Charge 4 stairs climbed are not accurate

[Jardinier]

I climb the same flight of stairs 10 -15 times a day but my Charge 4 might count 1 or 2. Why not every time?  Total rise of stairs is about 2.75 metres.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SteveH]

I think the rise of your stairs is borderline so some count, some don't. Fitbit say:

"Fitbit devices that count floors have an altimeter sensor that detects when you go up in elevation. Your device registers 1 floor when you climb about 10 feet or 3 meters."

taken from: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1141.htm?Highlight=floors

[Jardinier]

Thanks Steve. I think I'll put a wooden box at the top of the stairs to
give the necessary elevation.

[Scrubberman]

I have six steps then a landing and six more steps up to my mainfloor. Fitbit will not recognize it as stairs.

[SteveH · Accepted solution]

@Scrubberman I've seen other posts reporting this. For a floor to count, it needs to be a continuous gain in elevation. If there is a pause - such as you get with a landing - then the floor does not count. I don't think there's a way round this.

[Scrubberman]

Yes according to Fitbit i do not have any stairs.

[Jardinier]

I’ve reverted to the good old-fashioned way - paper & pencil at the top of the stairs with a tick every time I go up. At the end of the day I tot up the number of steps climbed, estimate an approximate distance, stick both in as a customised activity. For calories used, it’s another fudge based on the calories I use on a walk with an extra 50% added for the more strenuous activity. It seems a pain but at least I record some credit.

Example: 10 flights climbed a day at 15 steps a time is about 1000 steps in a week or about 1000 metres. 1k walked is, say, 50 calories, add 50% - 75 cals. It’s bugger all if your a marathon runner / walker but if, like me you’re getting on a bit with restricted mobility, it’s something.

[SteveH]

Even though you are missing out on floor count, your steps - and therefore your calories - should be tracked just fine. You don't get any extra steps or calories if a floor is tracked. Are you sure you need to manually book them? My worry would be that you are double counting them.

[LeslieLS]

Same situation. When I first wore FitBit, it counted each series between landings as a flight but now counts all as only one. Based on the answers, I'm wondering about trying a short jog-in-place on the landings to see if it will adjust. 

[Jardinier]

Dear LeslieLS, I've given up expecting it to count anything less than about 25 treads, but what I have found that in blustery high winds it will count stairs even when I'm sitting down. Apparently it works on changes in atmospheric pressure ie altitude or gusting wind.

Happy jogging on landings - I hope it works for you.

[LeslieLS]

The good news is, it is now counting flights correctly. Well, it did this last time. Talked to Support, she suggested restarting the watch (I did) and to be sure it wasn’t too tight. I had shortened the band by one notch a few days ago and that does correlate with when the issues started. Apparently, a sweaty wrist can foul up the ability to read.

I also did try jogging briefly on the main landing, and both flights were counted. I don’t know which, or all of the changes made was the one or ones that made it work.

So, take your pick, try any of these you haven’t already done, see if it helps!

You can spend your time, waste your time, or invest your time. It's your choice.
"How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?"
— Jane Goodall, Harvest for Hope

[ElCoyotl]

I have found that for stairs to be counted you have to be swinging the arm with the FitBit on it - swinging like waking. Makes sense when you think about riding an elevator: going up 10 stories should not give you 10 FitBit stairs. And flying in an airplane should not give you 2,500!

[LeslieLS]

Probably a good suggestion, but because of its erratic counting and several other issues, I returned the watch and am simply being active, using a scheduler app on my IPad that I work on, and making sure I move consistently. Thanks for your thoughtful answer!

You can spend your time, waste your time, or invest your time. It's your choice.
"How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?"
— Jane Goodall, Harvest for Hope

[iriegnome]

So what happens when this is inaccurate? Just getting to my office in a building with 20 foot floors, I am on the third floor (total of 60 feet in height and 6 flights of stairs) my Charge 4 sometimes sees 1 flight of stairs, sometimes none at all. 

[Jardinier]

Dear iriegnome

I have no answer and I wouldn't want to put my Fitbit to the test in your
building, I'm too old for that many steps these days although years ago
before I retired I could do it in our 20 storey office building.

It seems to be a problem that Fitbit's technical teams should be addressing.

Jardinier

[lev1900]

My Fitbit charge 4 also counts the floors randomly. At minimum, I climb up 74 floors a day, when I usually do 4-5 only. 

It didn't use to be this way though. When I first bought it, it worked quite well. then there came a software update and boom!

here are the facts:

1. the problem is not hardware, it is software. And Fitbit has that good software that will make this work. 

2. despite this, they are still not fixing it. all they have to do is use that old algorithm for counting stairs 

3. since this is early fixable, but they are not fixing it, 

    either they are a lousy company and don't invest in maintaining their existing products and instead use their money elsewhere (marketing etc)

    this is part of a strategy, whereby they want to increase their new product sales (e.g. charge 5) by making the older products unusable. 

either way, this kind of thing speaks volumes about the company's management.