Over counting steps

[Leebee50]

Hi, so like others, my charge 2 is over counting, I've a small property and it's not 45 steps from bedroom to bathroom and I don't walk in my sleep, this morning I've woken to 168 steps! Mmmm something isn't right.
I bought the charge 2 yesterday, noticed before bed the steps were inaccurate, put it down to it 'getting used to my movements'. I've set it up as people have advised, less dominant hand, stride length etc.
Please can someone tell me if I've missed something, should I return it, was it a waste of money?
I know people that wear Fitbit and other brands and seem very happy, sadly I'm not and really like the concept of challenging myself, as I'm not confident to join a gym, but sure need to get fit.
Any advice much appreciated and thank you in advance.
Lee (soon to be fitlee I hope x)

Moderator Edit: Edited thread title.

[ludwigvan]

Yes, I wouldn't trust it on calories either, nor any of the other measures, certainly not if you want accurate readings. 

[CharlotteCH]

I do the same as you now and use it as a rough guide and aim for 15,000 daily too.  As long as people are aware of the issue and don’t take the calorie count too seriously, it’s fine.  I just find that when I meet other users they tend to think the step count is totally accurate and are surprised when I say mine overcounts by approx 20% and is arm move reactive.  I guess they want to believe they are doing that many and not keen to hear otherwise.  Maybe the newer fitbits are more accurate?  Mine is older Charge HR (2 yrs)

[CharlotteCH]

Now that Jawbone has died which was very accurate, I don’t know which others work well.  I think Garmin are used by sports people so probably good.  Might be worth googling reviews or keep the Fitbit as a guide/baseline.  If you are aware of the overcounting (steps/calories) can always aim for 15,000.  I find it evfortless to do 15,000 plus daily with Fitbit.  I know it’s not ideal but it saves buying another!

[ludwigvan]

Thanks CharlotteCH

My Charge2 is almost brand-new, and pretty disappointing in the inaccuracy of the step (and kilometer) over-counting. I guess some people prefer to remain deluded as to the supposed accuracy of the gadget. As you do, I just aim for 15,000 "steps" a day, or 20,000 if I want a workout. I ignore all the other kinds of readings, assuming they are inaccurate too. 

[VerityLane]

I am beginning to wonder if this Charge 2 is even worth wearing.  Yesterday it totally miscounted steps and floors and calories on a big hike I did (I have done this hike for years with a Fitbit One and know that it is 130 flr, NOT 190 flrs), this morning it has recorded 492 steps just with me washing face, making coffee etc, whereas Fitbit One has 310 (I am wearing both, attached to separate accts to keep them from syncing and to do a comparison). Additionally, Charge 2 not only captured my sleep duration (start/finish) incorrectly, it didn't capture any sleep insights because it could not get a HR which is crazy because I have the thing on pretty snug. 

I have tried to fix it by changing my dominant hand settings to match the hand I'm wearing it on (Left, Left even though i'm right handed), I have tried rebooting it, I have the latest firmware). I am UNWILLING to do any of the other workarounds suggested like manually entering driving time or plugging it in while driving because that is WAY too much effort for a device that claims to do it all on its own.  There are other devices to try before I resort to investing time in enabling the short comings of this one.

I mainly am wearing this for the Sleep insights ,but it would be nice to not have to wear 2 trackers - one for accurate steps/floors (Fitbit One also does a better job of NOT counting driving distance/up hill) and one for sleep. 

The day my Fitbit One dies is the day I switch to another fitness tracker company.

[Rich_Laue]

When it comes to floor, especially walking outside where wind and changes in atmospheric pressure can cause havac, especially when a change of 10 feet is about the weight of a 1X2 inch square piece of paper. The change is just to small, .and wind easily will cause small reductions in air pressure. This effect is evident when looking at the back of a dirty truck where the higher speeds really point it out.

This video at the timestamp does a pretty good job of explaining the problems of an Altimeter versus GPS

As for steps, I find it very accurate while on a walk, but yes durring normal every day activity the counts may not be acurate, sometimes I walk a little and because of arm movements get extra steps. While at other times I can walk thousands of steps and because what I'm doing does not let my arm move naturaly, I might get 100 steps recorded. This is one of the drawbacks of trying to count the movement of your feet by looking at the movements of the arm. Logically there should be no way that this can be done and I am surprised at how well that it works.

I have done months of testing with 2 Fitbit accounts, one for the Fitbit one, and the other for the arm unit. While individual daily steps may have varied the weekly totals where more consistent and a few monthly totals where within a couple 100 steps with one month only 86 steps different.

For me the conclusion is not to worry about the missing or overage of steps.

I also found that walking across a kiss covered, or soft field, or plush carpet the One missed steps, tapping my foot also adds steps to the one but not the wrist.

[hikergrrl]

I am on my 4th day of tracking with both Charge 2 and Fitbit One and the Charge 2 continues to UNimpress.

At the end of day with some walking, a big hike and daily activities - the Charge 2 had 22,750, 195 floors, the Fitbit One had 18,135 steps and 142 floors. That is not a trivial difference.

A day without any walking or hiking but instead a trip to the gym to do elliptical and bike...

left the house for the gym Fitbit One 2389, Charge 2 4987 (I have literally only been inside my 1300 sq foot house so close to 5,000 steps is not likely). Then I went to the gym and did 60 minutes of high speed intervals on elliptical and 45 min on the upright bike. now Fitbit 1 says 9876 and the Charge 2 says....6213.

And then last night it didn't capture any sleep data.

Since my primary reason for wanting to see my steps is to track trends in activity and calorie burn on days that I do nothing vs. hike vs. do a gym workout, having a tracker that does not capture gym workouts and over estimates non-work out days is really the opposite of the sort of motivation I need to hit my goals. 

I have my fitbit and a back up fitbit in cases this one breaks and just purchased a Polar Monitor for HR and sleep so I'll forgo any more fitbit devices on the wrist. Will gift my Charge 2 with a warning to a friend.

[Dwheaton]

The problem with this solution for me Is. I don't want to have to wear it on my dominant hand for it to work correctly!  

Had I known  it was going to be this (2000 steps off) inaccurate I wouldn't have bought it in the 1st place!  VERY disappointed ☹

[Dwheaton]

The problem with this solution for me Is. I don't want to have to wear it on my dominant hand for it to work correctly!  

Had I known  it was going to be this (2000 steps off) inaccurate I wouldn't have bought it in the 1st place!  VERY disappointed!

[Dwheaton]

What kind of *adjustments* are you referring to. how do i make them, & how will  I know how much or how little to adjust?

[Rich_Laue]

@Dwheaton my suggestion is not to switch arms but change the hand setting.

You will find the hand setting under your trackers settings

[Dwheaton]

I'm having the exact same problem as they person before me stated the steps between my bed and bathroom are maybe 15 at most. My tracker registers over a 150. By the time I get dressed and come downstairs the step count is over 1000!!   I bought the tracker to be able to track my steps. As it turns out, It's so far off that I'm very much regretting purchasing it!  As far as I'm concerned, it was a *complete* waste of money....  I've had friends ask me how I like it... I'm honest with them and say "don't waste your money it doesn't do what it's supposed to do"

[FloSE]

Hello,

Same issue for me. My Fitbit is way overestimating the steps by at least 2000 steps a day !

I wear it during sleep and when I wake up I have already 100 steps recorded while I didn’t even move from bed...

I use it while running, same issue, distance and calories are way over by far. Since theses are calculated on steps and steps are false then everything else is false. 
I am really disappointed in Fitbit and would not recommend it. The only data that is accurate is time, everything else is crap...

[CharlotteCH]

I agree with you, it’s so frustrating but since Jawbone UP trackers folded which were so much more accurate and gave more personal feedback, I haven’t found an alternative.  Still searching.  If you find one - please post!

[CharlotteCH]

Do you also find it doesn’t track your heart rate accurately during HIT.  Mine doesn’t pick up on high impact activities when it should be peak rate and definitely shows on my gym sensor equipment it doesn’t capture the increased HR at all?  Not sure why?

[Funnyfeller]

I have the latest app and there is no account tab on the bottom right. The request to open a premium account is in its place. I do not want that but I do want to try and get this charge2 Fitbit steps count sorted out before I end up chucking it in the draw never more to se e the light of day. Can you suggest a remedy ? 

[Bigmark]

This thread started about 3 years ago.

My device was changed by Fitbit and is fine now.

Please close the thread or take my email out.

[ludwigvan]

I have chucked my fitbit in a drawer,  never more to see the light of day. I figure I need 45-60 minutes walking exercise a day, and I try to do it. Anything else I do around the house is a bonus. I don't need all that step counting bull**ahem**. 

[ludwigvan]

Not true. Fitbit has NOT changed the device to make it better.

[ludwigvan]

Oh dear, fitbit can't handle "bull**ahem**" and substitutes a nice euphemism.