Fitbit - Ionic GPS Heart Rate Monitor Watch

The Fitbit Iconic has all the fitness features (GPS, heart rate, waterproof, sleep, multiple workout options including swimming) you need plus the all the smart watch features you would actually use (notifications for messages, calls, calendar Whatsapp),Apps for Uber/Lyft, Starbucks, United Airlines, and more to come. It also has Fitbit pay, similar to Apple pay.

First, I love all the bells and whistles in this Fit Bit. I find it to be competitive with the Apple Watch, both in terms of aesthetics and functionality. Second, the watch is far more comfortable than the Surge. My only complaint is with the wrist band. I had to return one model because the wrist band kept falling off. Luckily, I didn't lose my watch, but the replacement works perfectly, so watch for that when you first get it.

I have tried out all the smart watches and this is the ONLY one that gives me a consistent, reliable, accurate heart rate regardless of whether I'm moving or not. This watch was a big pain to get an update installed on and I had to make a configuration change to my wifi router to get it to connect but not that all that's done it works great. A few more usable watch faces would be nice but those will arrive sooner or later, along with a larger selection of apps.

The screen cracked after less than 2 months of use. My wife set the Ionic gently on a counter top and the screen cracked. The screen didn't even touch the counter top. Customer service will not replace it because it was considered user impact damage and they told me they don't even have a service department to repair it. They offered a 25% discount to purchase another product but that was it.

I really like this watch. It has a bright screen, with customizable clock faces. The interface is easy to use and the integration with the smartphone app is really good. Battery life is really good too: I only charge every 4 or 5 days. I like the "coach" feature too which has a few different workout routines programmed in the watch it guides you through. I like the reminders to get up and move and the extra motivation I get to exercise and track my activities.

Go to the Fitbit Community page for the Ionic and it is just case after case after case of these devices suddenly bricking for no obvious reason. If you are under 12 months they'll send a replacement but the warranty period won't start over for the new watch and they seem to have a life expectancy of around 14 months. So, sure, if you want to pay $250 every 14 months throw your money away to Fitbit. I got a replacement when mine bricked after 3 months but am already anticipating it dying and am looking at other options.

I really wanted to like this product. After reading the luke-warm / negative reviews on-line, I purchased the Fitbit Ionic anyway; and I'm sorry I did.

Difficulty with syncing and updating with phone (Android). Fitbit help indicated for months that a solution was coming but never did.

REI has been extremely accommodating by replacing two Ionic watches under warranty. Each one simply went dark and stopped working within one year. Now the third one failed a day ago and I am going back to take my money back this time. Time to try a Garmin on ANY other brand. I heard similar stories by two other friends and was not believing them. Now I can confirm. Don't bother buying the Ionic.

Everything I’ve come to want in a smart watch/fitness tracking device. Great battery life too!!

I love the ionic. I upgraded from the blaze, which I really liked as well. I am glad I waited for Fitbit to come up with a more versatile sport watch. I love the fact that I can get the ionic wet and not have to worry about it. The ionic was easy to set up and even uploading my music was easy. The only negative comment I have is regarding switching out the straps. One side will click in fine. The other side is always a struggle to secure. I’m not the only one that has had this issue. It’s fallen off a couple of times because they one side wasn’t secure as I thought. Luckily I was home when the watch fell off. I also just found out I can’t add any credit cards other than AMEX to the wallet. That’s to bad, but not a huge deal. Overall I love the Fitbit ionic.

Have had the Ionic a little over a week and after the software update today 17Feb2018 am very pleased with it, because the update brought the formerly dead vibrator to life (and prevented me from returning it today).

I truly believe that others have had issues transferring music and such to their Fitbits so I'm not trying to argue with them. I'm just trying to explain my point of view, which was that I was able to simply create a playlist on iTunes which I then easily transferred over to my Ionic using the software and wifi. I don't know if something was buggy when they first came out or what. All I know is that the interface was NOT DIFFICULT for me to figure out without any instruction from any online community or other user or anyone.

I look around for quite a while before making the decision on where to buy my Ionic. REI won hands down. I have been a member for years, and they are always easy to deal with and friendly. I did have to order another band off of the internet, the band that comes with the Ionic is fine but not as comfortable as what I ordered, and get a screensaver for it at Bestbuy. REI did not have accessories for the Iconic when in purchased my watch. If they had, I wo un old have bought them there as well. The Fitbit is great, easy to set up with my phone, and I have thoroughly been enjoying it.

day two of wearing the unit and Fitbit is already sending me a replacement band due to a very small tab that secures the tip of the band to the secure it. For the money I spent, I'm still on the fence as to if I like it or not.

Ok, so I bought the Ionic nearly 3 months ago. When I first got it I needed to lose about 30 lbs. I shopped smart watches and learned that basically you have the fitness-minded smart watches (Garmin/ Fitbit) and you have the really computing heavy watches, such as the Samsung Gear3. I leaned toward a good fitness watch because I was not fitting in my clothes so good any more. I also had an need for the watch to vibrate when my phone rang, as I have a 24/7 call-out job and my spouse was done with my phone ringing at night. So I bought the Ionic, and I love it. The heart rate monitor (in the back of the watch, no chest straps) seems accurate 98% of the time. As does the calorie burn, distance traveled, step counts and more. The watch vibrates like crazy when the phone rings if I want it to, and I can see on the watch who is calling, and from the watch I can cancel the call. So no more loud phone calls at night waking BOTH of us up. My wife does not hear the watch vibrate, and she has what I would call, bionic hearing. For text messages, you can read the texts from the watch, but you cannot reply or text from the watch. This is nice if you're in a soul-crushing meeting at work and someone texts you, but you don't want to distract anyone by looking at your phone, you can just roll your wrist a tad and presto, there it is. You can choose seemingly hundreds of different watch faces, which is really cool. The Fitbit app is an awesome pairing with this watch, and due to it being so well set up, with the app and this watch I have lost 16 lbs in 3 months. Now let's get to that GPS part. Formerly, I used a Garmin Forerunner 25 for outside runs. This Ionic puts that Garmin to shame. The Ionic picks up the satellite signal within 30-45 seconds and is accurate as all get out. The Ionic allows you to select, Run, Bike, Swim, Treadmill, Workout, Weights or Interval timer. When you select Run, Bike or Swim, it starts searching for satellites immediately unless you cancel the GPS. It has no problem maintaining GPS signal through long sleeve clothing, which is also cool. My son as a Garmin VivoActive3, and honestly I think the Ionic is a better smart watch, but this may come down to personal preference and whether you like the Garmin user interface better. The Ionic battery without using any GPS lasts 24 hours a day on the wrist for about 5-7 days. If you're using the GPS regularly, you're probably going to charge the Ionic once every couple days.

My first ionic failed within REIs 90 day return period. (Random lines were appearing over the screen.) REI was great about giving me an exchange. Now, ~14 months later and the next ionic has failed. At first it was constantly displaying the Fitbit logo, but, after several resets and factory reset, I got things back to what I thought was normal, but now the battery loses its charge in less than a day.

I really stressed on which smart watch to get. I first decided I didn't want just a smart phone on my wrist, so I focused on Garmin and Fitbit. For the price I turned my attention to Fitbit (I wanted music on my watch without paying double). I then stressed between the Ionic and the Versa. Ionic had all the features I wanted (big screen, GPS, music, payments, etc) but Versa looked better and was getting great reviews.

I replaced a non-GPS Apple Watch and chose the Ionic over a newer Apple Watch and have been happy I did. Battery life was the main reason I chose the Ionic, over more than a month of using I’ve been getting 4 days between charging even when using GPS to run. After using the Fitbit app I love all the data, that it’s in one place, and the display. The OS could be a little smoother and faster, that’s why I give it 4 stars and not 5, hopefully a software update will improve this area.

Been using Fitbits for several years. Bought this as a Christmas present. Failed during initialization. Waited several hours for initialization to complete. Repeated several times. Called Fitbit support several times. Both Fitbit support and REI did great. The problem is with the product, it should have never left the factory in this state. REI was great, exchanged it for a similar Garmin.

I had this watch just over a year until it just died on me one night. It still had 50% battery but it would not turn on or do anything! After going through all the troubleshooting steps I was informed by Fitbit that i was out of the 1 year warranty and they don't offer any repair services. During my internet searches I found that this is a know issue with these devices! DO NOT BUY!

Lasted 10 days and 2x in the water. Third time was at the beach and it died on me. Put it in rice for 72 hours and it’s completely dead. Won’t charge. It’s not waterproof, fellas. Absolute dud. Returning it for a refund.

I’ve had a Fitbit Surge for three years and upgraded to the Ionic three months ago. I am interested in heart rate, steps, stairs, GPS tracking, and playing music during exercise. Comparing the Ionic heart rate to multiple gym machines, I found the Fitbit to register incorrect heart rates, especially during the first 10 to 15 minutes of exercise and most of the time it was too high. It has registered as much as 50 BPM high and as low as 30 BPM low. It is not a matter of placement or tightness on the wrist nor is it a moisture under the watch issue. Fitbit is aware of the issue and refused to provide a replacement because it is a known design issue. An email from their support team stated “We are aware of the problem and are working to resolve it as quickly as possible.” My 90 day time to return the watch to REI as well as my patience was running out. The music was easy to load but the signal was weak. Steps, stairs, and GPS were OK. The watch functions and app were easy to use. It was a disappointment to have to return the watch. I have since purchased a Garmin Fenix 5 and am happy with it. Wrist based heart rates can be an issue but the Garmin appears to be doing a good job.

I got the Ionic primarily for the heartrate monitor. I compared it with my Polar FT7, (which is right on) and the Ionic is between 12 and 60 bpm off all the time. Sometimes higher but more often lower. I've done all the trouble shooting I could find and had no luck. I'm returning it and will continue to use my Polar

I had a Charge 2 that I loved, but it died after it took an unexpected dunk in the Gulf of Mexico. I wanted something I could swim with, and I chose the Ionic, despite very mixed reviews here, because the battery life is longer than the Apple Watch.

I do a lot of training swimming, running, and working out and love this watch. I’ve been a long user of Garmin products. This watch is head and shoulders above anything they offer and the Fitbit app is Amazing! If you are looking to improve you fitness activity and accountability this is the watch for you!

Really enjoyed the long battery life and sleep tracking and was pretty easy to connect to my phone and run-tracking apps.

I liked mine a lot, used the GPS function a lot and also enjoyed the sleep tracker. But it died and I tried all the reset options to no avail. Torn at what to do now as I really did like the dashboard and the functionality but it seems like they break a lot.....just after warranty.

I got the Ionic after having a Surge for several years and really like it. I use it every day all day long and find it works great. I primarily walk and hike as well as use it to track and measure against my goals. I would highly recommend it.

I was really excited about this product. From a feature perspective, I thought it was a great idea. The fact that you could pay for things, have Strava, carry 200-plus songs plus all the other GPS / heart rate features, and this was the obvious choice for me.

Have been using it for 3 weeks now and I love it. You don't need to charge it as often as the competition, and ALL my gps is drawn out at the end of my runs. I have not lost gps yet. My Blaze was not as reliable.

This watch is not user friendly at all. Adding, removing, and using apps is difficult. Changing the settings on the watch is way more difficult than it should be. I returned the watch after two weeks.

The Ionic was purchased as a Christmas gift for my wife. Specifications checked all the boxes promising to help her track her runs, walks, steps, heart rate, etc. From the start, keeping it communicating with the phone app and syncing activities proved difficult. There were times when activities uploaded to Fitbit, but never made it to Strava as promised and support tried to tell us the issue was the phone we used to synchronize. We worked through these issues with it finally doing what it should, only to have it repeat a few months later. When the Ionic did work, I would give it 3 stars. It functioned reasonably well but didn't wow us. It gets a single star because after 1-1/2 years the product is dead. It started behaving erratically, failed to respond to attempts to reset and eventually turned off and will not turn back on. For what this cost, I had expectations of at least 2 years of daily use. I contacted Fitbit to ask if it could be repaired, but there is no repair option, and the best they would offer is a discount on a new product. No thanks, we are trying other brands.

Very disappointed with my purchase. Have problems syncing the Ionic Fitbit to my phone. Almost everyday. Spent time on phone with Tech Support, resolved nothing. Now everyday is frustrating. Reboot phone, turn blue-tooth on-and-off, etc. Went online and found many people have this same problem.

This watch does a decent job at fulfilling its core purpose of measuring my heart rate and tracking my location. However,

I’ve used Fitbit for years. This was supposed to be my solution to not getting an Apple Watch because I only wanted the fitness focus primarily. I run and cycle about 6 days a week.

I've had this watch for 2.5 years and love it. I changed out the original band for the Fitbit sports band and it was exactly what I needed for my skin to breath and easily change sizes. The watch itself is perfect for me when I run with wireless earbuds and don't want to carry my iphone. I play music through the earbuds, track my run via the Ionic, and don't have to carry anything else. Looking forward to seeing what Fitbit will do to upgrade the Ionic in the near future.

The Ionic is advertised as a fitness tracker with smartwatch features, however this device has failed to provide smartwatch features for the past 6 months. I purchased this watch in Feb 2018, and for a short time it worked great. However after an update from roughly 6 months ago I am no longer able to get push notification from my phone to my watch, which was the entire reason I chose the Ionic. I have tried multiple times with Fitbit customer support and their online troubleshooting guides to get the push notifications to work, but nothing has helped. For those interested, I currently have a Galaxy S7 Edge running Android v. 8.0.0.

Overall, I liked this watch. But it is gone unfortunately due to the band failing during a wipeout.

We have had 2 Charge 2's stop charging after less than a year of use. Now my Ionic is also failing by counting 1 step per second while sitting on my table and flashing on and off. Tech support was Zero help all 3 times. I will never purchase another Fitbit product and I highly recommend you do not waste your money.

Within 5 months I am on my second one due to the first one stopped working. When running, it took at least 10 min to sync before you could start running and sometimes it would lose connection. Tried updating today and it took 6 hours, then none of the buttons worked. Weekly update wasn't accurate as my steps were the same every week. Returning tomorrow as definitely not worth the money.

TRASH ADIDAS IONIC

Perhaps because it’s a brand new product, my Ionic will not connect to my WiFi despite all efforts to troubleshoot. It connects to my iPad’s Bluetooth but it won’t update the firmware with it. I’ll have to return this for a refund unfortunately.

The HR monitor has a bug. Mine and lots of others are reporting really high HRs. Called Fitbit. They said they’re working on it. Whatever. It’s brand new and s doesn’t work.

I’ve been using Fitbit products for about a year and a half now. I got this about a month ago and really like it. VERY clear display and plenty of home screen options. I’ve had no problems with it. Took about 20 minutes when I first synced it to my phone (iPhone) and that was the watch accepting the latest firmware update. I’ve had numerous complements on it. I would recommend this watch.

after a week and a half, the blue tooth stopped. When it says Android and windows 10 there are some other specifics. Basically if you don't have an IPAD, or someother "I" product IFIT is not your fit.

As I am hiking up a large hill, the heart rate monitor reads 85bpm. I am not in that good of shape. And the software sucks, who cares about floors climbed, give me a real number

So I’ve used the Fitbit one, flex, Alta, charge, and now the ionic. I love this watch because I hate carrying my phone on runs and bike rides. The GPS works well even though I live in an area with spotty service and no internet. Set up took longer without WiFi but was fine. Heart rate and sleep tracker seem accurate. Love that I can store music on it too!

Awesome features. GPS, syncing to my phone and being compatible with bluetooth headphones are amazing features. After a few months one of the side buttons popped out. It probably could have been fixed, but didn't want to risk it with such an expensive watch. Very grateful for REIs return policy. Hopefully this second Fitbit will last longer.

If you buy this, I strongly recommend buying from a physical store where you can return it. The first Ionic I bought was dead on arrival -- nothing I did would get the unit to display anything or charge so I took it back for an exchange.

Love the low profile look, great gps function, great health tracking numbers and app. Just starting to get to know watch and it stopped working and screen went dead could not pair with phone within less than a month. I tried all methods of reset per fitbit. Looking at their website I was not alone with this experience.

It quit working after one year purchase. For a 300.00 dollars item it is very unreasonable. I would like the manufacture to take it back and fix it or give me my money back. When I went to REI to see if they would do anything about it, that told me I have to go through the manufacture.

I love the Ionic GPS function for running and cycling because I no longer have to carry my phone to get accurate distance. I also like the auto pause feature.

I expected this product to be flawless and I was wrong...after reading all kinds of reviews I took the risk and bought the ionic...worked ok for about 5 days then it was tracking steps I never took and took forever to set up. Didn’t even move the watch from my desk and it said I took 8000 steps...um that’s not right...so after two calls to Fitbit, all the trouble shooting and a factory reset it was still not working....so thanks to REI I was able to return the product for an even exchange to give a 2nd ionic a try...didn’t work ether....extremely frustrating....so thanks to rei’s staff being so understanding and kind they let me return my Fitbit for a full refund because the Fitbit company said they would send me replacement Fitbit which could be a refurbished Fitbit...I paid for a brand new Fitbit so I will be getting a brand new Fitbit. I understand that new products have glitches but thought maybe they would be worked out by now so needless to say I switched to the blaze and I’m very happy. Ionic no...blaze yes.

This is my 4th fitbit. Had the iconic for 2 weeks and loved it, now it won't update. I love the Fitbit interface and how user friendly the app is- when it feels like working. It's too hit or miss for me and Fitbit customer service is a joke. Garmin here I come.

battery life is good if you set the screen wake manually other wise it only lasts about 3 days. I like other watches that have better color and resolution but the battery life was does not last even a whole day like the I watch.

The Ionic will not stay connected to Apple phones. This means that the user cannot change screens, get messages, download apps. So get an Apple Watch which is superior in every way.

Good: interface, style, size, comfort, Fitbit pay, strava link, range of activities, altimeter

Had my Ionic for 3 years now and it Rocks. The Battery life is outstanding compared to my Apple. Take it swimming and surfing all the time so can't image anything better.

Good looking watch with a few problems. Appreciate the gps tracking and stats . Just a few glitches.