Blaze isn't counting my steps when using my arms? Can I wear two trackers?

[Blueeyez]

Hi! I have been wearing the fitbit zip for six months and decided to make the upgrade to the new blaze! I just purchased it Friday, so yesterday was my first full day of wearing it. So, far I really like it, except one problem..... It does not seam to count my steps if I'm holding something in my hand or if I am using my hands, like pushing a shopping cart in the grocery store. I must admit, as a busy mom, I was rather distraught to realize my trip to the grocery store only ended ended up being around 50 steps compared to the typical 1000 I am usually guaranteed to rack up the second I set foot in a retail store lol I know this was not accurate, I DEFINITELY took way more steps than that.... I feel like because I was pushing the cart and my arms weren't swinging, the steps didn't get counted!?!? Then...... To try to make up for that, I decided to go on a walk yesterday afternoon and quickly realized that while holding my phone in the position where I am able to look at the screen, my steps also are not counted...... I realize people reading this are likely thinking "omg so just put down your phone" but it's just not that simple for me, I run an online business as well as work 2 jobs and I gotta keep working even while I'm working out or there simply aren't enough hours in a day. But SURELY I'm not the only person out there annoyed that trips to the store don't count because of pushing the basket?! Bottom line, it is what it is, I just need a solution! Soooooo, that leads me to the question......


What would happen if I wear the zip and blaze at the same time?

Because the zip never misses a step, but I don't wanna loose the benefits of the heart rate monitor and all the awesome features on my new blaze! Any ideas?! Thanks!

[Rich_Laue]

Hello @Blueeyez there are several reasons arm based trackers have become popular,  convenience and the ability to add sensors like Heat Rate. 

The trackers use XYZ sensors to detect the walking, and do depend on a specific pattern of motion.  Holding on to a carriage/cart does seem to prohibit the arm from moving in a natural way and ztrps can be missed. It does like to count the bus caused by that damaged wheel though.

There have been many threads on this subject, enter cart, stroller,  or carrage in the search bar above.

As for holding my phone in the hand, because the Blaze will count steps in your pocket, it looks at the same body motion the Zip does. I find with a normal walk holding the phone in my hand in front of me does count my steps. It is when I start trying to use the phone I change the way I walk to limit the up/down motion of the body so that my hands are not bouncing around as much, then steps are missed.

In one of my jobs at work I loose about 3k because of this.

So what can be done, in the supermarket you could switch back to the Zip or put the Blaze in a pocket. This however would not be an option for walks. I have thoughts on this, but they are my personal feelings, not answers.

[dragonslayer63]

One of the many aggravating issues with my new Blaze -- not counting steps; not counting floors -- extremely aggravating and unreliable

[Rich_Laue]

@dragonslayer63 when your saying that steps are not being counted, in wondering what are you doing with the arms. That is what this thread is about.

My other thought would be have you tested it while out on a walk/run?

[dragonslayer63]

Yes to the run and it lags in counting my arms has to be raised very high to get an accurate count. Generally loses from 1000 to 2500 missed in counting per day. Today i cannot get it to restart

Sent from my iPhone

[AngelaMa]

Hello @Blueeyez welcome to the Fitbit Community! 🙂 Fitbit wrist-based trackers have been tested extensively against our clip-based devices like the Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip. That said, because wrist-based trackers are specifically designed for your wrist, if you move your body a lot and not your arms (or vice versa), you may get a slight difference in activity than you would see on your clip-based trackers. Also your tracker counts your steps when you are pushing a stroller or a shopping cart, but because your hands are not moving your step count may be lower than usual during this activity. Regarding your question about wearing multiple devices, please review this article. @dragonslayer63 when you mentioned you can't get it to restart, is your tracker giving you any error during the process? @Rich_Laue thanks for your cooperation. 🙂 

Catch you later! 🙂 

[Corvettekid]

Angela, the problem many of us are having is this:  we don't want to have to rely on a GPS synch (more work and/or we don't want to carry our smartphones).

There are 2 simple solutions that your FitBit people should be working on:

(1)  Under the EXCERCISE function, there should be a WALK sub-menu like Run/Bike/etc....that way, we can TELL the FitBit that we are actively engaged in Walking so start counting.  It doesn't have to worry about being fooled by pushing a cart or having your hands steady like carrying a package or grocieries or whatever.  As for the counting....

(2)  The FitBit needs to compute steps and distance based on the default or inputed Stride Length. Otherwise, not only are steps off but so is distance.

My Stride Distance is 2,400 steps per mile (I'm 5' 6") or 22 feet per 10 steps.  If the FitBit detects motion, it should be calculating based on that length/stride.  If I have the WALK function on, then it KNOWS I am walking and motion should simply be a confirmation.  So if the FitBit detects motion on my body but not my arm, the CPU or whatever should realize "Hey, the guy's left arm isn't moving (maybe I'm looking at the FitBit ?) but keep counting steps because his legs are still moving."

[fabravo]

You know what would be cool would be to allow you on your account to set up different devices to track differnet things. For instance, steps and floors in the ZIP or One, and everything else in the Blaze. Then let the software figure out how to calculate the calories burned, etc.

I am sure there is some technical reason why doing this would be hard and is why they say only one tracker at a time sending data to the account, but if the Blaze is really off by as much as I'm reading it is (today is Day 1 for me with a new Blaze), then that could be a solution.

[Rachelo83]

This is the solution I was thinking would be a good one, zip for steps and blaze for everything else. I'm sick of my steps not being counted because I push a pushchair, 4hr walk equals 5k steps and I don't want to put it in my pocket because I want the hr monitor and I don't want it around my ankle as it's a watch. Fitbit really needs to sort this out!