GPS accuracy?

[SunsetRunner]

Has anyone had an issue with the Sense's GPS sensor showing they are running off of roads?  I have been using a Garmin Forerunner 410 for 10 years now and I finally decided to switch and hope the Fitbit GPS because the band broke on the Garmin.  My routes were always directly where I ran when looking at the after workout analysis.  Unfortunately with the fitbit, my runs are showing me running far off the side of the roads that I am running directly on and not sure how inaccurate the distance is.  Is anyone else having this issue or did I take a shot on GPS quality switching to the fitbit? I'm debating running with both watches and compare. 

[SunsetRunner]

I get the same too. Far off the roads like a drunk athlete 🤣 It shows me on one side and then on the other the whole time. I don't remember running like that.

[SunsetRunner]

@SunsetRunner Exactly! 😛  It looks like I walked straight out of the bar at 4AM and was stumbling all through peoples yards lol! 😛

[PaulinVA]

 because the band broke on the Garmin.

Wow, the Sense is an expensive replacement for a broken band!  😀

Yes, it is basically correct.  Probably within a meter +/-.  I uploaded a run to mapmyrun so i could zoom in on it and it is funny in that if I ran the same trail or road twice (doubled back or whatever) the lines weren't on top of one another.  Not terrible, not bad.

Actually, probably a little more accurate than my Versa with the Android phone GPS.

[bcalvanese]

All fitbit GPS's suck. I've had many of them. I bought a Versa 3 hoping it would be better this time around. Did a 3 mile walk and the GPS was off by over a quarter mile. The heart rate was also off by quite a bit. I was comparing to my Garmin fenix 6x sapphire. I returned it the next day and got the Apple Watch instead.

[Duc916]

I'm looking at the 6X line....if I may ask what's your reasoning for purchasing another Fitbit at this point in time....I would think the Garmin would fit all your needs though I could see missing the community perhaps and the Eco system if you spent a lot of time with previous Fitbits.

[SunsetRunner]

@bcalvanese 

I would have returned it back too but I don't have an iPhone to pair it with an apple watch. So I am stuck to the sense. 

[SunsetRunner]

@PaulinVA I looked everywhere but the forerunner 405 was not liked by the community so it only lasted a few years.  No one liked the touch bevel because it just didn't work great.  So after 13 years, no one carries bands for it anymore.  I looked all over and everyone was either out of stock or discontinued 😞 

[PaulinVA]

@SunsetRunner I was just kidding, but I feel your pain!  I hate to get rid of tried and true reliable tech.

[bcalvanese]

---

@Duc916 wrote:

I'm looking at the 6X line....if I may ask what's your reasoning for purchasing another Fitbit at this point in time....I would think the Garmin would fit all your needs though I could see missing the community perhaps and the Eco system if you spent a lot of time with previous Fitbits.

---

The Garmin's have a lot of advanced features that seem to be more geared towards higher level athletes, and all their fitness metrics use Firstbeat (which I don't like). I'm just a regular person trying to stay healthy, and I know I will never be a high level athlete.

The apple watch seems to be very accurate with heart rate and GPS, and the heart rate is probably the best I've seen in any fitness device. I just need to know what my heart rate is and how far I go. I try to get my heart rate into the cardio zone and keep it there for 1 to 2 hours per day to stay healthy.

@SunsetRunner wrote:

@bcalvanese 

I would have returned it back too but I don't have an iPhone to pair it with an apple watch. So I am stuck to the sense. 

I was on android too. Decided to get the iPhone along with the apple watch.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[fzl.ahm]

I did a short run of 3km just to see how the data works and I found that almost every laps I made has data accuracy issue in term of GPS and elevation too. 

[Mikeb17]

Thanks for clarifying this.  I had the Fitbit Surge & Ionic and the GPS was terrible on both so I have to use an old Polar watch.  I was going to upgrade to the Sense but only if the GPS was more accurate.  You have confirmed what I had suspected so it's goodbye to Fitbit. I'll look at Apple or Garmin. Thank you.

[t.parker]

@Duc916 I'm not entirely happy with Garmin Fenix 6 Pro when it comes to the GPS quality. Even after switching Data Recording from smart tracking to 1-second intervals, the route is a bit off. It doesn't affect overall distance though (well, it does but this is marginal). Mind, I didn't enable GALILEO, only GPS+GLONASS. During the run, it's not a problem at all because I use a foot pod sensor which is a lot more accurate than GPS can ever be when it comes to run parameters. Nevertheless, the route generated by Garmin is, let's say - so so. Maybe this is the price for incredible battery life. One hour of run with music, GPS+GLONASS, and 2 sensor connections consumes 4-5% of battery only. I would however trade extra power for better data accuracy. My Suunto Spartan watch shows a much better quality of GPS data. It's always spot on even without GLONASS enabled. With Ionic, I never had issues when it comes to GPS data quality as long as GPS worked at all (and very often it didn't) but historically, there was always a problem with the distance that was computed from steps rather than GPS data (I don't know whether Fitbit came to senses and implemented it proper way for newer devices).

[SunsetRunner]

I actually just sent my sense back.  I love the fitbit community; however, I saw too many flaws with the sense and what felt like a half finished product they just pushed for a money grab.  I will probably be moving back to garmin as I never had any issues with them and their GPS was always spot on.

@t.parker I ended up sending my Sense back due to it just feeling like an unfinished product and from what seemed like they got their sensors from the lowest bidder.  It was a really hard decision because the community is great and I love their UI.  Just wish they would have put solid sensors in the watch and small things like having the ECG at launch and potentially offline music storage could have sold me.  But just going off promises that "they are coming" wasn't enough to make me stay.  I was looking and debating between Garmin and Polar products now.  I will just be taking a long time comparing reviews and investigating the sensors used before spending $350 again.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[t.parker]

@SunsetRunner it depends on what you are after. I find Polar devices lot more user friendly than Garmin, however, in terms of certain features I like Garmin devices more (but I also like PolarFlow dashboard). It's really doing pros and cons and not jumping for a device that has just been released. The brand doesn't matter. What matters is whether the watch is doing what you want. Buy a model that has been in the market for several months at least and received updates. Personally, I can never understand that chase after the most recent brand new items which haven't had a chance to prove their reliability 🙂 

[SunsetRunner]

@t.parker Oh 100% agree with you.  I personally liked the fitness features of the sense with the ECG and other diagnostics as I have been watching my health a lot closer recently.  Getting older and had some medical issues the past year, I wanted something to really track things but the Sense just didn't do it accurately enough to be convinced.  I had my Garmin 410 for 10+ years and never felt a need to upgrade, but now I would like some nice health monitoring features so I have been looking at all the options.  I've been in the forums for Garmin this morning and it seems even their new watches are plagued with some of the same issues as the sense was but it seems their customer support is excruciatingly worse.  People are complaining about their silence which somewhat drives me away from them as well. It's unfortunate because I'm just looking to get something of quality that actually has a good review from their customers. 

[t.parker]

@SunsetRunner unfortunately, the same treatment you will get from Suunto and Polar. I have yet to see a sports watch company that customer support is flawless. As long as bugs are being fixed, 99% of features are on board and the device is reliable then the need for using customer support should be minimal (shouldn't it be that way anyway?). Customer support usually is the weakest link in customer-company communication. When I look for the device I try to assess the risk of having to get in touch with customer support. The less contact, the better. If something doesn't work occasionally but doesn't cause any serious damage then I can live with it and wait for a fix. For example, in Suunto watch sometimes the device was freezing when saving the activity, and holding a button and rebooting it was the only cure. After reboot, the activity wasn't lost so not a big deal really. What drove me away from Suunto was promising of POI support (which was there and has been taken away!) which never happened (it's still being a promise). So pros and cons, reliability, maybe a history of devices, and all of it has to be cross-examined with your requirements. There won't be ever 100% match. I have a mix of gear from different companies (bike sensors, bike computer, chest strap, foot pod, and watches) and all seems to be working together with the way I want, yet not always flawlessly 🙂 I keep observing Fitbit because they may release a device one day that will meet my requirements, too.

[RealSting]

I walk a very carefully measured 3.98km circular route (measured on OS 1:25k maps and a very expensive (all agency sats) GARMIN GPS system that I use for my work. It’s a route I've walked for over 10 years.

My Fitbit sense GPS reporting: 

Day 1: 3.7km

Day 2: 3.57km

My old 2017 FitBit Ionic never reported any less than 3.8km for this route.

I know GPS geometry changes and your environmental conditions greatly affect timing accuracy, which is why the experience (accuracy) can be different for everybody. But I’m hoping that it’s just coincidence of adverse environmental conditions since owning my Fitbit.

I cannot believe a modern GPS system can be up to as much as half a kilometre out! This accuracy is FIVE TIMES WORSE than the Selective Availability which was imposed on the NAVSTAR GPS satellites (the most common known system) before May 2002 giving a deliberate plus or minus 100 meter accuracy!

I’m hoping this is just a firmware tweak as it’s software that’s needed to compute the satellite timings for a position.

I’m not asking for flawless GPS capability… I know enough about GPS to know that! I’m just after something that was better than my old ionic and this Fitbit Sense is making no sense at all, it’s significantly worse! like 700 m off! no GPS should be off by that much even if it is consumer - all of the metrics based on it are completely wrong as a result!