My fitbit over-counts steps

[ludwigvan]

I have had a Fitbit Charge 2 for 2 days. It is seriously over-counting steps.  Today it told me that I had done 12,000 steps, when I know for sure I haven't. All  I have done is walk 3 km and have a pretty lazy day around the house. I know that all those little steps count, but surely not to that extent. To test it I just sat still and raised by arm repeatedly. Bingo! I scored 20 "steps". So I guess I could get my 10,000 "steps" a day by sitting in a bar and raising my arm repeatedly while consuming a series of beers, chips etc. 

I am coming to the conclusion that people I hear saying "I did my 10,000 steps today" are deluding themselves. 

[russsss]

@ludwigvan   the step counter is based on motion so when you raise and lower your arm it may count steps, however sitting at a bar drinking beer and eating chips most likely would not give you a step count because the motion is to short and definetly slower, in addition a lot of "household walking" may not be counted because the motion is limited and slower than a normal walking pace .  Fitbit is not complelty accurate but on average it works pretty well nand will give pretty solid information .  Having said all that your sugestion for checking accuracy that involces a bar, several beers and some chips is worth a full study  (if i can get fitbit to fund it that would be even better)

[ludwigvan]

Thanks Russs. For the trial to be fully effective, the testing would need to be done in a number of bars of different types, with varying amounts of energy expended in lifting the glasses - and does it make a difference whether you're lifting a pint glass of beer, or a shot glass of whiskey? As they say in the journals, "Further research is needed". 

I have heard from others that Fitbit is somewhat inaccurate in counting steps, but may be systematically so, i.e. systematically over-counting by a factor of X.  So maybe I'll try adding an "inaccuracy loading" of, say, 40%. Thus to get 10,000 "steps" I'll need to score 14,000. Can't hurt, can it?

[ludwigvan]

I have gone back over other people's posts for the last year or so re step over-counting. It's hard not to conclude that the Charge 2 is a con for gullible people concerned about their health. 

[russsss]

@ludwigvan  not using a charge2, i've been using a surge for almost 4 years ... i can say that a lot of new users, (myself included back in 2014) questioned step accuracy, pulse rate and everything else you can think of but in time most of us saw that it is NOT about the numbers, it's all about personal fitness and progress .  btw the step count is fairly accurate, at least from my experience , but not perfect .  Remember the 1st rule of fitbit ... "fitbit has to be fun)  ~