Eliptical tracking

[giugiubee]

Yes! It's frustrating. The Fitbit tracker (I have the blaze) correctly ascertains the calorie count, but VASTLY underestimates both mileage and steps. (I do 40 minutes, with a 6 mile count, but FitBit calculates 2 miles!) It apparently is unable to calculate anything when you do reverse steps on the elliptical (as I was told by customer service). If the technology is not there to correctly document mileage and steps, then at least give us the opportunity to manually adjust those 2 data points/variables, without having to delete the entire data the Fitbit has calculated. We should be able to manually adjust each variable calculated without having to start from scratch. This isn't cheating (what's the point of cheating here?). Just give the user more control to adjust for variables the tracker is poor at calculating. I have to add in a fake exercise, like running, so that my mileage count and steps are aligned with the work I actually put in! Thanks!

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[giugiubee]

Oh, and no, I contacted customer service, and there is currently NO way to manually adjust individual variables to match what you actually did. Please see my longer response. This is frustrating, I know! It shouldn't be that difficult for the programmers to allow users to manually adjust specific variables without having to totally delete the exercise and manually input an exercise (which still doesn't allow the user to manage the individual variables). This is a major fail.

[giugiubee]

But doesn't apply to the blaze. Can you please read my two responses to this person's initial post? Thanks!

[MariamV]

@giugiubee thanks for joining us. It's great to see new faces around. Fitbit trackers, including your Blaze, are designed to track steps and activity level during step-based activities such as walking, running, or hiking. Though your body is in motion while on exercise machines like the elliptical, this activity doesn't require steps. 

However, your tracker has a feature called SmartTrack which automatically recognizes select exercises to ensure you get credit for your most active moments of the day. SmartTrack recognizes continuous, high-movement activities such as:

• Walking
• Running
• Outdoor biking
• Elliptical
• Swimming (Flex 2 only)

For each auto-detected exercise you'll find stats such as duration and estimated calorie burn. By default, SmartTrack recognizes an exercise that lasts at least 15 minutes. You can lower this setting to 10 minutes, or increase it as high as 90 minutes.

On a different note, you might have noticed that I moved your posts from the Flex board to the Blaze board as your posts belong to the Blaze board. In here you'll be able to find more relevant info related to your tracker. Thank you for helping us to keep the community a tidy and organized place. 

[JoshCole23]

I do a 20 minute workout on the elliptical every mourning and it don't even equal a mile, that can't be right

[Rich_Laue]

Well the problem with an elliptical is that your really not going anyplace. The Miles reported by your elliptical are only relative to the spinning of the wheel. Your tracker has no idea what the wheel is doing. 

Fitbit uses your heart rate and arm motions(maybe), to determine caloric burn. Miles are ignored. 

Basically the Miles reported during elliptical will never be right since the  wheel can spin without the arms moving, and the tracker doesn't know how far the wheel spins for one arm movement. 

[giugiubee]

I get the mileage thing. But the elliptical machines calculate the mileage. It would be nice if one could slightly alter the data for an elliptical session to correspond to the machine's mileage count. Also, the step count is incorrect. So basically by selecting "elliptical" all tracker is doing is correctly estimating your heart rate and therefore calories burn. All the other data are junk.I mean I get the reasons why, but I've tried to get Fitbit to allow users to maintain an elliptical workout since the two pieces I mentioned are accurate, but to allow them to manually change the associated step counts and mileage as those two pieces of data are made available by the exercise equipment. I mean, if they're going to allow users to select "elliptical" they should at least allow users to manually alter some of the data that Fitbit knows is not going to be accurate. Just a thought, and one I've expressed directly to Fitbit 

[Rich_Laue]

@giugiubee your correct, Fitbit uses calories as the common factor between the different exercises.

You might want to add your vote to this request I've noticed that the majority of improvements have come from individual feature requests. 

[giugiubee]

Done! And thank you!!!

[DougyW]

Even the calorie estimate is way short for me when compared to that the trainer reports (and I've used several different trainers). We should at least be able to put a factor in for miles and calories. 

The step thong cab be made worse by not using your arm for partner the time. You can put your blaze on your ankle if you want step's to be more accurate 

[MariamV]

Nice suggestion @Rich_Laue! The Feature Suggestion board is definitely the best place to make your voice heard regarding new ideas

@DougyW welcome aboard! Make sure that you have entered your gender, age, height, and weight since your Fitbit estimates the calories you burn based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account. These calories come from your BMR which is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day.

The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR, the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually. 

I also encourage you to vote for the idea posted above by @Rich_Laue.

Good luck and feel free to post back!