current pace reading is less responsive, i.e if I accelerate it takes way longer before this is reflected in the pace reported by the Sense 2.

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

[t.parker]

1. Initially, Sense 2 was taking ages to connect and sometimes wasn't connecting at all but eventually it sorted itself out. Usually, it takes 30 seconds to about a minute to connect. I had similar problems with original Sense. No difference here for me.

2. Yes it does as it was on original Sense.

3. Pace is a mess, all over the place. But that was the case on original Sense, too. In general, I don't use Fitbit devices for running because they are not sports watches (no cadence, no lap pace, no rolling pace, no GAP and instant pace is just too sensitive for changes - useless from runner's perspective).

[Mr.Mud]

Hi,

Same problem here! First I thought it would be the battery, but my Sense 2 also has a bad GPS signal with a full battery. I came to this forum to look for information about how to fix this problem, hopefully someone from Fitbit is able to leave a respons on this topic...

[rich-exobyte]

Is there anywhere we can petition for connected GPS to be enabled for the Sense 2?

The Sense 2 GPS is proving to be quite unreliable when out on runs and I would much prefer for the watch to connect to the rock solid GPS on my Google Pixel phone.

[Guy_]

Hi @rich-exobyte - this is only possible on a Versa 2, though there are feature suggestions see 

Ability to use phone GPS instead of built-in GPS on Sense (Dynamic GPS)

See also How do I use GPS on my Fitbit device?

[N8teGee]

Hi. 

From my own experience I am finding the Sense 2 GPS much worse than the original Sense. It takes longer to find an initial signal (sometimes taking multiple attempts). And when it does finally lock on, it seems to drop out and be all over the place.

It's not surprising though as the only area for the antenna is the plastic part on the back of the watch. Yes the part that is buried into your wrist most of the time with no clear line of sight to the sky. If you notice on the original Sense the antenna is on the side of the watch (you can see the plastic break lines), so the original Sense is a much better design.

Allowing the user to be able to use connected GPS would help, but the way Fitbit continues to calculate distance and pace is not ideal if accuracy is important to you. 

[t.parker]

@N8teGee I think the problem with the GPS can be very "local". Using many devices, the only reliable GPS device I own is a bike computer Garmin Edge 1030 Plus. Even my mobile phone fails in some areas. I experience minimal issues with Sense 2 GPS but this may be tied to the place I live or work (two different locations, ~40 miles apart). None of those places is a big city, with no tall buildings, etc. Hampshire is 90% rural area and west Surrey are planes of small towns. However, I find areas where any device I own struggles (and Sense 2 sometimes does not do too bad a job in all the "badness"). See this, this year's London Winter Run 10k:

My Fenix 7 went totally crazy between 1st and 2nd km. In general, both routes don't match the reference route. Garmin uses a Stryd sensor for distance measuring. Garmin's GPS distance is 10.49km and Fitbit's is 11.06km. Not sure what would my old Sense do here but I don't expect a good-quality signal. The problem I usually have with Sense 2 GPS is that when it starts acting weird it doesn't recover. But all the same behaviour I've been observing on the original Sense, too. On the other hand, when I run in Hampshire where there are lots of open skies, Sense 2 loses GPS quite often in the areas where it definitely shouldn't but then again - my original Sense had the same problem. The connection time of Sense 2 improved over time (still takes a long time, though - but my definition of "long" is 30sec+) but during the last weeks of using the original Sense my GPS often didn't connect at all on this device. I find really hard to pinpoint which device GPS is worse here. For me, it's all the same. Same random issues, a long time of connection (I don't even wait anymore, just start running when my Garmin connects which takes like 5 sec).

[N8teGee]

I think it can also come down to how tight you are wearing the watch (in the case of the Sense 2). The tighter it's worn, the more the antenna opening will be blocked.

The issue with connection could also be partly to do with bad or out of data assisted GPS data files. I have the same experience as you with the Fenix 7, which finds a signal within about 5 seconds (every time). The Sense 2 on the other hand takes so long that it times out, and for whatever reason doesn't continue trying. So you have to back out of the exercise and start the whole process again.

I'm still trying to work out which is worse, the Sense 2 or the Charge 5. I think for now I'm leaning towards the Sense 2. 

[t.parker]

@N8teGee it's known Garmin has files that help predict where the GPS satellites are (the EPO and CPE files) and users can always check whether they have expired or are still valid. At the new location, it's good to let GPS sink and download updated files (through sync or even manually onto the watch with Garmin Express) for a quicker GPS connection. With Fitbit, we may only believe that's the case since the process isn't as transparent. What indicates to me that GPS sinking (kind of) works on Sense/Sense 2 is the fact that GPS started performing better after several days of using Sense 2 (on my first run, the watch didn't manage to connect until the third attempt). Travelling to totally new locations usually brings issues with GPS connection (not enough data to predict satellite locations?) and GPS stabilizes after some time (often when I'm about to be leaving :D).