GPS Taking a while to connect

[sas135]

This might have been covered by someone else but I can't find it. I've just got a Fitbit Surge and when I try to get it to track a walk/run it doesn't seem to want to connect. The little satellite just stays on the screen before I eventually give up. Does it take a while? Or is GPS not available in all countries? I live in Scotland on the Isle of Lewis. 

[WendyB]

GPS can be very iffy sometimes. Is it foggy or cloudy? This can cause problems

Around a lot of building as well can cause problems

[Julia_G · Accepted solution]

Hi, @sas135, that's a very interesting question!  I am guessing that on the Isle of Lewis tall buildings are not an issue... You do need to have a clear view of the sky to get a signal, so walking in heavy forest can be a problem -- but I am guessing that's not an issue on Lewis either!

GPS is designed to be unaffected by weather, however one exception is standing water.  So if the antenna has even a thin layer of water on ir, apparently the signal can be blocked.  GPS signals can pass through cloth, so you can wear your jacket over your Surge.  However, if your jacket is wet that could cause the signal to be blocked.

Does your Surge ever pick up a signal?  How long have you had it?  If it never picks up a signal even when you take it to an open area it could be that it is defective...  In that case you may want to get in touch with Customer Support contact.fitbit.com .

To answer your specific question, GPS signals are taken from satellites orbiting the earth, so it is available in all countries and even in remote areas like the Scottish islands.  In fact it can work better in remote areas, because as Wendy mentioned tall buildings can interfere with the signal because the view of the sky is restricted.

[sas135]

Thanks for replying. I managed to get it to work when I went outside. I was trying to get it to work in the house and was panicking. It managed to connect after about 20 seconds once I was outside in an open space. Hopefully it wont be affected too much by our weather.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @sas135, GPS should be okay with Scottish weather.  But it definitely won't work indoors!  

Glad you got it going.  20 seconds is pretty quick.

[sas135]

Yeah, I was very impressed with the connection time. Can't wait to track my run on Friday

[Colinm39]

@Julia_GHi from Australia.. I'm doing more testing on the GPS and I have no problems with Connected GPS and MobileRun, MapMyRun etc and one of my Surges... that connects within 15 seconds. The second Surge just keeps looking..looking and looking...

I'm doing comparisons for the Southern Hemisphere Fitbitters to gather enough information about our East/West issue on the Blaze and Charge HR2.. Also the MobileRun loss of mapping..  I don't have any problems with the Non Surge connections on these devices, probably because my house is within 200 metres, line of site of Australia's largest Telco with 4GX, and any walking I do is covered triangularly.

Restarts don't seem to help... Any clues will help..