Recorded steps on Inspire 3 actually bike rides

[GaryCW]

I have a recumbent trike. (2 wheels in front and 1 in rear with a low, reclined seat in case you're not familiar with them. Mine is a Catrike Villager.) My Inspire 3 is recording a lot of steps that are actually trike rides. It's also recording outdoor bike rides during the same periods. The trike doesn't have traditional handlebars, the grips are vertical so the Inspire 3 is also vertical on my wrist with the text on the display upside down and away from me.

I previously had a Garmin Vivofit 4, which didn't have this problem. It didn't record bike rides at all and didn't record steps during them.

[Triletics]

@GaryCW This is because Fitbit never stops recognizing steps and those are artefacts of a shaky/bumpy ride. You didn't have a problem with Garmin because Garmin disables step recognition for non-step activities. Fitbit doesn't. It's how it's been designed.

[Julia_G]

@Triletics is correct.  Fitbit will record steps for bike rides (and there is no reason why that wouldn’t include trike rides).  I have been reading community posts for a lot of years, and I would say that the bike riding community is pretty evenly divided on this.  Half get grumpy if no steps are recorded and the other half get grumpy if they are.  Presumably that is why Fitbit made the decision not to suppress the steps.

As for auto recording of “outdoor bike” I would say that was entirely expected behaviour.  It “knows” you have forward momentum and yet you appear to be gripping something so that your arms are not moving…. I have a very elderly dog and I often take her out in a doggy pram, and Fitbit usually thinks this is an outdoor bike ride - I find that quite impressive!  And I am glad that I get credit for the steps…

[GaryCW]

In other words, if you also bike, the Inspire 3 is useless as a pedometer. I do lots of both biking and walking. As part of my Medicare Advantage plan, I was able to choose one of several items free, one of which was the Inspire 2. They offered an upgrade to Inspire 3 for $38, at least I didn't pay full price for it. I got the Garmin Vivofit 4 for free last year the same way.

[Triletics]

@GaryCW if steps matter to you then it may add quite a significant number of those during rides. My rides usually add 2000 to 4000 steps per an hour of ride (UK roads are full of potholes). I don't care about steps so it's not a problem but I understand it may render steps counter useless.