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.

[Julia_G]

Hi, @Profe550r, you have identified the problem perfectly!  Fitbits are designed for averages, and if you don't move about in an average way any wrist worn tracker may either over or under count steps.  For you in all likelihood the issue is that you are reasonably light on your feet and therefore the vibrations from your steps which need to travel up your body and along your arms for your Fitbit to detect them, simply aren't always strong enough.

The best advice is t o focus on trends rather than exact numbers...  But if you enter any challenges you will have to work extra hard!  You'll be the winner, of course, because you will be getting extra fit...

[saxonpaul92]

So, I think I have a fix for this problem. I too experienced over counting
steps in the magnitude of 1000's.

Here are the steps for the Charge 2:

1. Change the "Wrist" settings to show the fitbit on your dominate wrist.

2. Set the "Handedness" to your dominate wrist.

3. Resync the fitbit with your phone or PC.

4. Connect the USB charging cable.

5. Attach the fitbit (as if you are going to charge the fitbit)

6. Hold the button on the fitbit for 4 seconds.

The Charge 2 will reset.

This is the first day since performing these steps and the comparison with
my phone step tracker is really close (6794 on my phone and 6672 on the
Fitbit). Previously it would show ~7000 on the phone and ~10000 on the
Fitbit so, this is a drastic improvement. I am not sure how to reset the
the other Fitbit's but check your documentation.

[SunsetRunner]

Yes, but which wrist do you actually wear it on?

Sent from my iPhone

[saxonpaul92]

On your non-dominate hand.

[SunsetRunner]

Ok. Thanks. As mentioned in earlier posts, for average Joes we wear our normal watches in our non dominant fans so wearing a Charge 2 on that wrist too is impractical.

Perhaps Fitbit are only interested in fitness advocates ( I stop short of suggesting 'fitness converts' or even 'fitness freaks' but you know what I mean) rather than those of us who just want to do a bit more than not a lot.

Sent from my iPhone

[Bigmark]

Will that procedure be the same for the Charge HR?

It is at least two years old.

Kind regards
Mark Jones

[saxonpaul92]

Maybe I did not make it clear. You can wear the Fitbit on any hand you
like. When you set it up in the "Setting" dialogue, tell Fitbit that the
wrist you are wearing the Fitbit is your dominant hand.

[Azdebbie]

So I wear it on my left wrist, so tell the program I am left handed? Where do I go in and do this, on my phone or online? When I look on my phone, I don't see a settings option?

Sent from my iPad

[saxonpaul92]

On the Dashboard, click next to "Dashboard" --> "Devices". Then click on
your device (i.e. Charge2). Scroll down and you will see 2 settings "Wrist
Placement" and "Handedness". Set both of these to your dominant hand (i.e.
if you are right handed select "Right"). This will set your fitbit to it's
least sensitive setting.

Be sure to sync your fitbit.

Once you have done that, then do a reset. (Connect to the charger and hold
button for 4 seconds).

[Katfar]

This is my problem too. Will try your suggestion of "left" "left" & see what happens. Disappointed that it is not more accurate.

[Katfar]

Leebee50's problem seems to be mine. How do I get back to that page to change to "left""left"?

[Stargunner]

Only had mine a few days and also experiencing lots of over counting steps despite trying both left and tight hand dominance and doing resets.

When I woke this morning it said that I had completed a 3 minute walking workout of 3 miles an hour and had over 500 steps showing.

By the time I went to work about an hour later it was showing that I had completed 1800 steps. Seems it is counting steps for the slightest hand movemebts and this inaccuracy is makibg me consider getting a refund on it

[Azdebbie]

I was told to change the handiness to what ever arm you wear your watch on, that should be your dominant hand. It doesn't seem to make sense to me? It will take about a week or so to sync to your body, mine did that too but the problem is it's still doing it, but I don't think as bad. It also tracks when you freakin drive. There is a sensitivity setting, not sure how to adjust it? I don't know if this helps, if you figure out how to adjust the sensitivity, please let me know:)

Sent from my iPad

[Bigmark]

How about this then?

Last night I went to bed at 915pm. Upstairs new neighbors moving furniture and my anxiety about personal and business things.

I didn't sleep more than 20 minutes and that was around 6am when my alarm went off.

Eventually I synchronised and checked my sleep and apparently I had a perfect nights sleep with the exception of a few turns or bathroom visits. Bollox. I've not slept now in 29 hours yet it showed a good nights sleep.

I'm really confused now. If it overcounts my steps, gets my sleep wrong especially on the one drastically crazy night in two years then how can I trust the rest of it?

Kind regards
Mark

[Azdebbie]

It's complicated to me too, this stupid thing should be able to be put on and forget about it?? I turned off my sleep mode, I was waking up with like 100 steps??😖💩

Sent from my iPad

[saxonpaul92]

This is what worked for me.

Here are the steps for the Charge 2:

1. Change the "Wrist" settings to show the fitbit on your dominate wrist.

2. Set the "Handedness" to your dominate wrist.

3. Resync the fitbit with your phone or PC.

4. Connect the USB charging cable.

5. Attach the fitbit (as if you are going to charge the fitbit)

6. Hold the button on the fitbit for 4 seconds.

The Charge 2 will reset.

[Katfar]

To saxonpaul92, Thank you for that information. Have followed the steps & will let you know how I get on.

Sent from my iPad

[Stargunner]

I have done the reset as suggested on here.

Tried it at the gym today. It was fine just monitoring my weights routine.

i then set it in the run mode and did 1000 metres on the treadmill. When I checked the results later on the Fitbit app on my phone it had only logged that I ran 190 metres. I thought that it must of stopped during my run but it has logged that I ran for 5 minutes which was correct.  I may not be the fastest runner but I could slowly walk 190 metres in less than 5 minutes. 

I had my phone on the treadmill so the Fitbit would have picked up gps from it. Would this inaccuracy be caused because I was running on a treadmill and not outdoors.

[saxonpaul92]

I suggest that you put it back to the original settings (the wrist you
actually are using it) and resync then reset. I did this and it is OK. It
still logs massive amounts of steps in my weights workout but, I'm ok with
that.

I can see the challenge in that not everyone is as active as the next
person, there body language are all different so, it is a monumental task
to try and nail down every style. However, after performing the steps I
outlined earlier, it seems to be a more realistic number.

Also, no tracker is going to be exact and you should probably look for
trends instead of actual number of steps. I reckon it to your weight all
scales will be slightly different and I think it is the same with these
trackers.

[SunsetRunner]

hi i am new here , just got a fitbit charge 2 10 days ago 

my fitbit is clearly overcounting the steps. can someone here help me out here as to what settings i should keep so that it does not over count the steps.

i am left handed wearing the fitbit on the right hand 

settings handedness- left , wrist - right

as far as from what i have read on this community page , to stop overcounting and make the charge 2 less sensitive i should

wear the tracker on the right hand wrist[ as i am a left handed person]

and select the handedness also to right hand [ even though i am a left handed person]

so it can stop over counting of steps .

someone here please correct me if i am wrong or let me know if i am right