Differences between hike and walk activities in Charge 5

[pkinnetz]

I have just upgraded to Charge 5 since my Charge 4 wrist band broke beyond repair.  I'm pleased to see that there is a hike mode of exercise but wonder what is the difference between hike and walk.   I tried "hike" out  yesterday on a verified hilly 3.1 mi hike. The step and mileage were much more than I expected: over 9000 steps and just over 5 mi.  This was even with using my hiking poles which in the Charge 4 underestimated milage and steps.  My workaround was to put it on my ankle.  Does hike exercise mode take into account the use of poles? 

[JohnnyRow · Accepted solution]

First, if you have a "Hike" in your on-wrist Exercise App, mode that was not there on your Charge 4, I think it could have also been there for the Charge 4.  There are about 20 different exercises available that can be shown on  your wrist, though only a limited number at a time.  This link show the available options, including "Hike" and how to change them. Though I don't remember seeing Hike there; maybe it was recently added.

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1935.htm?Highlight=exercise

My take on "Hike":  On the original app for starting exercise from the phone before earliest Fitbit models had any device input mechanism and did not measure heart rate, the exercise options were, and still are, "Run" "Walk", and "Hike".  Without heart rate sensor, calorie burn was based only on steps.  Hike was added to make the steps be assumed more stressful, burning more calories.  Now with heart rate measurement,  "Hike" and "Walk" and just the same except for the label.

My personal opinion, shared by long-time serious Fitbit users, is that all the different exercise categories are basically the same.  The differences are the name it is stored under for your personal history, and in some cases the statistics categories that are displayed during the workout.  But calorie burn is based only on heart rate, and steps are not added or subtracted based on Fitbit thinking you might be using hiking poles or not, or anything else, though it might seem so on occasion.

You will rarely, if ever, see anyone from Fitbit say anything  to contradict that.  They might say to use "xxx" category for such-and such activity, but they will never say what are the consequences of using some other exercise category.  In fact, I don't think many, if any, Fitbit employees, actually know the differences, if any, between the exercise categories.