Blaze step Accuracy

[ccoleary]

I am having a problem with my Blaze in terms of step accuracy. I have suspected for some time that the steps were off, so today I downloaded the MapMyWalk app and used both the Blaze and the App. My course is 4.2 miles, and the iPhone app was dead on, but  the Blaze was way off. Mileage was way off (more than 25%) and the steps were off by more than 25%. I have recently adjusted the step distance, but it appears that there are times in my walk when the FB simply stops recording.  Then, when trying to add activities to make the steps and calories correct, the crazy overwriting algorithms make it impossible to get close to what I know the step count should be.  This is not acceptable.

[Rich_Laue]

Their algorithms are based on having the stride set correctly.. Have you setup your stride, or letting Fitbit take a guess at what it is.  

Distance/Stride = Steps. 

If your miles are off by 25% then most likely your stride is off by 25%.

According to Mapmyrun the app does not count steps, it takes as guess at what they should be based on the info you setup. 

Compare img Fitbits actual steps to mapmyruns calculated steps means nadda, zilch. 

The best way is to compare with a physical count. 

[ccoleary]

Thank you for your response. I had adjusted the step distance previously.
My (perhaps incorrect) assumption is that the device counts steps and uses
that data to impute distance. The problem that I am having is that while the
distance is calculated correctly based on the number of steps and stride
length, the number of steps is low by 25-30%.

[ccoleary]

Thank you kindly for your response. Please my earlier response in which I
explained that the stride is correctly set, and the distance calculates
correctly based on the number of steps, but the device is not recording
steps correctly. The calculations are correct, but the collection of the
empirical data needed (# steps) is off.

[ccoleary]

Once again, I certainly appreciate your response. Here's my challenge.
Wearing my fitbit, I walked 4.2 miles. I have checked this distance using
two other means (Map My Walk & Google Map Pedometer). Using my stride length
of about 27.5 inches, 4.2 miles should requires approximately 9660 steps.
However, when I check the actual steps counted, it is closed to 6800. You
are correct - the two devices measure different things in different ways.
FitBit measures steps using (I assume) an accelerometer of some sort. Map
My Walk uses GPS to measure distance. There should be a relationship
between the two measurements, but the FitBit is consistently undermeasuring.



I hope that clarifies my question, and appreciate all the help!

[ScottB_AZ]

I have a similar issue. My wife, with a FB Charge2 HR and I, with a Blaze, walk the same 2 hour course outside every weekend together. She gets credit for 6.4 miles, I get 4 miles. I always reset my Blaze 3-4 times before walking. It is much more accurate if I just use the treadmill. This has been a known issue for a year+, are you going to fix it FitBit?

[ccoleary]

I hope you get a meaningful answer. I have just gotten "please go away" answers such as "adjust your step length." Haven't really seen a willingness to engage meaningfully with this problem. I will say that it seems that updating the software helps a little.

Sent from my iPhone

[Rich_Laue]

@ScottB_AZ, and @ccoleary the way to check step accuracy is by looking at the step count, not the distance. After we have confirmation that the step count is accurate it is a simple step to calculate and set the stride.  Real stride =   true distance / fitbit distance * current stride settin

Lets start by doing a simple step count test:

- put the traker ito its recording mode

- start out on one foot

- ,count everytime the other foot hits the ground

- stop at some number, say 100, 200, 300, whatever.

- stop the tracking mode on the Blaze

- take your number and multiply it by 2

- does it come close to the step count the Blaze shows?

On a side note,  comoaring your mileage to your wifes means nothing unless you know that one of them are in fact correct.

As for Mapmywalk it uses the GPS to measure distance, the uses your perceived stride to calculate  (think of it as taking an educated guess) the steps taken. Without GPS Fitbit counts your steps, tyen uses the stride to calculate  (here again take an educated guess) the distance.  Google pedometer uses map coordinates not your stride and probably is the most accurate in theory.

It still is very illogical to ask about step count accuracy by talking about distance. They are not directly related.

[dialini]

I am having the same issue.  I have received a new fitbit, but started with this issue right away.  A route I always walk, which is usually about 10,000 steps, only logs about 7000.  I've done the step test and only 50-70 of 100 steps are counted.  It doesn't matter if I reset, if I shut off and restart... It only counts about 70% of my steps.  I'm really disappointed in this.

[Tiggertrotter62]

Is there a way to adjust the accuracy?

Many times as I am walking it is not counting my steps. 

[Don7]

My step accuracy based upon a count of steps is 70%.  It's a little more accurate at 2mph and more inaccurate as step speed increases above about 2.75mph. It doesn't matter if I swing my arms in a small or large arc.  I rebooted the Blaze twice, but that did not improve it.  I have stride length on automatic.  I compared distance to MapMyWalk with phone GPS enabled and the Blaze recorded 70% as much distance, which is undoubtedly due to uncounting steps.   I just walked a track slowly, medium fast, and quickly, counting steps.  The Blaze under counted by 35, 39, and 40% at those 3 speeds, respectively.

[dialini]

I gave up with measuring the step counts.  The faster and harder I worked out, the less accurate the Blaze was.  I was gifted an Apple Watch for Mother's day.  The step count is way more accurate and so is the heart rate, but I do miss some of the Blaze's features.  I still use it to track sleep (don't want to download an app).  The battery on the Blaze is WAAAAYYY better.  If FitBit could fix the accuracy issues, I'd probably go back to using it full time.