Sense GPS Distance Way Off

[KFabulous]

I’ve been on several hikes in the past few days where my Sense has greatly overestimated the distance using GPS. I go to Exercise>Track>Hike, GPS shows 3 bars, the route shows accurately on the map, but the distance is way off. Yesterday’s hike registered 2.8 miles. Posted distance for the hike and my husband’s Apple Watch showed 1.8 miles. What gives?

[N8teGee]

Hi @KFabulous.

It's the way the Sense (and other Fitbit GPS devices) measure distance. For some reason unknown to us users, the calculations seem to be heavily based on the pedometer. From my understanding (even when using GPS) the device calculates the distance using number of steps multiplied by stride length. It periodically adjusts the set stride length from time to time.

This theory can be tested by getting into your car and starting a walk or run session, then driving a couple of miles. You'll notice that the map is plotted correctly, but your distance hasn't been recorded.

You can try to counter this by setting your stride length manually, but honestly we are not robots who are capable of sticking to a constant pace/stride length. So for me this isn't a solution.

Another option is to use bike mode which (for obvious reasons) doesn't use this strange algorithm, but that comes with it's own cons too.