False step count when cycling/biking

[Mario29]

Hi all, 

I know this has been covered by some before, but I thought I'll raise this issue again to hopefully get a solution soon.

Attached picture shows my step count yesterday. Admittedly I don't walk a lot during the day. However, I cycle almost daily.

Based on this picture of my steps, any idea when I was cycling?

Obviously the spikes in my step count are false and coincide very accurately with when I was cycling.

This is quite baffling to me. The Charge 2 recognises automatically very accurately when I am cycling. It is spot on in that regard.

However, it then also decides to add a whole lot of steps whilst I'm cycling although it knows that I'm cycling and not walking?

I usually average about 3500 steps/day without any other activity (similar to my old Garmin). With my cycling, it's not unusual to triple that figure.

Can this be fixed please?

It is quite frustrating and screws up all my step data.

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Mario29 It's nice to have you on board! Since your tracker is a motion sensor it will detect all the vibration while you are cycling and may interpret it as steps. An easy solution is to wear your tracker a little bit more tight/secure while cycling so it isn't bouncing on your arm. This way you will decrease the amount of steps recorded during this time. 

Let me know how it goes!

[Mario29]

Hi Alvaro,thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately your solution does not work. It fits fairly tight under my winter clothing when I'm cycling anyway. As an experiment, I even moved it half way up my forearm but it still gave me false readings.

The frustrating part is that it correctly recognises these movements as cycling. It is very accurate in that respect. However, whilst it is interpreting the vibrations through my arm correctly as cycling, it then uses the exact same vibrations to grant me thousands and thousands of false steps.

Another example: Saturday morning I was out cycling. The fitbit was as good as perfect in recognising when I started cycling and when I finished, even recorded my little cafe brake in between correctly. However, during the exact same time it awarded my almost 18000 steps!

Surely you must agree with me that this can't be right? 

[Dizzietoo]

Sorry to encroach on your question Mario29, but how do you get your charge 2 to recognise you're cycling? I ride with my sister-in-law and we have completely different results with exactly the same FitBit. We did 43 miles Sunday, we are using ViewRanger to record for the 6,000 mile challenge, yet my charge 2 said I had done 7km and 9,000 steps but my sil had done 19,000. It did seem to regonise the hills!

[Mario29]

Hi Dizzietoo, the honest answer is I don't really know.

As far as I know there are two ways to record your activities. You either do nothing and let the fitbit figure it out automatically (this only records duration of activity, HR and burned calories) or you select the activity on your device and manually start and stop it. The advantage of the second approach is that it then links up to your phone's GPS to record your distance, speed, etc.

I've tried both and both approaches gave me these erroneous steps. I'm a road cyclist so all my cycling is on fairly smooth tarmac (well, actually not sure if you can call roads in the UK smooth..)

I hope this helps somehow

[Rich_Laue]

FYI: thise eronous steps are coming from the bouncing of the handlebars as your bike goes over potholers and bumps.

Im not sure why Fitbit has chosen not to remove them, they do not look at these in determining the calories.

The decision might be to leave it alone considering that for every person that wants these removed, there is someone how wants bike miles converted to steps.

[Dizzietoo]

FYI: Rich-Laue that does not make sence. How can my Fitbit Charge count 9,000 steps and my sister-in-laws count 19,000 steps when we were riding side by side and both avoiding the potholes? I can accept a couple of thousand step differences from before we got on our bikes but not 10,000 before 8.30 in the morning.

One of the claims for the Fitbit charge 2 was that it instantly recognised different activities, it didn't say that one had to select and use a timer, I would not have bought one on that premise. I don't want a step counter I wanted an activity recorder. So far I am not impressed.

[Dizzietoo]

Thanks Mario29, I think the answer for me is to just keep recording on my smartphone, the Fitbit just doesn't seem to do much apart from step counting and awarding me badges lol.

I also ride on the road, this year I am doing the Viewranger 6,000 mile challenge, have a look you might find it the challenge for you too.

Cheers

Di.

[Rich_Laue]

No one says it auto instantly recognizes, the recognition only comes after the ride is over and the tracker has synced. Now the fitbit server does its magic to detect the ride.

My thought is to use the Bike mode with the phones connected GPS, this will give dostance and a map.

[AlvaroFitbit]

@Dizzietoo It's nice to have you on board!

@Dizzietoo I think @Rich_Laue post was more towards explaining the steps @Mario29 sees while riding his bike and not about the difference you see with your sister. It could be a difference on how you wear your tracker, as I said in my previous post your sister in law may be wearing her tracker too loose and this will give her more steps. Regarding the recognition of activities I suggest you check your tracker's settings under "Auto- exercise recognition" and see if biking is enabled and the time set to recognize it. You can also check "Exercise shortcuts" and enable the biking activity that you can activate from your tracker (you will see the option after you have synced your tracker so the changes are saved in it) this way you will use your phone's GPS to get a map. You did mention this isn't something you are interested but I wanted to explain that you have the option.

@Mario29 as @Rich_Laue these steps can't be removed but you can vote for the idea in our Feature suggestion board, the more votes an idea gets the more likely the developers will try to implement it.

I'll be around!

[Mario29]

Thanks Alvaro. I'll definitely going to vote for this improvement

Until this is fixed, I will probably have to give the Fitbit to my wife., sad times. I cycle about 5 days a week and this is just screwing up my step data.

[Sdb56011]

I keep seeing this suggestion that we vote for a 2015 suggestion to implement this "feature" - it's definitely not a feature request! Just admit there's a bug/design defect and get some to spec a fix for it already! Cycling is, by definition, not a sport which generates any steps. This is a defect. Fixing defects is your responsibility - we should not have to suggest and vote for you to fix your product. That's silly.

If you want to come up with some odd formula to convert it to "steps" for the people who love their challenges, that's your business, but that does not appear to be what you're doing. If you do, be transparent about your formula and let us turn it off. because right not I have several activities which say "+0" under the "impact" section for my steps, and yet my step count increased by 3-4000 during each of those exercises, and it simply makes no sense