Stairs still not counting correctly

[brianl999]

I was hoping the recent firmware update would fix the stair counting on my Charge 3, it hasn't.

My Charge 2 wasn't perfect, it often missed flights, but it would always register _something_.  With my Charge 2, I could go up 6 flights of stairs and sometimes it would only register 3.  It was annoying, but somewhat infrequent, so I just lived with it.  With my Charge 3, I can go up the same 6 flights of stairs and get nothing (my stair counts are what my Charge 2 would have registered).

Before I went to lunch I had done 40 flights of stairs, my Charge 3 said I had only done 23.

Is there a chance this can get fixed?  I can accept the same performance as the older model, but this is a major step backwards.

I'd like to stay in the Fitbit ecosystem, but if this cannot be fixed I will have to return it and move on to something else.

Thanks,

Brian

[JuanJoFitbit · Accepted solution]

@brianl999 It's great to see you in our Fitbit Community! I'm sorry to hear that your Charge 3 is not tracking stairs or flights accurately. If you haven't done so, please restart your Charge 3 as described in this help article. After this, monitor your tracker during the next 48 hours and check out if it tracks your stairs more accurately.

On an aside note, I'd like to share this help article which explains how Fitbit trackers track stairs.

Keep me posted on the outcome! 

[craftyhanz]

I was hoping with all my complaints with missed floors counted with the charge 2 they would change the elevation from 10' to 8' since most if not all homes don't have 10' staircase. I rely on my stairs at home as exercise for helping me lose weight. I posted in the charge 2 forum, not everyone can go out multiple times to climb stairs that have a 10' elevation.

[brianl999]

Thanks for the reply.

I will try and reboot the tracker to see if that improves things.

I am fully aware of how the Fitbit counts stairs, it senses the barometric pressure and counts every 10' of elevation as a flight of stairs.  I also get that there is likely a certain amount of leeway in this measurement, and is not always 100% accurate.  I'd say my Charge 2 was about 80% accurate, sometimes when I went up 3 flights, it would only report 2 - but it always reported _something_.

I'm going up a minimum of 3 flights, often 6, and the Charge 3 will sometimes report nothing - not one flight - it's very frustrating.  

I'll try the reset and see how it goes.

Thanks,

Brian

[JuanJoFitbit]

@craftyhanz Thank you for joining this thread! I definitely understand your point and I appreciate your feedback and comments about this. This helps us to keep improving.

@brianl999 Thank you for getting back! Thank you also for your feedback and providing more details compared to the Charge 2.  I also appreciate your time in troubleshooting this issue by restarting it. I'll keep an eye on the thread and look forward to your response after you try the restart procedure in order to know how it went.

See you both around! 

[Opal_owl]

is that basment stairs don't read but the 5 to go from the garage to the house dose!?! I have been wondering this for a long long time. 

[JuanJoFitbit]

@Opal_owl I noticed that you joined our Fitbit Community recently. Welcome aboard! Regarding your question, your Fitbit tracker doesn't count actual stairs.

The conditions for your tracker to record one floor, are for you to move forward while there is an elevation gain of at least 10 feet. This will count as one floor.

Let me know if you have any doubts! 

[Bev71]

Mine is also not recording properly.   Did an online chat and it was recommended that I restart it which I did.   I have just gotten back into doing stairs.  I climb 18 steps between floors and today it only recorded 1 flight.   Did it again later and it recorded correctly.   The help desk could not add my missed flights and I think this is something they should be able to help with.  If I had those added I would have my 10 flights

[brianl999]

I've stopped using mine and gone back to my Charge 2 for the time being.  The Charge 3 is back in the box ready to be returned.  I _may_ try the most recent firmware update, but I'm skeptical.

The last piece of advice I was given was to restart the tracker, which I did, but there was no improvement.  

I actually wore both trackers for one day.  End result - Charge 3 - 33 flights, Charge 2 - 45 flights (and the Charge 2 still missed some!).

It's disappointing, it appeared that the Charge 3 was a promising evolution of the product, but if it can't get the fundamentals right, it's of no use to me.  I was manually counting

I'm investigating other options at this point, and am leaning towards Garmin.

Thanks,

Brian 

[Bev71]

Thanks Brian. So far today ok. I had the alt2 and I liked it. What is the difference between the charge 2 and 3

Have a great day

Bev

[KataBomm]

I can not get my new charge 3 to correctly record my stairs. I upgraded from the charge 2 and now I wish I had my charge 2 back!   My daughter has a Versa and it records our basement stairs as did my Charge 2.  Very disappointed that the accuracy is worse in the newer charge. 

[Bev71]

Mine is still not and sometimes steps are counted incorrectly. Had close to 30 steps counted when I was asleep.

Have a great day

Bev

[KataBomm]

Yes, mine recorded steps when I was sleeping too! I liked my Charge 2 much
better. It didn’t record steps when I was sleeping or driving and was
pretty accurate with the stairs. I upgraded to the Charge 3 because of all
the good reviews I read and it is less bulky. I didnt want the Versa
because I borrowed my daughters for a couple days and liked it less than
my Charge 2 because I do t rally need all that functionality. Had I known
The Charge 3 was going to be this temperamental I would have just got the
Versa.

[Donnamariemt]

My charge 3 is not counting stairs or sleep.  I can do 12 flights at home or at work and it might count 1. I have reset my fitbit...multiple times. No correction. I have had it for 2 weeks.  Ugh....if it is always like this it doesn't help me.

[KataBomm]

Mine record all kinds of stair I did not do. I get a few staircases a day
at work and the building is all one floor! My charge 2 never did this.
Wishing I didn’t upgrade.

[Bev71]

Totally understand. I had the Alt and liked the look of the Charge 3 plus I wanted to get back into stairs. When I do 3 flights of stairs it either records none or records maybe 1 and then when I don’t do stairs it records 3.

Have a great day

Bev

[scparks]

My Fitbit One did a great job of Floor climbs.  With a 3 story house, I LOVE to record my Floors.  However, neither of my Charge HR's nor my Charge 2 record Floors.  Yesterday the Charge 2 gave me 1 stair climb of 14.  NOT ok.  It is so frustrating I am going back to the Flex 2 because it does NOT do stairs.  Reading community comments, it sounds like Charge 3 and Versa are problematic, too.  If  could ADD Floors to the dashboard I would take my chances on a C-3 or Versa, but too much money to spend to not get it right.  Other than I forgot and went into the ocean with my last One, I would just do that forever and keep buying new One's when I forget about it and get it wet. So, FITBIT...allow us to add FLOORS to the dashboard or FIX the FLoor issue with your premium products.  I loved "You just climbed to the top of ...."  some pyramid or mountain!

[KataBomm]

Never had a stair problem with my charge 2. Now my new charge 3 quit
working today. Wish I still had my charge 2. Really sorry I sold it to a
friend! They don’t sell them anymore now that the charge 3 came out. I
would go to the Alta or Flex but the screen is so small.

[hmthrman]

My Fitbit 2 was accurate too. This Charge 3 however has me going up 39-70 flights of stairs daily. Mine is counting them too much and this is the 2nd one I have replaced and it still does the exact same thing.

Good luck, Mike M

[hmthrman]

The 'RESTART" procedure is a waste of time, to buy them some more time to troubleshoot. I am writing to Fitbit CEO and then complaining to the BBB and any other acronym agency that will get them to do a recall of this product.