Stair counting

[mkay17]

Just wondering if it is a strange glitch on my Charge 4 or if it is a known problem - mine seems to quite frequently vastly overestimate the number of stairs I have completed. For instance today it logged 136 flights and even allowing for a certain amount of up and down hills etc as well, I can't believe that it can be more than half that at the most. I can understand that it might confuse up and down arm movements with steps but I don't think I've even done much of those either!

[Julia_G]

Hi, @mkay17 , Fitbits that detect “floors climbed” are fitted with a pretty impressive built in altimeter designed to detect very small differences in air pressure.  They are specifically designed to detect a rise in elevation of only 10 feet - the minimum height of most commercial premises.

You can test this by popping into a nearby mall or office building, noting how many stairs are on your device, and then climbing one floor.  You should see the number going up.  I know I am a bit old, but I actually find it pretty amazing that a device on your wrist can do that.  Don’t test this at home, as the figure of 10 feet is set just a little low for many domestic settings, but works well in commercial ones.

That’s the upside - it really is amazing that it can detect such tiny changes.

The downside is that the way altimeters work - detecting tiny changes in air pressure - means that if the air pressure changes for reasons other than going upstairs, or walking up a hill, you are going to get credit for “floors” that you didn’t climb.  Changes in air pressure can be quite significant when a storm is brewing, or even when conditions are very windy.

Fitbit users in NYC reported thousands of extra “floors” when hurricane Sandy blew in.  I live in the UK, and when I ride the London Underground I do get a lot of real floors - I try to walk up the escalators (or at least some of them!  The tunnels are pretty deep...but I am never sure how many floors I really earned, and how many were because of the approaching train pushing the air through the tunnel.  That also triggers the altimeter, and floors are counted.

Official Fitbit device states that even the wind from someone suddenly slamming a door could generate a floor count on your Fitbit.

Although Fitbit’s algorithms do try to lessen the false floors (floors should not be detected if you are not also moving at the same time, so riding an elevator should not generate steps) inevitably if you happen to be moving when a pressure change is detected there is a chance you will get false floor credit.

For this reason “floors” are not factored in to your calorie burn count and some Fitbits don’t have the altimeter at all.  My best advice would be to enjoy this as an extra metric - because it really works amazingly well when the weather is quiet - but always take it with a grain of salt and don’t get too hung up about it.  If you do, you will probably spend a lot of time frustrated...

Having said all that, it is worth just making sure that the altimeter on your Fitbit is not blocked with fluff or dust (though a blocked altimeter will likely generate fewer, no more, floors...).  You can spot the altimeter by identifying a small hole on one side of the C4. You can very gently stick a pin or similar into the hole (just a very shallow poke) in case something is blocking it.

I apologise for the length of this reply; I am just trying to cover the details of how this is meant to work and how it works in reality.

The short answer is, yes, it is a known issue, and no, your arm movements are not likely to affect your floors in any significant way, but the wind and weather will, and it can’t be helped with existing technology.

[mkay17]

Thanks, that's useful information. I'm not really too worried, just curious how it comes about. Today it registered 132!

[Roan108]

Yesterday I climbed 8 flights of stairs. My Charge 4 said 115.

it’s always way off and utterly useless. I don’t know why they have this function. I’m sure they tested it and know it’s completely inaccurate. Customer support offers no help or solutions that work.

I’m never buying anything else from Fitbit.

[BobbyCFromEP]

Thanks, Julia...!!!

This has been going on since we were given the C4's for Christmas 2019.  I always get stair flights between 120 and 200 at work (flat level ground inside a Walmart Supercenter, walking between 5.5 and 7.5 miles).  My wife walks five miles and gets three flights 😀.  We switched C4's and my wife started getting larger stair flights and I got the much smaller numbers.