Track Hiking

[CCer]

Frustrated. How do I track hiking distance directly on my Charge 3 the way I used to be able to with my Charge 2. Very frustrated with Charge 3 and the multitude of issues. 

[RicardoFitbit]

Hi @CCer thanks for bringing this to my attention, let me give you a hand with your inquiry and a warm welcome to our Community Forums.

Sorry to see that you feel in such way with your Fitbit Charge 3. To add Hike to your shortcuts, on your Fitbit.com dashboard, please follow the next steps:

1. Tap the Charge 3 icon in the upper right corner

2. Slide down to Exercise Shortcuts

3. Tap the "+" icon in the upper right corner

4. Select the exercises you want to add

5. Tap Add to Charge 3

6. Sync

Also, can you please give me more details about the multitude of issues you're experiencing with your device so I can better assist you?

Looking forward to your reply. 

[CCer]

Thank you so much. That was extremely helpful as all of my searches failed
to provide this instruction. I also needed to delete the preset exercises
that were there so that I could add others aside from the hiking.

The other issues are:
1. I’m not convinced my steps are being accurately tracked. It seems to
track many more steps than I believe I take each day - I’ve been under the
impression that the number of steps converts to miles walked each day. For
instance, today I did a lot of walking during multiple shopping stops. My
Fitbit says I walked 14,000 steps, roughly 5+ miles - doesn’t seem
possible. Each day varies so greatly, I’m questioning its accuracy.
2. Weather - the temp is off by 5 - 10 degree from my home weather station.
Again, I’m questioning accuracy.
3. Syncing - experiencing a lot of problems syncing - sometimes it takes as
long as 15 minutes with multiple synch attempts before it finally syncs.
4. Sleep - My Fitbit 2 recorded my sleep time and easily showed the percent
of each sleep cycle. My Charge 3 is recording sleep times that are
significantly off track from the hours I know I am sleeping. Also, it is
not breaking the report into time for each sleep cycle.
5. I encountered huge problems connecting with the phone (Samsung S8). I
uninstalled and reinstalled the app from my phone 3 times. I rebooted the
Fitbit multiple times. Finally the connection was made. I’m leery if it’s
here to stay!
6. Although I’ve uninstalled the app, deleted the Charge 2 from the app, it
is still revealing data logs from my prior Charge 2.

Glad you asked? 🙂

Thanks.
Claire
--
*Claire*

[Rich_Laue]

The weather report comes from a third party. I'm not sure which weather service but fitbit simply passes on what they are told. 

I'm not sure what you mean by data logs from the Charge 2. Once a tracker syncs. The data is now in your Fitbit account as part of your permanant record on the Fitbit server. Removing the tracker only removes the recording device, not the data the device has recorded. 

As for steps, Fitbit has a finely tuned algorithm to count steps and continually looks into ways of improving this algorithm. However it is not always easy to look at arm motions to figure out what the feet are doing and at times, like chopping vegetables, you may get extra steps. At other times because of lack of arm movement when the feet are moving a few steps may be lost. 

Changing the arm setting may help with this. 

Have you taken a 100, 200, or 500 step walk while counting your steps and comparing to what the tracker recorded? 

As for syncing. This would include question 3 and 5 I believe. I have an S8 by sprint. With every app update I find fewer and fewer sync issues. Yes I'm running the Beta version but since March I have had almost no issues to speak of and would say that it has been over a month with none at all. 

With every phone update, if it doesn't sync, I remove app. / restart phone to clean up memory. And install a fresh copy of Fitbit. 

Also I find if the app fails to sync. I first clear the Fitbit apps cache. Phone settings / apps / Fitbit / Storage / Clear cache

If this does not work remove the tracker from your Bluetooth list. 

As for sleep, are you seeing sleep stages or simple sleep? Maybe post a screen shot? 

[RicardoFitbit]

You're welcome @CCer thanks for your reply and the questions that were asked. Also, thanks for your post @Rich_Laue, it's always nice to see you helping other users, your willingness to help is appreciated very much. My apologies for the delay in responding.

@CCer I can confirm that the information that was shared by our good friend @Rich_Laue is correct and very helpful. That said, can you please let me know if such information resolved your doubts? Looking forward to your reply.

I'll be around.  

[CCer]

I did not receive answers to the other issues I am expecting stressed in my
last reply.

[Rich_Laue]

What type of stress did you feel we should communicate @CCer 

[CCer]

Thank you for your response. However, all of my Fitbit Charge 3 issues have
not been resolved or responded to:

The other issues are:
1. I’m convinced my steps are being accurately tracked. It seems to track
many more steps than I take each day - I’ve been under the impression that
the number of steps converts to miles walked each day. For instance, today
I did a lot of walking during multiple shopping stops. My Fitbit says I
walked 14,000 steps, roughly 5+ miles - doesn’t seem possible. Each day
varies so greatly, I’m questioning its accuracy, especially compared to the
accuracy of my Charge 2.
2. Weather - the temp is off by 5 - 10 degree from my home weather station.
Again, I’m questioning accuracy.
3. Although I’ve uninstalled the app, deleted the Charge 2 from the app, it
is still revealing data logs from my prior Charge 2.

*Claire*

[CCer]

The other issues are:

1. I’m not convinced my steps are being accurately tracked. It seems to track many more steps than I believe I take each day - I’ve been under the impression that the number of steps converts to miles walked each day. For instance, today I did a lot of walking during multiple shopping stops. My Fitbit says I walked 14,000 steps, roughly 5+ miles - doesn’t seem possible. Each day varies so greatly, I’m questioning its accuracy.

2. Weather - the temp is off by 5 - 10 degree from my home weather station. Again, I’m questioning accuracy.

3. Syncing - experiencing a lot of problems syncing - sometimes it takes as long as 15 minutes with multiple synch attempts before it finally syncs.

4. Although I’ve uninstalled the app, deleted the Charge 2 from the app, it is still revealing data logs from my prior Charge 2.

[Rich_Laue]

1: while Fitbit continues to look at the algorithm. Technically the tracker on your arm does not count the movement of your feet because it is on your arm, not your foot. Fitbit looks for arm motions that happen while the feet are stepping. Yes at times the user may receive extra steps or walk without steps being counted. What where you doing when these extra steps where counted. 

2: Fitbit does not try to determine the weather in your area but gets the weather report from a third party through the web. If the temp is off, it is because this third party is off. 

3: users have found additional steps that fit it does not seem to know about in getting a sync issue fixed. At the beginning of the year I was having so bad of an issue that I loaded the nov '18 release. However in the last three months. Syncing for me has been almost immediate. 

4: What do you mean by your old Charge 2 logs? 

The data that syncs to your account is about your activity and independent of the tracker. I don't think that the typical user has access to the trackers logs.