Fitbit showing excessive stairs

[njsas]

Fitbit is showing excessive stairs...I put it on before I climbed any flights and it shows 24 climbed

[RRoades]

Mine is doing the same thing! Anyone have any answers?

[ShaiKingTroy]

Try resetting the one by holding down the button for arround 20 seconds

[SantiR]

@RRoades @njsas Welcome to the Fitbit family! Please try the restart suggestion that @ShaiKingTroy posted above. Do this a couple of times.

Also, there are other reasons why your One may have tracked false floors. As your One's altimeter (sensor that tracks floors) will calculate altitude based on atmospheric pressure, it is possible that things like weather changes, gust of winds, the AC, opening a door, can cause your tracker to count floors. 

Your tracker registers one floor when you’ve gone up about ten feet, which is the average between residential and commercial floor heights. If you climb long staircases you may find that the tracker’s floor count doesn’t match how many floors you’ve gone up since the staircase was taller than ten feet.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted! 

[mlissab]

I've noticed this recently as well. I walk on my treadmill with a fan going just like I have for the whole time I've had the One and over the past couple of months I've noticed that sometimes it records excessive flights of stairs. In the past, this was only an issue when I would walk outside on a windy day. Not sure why the same fan causes stairs to record sometimes but not every time.

[SantiR]

@mlissab I hope you're doing well! Yes, a fan may cause your tracker to record some floors. A gust of wind, change in temperature, AC; are things that can cause this.

I recommend checking the position of the fan and to get away from it if it is winding directed to you. Change the position of you One as well, making sure that the gust of wind will not be impacting it.

Keep me posted! 

[mlissab]

I know it could affect it, my point is it isn't consistent. The fan is in the same place it has been for years and I'm wearing the One the same place I always have. If it counted 15 stairs a day I would understand it but sometimes it's 15 sometimes it doesn't count any. It's the inconsistency I don't understand.

[SantiR]

@mlissab Thanks for your reply! How long have you had your One? 

Try performing a restart on your One. Do this three times in a row. 

It may also be that the hole were the altimeter is located is dirty with dust. Sometimes it gets blocked by sweat as well (depending where you wear it). Try cleaning it with a toothpick. The hole is located at the back of your One at the lower side of it. 

Try that out and let me know how it goes! 

[CharlieATL]

I had one occurrence where my relatively new Fitbit One showed that I climbed 173 floors, when from previous measurements with my old Ultra as well as my new One, the route I walked was 38 floors.  Even adding in miscellaneous trips up and down the steps at home, my total would not have been more than 60 floors.

I have a weather station at my house that measures and records data every 6 minutes, so I went back and checked the wind speed, peak and average, for the times that the incorrect data was recorded by the Fitbit, and sure enough, it was relatively windy, i.e. peak wind of 3-5 mph during the morning and  7-8 mph mid-afternoon.

However, I keep my Fitbit in my right pocket and have done so for the last 5 years.  So my question is, is the thing really that sensitive that it can sense wind through clothing?April 9, 2017As recommended by the Moderator, I have restarted the Fitbit 3 times.  If this occurs again, I will report back.

[ShaiKingTroy]

Try cleaning it out as @SantiR said

[Angie26]

Mine showed 11 stairs the other day and I know that I only did the stairs 5 - 6 times.  Does it include like small hills, etc.....when your out walking??

[CharlieATL]

Yes, I checked that also, thinking maybe pocket lint might clog it up.  It was fine.  The thing isn't even a month old.

[CharlieATL]

Angie, my understanding, having used an old Ultra and now this new One for about 5 years, is that the device measures change in elevation, whether it be a flight of steps or walking up hills.  So yes, it would measure as you described.  This is something that makes a Fitbit better than just your run-of-the-mill pedometer or some app on your smartphone.  One burns more calories trudging up a hill than walking on a level surface, obviously, and the Fitbit records this.

You can test this by putting your Fitbit into "trip mode", walking an incline/hill that is at least 10' in overall elevation, then turning off trip mode.  You should then see how many stories you climbed.  To calibrate, climb one set of steps that are 10' in overall height, and see if you get a reading of 1 story climbed.

[Angie26]

Make sense. Thanks so much for your help on this.