Charge 3 stairs amount inaccurate

[Aqua21]

Hi fellow Charge 3 users,

I’m a new new user and having issues with the counts of stairs. It’s all over the place. Have read earlier posts and moderators claim problem is fixed. I don’t believe it. Anyone else in same situation. Incidentally, I’m a migraine sufferer and know all about pressure changes. Have I now got to worry that my Fitbit won’t work properly when it’s stormy?

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[AlejandraFitbit · Accepted solution]

It's great to welcome you @Aqua21.

Your Charge 3 may give you credit for extra floors for a variety of reasons. Devices may track floors while doing everyday tasks such as opening doors, driving, or riding elevators or escalators, or from abrupt weather and atmospheric pressure changes Exposure to excess moisture can also result in extra floors.

If you want to remove floors from your account, I recommend following the instructions provided in the help article: How do I add, edit, or delete Fitbit data and activities?.

Let me know the outcome. 

[Aqua21]

Have to say I’m really disappointed with the Charge 3. Bought it to replace my old Fitbit One which is still working accurately, I might add. 

I may even go back to using it and consign the Charge 3 to the Useless equipment drawer until I see that your track record for fixing issues is better. 

I have noticed that the stair count is more accurate if I use the stairs providing I’m not carrying anything ie my arms are free to move. Not much use if that’s true. 

BTW, as this is my first time using the community boards I accidentally allowed the solution accepted check to remain. I don’t accept it and suggest that the default is to have an unchecked boxed. Just a thought 

[SunsetRunner]

I don’t want to remove activity. I want it to work. Excuses for the device - change of weather, moisture, riding in a car, etc. -are not a solution. How do you adjust for the extra floors that are counted but not actually done. Omg! Opening a door should NOT affect data. Do you expect people not to open doors on a windy day!

[Aqua21]

I know! And have you ever noticed that your steps don’t get counted if you are pushing a shopping cart? I guess there isn’t enough arm action!  Can you imagine shoving the cart around Costco with one hand so you can flap the other. I don’t know where you live but they might lock me up here!!

[Aqua21]

Sorry, this absolutely no help whatsoever. The count for flights of stairs is erratic. This means it sometimes counts too many, sometimes not enough. Seems to depend on whether I am carrying things in my arms as I walk upstairs, whether I’m using the hand rail or even whether I’m humming a tune. The only time it seems to count is if I have nothing in my arms, and swing them vigorously as I go up the stairs. 

But, on the other hand, I can be sitting quietly watching a movie, check my Charge 3 and the stair count has inexplicably increased!

Please read this. No more cut and paste explanation of of how to remove unwanted counts. There are so many posts on this. Isn’t it time it was referred to the technology group for a REAL fix?

[Florit]

I totally agree. I have had my charge 3 for about 10 days and every issue I have looked up doesn’t seem to impress Fitbit enough to fix their problems. I’m getting about 30 floors per day with zero actual stairs climbed. Comments on the community go back to the beginning of charge 3. Same for problems with brightness, font, display time for notifications, just to name a few. Issues that worked well on previous versions and they can’t seem to get them right on their latest and greatest. I am impressed with the battery life, the only reason I am not using an Apple. Speaking of which, terrible that Fitbit is not willing to work out a deal with Apple (and Nike run club). I bought the Fitbit, why do you hold us hostage with your free app?  It’s  not bad, but really needs to be able to integrate. Sorry for hijacking, my first time posting and a little frustrated. 

[Aqua21]

Hijack away. I’m new to posting as well so we can learn and share our frustrations and disappointments together. Pity we don’t have solutions from Fitbit to share. 

Perhaps you will have better luck than I did in getting some action. Good luck!

[SunsetRunner]

Earlier, I posted in another thread about the exact same problem. All threads seem to turn to "solved", while the issue is still very much alive. My Charge 2 was registering floor counts correctly (it still works: my daughter is using it). The Charge 3 seemed to do a good job at first, but started misreading stairs at some point. I suggested to be able to disable floor counts when driving a car, as to prevent misreadings to even get into the logs. I would also suggest adding the possibility of easy floor count removal in the app. The work-around Fitbit is proposing is a joke. 

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Incorrect-floors-being-tracked/m-p/3632167#M83034

[Aqua21]

It is so frustrating. Never anything new from the moderators. Seems to me the sensors are just inadequate for the job and Fitbit will not acknowledge the fact. Hope you have better luck than I did with your thread. 

I heard that Consumer Reports are doing a piece on fitness monitors. Be interesting to see where Fitbit stacks up versus other options on the market. They used to be highly recommended but I suspect that is no longer the case. 

[SunsetRunner]

Hello @Aqua21,

Maybe if we would all share a screenshot of the obvious problem?

Charge 2 vs. Charge 3 - Switched in 2019

Like I said before: the Charge 2 was doing a good job. Switched in 2019 and the issue appeared. The spike in July 2018 was a steep mountain hike logged as stairs. Understandable. The 2019 increase: nothing to do with elevation.

Maybe it helps when everyone is making it obvious that there is an issue. This forum has not proved to give actual answers. I would appreciate a simple gesture from Fitbit saying they're working on it, instead of the silly workaround responses.

[uscpsycho]

If anyone from Fitbit is following this, or cares, I just came to say that I am still using my Fitbit One tracker because every single tracker you have made since the One has some sort of issue (inaccurate heart rate, inaccurate stair counting, etc.). Stair tracking is the most important thing for me to track, so reading about all these persistent issues means I'm staying far away.

"Devices may track floors while doing everyday tasks such as opening doors, driving, or riding elevators or escalators" This is unacceptable, my old One tracker would never count any of these things as flights of stairs. How do you guys release a device with this defect?

I don't know if we are allowed to recommend non-fitbit trackers on this forum but there are other popular trackers that have mostly the same features with a 3-4 week battery life and a fraction of the price. I don't understand why Fitbit has such poor battery life. Or why they charge so much. The other tracker I use, I have used for two generations of the product and it's amazing. The only reason I continue to use my Fitbit One alongside of it is to track stairs, because the other one doesn't have that feature. If Fitbit made a tracker that accurately counted stairs, without false positives for driving, riding escalators, etc. I would buy it. But until then I'm going to keep relying on my trusty One.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @uscpsycho,

I don't think they're listening. It seems far more interesting to sell the company to Google with the least amount of user complaints recorded. Yes, I am getting a bit sarcastic, since none of the moderators here have responded and the issue is very persistent.

I may get to an actual 10-15 floors in a day, if I really try, but not 40, let alone doing something as much as 150/160/170 as some have reported. In my case, it has to do with driving a car. The silly workaround to take off your watch and put it on the charger, or to record another type of activity with zero stair count, or later on try to manually change the stored amounts is not a solution.

@20thcenturyfox provided a very nice and to the point explanation earlier. But here too, there was no response from the FitBit people.

@DCFitnessalso added to the discussion with some nice examples and information.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Incorrect-Floor-Calculations/m-p/3637562#M83700

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Fitbit-Charge-3-way-too-many-stairs/td-p/3021705

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Counting-Stairs/td-p/3320266

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Charge-3-recording-extra-floors/td-p/3512676

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Stair-counting/td-p/3440981

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Charge-3-and-stairs/td-p/3002735

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Incorrect-floors-being-tracked/m-p/3632167/highlight/true#M...

I have included these moderators in the post and asked them directly for feedback.

@AlejandraFitbit 

@LanuzaFitbit 

@JuanJoFitbit 

@MarreFitbit 

@DavideFitbit 

@LizzyFitbit 

@KateFitbit 

Nothing.

I don't expect any form of support or explanations. It is what it is. And we're probably not going to change anything about it.

[Florit]

At least now we can hold out for a little hope that Google will actually try to fix some of the issues that Fitbit just ignores.  I’m sure if Fitbit would fix these issues and reduce the negative feedback they would probably double sales volume. Google should be interested in that. 

[gittisr]

Excellent summary of the various posts.

There's clearly a problem with counting flights of stairs for the charge 3.

Echoing many others, my fitbit one was accurate.

My 2nd charge 3 (brand new) undercounts.

Same 5 flights registered as 4 flights in the morning and 2 flights in the afternoon.

I'm returning this tracker just as I did my previous charge 3.

I don't know of any alternatives to counting flights of stairs.

Fitbit one's on Amazon go for 360 USD.

It's also dismaying that the posts are marked as answered.

They are not.

[Papagoose]

really this is the best answer???? unacceptable my earlier fitbit one never had this issue.  This is need solved. Would like to here someone is actively working on a real solution

[Bubblywines]

This is not the normal stair issue, please STOP using the standard delete your steps option.  It does not solve this problem that many are reporting.  I’m getting 20-50 or more stairs every day, and I live in a one story house in a flat neighborhood.  No stairs, no hills, and no wind. There’s a problem with the charge 3.  Please consult your manager or tech support to get us the real fix or this will be my last Fitbit.

[Bubblywines]

No stairs or hills or wind or thunder storms this month.  But here’s  what charge 3 says 

 

[Bubblywines]

I’ve now spent hours on the phone with Fitbit support restarting my charge3 every imaginable way because they seem to think that will fix the da$&m stair issue.  It has not fixed anything.  I’ll try one more call and tell them I’ve had it and want a replacement and see if they’ll go for that.  This might be my last try and they should be prepared for a helluva negative review if this isn’t resolved.  Meanwhile I’m paying extra for the premium app thing and this evening the app isn’t even working.  

[nikolayandr]

@AlejandraFitbit, sorry, but your answer is the most useless here, Aren't you ashamed? The first company in my experience which sells top devices and totally ignores the customers' requests. It is bad but I need to throw away my fitbit, 120$ down the drain.