Can Bike Detect sensitivity be increased?

[AllanHvass]

Took a while before I figured out the difference between Auto Recognized Exercises (the app or more likely server side detecting up to 7 different types of activities based on the data the Fitbit Charge 6 sends to the app) and then the e.g. Bike Detect function that the Charge 6 does on it's own. First controlled in the Exercises app in the Fitbit app, the latter controlled in the settings for each exercise type on the Fitbit itself. Confusing...

BUT! With initially both enabled for e.g. biking on my wifes Fitbit Charge 6, it only fires the Auto Recognized version and only after 10 minutes. This is clearly visible as it's tagged with "Fitbit for Android" as the recording device. Also it doesn't have the GPS based map.

Why isn't it being detected on the Fitbit itself though and much sooner, when actually biking? Is there a way to increase sensitivity of what the Fitbit will pick up for Biking, Running, Workout (Aerobic) etc. - we still haven't seen these being detected by the Fitbit itself and thus having full data recording and with GPS data, but only from the Fitbit app with less time captured, no GPS data, etc.

Oddly - the exact same setup works fine with my own Fitbit Charge 6 - it normally picks up e.g. Biking right away and then with GPS data (and tagged as being recorded by Charge 6). This even for pretty much the same biking on the same routes - even leasure / transport biking on paved roads.

Can sensitivity be adjusted in any way?

[JohnnyRow]

No sensitivity can't be adjusted but  think I can explain it all, but first I have to get to post office before it closes.
But simple way to avoid that all is to use the Exercise App to start and end bike ride.  Within the Exercise App, after selecting Bike but before starting it, swipe up from bottom of screen and you will see several useful options that apply only to biking and only have to be set once.  Among these is "Bike Detect" which is what you were referring to.  I suppose you can turn it on or off here.  I have seen complaints of people not aware of having this turned on and having it come on when they don't want it.  Here is also where you can make sure you have GPS set to come on if you want it, and you have you choice of up to 3 stats to display on screen while biking.  I think there is also a similar Auto-Run but no others.
I expect you and your wife have different settings here.  You both would have to go into the Exercise App to (Outside) Bike and swipe up to the settings and make sure hers are same as yours, specifically Bike Detect and GPS.
Also see if you want to experiment with stats to see while biking.

Now to Auto Recognize Exercises.  You must have found these since you know there are 7.  But if you tap 'Exercise Days', then the 3-dot menu at top right and Activity Settings you get to them.  I think there are other ways there too.  It lists the 7 Auto Recognized Exercised.  These are supposedly recognized by fitbit just from the movement pattern of your wrist.  I personally don't put much faith in these.  I trust it gets Walk consistently right, and probably Run, maybe Ellptical.  I wouldn't put much faith in it distinguishing other activities just from looking at wrist movement, but that's just my view, and I digress.
You mention 10 minutes to recognize it.  That's not really to recognize it.  That is to count it as an exercise session, or a workout.  If you click on any one of the activities, it allows you to set the minimum time for it to be counted, I think from 10 to 90 minutes, with as default of 15 minutes.  10 is the lowest it can be set. Or you can turn it off if you never do it so it doesn't falsely recognize it. Lots of people complain about getting credit for swimming when they never swim.  Below that minimum time, even if fitbit was recognizing it, it  would not qualify to be counted as an exercise session.  However, if you were to use the Exercise App as I advise, any amount of time, no matter how small counts, and you already called it Bike when you started.

Hope that made some sense and didn't just confuse you more.

[AllanHvass]

Thanks. What you describe was already my exact understanding, and everything you stated on how to set it up, was already how it was set up - specifically also for the Bike setup on the Fitbit device itself with Bike Detect and GPS both set to on. And yes, I also don't have too much faith in the Auto Recognize feature (which is also called SmartTrack I believe). For context, I'm a Fitbit user through about 8 years and have had every single Fitbit Charge except #5 (they do have an unfortunate tendency to crack screens just a few months after warranty expires...). 

So I can say with a high degree of certainty, that settings are exactly identical for all the relevant settings here between my own current and well functioning 6 months old Fitbit Charge 6 and my wife' newly bought Fitbit Charge 6. My confusion though is, that for transit cycling on the same route (though not together on same day), my Fitbit triggers for cycling just as expected (even within 200m of leaving the house), while my wife's doesn't trigger at all.

As my wife's Fitbit was just put into operation on Tuesday, there's not yet a lot of history or experience, but across 4 bike rides and one aerobic class, we have actually not yet seen ANY automatic tracking triggered (the Fitbit allows this for walk, run, bike and workout). So I wonder if this can be down to some sensitivity aspect (her weighing less than me) or there's something faulty in the device itself - though everything else seems to work correctly, so doubt there's any sensor faults.

[AllanHvass · Accepted solution]

Coming back on this one with the solution: A factory reset...

It was a completely new Charge 6, had a firmware update as part of initial install. Everything else worked perfectly out of the box, but the walk / run / bike detect functionality off the Charge 6 itself never worked. In the end I did multiple tests with my own Charge 6 and the new Charge 6 for my wife put on my arm next to each other - multiple runs and walks, with my own Charge 6 working perfectly with the detect functionality, and my wife's Charge 6 never triggering. Also tried a soft reset / restart in between, still no luck.

So as last resort, bit the bullet with a factory reset and going through a good amount of reconfiguration - and then it worked as expected on first attempt 😀 So some times, factory reset is actually needed. I suspect it's really the firmware update that caused it.

[AllanHvass]

Actually I declared victory too soon on this one 😞

The problem keeps coming back. The device will do a correct walk / run /bike detect for a day or two, then stop again. As an example - yesterday I biked together with my wife to the beach and back again. On the way out, both my own and my wife's Charge 6 correctly detected the ride and tracked with GPS as expected. But on the way back on same route, only my watch detected this and tracked it. From this point forward, my wife's Charge 6 would not detect anything. For a walk this morning no tracking at the halfway mark as I was wearing it (my own Charge 6 tracked correctly=). Then I did a soft reset / restart of my wife's Charge 6, and sure enough on the way back it then started the walk detect automatically. This is just an example, it's been like this over the last week - work one day until it stops, then a reset necessary, then it work again for a day, then another reset, etc.

Looks like it needs a replacement, but I have my serious concerns this will be easy or even possible to convince Fitbit support anything is wrong, given a reset fixes it (for a short period). And also, we're on the way out on vacation and both want the watch during vacation (good part of the reason to buy now), so not able to handle logistics of sending back and forth over the next weeks.

Anyone else seen something like this? And had any success with actually getting meaningful support incl. a device replacement if needed?