Elliptical Vs. Walk -- Data Reporting

[nathanrudy]

Yesterday I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, adding the exercise on the Ionic but putting it in my pocket so I could get steps I haven't gotten it with it on my wrist.  The Ionic reported 2,459 in 21 minutes (apparently stopping its data collection right in the middle) and burned 372 calories.

Later in the day I took a walk, and the Ionic self-identified it. In 22:10 it gave me 2,327 steps and 335 calories.

On the elliptical I busted my **ahem**, sweat a lot, and was occasionally actually breathing a little. On the walk I was writing emails and making sure the dog didn't cross up my legs.

Yet the steps and calories burned were almost identical for the same amount of time.

Now I know the heartbeat wasn't taken on the machine and was while walking, so the calories may be the result of that, but the steps?  Seriously?

[nathanrudy]

Today I used the elliptical with the Ionic on my wrist, and it again kicked out after about 20 minutes, which is very frustrating. It was a little closer on steps, but not much.

However, once again the 21:16 minutes it tracked on the elliptical where I was working hard are credited with 352 calories while the 25:36 of a walk are credited with 386 calories. This is with the Ionic on the wrist and checking pulse.

I'm pretty much getting to the point where I will just consider the Ionic's numbers as directional and not accurate, since they are plainly ... not accurate.

[USAF-Larry]

@nathanrudy, since the Ionic is designed as a wrist-worn tracker, it will much more accurately count steps while walking and wearing it on the wrist than it will in a pocket. Given that the average person walks 3 mph, you walk approximately 1 mile in your 22 minute walk, or in the range of 2,200 steps, right?  But, regardless of whether I am wearing the Ionic, the Charge 2, or the Charge HR, they are all notoriously bad at counting steps on the elliptical -- primarily because I am not really walking/running on the elliptical, I am "shuffling" my feet in an elliptical pattern.

[AlexSt]

Hi there,

When you are exercising on the elliptical you usually see your speed as rpm (rounds per minutes) which should equate to "steps" per minute. When you are done with the exercise the machine gives you average rpm during your exercise, so multiplying this with the time you spend on the marchine you get the total steps during your exercise. 

Now for a better tracking with the ionic I always manually initiate an elliptical exercise on the watch itself when I start my exercise so there is no mismatch between the actual time spent on the machine and what the ionic records (basically I do that with every exercise I do even walking). When I am done I finish the exercise on the watch also. This way I get the same amount of time and basically identical results on steps taken.

On calories burned you must take into account your average heart rate during the exercise on the elliptical and during your walk. If it is similar you get similar calories.

On the elliptical there is a scale on the "hardness" of the machine, the Technogym I use has a scale 1-25; depending on the scale you choose and how hard you press your legs (you see that on the elliptical screen in watts I think). If you are using a small scale you generate low watts so it is possible that you do not get tired enough to burn more calories.