GPS Extremely Slow to Connect

[bobby2478]

From the moment I got my Sense, it takes forever to connect to GPS. I go to manually start a Walk exercise in the Exercise app on the sense, and it says "GPS Connecting" for anywhere from 3-5 minutes before finally saying "GPS Connected".

This is when I'm outside. Note, when using my Charge 3 with Connected GPS, it connects to my phone GPS within moments (under 1 minute).

Please tell me this is a known issue that will be improved in a future firmware update. It's extremely annoying that as I head out to go for a walk only to have to wait around for nearly 5 minutes before GPS connects. It makes the Sense nearly unusable for exercise, especially when my Charge 3 connects almost instantly with Connected GPS (note, Connected GPS on my Charge 3 was also problematic in the past but Fitbit finally fixed this with a firmware update and it works great now)

[Rich_Laue]

In general most GPS units will assume the user is near where the last none GPS location was. This allows a faster lock when the user is near this location. I'm not sure if Fitbit does this. 

Your Sense has a much smaller antenna then the phone has and is more sharp table to outside interference like trees and clouds. 

[bobby2478]

@Rich_Laue the point I am trying to make is regardless of how big the antenna is, the current design/implementation is poor. When a user is outside (not obstructed by buildings etc) it is not an acceptable user experience to have to wait around for 3-5 minutes after starting an exercise just for the Sense to pick up a GPS signal.

My primary goal in this post was to both find out how many others experience this as well, and to hopefully ensure Fitbit is aware of this issue so they can look into improving this in a future firmware update.

[Micsb]

Hi bobby2478, I dont think it is a bug affecting all Senses, your unit is either faulty or something else prevents it from working properly.

my Sense lock on to GPS in less than 10 sec and is more precise than my iphone 8. First time i used gps it took a couple of minuttes, i left it on the ground connected to both wifi and my phone. Hereafter it lock on gps quickly. I use it every morning going out running and with temp close to freezing, windy and wet, i would have hated standing still for minuttes waiting to get a gps signal. Less than 10 sec is allright, compared to my iphone which i had to leave outside for 1-2 minuttes before starting my excercise. 
It mist likely download the satelite coordinates regularily, dont know if it is using wifi or the phone connection to get the updated coordinates.

i remember my very ancient garmin 305 with no internet connection. It needed 3-4 min at least to get a proper gps lock every single time. This sucked when waiting at the startline for a conpetition not getting a gps signal before start 😂

[bobby2478]

What are other's experiences? I just tried it 4 times, and used a stopwatch to time how long it took. First try was 45 seconds, which while not fast is still less than a minute. The 2nd attempt from the exact same location a few seconds after the first attempt took 1.5 minutes. Last attempt again from the same exact location a few seconds after the 3rd attempt was only 10 seconds, which is by far the fastest i've seen. 4th and final try was 30 seconds. So it's all over the map even from the exact same physical location only a few seconds apart.

[JimmyDelFuego]

@bobby2478 Is correct.  This is looking like a significant product flaw that Fitbit needs to address quickly.