Pushing a stroller?

[LZeeW]

The video shows a woman running and pushing a stroller.  Does this mean that Fitbit has solved the problem of step count error when pushing a stroller/cart/wheelchair/other device/holding on to rails when your treadmill is at an incline?

[robvokoun]

Pushing a shopping cart I expect both to lose some steps. So my setup is
pretty simple, Zip attached to my undershirt, AW 2 on left wrist and Blaze
on right wrist. Consistently the Blaze under-counts, AW does as well but
nowhere near the amount the Blaze does, while the Zip is what I consider
perfect.

I'm not pushing the AW2 here as wouldn't meet the requirements one way or
the other of about 90% of users here. The Blaze just has an issue with
catching movements when there is little to no arm swing.

[Rich_Laue]

Your Zip is looking at the up/down motion of the hip or bra, the arm based trscker is looking for up/doen movement of the arm. Holding on to a stroller kind of limits this

[swampmilkweed]

I know exactly why pushing a shopping cart limits the step count! I have
always known that. I just do not like it. I usually take my Alta off and
put it in my pocket. This works, but I sometimes forget.


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[Bunnybear_05]

I've wore my flex and Blaze in my bra before on the elliptical ( for some reason, my newer elliptical doesn't work well with fitbit ( Nordic track freestrider) . It's a elliptical movement issue. Not really a fitbit issue from my tests 

In my bra, I average about 1000 steps higher then the elliptical readout. But if I wore it on my wrist...I'd receive 100 steps for 1000 steps my elliptical calculates. 

[swampmilkweed]

That is very interesting. I love that my Alta gives me more info, but of
course I never had the steps issue when I had a Zip that always stayed
in my pocket. If I can just remember to stuff the Alta in my pocket when
using a shopping cart, then it counts steps just fine.


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[nathanrudy]

If a wrist based tracker can't measure when the wrist is not moving, then it's a pretty weak model for tracking my life. I tend to read my kindle or a paper a lot when I walk the halls, so missed steps.  I grocery shop at least once a week with a cart and sometimes more and each trip is 1500 steps or so, losing about 50K steps a year.  When I walk and need to check my phone or I hold it to my ear, lost steps.

I loved my Fitbit One which I kept in my pocket and was very effective. But it is gone and the only other pocket option from Fitbit is that awful replaceable battery-based Zip.

Give me the One back and I'll be very happy.

[swampmilkweed]

I can sympathize with the grocery problem. My solution is to take off my
Alta and loop it into a belt loop or put it in my pocket. I have to
disagree about your Kindle or newspaper though. I walk for exercise in
the mall and often buy a drink. I've checked several times to be sure
that steps are counted even when I have the drink in the hand with the
Alta on that wrist. It counts just fine every time. The difference is
that your hand on the grocery cart is stopped from counting by the cart.
Just holding a Kindle should not matter at all. That is my experience.


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[Colinm39]

@nathanrudySolved at my end because my trusty, honest Fitbit One is still going at 5 years... I have a Zip for emergency.. I have the Ionic and One in multi mode on the same Dashboard and wearing concurrently.. Most times it will sort itself out and sync the counts accurately.

Occasionally when the syncing can't sort itself out I have found what appears to be an averaging of the difference in the step count between each tracker.. Sounds logical to me with the Fitbit algorithms.. See this link

Why did I start this ?..... My 47 year old daughter broke her hip and with complications afterwards I was wheeling her around in a wheel chair for months.. I also do all of our shopping.. A task my wife doesn't like... So with a series of wrist trackers I was losing my steps. Being retired i was always wearing casual slacks/jeans/trousers which all had a coin pocket so kept the clip on Fitbit there..

When I have done deliberate testing with brisk walking I have found the steps count within the 5% limits that Fitbit have set.. On the image below I have worn multiple trackers across my body.. to compare.. This test was to ratify wearing Fitbits on the ankle as well as the wrist.  Ignore the HR because these are only copies to explain the steps..

[nathanrudy]

So this gets me to two things:

1) Does an Ionic work better in the pants pocket?  Just take it off the wristband and stick it in the pocket?

2) When I got married my wife gave me a money-clip wallet with a watch in it.  Anyone want to help me design and manufacture a money-clip wallet that has connectors for different wrist based FitBits? Something like the below. If you steal this idea, please give me 10% of your profits.

[Rich_Laue]

@nathanrudy walking with a kindle will not stop the tracker from counting steps, it might not prevent the user from tripping or getting run into. Your arm will be moving up/down with the body and steps will be counted. This is totally different from holding onto a pusher which stays level to the ground. While walking with a book, the arm stays in sync with the movement trust counts while in the pocket. 

[nathanrudy]

@Rich_LaueIt may not for you, but I did a walk around the block with and without the kindle and had about 75% of the steps with the Kindle.  

With the Fitbit One in my pocket there was no noticeable difference.

Perhaps my shoulder and elbow are more of a shock absorber than yours.

[Big-wrist]

Why is this such a hard issue to solve?  

Today I went to Costco early, and started trolling the isles to do some shopping.  I started at 1206 steps and after 2+ hours, and after going up and down every at least twice, I ended with 1573 steps.  😡

I am a recovering cancer survivor, and counting steps is key to getting healthy again.  So the answer to this  dilemma is not trying to push a fill Costco cart with one hand, but to attach a sensor to your shoe that is synced to your Fitbit.  If Nike can do this, why not fitbit 🤔

Pancreatic cancer SUX!

[Colinm39]

@Big-wristI understand where you are coming from because I had to overcome a Total Hip Replacement, not as serious as your health issue and from down under I wish you well in your health..

But I realized Fitbit wouldn't give us the shoe option like my Polar, so I made do with my Fitbit One in Multi mode.. To establish accurate results I have now multied my Zip into the mix because you can't buy the Fitbit One any longer. So for a very modest outlay I have solved the problem.. See my earlier post..  The Zip is $AUD 80 or $US 60 and I find the repqleable batteries last about 5 months.

I have found the Zip as accurate as the One and by using multi I enjoy the GPS world and an accurate step count

Today I had two sessions shopping and one was helping an elderly person shop.. My Fitbit Ionic had 8,137 steps and the One 8,830 I paired the Zip and after syncing all three Fitbits have the same step count at 8,830.

I will report back in a day or so

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@Big-wrist wrote:

Why is this such a hard issue to solve?  

Today I went to Costco early, and started trolling the isles to do some shopping.  I started at 1206 steps and after 2+ hours, and after going up and down every at least twice, I ended with 1573 steps.  😡

I am a recovering cancer survivor, and counting steps is key to getting healthy again.  So the answer to this  dilemma is not trying to push a fill Costco cart with one hand, but to attach a sensor to your shoe that is synced to your Fitbit.  If Nike can do this, why not fitbit 🤔

Pancreatic cancer SUX!

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[Colinm39]

@Big-wrist  Here is my first test from early morning, some domestics, some driving and some shopping..

The Fitbit One and Zip are in my jeans coin pocket, without coins..  Eventually I will sync and I always sync the Fitbit with the highest number of steps first..... If it's grossly higher than the Ionic (my prime Fitbit) I will turn it off and sync the others.. Then turn the Ionic on and sync it.

Because the Fit App looks for history on the server first that will be downloaded to the App and in turn the Ionic..

On the multied Fitbits I have the "Always Connected" set to Off so that I can control the syncing..

I was surprised with these results on a low level test and there is no fudging. I have turned off all syncing so that this evening I can compare again..  But for less than $100 you can solve the Shopping Trolley/Stroller issue as I do..  I typically pick up about 1,000 steps when shopping with a trolley..

[Colinm39]

@Big-wristHere are the results of my shopping trolley afternoon

The HR graph is flatlined on the calories because I didn't set the Ionic to record under workout.. A manual Activity record averages the calories over the time period...

[conchikers]

Tie it to your shoe.  My friend's son did this for his mom when she was pushing the stroller.  I have a charge 2 and it put it through the laces of my tennis shoes. As long as you have it tight (not flopping around) it's accurate.  I actually find it more accurate than on my wrist.  You can also wear it on your ankle.  They have extender bands that you can get on etsy.

[SunsetRunner]

When pushing a stroller you could use the GPS to track. As for the supermarket, I push the trolley with 1 arm while flapping the other about like a one winged chook, might get weird looks but I get my steps. Another option you could try is placing the watch on your ankle, many nurses and other on here swear it is quite accurate as nurses are not allowed to wear anything on their wrists at some hospitals.

[Colinm39]

@SunsetRunnerThanks for posting that... I did some tests awhile back and from the image you can see how accurate ankle v's the Fitbit One and the error in the wrists.

This is what some very retired engineers do to keep the mind active..  and fit...

My testing with the Zip etc was because others still want their HR, and if the zip isn't an option I have tested that on the ankle provided it's fastened to the inside..  reasonable results...

[Kwin87]

NOPE! Totally false advertising on Fitbit’s part. I got the Alta HR and it’s so inaccurate when pushing a stroller. It will be over 6K steps different for me on the same walk compared to when I do the walk not pushing the stroller. I’ve called customer support but there’s apparently nothing they can do even though they consider that “mildly different”. What a joke of a product!

[Kwin87]

Spoiler

I had the old school Charge HR and because you could turn it on to activity mode, it actually wasn’t that bad when you pushed the stroller as far as accuracy goes. When it broke I got the Alta HR and because of it’s been”smart” technology, it’s awful for accuracy!! Then if you try to log it manually then it just takes all your activity minutes away and still doesn’t fix the step count.