Gear Fit 2 Pro GPS Inaccurate

[L1ng]

Hi there,

I've owned the Gear Fit 2 Pro for about a month now and I have to say I really like it - It has some great features for the price.

The only thing that is holding me back from loving the device is that the GPS when running seems to be pretty inaccurate in parts. I have so far recorded 2 identical runs (same distance) on the Samsung Health app and they are both difference in recorded distance and GPS (see images).

I have made sure that I have disconnected my phone in good time to allow for the watch to pick up its own GPS location but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

See the images for a small snippet of the runs - I have marked in red my actual route - The blue line denotes how the GPS recorded. Note that one says 1.68 miles and the other 2.28 miles even though they are the exact same distance.

Could anyone tell me if they are having a similar experience?

Tom

[Youngtech]

Owned the Fit 2 Pro for three days, took it on two different length runs, tracking MapMyRun on both the Fit2 and my phone. Dramatically different results for both distance and pace. Have to return it as it’s SOO inaccurate, due to poor GPS. This was the primary reason why I bought the wearable, and I’m very disappointed. Samsung should take note and have better quality control over the GPS capabilities before releasing a device to the market. 

[Carole3]

I have had my Gear Fit 2 for a year. The gps used to be pretty good for my cycling and running purposes however the software upgrades have resulted in the same issues I have been reading about on this thread.  Cycling gps locks on almost immediately and is reasonably accurate, running gps is appalling taking 5 mins and 1k or so to lock on. Also heart rate monitor stops for significant periods. 

I think it might be the result of changes intended to increase the battery life which are having unintended consequences. Needless to say I am looking for another device.

[Dillon]

I've had my gear fit2 pro for about a week and have taken it on 2 runs. The first was 3 miles, and I used the MapMyRun app on the watch, and it recorded 2.6m with no map data. So, I tried again and ran a 4-mile route using the native Samsung app instead - and it recorded 5.88m on the watch. However, this time I got map data, and the map looks perfect; it measured 4 miles exactly, even though the Exercise app was saying 5.88m and calculating my pace, calories, etc. based on that. What gives?? Why doesn't the distance on the map match the total distance run?

[John420]

It just sucks and they don't care to fix it. Look at all the complaints with no reply. Looking at polar now

[DevinH]

I have kvetched about the inaccuracy of the GF2, but on all three of my most recent runs, I've set the MapmyRun to start a few minutes before I actually start running.  Once the GPS Icon starts showing green, I start my run.  It has made a huge differnce in accuracy, and all  three runs were pretty much what I expected.  I'm not saying there's not a lot of room for improvement, but this little cue might help others, so I thought I'd share.   Still frustrated with the lack of feedback from the gorilla in the room (Samsung peeps, you know who you are), but I feel better about my tracking.

[Tobias1977]

Yes. Bought my Fit2 Pro on Friday. Went for a cycle ride today and nothing was recorded apart from heart rate. No distance (0km), no speed and the calories burnt were only 51kcal from a 50minute journey. No mapping was found on the Samsung Health app.

Having stopped for a ten minute rest, I went in to settings to discover that ‘location’ services were not switched on. I switched them on and also checked to see if power saving was on as well. It wasn’t. The ride back recorded no data apart from the aforementioned. Again. No mapping data.

I went on to Samsung’s chat facility and the person trying to help me was following a script and couldn’t make head nor tale of my query. After a wild goose chase they ended the chat. I made a complaint on twitter. I’m amazed as to how little the “technical support” knew on the layout of their own apps and how to troubleshoot.

I decided to try out the device again. I went for a 5km walk. I ended up with more data at the end of the journey but the mapping was incomplete. I’ve tried finding a suitable third party app to map the exercise. Strata appears to be out.

I‘m really disappointed my Fitbit Charge 2 has a cracked screen following a fall. I didn’t need to rely on third party apps and I got fairly reliable data. This wearable kit was supposed to be an upgrade,  then is proving a complete disaster.

[Waz1]

I've had the same issue, I use map my run but have also tried the default app too. Sometimes I'll get a GPS lock after about 30 seconds, other times it can take several minutes, every few weeks it will fail to get a lock completely. Today it drained 73% battery life trying! Its done this to me once before and a did a factory reset, this solved it for a few months but here I am again with the same issue. I'm loathe to keep having to factory reset a fitness tracker I paid nearly £200 for because it can't carry out its main function. Samsungs lack of response to several customers complaining of the same issue is concerning. I'll be taking it into a Samsung store for a face to face conversation, hopefully I can get some sort of answer.

[Tobias1977]

Hey Waz,

Sorry to hear you’re having trouble with the device. I returned mine promptly as it was within the 30 day returns policy offered by the retailer.

I won’t be purchasing wearable technology from Samsung again.

Kind Regards

[AndrewG]

I've had the Gear Fit 2 for a little less than a year and it's never had accurate GPS. At times it drops the signal for the entire run, generating no map at all. Most of the time it drops the first kilometer or two. Basically every time the distance is off: when GPS is running for the entire run (which is rare), it will show my standard 5.2 km run as something more like 5.4 or 5.5 (you can see the weird switchbacks in the GPS route, which I clearly didn't take); when GPS fails for a portion of the run, the app will give a distance of 4.3 to 4.6 km. There doesn't appear to be a relationship between GPS accuracy and the weather. All in all this is pretty frustrating, even for someone who paid only $80 for a used GF2 and wasn't expecting much. The GF2 gave me enough of a taste of GPS to know how useful it can be in tracking my fitness progress, but not enough working GPS to actually be useful. Ugh! Now looking elsewhere for a fitness tracker and I won't be so cheap this time.

[Jostian]

What confuses me is the elevation readings, i don't think the GF2 Pro uses GPS for elevation, i was running along the beach and the elevation range shows -75m to -95m, that's crazy, any insights?