Overcounting and Undercounting Steps

[ElizabethM8]

I’ve had my Fitbit for a few weeks and I spent a lot of time researching for the most accurate step tracker and this one always came up. However since receiving it I’ve noticed my tracker will some days over count my steps or under count them. I frequently do the 100 steps test to check if it’s accurate. I have edited my stride length and I have reset it multiple times and nothing is seeming to improve its accuracy. Any suggestions would be great 🙂 

[JohnnyRow]

But you didn't tell the results of your frequent 100 step tests.

Nothing on your wrist can really tell what your legs and hips are doing, so cannot be exactly accurate on step count.  It can only see your wrist movement and try to interpret steps from the normal swinging of your arms while walking.  Fitbit uses filters and algorithms to try to distinguish steps from other movements but cannot always get them right.  Most people find over the course of a day, they mostly even out, some steps missed and some extra steps added, and the difference in a full day's count is relatively small.

Also keep in mind, your heart rate is getting measured, and calories are based on heart rate, not steps.

There are however a few case to watch out for that can cause bigger errors.  Be aware any regular rhythmic wrist movement might be incorrectly counted as steps; examples might include knitting, playing drums or guitar.  During such time, you might want to take off tracker and charge it.  Contrasting examples where steps might be missed are when the Fitbit wrist is held steady, such as holding hand rail while walking on treadmill.

If the one thing you truly care about is accurate step count, you might be as well off with an el cheapo mechanical counter to clip onto belt, but be aware of all the other features you would be missing with that.

By the way, stride length has no effect on step count.  It is used to convert number of steps to distance.

See How accurate are Fitbit devices?