The touchscreen is also hit or miss with full finger gloves, including those ‘optimised’ for touchscreens. While touchscreens are all well and good, when the rain begins to fall they become pretty useless. You operate the Ionic through a combination of the touchscreen and buttons Colin Levitch / Immediate MediaĪs well as its touchscreen, the Ionic has three buttons on the side, one of which is used to start and stop your ride. In fact, Fitbit claims this new arrangement provides more accurate readings during cycling, intervals and running. Fitbit’s new HR sensor has three LEDs (green, red and infrared) that are paired with three sensors in an effort to improve accuracy. The Ionic isn’t the first Fitbit to have a built-in GPS/GLONASS chip and, like the Blaze and Charge 2, does not need to piggyback a Bluetooth connection to your phone in order to record your activity.Īs with almost all wrist-worn fitness trackers, the Ionic features an optical heart-rate sensor and a new one at that. 2.5GB memory (stores approx 300 songs and syncs to Bluetooth headphones).Built-in GLONASS GPS, altimeter, three-axis accelerometer and optical HR sensor.Four-day battery life, 10 hours using GPS.

As well as being the most expensive unit Fitbit has ever produced, at £299.95 / $299.95 / AU$449.99, the new Ionic has a feature set that’s similar to the Apple Watch and mid-range Garmins.

Buy fitbit ionic