Starting an activity manually Alta hr

[Geordiejo]

Thinking of purchasing an Alta HR but want to know if I'm able to manually start an activity like I currently can using my charge HR. I often do HIIT activities which may be 15-20 mins  and if I rely on the auto track it would only record the last 5/10 mins. On my charge HR I can press the side button and start and end the activity. I'm aware there's no button on the Alta HR so is there any other way to manually start an activity? 

[NellyG]

No there isn't unfortunately. Only to manually add the activity in afterwards, but that can cause problems in step counts and calories if you wear your fitbit at the time of the activity.

[Awesomewalks100]

I'm actually about to make a feature suggestion about that l'all post the link here when I am done

[bbelle]

Did you do it? I am all about this. I love the Alta HR over the Charge HR but I also want to be able to use the app to manually start timing my workouts.

[Rich_Laue]

The Alta HR like the Alta is designed to have a minimum interface, so through the Alta HR no there is no way to manually start.

As for the auto detect funtion, the time leangth setting is for the minimum time an activity has to happen before it is recorded. A 15 -20 minute activity is tecorded as 15-20 minutes. Not just the minutes after the minimum time.

[Fozzy71]

I just got my alta hr yesterday and it does a decent job of tracking my hiit run/walk sessions so far.  In the app > exercise screen there is a clock icon in the upper right you can use to manually start an exercise to use your phones gps to track your route and pace.  I haven't tried it yet myself but plan to give it a try in the next day or two to compare how it works in terms of calories/steps tracking in the app/site for the same route using auto exercise tracking.  I assume this was there with the old alta but honestly I don't know if I had ever seen it until I got my alta hr.

[Rich_Laue]

@Fozzy71 the festure your refferring to is part of the app and independent of the tracker model, actuslly you fony even need a tracker to use it, just a fitbit account.

[tamara3434]

I really wish I had known this too. I run/walk occasionally but most of my workouts are spin, yoga, and at home beachbody workouts. It doesn't track any of these and if I log it after the fact it estimates the calories rather than using the data from the time period I said I was working out. My Charge HR died and I was excited for the excuse to move to the slimmer Alta now that it has the HR feature but if I can't track workouts it's basically worthless to me. Really disappointed and contemplating returning altogether.

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[ingmck]

I have had the Alta HR for several weeks now and have been pretty happy with it. I haven't tried anything else to track my heart rate while rowing so not sure exactly how accurate it is, and although it's unfortunate that I need to manual add the activity, it then picks up my heart rate during my time on the water and inputs all that information it collected during the activity (estimated calories burned based on my heart rate). It's an extra step but it really doesn't' take long.

Also, you can change the settings on your app so that it auto recognizes your activity at less than the auto 15 min... and even though it doesn't acknowledge until the 15 min mark, it will include the full time of your exercise 🙂 hope that helps!

[Kalby07]

Hi everyone! I just got my Fitbit Alta and had the charge hr previously. I love how sleek the Alta is and it fits my wrist better so my heart rate is more consistently tracked. 

As as far as manually tracking workouts, there is not a button unfortunately, however the auto recognition of different workouts is amazing. I played tennis today and it recognized that I was playing a sport!! It recognizes walking, running, biking, elliptical, sports and aerobic workouts. 

You cab cab always use a timer on your phone for shorter than 10 minute workouts.

[NellyG]

@Kalby07 glad you are enjoying your tracker! I think mine is great too.

[Dave_1980]

The minimalistic design of the Alta (reason I got one, so I can wear a normal watch as well) means all the control is in the app, click on the exercise panel and top right there is a stop watch, this allows for exercise tracking, it is limited to walk, run and hike, so seems to be focused on outdoor GPS activities. Definitely needs gym workouts adding

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[Seansarge1]

Yes this "lack" of feature has been bothering me too as I've just this minute finished a hard CrossFit class lasting 45 minutes and it has only said I've done 23 minutes of excersise, Annoying that I can't start and stop like on my old Charge HR. But I've just been into the excersise menu on the app and clicked on the clock in the top right and there's a. Option to log previous, I put my start time and end time of my class I've just done and named it CrossFit and it has now brought up all the correct steps, heart rate, calorie burn, everything from what I did on that period, There's a "Guess Mode which is usualy well off the mark and no there is a precise Mode which I used for all the correct accurate stats. So yes it can be done you just need to do it after the excersise. I even deleted the original 23 minute one it first gave me and now I have a proper set of stats for my 45 mins I did, Hope this helps and I am now happy as a again with my nerd numbers to look at. 

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[MrMarv]

@Seansarge1 -

Now maybe it is because we are using different apps, but...

I'm curious, where is the precise mode you are speaking about? I don't see it or guess mode, though I suspect that is what I have always seen on manual entry.

When I bring up crossfit I only see three prompts, "Starts", "Duration" and "Calories" with calories default to a value of about 6 times BMR, pretty much what I burn on the treadmill at 2 mph. And I put in a time period that I was sitting right here in front of the computer.

I didn't file the record because I didn't want to overwrite my real calorie burn of 45 calories with 280 estimated calories.

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[Seansarge1]

Hi I use the fitbit app on smart phone and all I've done is tap the box where it says 2/5 excersise days or whatever it may say and then at the top right of the screen there is a stopwatch type icon you can press, I just typed boxing as an example to change from CrossFit to see if it still works, Type your excersise in an the time you stated and finished it and you should see the toggle switch underneath for precise (actual activity during the time you input and then estimate (which is usually pants) I'll try an attach pics on this reply. I haven't actually put the times in for this example but you can hopefully see how it's done 

[Seansarge1]

Oh I might add you should click log previous when doing this 

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[MrMarv]

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@Seansarge1 wrote:

Oh I might add you should click log previous when doing this 

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@Seansarge1 -

Yeah - got it the first time and that is what I expected.

Looks like the difference is you appear to have an android phone and I have an iPhone.

Another difference between the apps, unless it is a combination of the app and the device you have isn't an Alta HR or just the device if it isn't.

Either way, it is more robust and another indication where Fitbit is dropping the ball in the development department. I like the product, both hardware and software, but some things irritate me and this is one.

Looking at my rankings on the main page of this board will tell you that I believe in the product. Otherwise, I would just use it and lurk in the background if even that.

Interesting, nonetheless and I'm happy for you. Really. But jealous too

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[Seansarge1]

Ah right sorry I couldn't remember if I put log previous in my original post. Yes I use android with an Xperia XZ. So does the iPhone app look much different and is this option not on it? That's very poor if not, Like you I love the product but I would be slightly more annoyed that it's not giving me my proper stats for a set time period like the button operated I previously had. 

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[Seansarge1]

I've just screen grabbed my CrossFit I entered tonight using this method, All is fine, Like I say the auto detect only had me doing 23 mins which is kind of ok but I want to know the stats for the whole session not just when it thinks I'm busy. 

[Remington10]

I wish i would have researched Alta hr more.  I use the manual start everyday.  I do activiities that i like to time and now i cannot so that.  Very disappointed.  How does tracker know that i am doing an activity if heart rate does not change much.