Gear Fit 2 Shortcomings

[Wobblin30]

Well I found another interesting tidbit about SHealth regarding sleep. It kept marking my sleep as poor even if i slept for more than 6 hours or even 10 hours. If you don't sleep on time (whatever you set the app to), it will never mark your sleep as Good even if you get a full night's sleep. A few minutes later than your scheduled sleep time is an automatic Fair. I would assume the same if you wake up earlier than your wake up time.

Good to see you can actually use S Health. My Nexus 6P running the N dev 3 preview will not even open the app. After several install/uninstalls, I've given up. Should have gone Samsung I guess.... The watch itself is nice but the Gear app is trash and without S Health, I'll likely return it. It's a shame too, Tizen doesn't try to do too much like Android Wear and the Gear Fit 2 is one of the few out there with GPS and storage for music.

 

[danielson1978]

So yeah I've had my gearfit 2 for around a week now and most of the annoyances have been mentioned here, but something that is really troubling me is the calorie calculations whilst exercising, I did a 10km run this morning (47 mins, average HR 141bpm) and the treadmill gave me a calorie count of 723Kcal, my Gear Fit 2 gave me a reading of 292 Kcal, now I know maybe the treadmill overestimates calories used but I have used various other fitness trackers and the Calories burned have never been that far out, it did the same on Monday with a 10km run but the gear fit gave me even less calories!

I also used an online estimated calorie expenditure tool and it used height.weight, average bpm and total time to come up with a figure of 622Kcal, which is in line with what I have previously been given. The problem doesn't seem to be the band picked up the HR as I was constantly checking it to make sure it was working but more the calculation used to come to the number of estimated calories used, has anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[luisrcastillo]

So yeah I've had my gearfit 2 for around a week now and most of the annoyances have been mentioned here, but something that is really troubling me is the calorie calculations whilst exercising, I did a 10km run this morning (47 mins, average HR 141bpm) and the treadmill gave me a calorie count of 723Kcal, my Gear Fit 2 gave me a reading of 292 Kcal, now I know maybe the treadmill overestimates calories used but I have used various other fitness trackers and the Calories burned have never been that far out, it did the same on Monday with a 10km run but the gear fit gave me even less calories!

I also used an online estimated calorie expenditure tool and it used height.weight, average bpm and total time to come up with a figure of 622Kcal, which is in line with what I have previously been given. The problem doesn't seem to be the band picked up the HR as I was constantly checking it to make sure it was working but more the calculation used to come to the number of estimated calories used, has anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks in advance for any replies

I noticed this and to me it looks like machine exercises like treadmill are not using the heart rate which is odd. However, if you set your excercise as running and turn off location, you will get a better calorie count but the distance will be significantly higher than the treadmill.

 

[xxryu139xx]

So yeah I've had my gearfit 2 for around a week now and most of the annoyances have been mentioned here, but something that is really troubling me is the calorie calculations whilst exercising, I did a 10km run this morning (47 mins, average HR 141bpm) and the treadmill gave me a calorie count of 723Kcal, my Gear Fit 2 gave me a reading of 292 Kcal, now I know maybe the treadmill overestimates calories used but I have used various other fitness trackers and the Calories burned have never been that far out, it did the same on Monday with a 10km run but the gear fit gave me even less calories!

I also used an online estimated calorie expenditure tool and it used height.weight, average bpm and total time to come up with a figure of 622Kcal, which is in line with what I have previously been given. The problem doesn't seem to be the band picked up the HR as I was constantly checking it to make sure it was working but more the calculation used to come to the number of estimated calories used, has anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Did u use the threadmill or running setting? For some reason threadmill doesnt calculate calorie via heart rate.

 

[danielson1978]

Thankyou for the reply, I read your original comment after I'd written my question (I should really learn to read the threads first!) and just tried it on a short cycle, the cycle came back as having burnt 100 Kcal in 10 minutes, this was based on heart rate calculations and turning location off, yesterday I did the same cycle with heart rate on and location on and it gave me 44 calories, now admittedly my average heart rate was a little higher today (121 compared to 95) so there should be a discrepancy but it also gave me a distance of 0 (which is fine, I didn't have location on) but I wonder whether the calculation with location on is based on distance travelled in said time rather the HR - I will try a run on Friday and report back with my findings, did you put location on or off when you did your treadmill run?

 

[luisrcastillo]

Thankyou for the reply, I read your original comment after I'd written my question (I should really learn to read the threads first!) and just tried it on a short cycle, the cycle came back as having burnt 100 Kcal in 10 minutes, this was based on heart rate calculations and turning location off, yesterday I did the same cycle with heart rate on and location on and it gave me 44 calories, now admittedly my average heart rate was a little higher today (121 compared to 95) so there should be a discrepancy but it also gave me a distance of 0 (which is fine, I didn't have location on) but I wonder whether the calculation with location on is based on distance travelled in said time rather the HR - I will try a run on Friday and report back with my findings, did you put location on or off when you did your treadmill run?

I turn location off on the treadmill and turn it on when running outdoors

 

[xxryu139xx]

I turn location off on the treadmill and turn it on when running outdoors

how accurate is it outdoors with gps on?

on a threadmill, whether walking or running, the speed calculation is off. it thinks im walking much faster and running much faster than the actual speed on the threadmill. hence, the distance calculated is also off. i did an interval on the threadmill for a total of 4.1 miles on the threadmill, and the fit2 thinks i ran 5.3 miles.

has anyone discovered how to correct stride length?

i like this watch, its much more comfortable, but its quite annoying with all these inconsistent readings. it might find its way back to Best Buy this weekend. Too much work to even try to get close to what fitbit tells me.

another rant here. Using the Walking Exercise on the Fit2 reads much lower caloric burn when doing an incline, however if you are walking on level ground it will read very close to what the threadmill would calculate. Still proves that not all programmed exercises on the watch calculates calories via heart rate.

i think the only solution to get a somewhat calorie burn count is to use the Running Exercise all the time despite of the exercise, however that will skew distance and speed calculations.

 

[luisrcastillo]

how accurate is it outdoors with gps on?

on a threadmill, whether walking or running, the speed calculation is off. it thinks im walking much faster and running much faster than the actual speed on the threadmill. hence, the distance calculated is also off. i did an interval on the threadmill for a total of 4.1 miles on the threadmill, and the fit2 thinks i ran 5.3 miles.

has anyone discovered how to correct stride length?

i like this watch, its much more comfortable, but its quite annoying with all these inconsistent readings. it might find its way back to Best Buy this weekend. Too much work to even try to get close to what fitbit tells me.

another rant here. Using the Walking Exercise on the Fit2 reads much lower caloric burn when doing an incline, however if you are walking on level ground it will read very close to what the threadmill would calculate. Still proves that not all programmed exercises on the watch calculates calories via heart rate.

i think the only solution to get a somewhat calorie burn count is to use the Running Exercise all the time despite of the exercise, however that will skew distance and speed calculations.

Outdoors with GPS seems more accurate as far as location and speed goes. Calories seem to be OK too.

I agree with you on the annoyances and I personally have thought about returning it but mine got scratched and I have a feeling they won't take it back

 

[danielson1978]

It *could* be a really good watch and most of the annoyances *could* be smoothed out via a software update but it's a case of do you wait and risk it, send it back or put up with it the way it is. I am in the UK where this device hasn't been officially released so ordered it from Amazon France so a return is not quite as straight forward. I really want a GPS watch with music storage, smart notifications and a built in hrm the only other alternative is the tom tom spark HR with music but I already had that and sent it back - decisons decisions

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[danielson1978]

Ok so I've just done and insanity workout, 59 mins 45 seconds on the running setting, without location, the watch gave me a 247 Kcal for the whole acticity, it avergared out my hr at 124bpm (insanity is interval training so I expect a bit lower average HR) but using an online calculator this gives me 630 Kcal, now I am totally confused, I burned 100kcal in a 10 minute leisurely cycle to work yesterday, yet this workout I've just done was 6 x as long and 100 x more intense yet the numbers don't seem to corelate, as a watch and notification tool I'd say this is ok but the fitness tracking seems to be way out of sync

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[danielson1978]

Apologies for the sweaty selfie but this is how hard I worked to give you an example of the innacuracy of the readings

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[luisrcastillo]

The calorie count and HRM during other workout was what lured me into returning the gear s2 when it came out. I had hoped that Samsung might've fixed these issues in this fitness tracker but I was wrong. I honestly don't have any hope that Samsung will fix soon. There's also no way for us consumer to talk to someone that matters. Their support is useless so if returning is an option, I think that's the best thing to do for now

 

[xxryu139xx]

well i did it. i went to best buy and returned my Fit2. I loved it. The watch interface is clean and neat. The glass is good I havent scratched it yet. Everything else is inaccurate. I can live with inaccurate stair count, but everything else no.

The Bad:
1. Inaccurate distance. No way to manually configure step/stride length.
2. Inaccurate stairs
3. Not all exercise features compute calorie burn via heart rate the same. So calorie burn is not accurate. I did a stationary bike for one hour with multiple pauses, the HR max said 176 and stated i had burned 1000 calories for one hour. No way since i was going so slow.
4. Auto-HR. Misleading because it's not a 24/7 reading rather, it would only read every 10 minutes when you are idle. With some exercises it will turn on.
5. SHealth. No pc based or web based interface. Have to use the phone. Very buggy. Doesn't sync well with any other apps out there. Have to use Withings to Myfitnesspal and barely works.
6. Steps. It doesn't start recording until you walk 11 steps.
7. Support sucks. This thread is the only support I've seen online. A second will be Amazon reviews of the product, however some reviews do not give an honest report of its shortcomings. Not even a Samsung forum for it on Samsung.com.


Anyway, I bought a Garmin Vivosmart HR+. Screen isn't so fancy, but it has 24/7 Heart rate. The band is not replaceable, however it stretches a little and the unit is contoured to the wrist. It is already more comfortable than the Fit2 and much more comfortable than my Fitbit Charge HR. If this doesn't work out, I'll end up with a Fitbit Blaze, at least I already know the UI and its capabilities.

Good luck with you guys keeping the Fit2. With no communication from Samsung acknowledging current problems and future updates I don't intend to keep a potential dud. Most especially the same bugs and problems that's already been brought up before with the Gear, S2, and original Fit.

 

[rlshky]

Hi recently got the Gear Fit 2 a couple days ago. Been having an issue hopefully someone can help with. When I go out of range with my Gear Fit 2 and the Bluetooth disconnects from my Galaxy S7 it does not automatically reconnect when I'm back in range. I have to go to the Gear app and manually reconnect it to my phone. Any one have this issue? Didn't have this issue with my Garmin, when paired with my S7. It would automatically reconnect to my phone. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[EMGSM]

All I did was put music (from my computer) on an sd card on my s7 edge. I created playlists and then transferred then to the gearfit 2.

 

[EMGSM]

I've had the gear fit 2 since it came out and I charge it every 2 1/2 days...no more or less.

 

[luisrcastillo]

well i did it. i went to best buy and returned my Fit2. I loved it. The watch interface is clean and neat. The glass is good I havent scratched it yet. Everything else is inaccurate. I can live with inaccurate stair count, but everything else no.

The Bad:
1. Inaccurate distance. No way to manually configure step/stride length.
2. Inaccurate stairs
3. Not all exercise features compute calorie burn via heart rate the same. So calorie burn is not accurate. I did a stationary bike for one hour with multiple pauses, the HR max said 176 and stated i had burned 1000 calories for one hour. No way since i was going so slow.
4. Auto-HR. Misleading because it's not a 24/7 reading rather, it would only read every 10 minutes when you are idle. With some exercises it will turn on.
5. SHealth. No pc based or web based interface. Have to use the phone. Very buggy. Doesn't sync well with any other apps out there. Have to use Withings to Myfitnesspal and barely works.
6. Steps. It doesn't start recording until you walk 11 steps.
7. Support sucks. This thread is the only support I've seen online. A second will be Amazon reviews of the product, however some reviews do not give an honest report of its shortcomings. Not even a Samsung forum for it on Samsung.com.


Anyway, I bought a Garmin Vivoacive HR+. Screen isn't so fancy, but it has 24/7 Heart rate. The band is not replaceable, however it stretches a little and the unit is contoured to the wrist. It is already more comfortable than the Fit2 and much more comfortable than my Fitbit Charge HR. If this doesn't work out, I'll end up with a Fitbit Blaze, at least I already know the UI and its capabilities.

Good luck with you guys keeping the Fit2. With no communication from Samsung acknowledging current problems and future updates I don't intend to keep a potential dud. Most especially the same bugs and problems that's already been brought up before with the Gear, S2, and original Fit.

Followed your footsteps and returned mine and got the Garmin so we'll see how good that is.

Really wanted to love the fit 2 but the issues don't justify its price.

 

[xxryu139xx]

Hi recently got the Gear Fit 2 a couple days ago. Been having an issue hopefully someone can help with. When I go out of range with my Gear Fit 2 and the Bluetooth disconnects from my Galaxy S7 it does not automatically reconnect when I'm back in range. I have to go to the Gear app and manually reconnect it to my phone. Any one have this issue? Didn't have this issue with my Garmin, when paired with my S7. It would automatically reconnect to my phone. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

u will have to disable Samsung Gear Plugin. the Fit2 plugin somehow gets confused with it.

 

[xxryu139xx]

Followed your footsteps and returned mine and got the Garmin so we'll see how good that is.

Really wanted to love the fit 2 but the issues don't justify its price.

Awesome! I'm loving my Vivosmart HR+. No wrist pain! and it's only been a day!

Now I could have been wrong with speed/distance measurement on a threadmill for the Fit2. That garmin's distance on the threadmill calculated without gps is about the same as the gear fit2. Maybe my actual speed off the threadmill is just faster. Finally went outside to do a brisk walk since the Garmin asked me to do a calibration run/walk. The speed/distance was on point with GPS.

Hands down the Garmin wins. The interface is already much better. Myfitnesspal integration is seamless. Love it. If anything I may trade it to the next model just for a color screen but so far no problems.

You'll enjoy yours Luis!

 

[danielson1978]

I too returned my Fit2 and opted for the Garmin Vivioactive HR model, it arrived yesterday and I am happy so far, a slight confession, my partner has been wearing one for around a week so I've seen it working before purchasing.

Went for a run last night and took my phone with me, using runkeeper to compare accuracy and it was 0.01 of a mile off in a 6.21m (10km) run. Haven't used it for any other activities yet but the app seems intuative and detailed and the fact I can just opt for a cardio workout and it track my metrics is a big win.

The two things that bother me slightly are it's not the pretiest watch and there is no onboard storage for music, that is a real pain but but it seems you can't buy the perfect all rounder just yet.

I would say there is a chance the Samsung could be corrected via software updates, the things wrong seem more software related than hardware but I personally am not patient enough to wait whilst wearing a watch that frustrates with its innacuracy. Looks nice, gives a generic indicator of your acticity levels but as a fitness watch its a "no" from me I'm afraid

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