Wildly inaccurate floor count

[RoxysDad]

I upgraded my Alta HR to the new charge 3 because I wanted a waterproof device however in the last 7 days it has recorded a total of 160 floors ascended!!  And in one day alone I apparently climbed a total of 49 floors. 

Now I’ve seen the explanation about the altimeter using barometric pressure to “count” floors climbed but let’s put this into perspective. 

• I live in a single storey house
• i walk my dog twice a day on a level route
• i swim for 30 minutes twice a day in my lap pool

There are no stairs... however a change in atmospheric pressure from 0 (sea level) to 500ft (152m) is about 0.2psi or 2 kPa, whereas when I’m swimming, the change in pressure can be as much as 1.45psi or 10kPa which is 5 times more than when out of the pool. 

I don’t think Fitbit have factored this into the equation as my stairclimb always increases when I swim. 

[SunsetRunner]

Halfway today, I did 4 stairs. Fitbit adds 50. Sunny day again. And yes, I drove a car, maybe 50km. 1031 hPa,  temperature 23c. 

 

[DCFitness]

I am also going to post this in a fresh thread about the Versa. But here's the evidence that the "software or firmware" problem "that an upgrade will solve" was actually a hardware problem with the altimeter. See if you can tell from the pictures below when I first identified the problem and when I replaced my broken Versa with a new Versa 2 and solved my floor count problem. Not encouraging on the waterproof front as this damage occurred during the summer swim season and I'm convinced that they are related. Just outside the 1 year warranty period sadly. Own up Fitbit.

[SunsetRunner]

Hi @DCFitness,

Thanks for the share! That seems quite clear to me.

I think that if you would repeat this same screenshot comparison in a month, and make it a year view, it would show it perfectly from one image. I'm just curious if it would show the same starting point as it did in mine: switched from Charge 2 to Charge 3, all seemed as before until a series of peaks when the Charge 3 misreadings started.

If I were to change from Charge 3 to Versa 2, I'd get the same results, I suppose.

[MikeyChris]

Just to add my feedback. My Charge 3 gives me between 15 and 30 floors when I mow my lawn (every time). My yard is small (about 1000 square feet) and the max elevation is about 3 feet over a 30 foot span. Clearly the algorithm used to determine floors needs work.

[SunsetRunner]

26c / 1008hPa

Halfway through the day. No driving, no riding a horse, no swimming. Clear blue sky and warm, but pressure is changing: weather report says storm is coming. We had 24c and 1024hPa yesterday. Now it's 26c and 1008hPa.

[retiredtired]

I'm just the opposite. I live in a two store house and can go up and down those steps a dozen times a day and only end up at the end of the day with 3 maybe 4 floors. Oh and I have 10' ceilings in my house so going from the first floor to the second floor should register. 

[SunsetRunner]

Not even at half a day. Been around the house and went up and down the stairs only a couple of times. 

[Adrienna27]

I am having the same problem.  My Versa counted floors completely accurately until about a week and a a half ago. Attempts to get customer support to assist with the problem have resulted in nothing but the standard responses already noted here.

I don't want to delete floors, I want my Versa to work accurately again, like it did 2 weeks ago. It's still under warranty.  The problem should be repaired or the Versa should be replaced.  

[Adrienna27]

@retiredtired  Make sure you aren't using your hand to hold the rail on your way up the steps.  It took me FOREVER to figure out that my stair climbs didn't count if I had my hand on the railing. 

[GregThePeg]

I don't know if this helps, but I have just changed from a Surge to a Charge 3 and I am sure my Surge was measuring floors consistently as we have a hill near our house which constantly gave a value with multiples of 4 floors every day (i.e. three hill climbs = 12 floors). At first it appeared as if my Charge 3 was accurate until I changed my iPhone settings for location to 'Always'. Since then, the floor count skyrocketed. Now that I have gone back to 'While using the App' the count has lowered but since the Surge still works, I am going to do more testing, perhaps with 'Never' selected. Can anyone confirm that this may make a difference to accuracy for floors? I might be able to return the Charge 3 if it is not fit for purpose and persist with the Surge's broken strap.

[SunsetRunner]

No explanation needed... 

I did not do 70 floors today. And I did not drive much in my car. Nor did I ride a horse. And I didn’t swim. 

 

[briansok]

I got an answer from Fitbit support. I was previously sent a new replacement Fitbit since my stair count was so wrong. The replacement Fitbit is also terrible. I asked for another replacement or better yet a refund. They offered me a 25% discount on my next Fitbit purchase. Are you kidding me.

Fitbit you have lost me, my wife, children, friends and relatives for life. I have shared my poor experience with others and will continue to do so. If you make a product you need to stand behind it. Read through the forums about all the problems your customers are having. I have never experienced a product with such poor quality and lack of support. Meanwhile it is raining and windy outside. According to Fitbit support my stair count may go up while I am sitting at my desk. When Google finds out they bought a lemon they will stop selling them. Fitbit is no longer relevant. Samsung, Apple and many others make a much better product.

[SunsetRunner]

HEY FITBIT TEAM

I have been extremely patient and I have remained calm.

I have had it with your non-existing service. 

YOUR DEVICE SUCKS!

YOUR SERVICE SUCKS!

How difficult is it to respond?

FFS. Wake up...

 

[SunsetRunner]

So...

I am trying to find out how I can get those floor counts disappear. In another thread (https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Charge-3-Sucks-BIG-TIME-Various-problems-no-support/m-p/389...), where I have vented my disappointment with the Fitbit Charge 3 device, I got a silly answer that included another reference to the floor count, with a link to an article that describes the most stupid method of getting these removed (logging another activity that covers the moment when Fitfbit made the wrong recording). The explanation tells me that removing floor count doesn't influence calorie burn. In order to find out if this is really the case, I wanted to do a last effort of getting this circumvented. I also wanted to know it it's true, or if it's another challenge Fitbit has to tackle.

I looked at the information provided and tried to go through the step-by-step guide.

Choosing driving as activity and then try to figure out when the tracker added floors in order to get them covered by the driving activity is completely nuts. I can't look up and add items at the same time...! I would have to first look at the logs, write down the moments floors were counted, then go to the exercise tile and manually enter all these instances?

And: it does say that steps, floors and calories burned will decrease.

So, even if I would like to change this manually (which I really don't want to do, nor should have to do), my daily results will be different. So much for easy floor count deletion. And so much for accurate data retention.

[Dave-Ohio]

Same issue, most of the time 4 or 5 times the number of flights I climb, but sometimes does not record the actual number.  Add to this still no O2 tracking and this is a true Fitbit fail.

[SunsetRunner]

 

[SunsetRunner]

 

Nope. I did not do 41 floors. 

[DBTC88]

That’s not it. My wife and I just did the exact same walk together for 27 minutes. Her Charge 2 shows 0 floors and my charge 3 shows 105. Fitbit is NOT accurate. 

[GregThePeg]

Yes, the charge 3 is giving totally random floors when there has been no
apparent increase in elevation. Totally unreliable. But from past
experience fitbit are not going to do anything to correct the problem, they
just expect us to purchase a newer or more expensive product.

[OhGail]

This is whacked! I am in Florida where I do NO stairs. In Ohio I do 20-25 daily. That has been accurate. But in Fla I am showing 50-70 floors a day. My old Fitbit One is accurate on steps but the new Charge 3 is totally off. I think I will return it and use the old one. I don't care what the pilot said - I haven't had that many changes in my day (laying on the beach for four hours, drinking coffee for two hours, walking 3 miles with no increase in elevation, although the Charge told me I had...) to warrant 60 flights of stairs. I wanted to waterproof one and the HR but I am not sure I want that if the stairs are inaccurate. It is part of my personal daily challenge.