Step tracking massively innacurate

[Thesarcasticguy]

So I got my Charge 3 yesterday and have been pretty excited about it however if I’m honest I am really quite disappointed with it. Predominantly because the step tracker is so ridiculously inaccurate. So far it has tracked 13,000 steps for me today just walking around doing jobs around the house and driving. I would struggle to believe I have realistically hit more than 2000. Worse than that it tracked nearly 600 steps while I was sleeping last night. Now I know wrist trackers have issues with accurate tracking but this is beyond ridiculous.

also what effect do these extra steps it is logging that haven’t happened have on my calorie burn for the day? Does this mean that is also inaccurate?

and finally what can I possibly do to sort this out?!

Thanks

Tom

[CheriV]

@Thesarcasticguy You're not alone as you'll have seen if you've browsed thru the forum. The problem seems to be at home. I've been comparing it with my new Huawei before sending it back (both on same wrist for last 3 days). Although it consistently counts more while on a walk it's not by by much.

However  it also consistently counts loads more from midnight til I leave house e.g yesterday 451 / 0.27 on new brand, 1179 / 0.83 on charge 3. Today it was slightly better at 404 / 0.25 vs 996 /0.7 - small numbers but over double! The same applies after I return home til end of day - it must register arm movements that don't have corresponding footstep (so maybe you weren't sleepwalking after all!).

Logically it's adding calories but there must be a help article somewhere that explains how they are calculated. I know your BMR is included and you'd be adding some all the time for this, so  it's probably not a massive amount. (one annoying thing about new one is that it doesn't do this - so my comparison at end of today reads steps 15399 vs 17797; km 10.54 vs 12.57, calories 483 vs 2528!

It definitely registers driving especially over bumps - the way round this is to download DriveBit app and activate it at start and end of drive - it syncs with the Fitbit and registers no steps. 

Unfortunately it's crap for swimming too but you can find other posts which elaborate on that!

Hope they get round to fixing the problems - apparently charge 2 doesn't have the same issues (or at least not to the same extent) ... presumably making it waterproof for swimming involved a total re-design....

Good luck with it x

[CheriV]

@SarahRhea @chelle1702  @Susiewoo @SunsetRunner @Heather-S @AlejandraFitbit Sorry if I haven't replied individually - please see reply to @Thesarcasticguy which I think should be just above? I'm saying bye bye to mine tomorrow which is a shame - I like the Huawei so far (yes it got swimming right complete with real calories!!) but the interface for fitbit is much superior. Assuming I can still access here I'll be keeping an eye out for fixes ... 

Thanks for your replies and help

Cheri x

[bronx24]

same issue with mine apparently I done 5000 steps whilst I was sleeping

 seems we only have to move Ower arm when sitting and it classes as a step I phoned fitbit support today and they said I'd receive a email for a new charge 3 replacement with in 5 minutes it's now 9 hours later with no replacement email 🤔

[Jamyee]

I’m sorry you all are having problems. Just wanted to let you know mine seems fine. At first I thought I was tracking funky until I realized it was the time 🤣

There might’ve been a bad batch. Hopefully you can call support and they can replace yours or help. They’ve always been good when I have called. 

[bronx24]

lol thats mad how did you manage to think the time was a step counter lol that made me chuckle glad you've had not problems with your ch3 and yes figures crossed the step issues can get sorted out for all use with the problem 

[Jamyee]

I was used to my Charge HR and didn’t read the manual. I just popped it on after syncing it and went on with my day. Hah. Once I took a moment to learn how the screen worked I was like “OH cool, that’s how they set it up.” I didn't know it had the swipe feature either. Haha. I just saw the new Charge could be used for swimming and I was sold, I didn’t look at anything else. 

[bronx24]

lol I had a bit of a dippy moment when I got my I was thinking the step counter was the hart rate and I was like dammmmm I should be dead with that many beats per minute lol I have a ionic to not used it from getting the charge 3 I went for the charge 3 due to the way it looks and the hr on the back on the ch 3 looks better than the ionic one with a plastic cover on there the ionic is good but very bulky when sleeping one good thing about that you know it's always there lol 

[dlorde]

I had my Charge 3 for a month, wearing it alongside an ageing Fitbit One which I was hoping it could replace. The Charge 3 would record walking steps fairly well (although not as accurately as the One), but recorded even more steps when I wasn't walking - for example, just working at the computer, or watching TV...

Even if I spent the day indoors and the One was showing less than 2,000 steps, the Charge 3 would be giving me a fireworks display for reaching 10,000 steps!

I contacted customer support, who were friendly but unhelpful, so I returned it today. 

[CheriV]

@dlorde Yep - agree on all counts. Mine went back today so for better or worse I've just got the Huawei band 3 to play with. Much less steps esp in house and therefore more accurate I think. I just wish they'd have a better "help"  system - it appears to be too new to have a forum! I've got time to figure out what is down to me not doing something right and what might actually not work (today watch is fine but app is being weird). It certainly looks more promising so far...

Fitbit help articles are pretty good for clear explanations of how to do things but nothing's very helpful when it comes to problems. I don't get why they don't hold their hands up to stuff (and it would seem in many cases they need to explain why things were OK on charge 2 but not now!)

[CheriV]

@Jamyee yeah but have you actually tried it for swimming? I tried on auto detect and on manual setting and it was always wrong ... as you may have seen from lots of posts on this, one of the main moans is that the calories are way way out - haven't seen a sensible reply from fitbit about it. But it is waterproof.... coo!

[CheriV]

What I don't get about this is why is it just charge 3? I've never had a charge 2 but there are loads of posts that compare them, with the latter coming out more favourably. OK I've speculated elsewhere that they had to totally redesign to make it suitable (ho ho!!) for swimming - but why change the algorithm for steps? And if they haven't changed it can they please explain what does cause it.

If you walk 30km a day you might "lose" the "at home" extra steps as white noise but it definitely happens...  and I suspect I'm not the only person who bought top of the range expecting better accuracy for my more modest daily walking. When I first got it I was delighted to find I was doing more than I thought but sadly I now know it was just misleading!  

[Maxed-Out]

I’m retired and sometimes drive a 18 wheeler for extra cash. Well, this week while 

driving for 1 hr I walked 840 steps. 

[CheriV]

@Maxed-Out  download free app called DriveBit - if you remember to start and stop it (!) it syncs your driving time to fitbit and no steps are added. Of course if you forget to press stop and go for a 5km walk..... er! (in which case you can delete the "driving" in the activities list, but you'd have to add the walk manually)

[Anserk]

I have been wearing Charge 3 for a few days and also noticed it overcounts steps. At least compared to Charge 2. I thought maybe Charge 2 wasn't accurate (in fact, I think it undercounts indeed). However, this morning I made maybe 50 steps around the house and then drove for an hour. At the end of my driving Charge 3 showed almost 500 steps! And 4 floors, while I only walked up one floor.

So while it's not massively inaccurate for me as for some, it's still not as good as Charge 2. This is really surprising to me how such company as Fitbit, who have been making these trackers for a long time, couldn't at least keep the accuracy level of the previous device.

[mjcola]

Our new charge 3 is experiencing the same over inflated step problem as everyone else including counting steps during driving and sleeping.  As mentioned previously, not sure how yet this increased step count affects other areas.  What I'm concerned about is the lack of acknowledgement from the Fitbit support group when the problem seems to be fairly wide spread with no solution to correct that I have been able to locate.  

[CheriV]

@mjcola @Thesarcasticguy @Anserk @Maxed-Out @dlorde As I understand it from other posts the charge 2 doesn't have the same problem. So what and why did they change?

I guess admitting publicly just before Xmas that a steps counter is inaccurate to an unacceptable degree - and oh by the way you need a separate app to stop it counting while you're driving - is a no no....

There's no valid excuse - the Huawei Band 3 Pro somehow recognises and ignores non-step movement around the house AND driving. Just a shame it doesn't have a decent app to link to!  

[iluvtoread]

I agree totally! I wish I never bought it.

[CheriV]

Mine went back November 19- apparently it's FB3 that is worse than other versions.

[iluvtoread]

Me too!! A waste of money.