Counting Stairs

[Sunnylane]

I was very happy this past week to have met my 20K step goal.  I didnt start out the day to do that, but it happened. As I reviewed my stats I saw I had acquired 64 stairs. Now, I really didn't climb 64 flights of stairs but I probably did 6 or 7 flights.  How did I get the other stairs on my FitBit. Note:   I did  run/jog  a couple miles on my tredmill, whould that have done it????    Has this happened to anyone else?   Please  respond.

[WendyB · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sunnylane

Floors are counted using an altimeter. An altimeter is a sensor that calculates altitude based on atmospheric pressure and atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing elevation, so the it calculates elevation gain based on the reduction in atmospheric pressure. Your trackers register a floor when they detect continuous motion combined with an elevation gain of about 10 feet. Given the fact that 10 feet is an average between residential and commercial floor heights, although commercial floors in particular tend to be higher than residential floors.

It will add floors when it is windy or cold.

If you enter "automobile" as an activity during the times it happened, it will remove it for you.

https://help.fitbit.com/customer/portal/articles/758715

[WendyBo]

Mine had 42 floors yesterday.. I know, I didn't even do 1 floor or even up any hills. It was ALL FLAT areas.. I just had to laugh at it...Makes me wonder, if any of my other numbers are correct!!!!!

[Helen3Weir]

Hi - I have been using my 'fitbit one' for about a month now. I have been really pleased with it as it is giving me great motivation, even going up & down the stairs a few times before bedtime just to reach the stairs target. I have always found the floors counted was accurate.

But, suddenly in the last few days the floors counted have been way out. Today it is telling me I have climbed 22 stairs although I know I have been quite lazy today and only done 4 stairs as I have been out all day. I haven't even climbed any hills or inclines to account for the increase. Don't know what is going on !!

Hope it sorts itself out soon or else I will be kidding myself on that I have done more than I have !!!

[CountingDawn]

This is something that I noticed as well.  There is more and more manual tracking that I need to do as of late.  I do not recall when I'm driving at times especially when I should be accurate.  It's odd that "Automotive" or "Driving" cannot be calculated in some other way.  Your heart rate would increase right? I understand that everyone has the HR FitBit but if they do... HR with elevation and constant movement should give me a more accurate count on flights/stairs.  I have used a Stair Master while tracking my activity... still it was slightly off but I'll take it.

[djbennett]

I bought the new charge 2 and are having the same problem with stairs. Was working fine for the first week, but the past 3 days (have done nothing different from the previous week) all over the place. Didn't walk up one set of stairs yesterday morning but recorded 22 flights. Makes you wonder about all the other information on it. 😞

[Colinm39]

@djbennett  welcome, were you walking in brisk wind because that cause the stairs increase like you had. It changes the pressure around the Fitbit and records erroneous stairs. Normally I find a minor increase and don't worry about it because it averages out in the end when I don't get credit for my normal gradient walking..

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@djbennett wrote:

I bought the new charge 2 and are having the same problem with stairs. Was working fine for the first week, but the past 3 days (have done nothing different from the previous week) all over the place. Didn't walk up one set of stairs yesterday morning but recorded 22 flights. Makes you wonder about all the other information on it. 😞

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