My experience with the Sense

[LMH-Sense]

I enjoyed using the fitbit Charge 2 and then the Charge 4. Little to no problems. Granted these were simpler editions of the Fitbit and developed by Fitbit - not Google. I just purchased a Sense (plus one for my wife) a week ago and so far we have only encountered a couple of issues. However, these issues are known issues to Fitbit. First is the News App (Not the the Headlines app). It loads but will not give options for news sources. It is essentially a "dead" app. This has been a problem from the first day the sense was released. Read all the complaints. The biggest puzzle is that it seems to work or some but not others (mostly NOT). We have two Samsung S10's and it will not work on either. If the News app works for you, please let this community know what device it is on. I noticed that they have an news app called "NEWE" for the Verse. Perhaps they can modify it to run on the Sense.  Second is the WIFI connectivity issue. Constantly having to reconnect. Same with Bluetooth. I will continue to monitor my problems with the Sense as I just got it - knowing there were some issues. Hopefully Google will address and fix the long running "KNOWN" issues first.

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[nana30771]

The sense is the worst I’ve have around 5 months and customer service is horrible. They won’t fix or refund. I had other fitbits they were great. The sense is horrible do not buy. 

[LMH-Sense]

nana,

I appreciate your comments, but please be specific. Condemning a product is easy. The purpose of this thread is to explain and discuss the issue of ongoing known problems - the type that's plastered all over the internet. Specifically, what problems are you having. 

[SunsetRunner]

I have had my Sense for 11 days and there are several issues I am wondering if anyone else has seen and possibly has a solution.

1. GPS takes minutes to connect and will only connect outdoors. My wife's Versa 3 and daughter's ?? both connect indoors in seconds. I've tried loosening the band and yesterday I rebooted.

2. Biking is my primary activity. As best I can extrapolate (from Strava, online calculators/liturature) it has me biking on a 16lb road bike with .5" tires. In reality I am usually using a 34lb MTB with 2.5" knobbies. The calorie calculator is way off (25-35%). If I track a ride using both Strava and Fitbit there is a large disparity. If I go into the Strava web app and change the bike from my MTB to my road bike (16lb with .5" tires) strava recalcs and the results are similar to fitbits. Anyway I can change the bike?

3. I did reboot yesterday to try and resolve the GPS connect issue (it did not). Today I went out for a ride. While waiting for the GPS to connect the screen went blank and I can only tap it (the movement to activate the screen doesn't seem to work at this point). When I tap the screen, the bike activity starts, so, I stop it. I had a 0 minute ride, HR 92, 4 calories. Then I went for a 44 minute 8.88 mile ride... Got off the bike, stopped the activity and checked it. It showed 0 zone minutes and an average HR of 82 (versus similar rides of 123-130). The phone app shows 0 cals and 7,6 mph average. If I open the ride it shows the correct 12.2 mph (same app!!!, different). Opening the web app and scanning the HR graph it shows my HR going into the 40s (while pumping away in windy conditions... My HR does not go below 60 while resting!!). My biggest issue here is HR is waaay off (50+ bpm).

After putting the bike away and walking down the driveway, back and into the house my HR was in the fat burning zone; I got 3 minutes of zone time for walking, slowly, after a bike ride while my HR dropped (in reality, according to fitbit it rose from 80 to 115 and I entered the fat burning zone).

HR was the selling point of this watch... I do not want to wear a chest strap and research shows people and testers are happy with the HR in most cases. I am worried that my reboot yesterday killed my HR.... if I follow the daily graph I can see when I get on the bike (92bpm) and then I take off, pedalling as hard as I can for about 2 minutes then ease off... during this time my HR fell from 92 to 60 something... it never goes back above 100 for the ride, is in the 40s (never, not while sleeping) and then 'rebounds' once I get off the bike.... Anyone else seen this? I bought it on AMZN.. should I return it????

[nana30771]

Battery last about 5 hours and they continue sending a bean which has done nothing. Customer service is very rude. I want full refund if you can’t fix. 
Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

[LMH-Sense]

They continue sending a "Bean"? 

[lablover55]

?  bean? please explain.

[Clove6060]

I have yet to receive anything resembling a bean. I’ve had mine 13 months. 

[lablover55]

same here.. 

[TommyIzzo]

Maybe they meant pebble. Fitbits name for sending replacements without bands?

[LMH-Sense]

Mattie,

Might I make a suggestion. The next time you go out for a ride, wear the fitbit about 1/2 to 1 inch higher on your wrist. That's what I do during my workouts and it will lower the BPM's quite a bit. Let me know if it helps. I have a theory about it but first see if it makes any difference. 

[LMH-Sense]

Nana,

I am not an expert by any means but try the following as these items will drain your battery real fast. 

1. If your display is on all the time, change it to button or wrist action activate. 

2. If your GPS is on all the time, turn it off and acitvate it for specific programs when needed.

3. If you have a lot of programs "running in the background" turn as many of them off as possible. Not all programs need the background on all the time. 

Again, just a few suggestions.

[SunsetRunner]

LMH

Thanks for the response.

Yes, I read that moving it up the wrist can improve HR data; I will try that next ride, (tomorrow??)

I went out again this afternoon (because that is how pissed off I am - lost 70+ zone minutes!!!) and it appeared to function 'accurately'. I tightened the band (too tight, imprint circumscribes wrist - GPS took a long time ... could be a correlation there).

I also looked back at my other rides and on the browser based app they are double counted in some cases - two nearly identical rides in some, but not all, cases. (option to delete is there). I would like to figure that out as well.

I am new to this, I used Strava on an old phone (no sim card) on/off for a few years, but, I do not like carrying a phone in general and 'lugging' it on a ride was a big part of the wrist based option. The GPS is accurate (it failed once, dropped about a 1/4 mile, and did the rate calc incorrectly. 20 lines of python code would fix that, 12 if you are good at it). So I am committed to at least until I am convinced it is so inaccuate it is not worth it, I doubt that as it is motivating me to get up and walk every hour (sit at computer terminals all day) amongst other things.

Thanks again for your reply. One thing about these posts, in general, it appears as if many users are very happy with these things.

Mattie

[LMH-Sense]

A lot of people are satisfied the Fitbit brand – but I have a feeling it is the old 80/20 rule. 80% of the people are either happy or just silent and 20% are voicing their opinions and dissatisfaction. When you think about all the combinations of use and functions it blows the mind. At least three cell phone operating systems, thousands of software combinations and settings on those phones that could/might affect the Fitbit software. Then there are a number of different Fitbit apps that can and affect each other and the function of the Fitbit.

I am not defending Fitbit or Google. They took on the task and it is up to them to fix each problem. They are the ones that should be proactively surfing the net to find problematic trends and homemade solutions to incorporate into their R&D for solutions.

For example, will the same spectrum (BPM) lights and their placing read the same on the wide base platform of a Verse or Sense as they do on the long narrow base of a Charge? I think not and feel that is the problem with the fluctuating BPM readings. The more rigorous the exercise the less accurate the readings due excessive movement on the wrist of the Verse and Sense. They are wider than the Charge and other models. That’s why moving it up on the wrist helps – less movement. Totally my theory right or wrong.

As for the GPS, seems like you may have figured it out? I have no comment on that since I have not used mine yet. My thing is weight bearing exercise and cardio machines. If you had one reading at 10s to log on, the Fitbit appears to be working but for some reason the times fluctuate.

Connection to my home WIFI and my S10 is excellent. Control of Spotify is excellent. Don’t really care to carry my music inside my Sense when I have thousands of selections on my cell. Google Assistant is flawless. Had a problem setting up the Weather App but when I deleted the two optional cities it began to work just fine. Will try to reload them later. 

Everyone is different so individual solutions may not be the same.

I hope this forum will help and that the powers to be really read this stuff.

Moderator Edit: Formatting

[SunsetRunner]

My wifi does not work, I can log into it, it drops and does not find it without me putting in my pswd, again. Connects, lasts about 10 seconds and drops. Not a big deal, I'm not using apps on the phone other than those related to fitness.

[TommyIzzo]

@LMH-Sense Google had nothing to do with the development of the Sense. It was out before Google took over Fitbit. 

[LMH-Sense]

Tommy,

Thank you for your comment - but please read my post again. I did not infer that Google developed the Sense or any other Fitbit device to date. What I  stated was "I am not defending Fitbit or Google. They took on the task and it is up to them to fix each problem." As the developer and owner BOTH Fitbit & Google own these issues and owe a duty to their customers resolve them.

Thank you again.

[TommyIzzo]

@LMH-Sense Your initial post reads "I enjoyed using the fitbit Charge 2 and then the Charge 4. Little to no problems. Granted these were simpler editions of the Fitbit and developed by Fitbit - not Google". I was responding to that. Not your later post. 

[KathiC]

I haven't had a Fitbit in quite awhile, but am really happy (mostly) with my new Sense.  The only issue I have is GPS.  It takes forever to get a GPS signal (5-10 minutes) and will sometimes drop in the middle of a walk.  This then makes my walking stats incomplete, and I like my walking stats.  I'm hoping this will either get fixed or get fixed for future devices.  

[LMH-Sense]

What cell phone do you have?