Charge 3 counting steps while driving

[tjhanke]

As first-time Fitbit user, I wanted to like charge 3, I really did but after trying it for a week it has been a major disappointment. My biggest complain is that it is wildly inaccurate. I get 1400 steps while driving my car on a highway, nothing bumpy, just regular rush hour traffic with stop and go. And don’t even think about brushing your teeth while wearing it. Fitbits response has been that this is how charger operates or to modify the count to “driving” to get accurate steps reading. I tried the driving trick but to mess with dashboard twice every day is not very user-friendly. Better solution would be to have a driving button that stops counting when you reach pre-defined speed. Come on Fitbit your engineers are surely capable of that. Charge 3 has some nice features but for me its main role is to count my steps and it fails miserably in this aspect. My $5.99 Walmart pedometer is more accurate. I am returning my Charge 3 and I think I give Apple Watch a shot. First impressions Fitbit ...

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SusieFerguson]

I take mine off while driving and that helps.  All the reviews I read before buying were misleading.  I think there should be a recall.

[JessTipple]

I also tried taking mine off while driving and it still counted the driving as steps.

[SusieFerguson]

How frustrating!

[JessTipple]

So this past weekend, I bought a used Charge 2 from someone. Because it was made before they did whatever changes they made to them, it doesn't count steps while driving. My old one didn't either. All the new ones do. I have returned 2 new ones. So glad I found this used one on LetGo!

[MMFitz]

So sorry, they got me too, none of the reviews mentioned this, I've lost faith in a lot of the review services as a result. Such a waste of money.

[SusieFerguson]

Exactly. Now I am not sure if I can believe any review that does comparisons. I'm going to rely on customer feedback.

[MarcMadoc]

Still any fix for that ?

[Slimstinator]

Best suggestions have been to take it off while driving or cancel the activities afterwards. Complete disgrace.

[MMFitz]

Hi I'm afraid that taking it off while driving does not work either. It has to be charging to stop counting steps in a car.

[crashtx1]

Fitbit released an update to the Charge 3 in the last week or two and it "seems" to have resolved this issue for me.

[Slimstinator]

@crashtx1 I was wondering if they had fixed it, but the release notes only said "bug fixes" with no details. I will take my Charge 3 for a drive tomorrow and report back.

[SusieFerguson]

Please do

[MrMarv]

@SusieFerguson -

My nearly 40 mile commute, covering one hour in the morning and one and a half hours in the evening quit tracking steps starting on July 11th.

Z-e-r-o steps, not even the six to 30 steps my previous device (Alta HR) used to track. Part of my drive in LA/Orange counties is pretty rough with all of the construction going on.

On July 10th, 275 steps tracked in the morning drive and 395 steps in the evening commute.

To restate, since the firmware update, I have gone eight workdays without commute associated steps being tracked.

[crashtx1]

I make a long(er) drive on Tuesday mornings, total of about 40 minutes and would Charge 3 would often count 2,000 steps. Last two weeks it's been pretty much nothing. 

[Slimstinator]

Tested this morning, driving from home to gym. 2.7 miles taking 7 minutes. Steps went from 392 to 446.

Issue still persists.

Notes, Fitbit on dominant arm, Bluetooth enabled and connected to my phone with GPS enabled throughout.

[MrMarv]

@Slimstinator -

Stick shift or automatic? And on the Dominate Arm?

Last night's 40 mile commute home taking 1.5 hours - step count stayed at 6,901 throughout the drive. 

I even tried to bounce my fist against the steering wheel to force some false steps - that used to work - stayed at 6,901.

As a test, I was able to emulate a walking motion by swinging my arm between the seat and the door and booked steps on the morning commute. Other than that short period of time, no steps booked during the over one hour drive.

Automatic transmission, device on non-dominate arm and as stated below - Charge 3 running firmware version 1.63.5.

[crashtx1]

My 20 minute drive home yesterday generated about 80 steps compared to about 800 normally. Given the arm movements I'll take the 80 as reasonable.  My firmware shows to be 28.20001.63.5.

[Slimstinator]

@MrMarv 

I'm in the UK, manual car (stick shift), Fitbit on my right arm (dominant arm) which is my steering wheel hand, not gear shift. (I have a big lump of bone in my left wrist from breaking it three times, so I wear my Fitbit on the wrong side).

On the way home from the gym, I didn't wear the Fitbit and still got a heap of steps (compared to the distance). It is a Ford Focus, so it's not like my car moves around that much on a couple of miles journey.

@MrMarv What I am wondering, do you have your phones Bluetooth on and GPS enabled? I am wondering if this might be what is triggering the steps instead of the actual physical movement? I will try tomorrow with my phones Bluetooth off.

[crashtx1]

Slimstinator, what's your firmware version?

[Slimstinator]

Firmware shown on Charge 3 : 28.20001.6.3.5