Thinking about returning to Fitbit. How important are floors climbed?

[steveojp]

Hi,

I am using my Apple Watch. No issues...but I always like how Fitbit was more detailed on fitness. How important is floors climbed? My Apple watch does but I know the Charge 6 does not. I think only the smart watches now from Fitbit track Floors. I'm surprised not all of them have it. Seems like such a basic feature. It's nice to look at floors climbed just don't really want to downgrade either. 

[SunsetRunner]

I personally do not think the 'floors climbed' feature is particularly relevant or useful, because it does not add anything to your fitness directly. It just points to the fact that walking or running up in elevation usually increases the physical effort, which is what the goal should be. In other words, it does not matter how you make your heart pump harder but that you do it. Weather you do it by climbing up the stairs or in any other way it does not really matter.  From the fitness perspective, I think the most relevant feature is what Fitbit calls "active zone minutes".

[RiekoC]

Hello @steveojp 

Some users are very goal oriented and like to see their efforts acknowledged with achievement badges. There are badges for floor climbing achievements. However, there is currently a bug where users are not receiving their floor badges. 

Like @SunsetRunner , I don't consider floors climbed as a very meaningful metric. Plus, it's not one that I can easily do since I have arthritis in my knees. I focus on Active Zone Minutes (AZM), instead. The way that Fitbit tracks and sets AZM goals is in alignment with CDC's recommendations for adult activity.

[Goonie619]

So at my lunch time I do sprints up the floors of stairs .So for me personally floors counted is important to me because I'm trying to do as many as I can in an hour it's nice to know how many floors you climed

[DavidFitbit]

Hi @Goonie619, @RiekoC, SunsetRunner and welcome @steveojp to the Fitbit Community! It's great to have you here!

I'm happy to contribute with our thoughts about the floors climbed statistic.

We are constantly re-evaluating our product feature offerings to provide our members with a better holistic view of their health and well-being. To do this, we sometimes need to update our technology to make these improvements.

We are working to improve the overall experience of our products.

As @RiekoC and SunseRunner say, we focus more in the effort than the actual number of floors climbed. I understand that this statistic can be motivating but rest assured that as long as you climb, your effort will taken into account.

Have a great day you all!

[Goonie619]

Good morning
I see what you are saying about the effort at the end of the day that's
what matters most.I was just saying everyone has there own motivation and I
do what works for me .So when I am In the market for a watch the floors
feature is going to determine what watch I buy.When I do floors of stairs
my goal is 200 a lot of times I meet that goal sometimes I don't .But when
I look down at my watch and I need a certain amount it motivates me to pick
up the pace.

[FitEars2018]

Charge 6 reports floors climbed in the Android phone app. You have to turn it on in the Settings on the app (the little pencil edit symbol).

Remember that it works on barometric pressure, so it doesn't recognize stair climbers as flights of stairs. (Maybe if you select "stair Climbing" in the list of 30 exercises.) 

[alexthecat]

@FitEars2018 that is not true. In order to calculate elevation changes, a device needs a piece of hardware called an altimeter. The Charge 6 does not have an altimeter, so it is not able to calculate floors.

The only current Fitbits that have altimeters are the Sense and Versa product lines. All versions of the Google Pixel Watch also have altimeters.