Step Count variations on an Elliptical while using Ionic

[Single1]

I use an elliptical every morning.  It is the kind of elliptical that also uses the arms to go back an forth when the feet are going back and forth.  I had a year-old Ionic that used to count the steps fairly correctly.  At a pace of about 190 steps per minute, I would get over 500 steps for every three minutes. Recently, however, that steps count was dropping to around 400 steps every three minutes.  I tried changing my hand positions, but nothing seemed to get me back to the counts that I used to get.  I assumed that maybe the Ionic was getting sluggish with age, so I bought a new one this week.  Yesterday (my first day to use it on the elliptical), I was getting close to 500 steps for three minutes, but not where it should be.  Today, I was getting back closer to the 400 steps per three minutes.  Today, in my 24 minutes on the elliptical, my Ionic recorded 1,243 fewer steps than the elliptical machine counted.  Any ideas on what I can do to get the correct step count on the elliptical?

Moderator Edit: Updated Subject for Clarity

[SantiR]

@Single1 Welcome to the Fitbit forums! Thanks for taking the time to share the experience you are having with your new Ionic and elliptical exercises. Thanks for sharing all of those details regarding this situation.

How are you tracking the elliptical activity? Are you using the Exercise app by any chance? I'd recommend using the Exercise app to track this as you should be getting accurate data regarding it.

Also, you could perform a restart on Ionic as that will refresh its inner system and should help out as well.

Keep me posted! 

[Single1]

I let the Ionic determine that I am on an Elliptical.  I do not specifically go to an exercise to start my tracking. 

Additionally, this morning, I purposefully  slowed down to about 180 steps per minute (according to the display on the elliptical machine).  I got almost exactly the same step count on the Ionic as the elliptical showed.  The only difference was when I sped up to about 186 steps per minute, and then I started losing steps.  Is there some speed at which the Ionic drops steps?  And, like I said in my first message, I used to get an accurate count at the higher speeds.  I will reset the Ionic, to see if that will make any difference.

Thanks.

[SantiR]

@Single1 Thanks for your reply and for sharing all of those details regarding the exercises.

Yes, please restart Ionic and let me know if there is a difference. Also, please use the Exercise app ad let me know if the results are different that way.

Keep me posted! 

[Single1]

I have tried all of the suggestions and tried combinations of suggestions.  The Ionic is still not counting all of the steps and the difference varies widely from one day to another.  I have not found anything that seems to work better that another. 

I have tried:  Letting the Ionic determine that I was on an elliptical and telling the Ionic that I am using an elliptical;  holding the elliptical hand bar on the side and over the top;  tightening the band so that the Ionic does not flop back and forth on my wrist as I move my arms back and forth; resetting the Ionic before I start the exercise. 

This morning, I was on the elliptical for an hour.  The first 6-9 minutes (at 190 steps per minute), the count on the Ionic seemed to be about as expected.  Then, without me changing anything about how I was exercising, the Ionic started missing steps badly.  In the first 30 minutes, it had lost about 1,700 steps compared to the steps counted by the elliptical,  At that point, I loosened the wrist band and slowed down to about 180 steps per minute.  Over the next 30 minutes, it lost about 690 steps.  So, for the hour, the Ionic missed 2,390 steps compared to the steps counted by the elliptical.  

Any help would be appreciated.

[Single1]

More on my issue:

Some days, the Ionic will start out matching the step count on the elliptical.  One day, the first 20 minutes were a match between the steps the Ionic counted and the steps displayed on the elliptical.  After that the Ionic started losing steps.

Lately, however, the Ionic seems to be losing more steps.  Today, after an hour on the elliptical, the Ionic was over 4,000 steps less than shown by the elliptical.  You can see all of the things that I have tried in my earlier posts.  Is there some issue with the accelerometer and the motions used on ellipticals or the speed of the back and forth motion (180-190 steps per minute)?

[10point1]

I have never had an accurate step count using an elliptical either....500 to 5000 for 30 minutes ....heart rate on the ionic is also not tracking with the monitor on the elliptical....not really an issue now as the watch went black screen yesterday and is toast

[WendyB]

Did you try to use the exercise option as stated above?

To add them

Exercise mode

How to customize exercise modes

Will need to sync before it takes place on the device itself

[Single1]

I have tried exercise mode many times.  It does not seem to make any difference in the daily fluctuations.  Yesterday, I was not in exercise mode and the Ionic step count matched the elliptical step count with only a 50 step difference in a 30 minute workout.  Being encouraged by that very small difference, I tried to do EVERYTHING exactly the same today.  Today, the Ionic started falling behind the elliptical immediately and at the end of the 30 minute workout, the Ionic had lost 2,500 steps compared to the elliptical.  I have had some days where the Ionic kept up with the elliptical for some time (20 minutes on one day) and then started falling behind. 

I can find no pattern, but I should not have to.  The Ionic should count every time my arm moves back and forth.