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. 

[seantnash]

Before the most recent Firmware update the floor counts were even more wildly inaccurate!

Like you, I have also found extra floors are being mainly added when exercising- in an indoors Zumba class I get about 10 floors (it was previously 50 odd so err yay?). Even going for extended walks can earn me extra floors.

On the plus side, it means I'm flying through the floor climbing badges 😉

[Av84fun]

I walked 63 minutes yesterday on basically a level route with one uphill segment that may be 20 or 30 feet max!  Fitbit Charge 3 shows that I climbed 28 floors!  My question is, does that mean I climbed 280 extra steps due to 10 steps per floor?

[Av84fun]

I walked 63 minutes yesterday on basically a level route with one minor uphill segment that may be 20 or 30 feet max!  Fitbit Charge 3 shows that I climbed 28 floors in addition to my steps!  My question is, does that mean I climbed 280 extra steps due to 10 steps per floor?

[MrMarv]

@Av84fun - 

"Basically level" - may I point out that a 1% grade is one foot of elevation for every 100 linear feet?

While you may be able to feel 1%, there is a good chance you will not feel .5% which is 1 foot every 200 linear feet.

I propose that on a walk that lasts over an hour on a "basically level" course that you may be able to raise up and down enough to have your devices accumulate enough 10-foot increases which is what Fitbit defines as a floor. What Fitbit hasn't said is how long they allow that 10 feet to be reached before resetting the counter, they only say they only count elevation gains - walking down a flight of stairs doesn't count.

And I have found in my hourly walks at work, which last approximately 5 minutes, that my estimated 2% grade parking lot in the back of the building has a tendency to trigger a floor count quite often.

So, it may be possible to raise up 2 feet, go back down 2, go up three, down 2, up 1, down 4, up 2, down 3, and up 2 - - - while the net result is -1 foot in elevation, you have enough ups to count as a floor. At least that is what I am seeing quite often.

[RoxysDad]

If I don’t swim, I might see 2 floors a day with all else being equal, however immediately after each swim I suddenly find a huge increase in floor count.
I’m sure you’ll agree I can’t swim uphill!! So I still maintain my hypothesis is correct. Fitbit have not considered the effects of water pressure on the device.
I’d be very interested to hear from others who swim regularly. Do you experience the same issues??

[Heather-S]

It's not uncommon for me to get 10 floors in the shower.  

I live in Oklahoma and it's super windy, so it's really not unusual for me to get weird floor counts due to all the wind.  I just shrug it off personally.  No device is perfect, especially something like a barometer. 

[Sassygirl.s]

I have the same problem with wildly inaccurate floor counts. It's ridiculous! Why has Fitbit nit provided any answers or solutions to any of these comments & complaints?! So poor...

[AlejandraFitbit]

Hey @Sassygirl.s, a warm welcome to the Community.

Your Charge 3 uses both an accelerometer and altimeter to track floors, and registers a floor when detecting continuous motion combined with an elevation gain of about 10 feet.

Your device may give you credit for extra floors for a variety of reasons. Devices may track floors while doing everyday tasks such as opening doors, driving, or riding elevators or escalators, or from abrupt weather and atmospheric pressure changes Exposure to excess moisture can also result in extra floors. 

If you want to remove floors from your account, I recommend following the instructions provide in the help article How do I delete steps and floors?.

See you around. 

[Bennyblanco]

Actually I don't want to remove excess floors I don't want them to be logged.

I've just gained 10 floors on a stationary bike in the gym.

Not good

[Sassygirl.s]

This is the most ridiculous things I've ever heard for counting floors! Yet Fitbit is not trying to fix this issue, rather just give this explanation over & over again!!

Fitbit explained:

"Devices may track floors while doing everyday tasks such as opening doors, driving, or riding elevators or escalators, or from abrupt weather and atmospheric pressure changes Exposure to excess moisture can also result in extra floors."

Really??? How strange and disappointing.

[RoxysDad]

Hi Sassygirl
At least you’re a jogger so shouldn’t have any problem with logging your runs. I’m a swimmer and once a week at least, have to do a “ long reset” in order to track my swims. The alternate is to log them manually.
As far as stairs go - I’ve simply removed that activity from my dashboard as I don’t believe I run to the top of the Empire State Building every week 🤪 and ignore the rubbish in the weekly update.
Hopefully we’ll see a software fix soon.
Cheers.
David

[20thcenturyfox]

I live in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, where atmospheric pressure routinely rises and falls drastically over a few hours.  Sometimes when I start to exercise on stationary equipment, I will see the floor count zipping up by leaps and bounds to 200 or 300 or more over a short period.  This was very perplexing for the first couple of days that it happened, but now I just look out the window and say "Yup, weather coming in," and keep on trucking.

At the same time I do have stairclimbing goals, but they are pretty basic...20 flights taken 2 at a time per day.  So on those days when the chinooks are blowing, I just shrug and smile at the big numbers, and accept that I'm going to have to log them in my head or on my calendar that day.

[lm71]

Hi Fitbit community!

The wrong floor counting can wrongly add consumed calories?

Thank's

[Sassygirl.s]

Hi there

I assume so...since all activities will count towards calories burned.
Hence, why I'm upset that Fitbit won't fix this issue and expect their
users to just "put up" with their faulty issues.

It will be inaccurate for sure!

[20thcenturyfox]

I will guess the opposite to SassyGirl, that is, I doubt floor counts are part of the FitBit algorithm for calculating calories.

As previously posted, I have days where the floor counts run away into the hundreds (due to atmospheric pressure fluctuations), but I don't see any corresponding spike in my calorie burn totals. For example on a day last May, when I showed 312 floors "climbed," I had only 19,000 steps and around 2300 calories burned, which is fairly typical for me.

As another example when I downhill ski, I have giant floor counts, minimal steps, but big enough heartrate spikes to elevate my calorie count for the day.

FitBit can tell us for sure what goes into their calorie algorithm, but it appears to me to be based on 1) heartrate, 2) weight, 3) sex, and 4) age.  Specific activities appear to be reflected only indirectly through my heartrate.

Long story short:  if you float up all those floors with no cardiovascular effort, your calories will be unaffected; if you actually lifted yourself up all those floors in a short enough period to raise your heartrate, the latter is what will affect your Fitbit calorie count.

Just my guess, based on these observations.

[Sassygirl.s]

Hi 20ThCenturyJogger

Thanks for your reply. That makes some sense. That is good to know in that
case. You're right, looking back at my calories count, I can see what you
mean.

But that still doesn't resolve the inaccurate floor count which is still
annoying to a lit of people it seems. Oh well...

Thanks
Sassygirl

[SunsetRunner]

Same here.

There are numerous threads about inaccurate floor/stairs counting problems. I would suggest the moderators merge these and switch those set to "solved" to "open" issues.

Here's my latest update in another post:

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Incorrect-floors-being-tracked/m-p/3632167/highlight/true#M...

And below are similar posts that cover the same issue. Some of these are set to solved, others are not. Some of my posts got deleted, presumably to discourage cross-posting or flooding the system with similar responses. No hard feelings to the moderators, as their job is to keep this forum tidy: my only complaint is that there are so many threads now, about the exact same issue, and none seem to lead to any kind of real answer, or solution.

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Incorrect-Floor-Calculations/m-p/3637562#M83700

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Fitbit-Charge-3-way-too-many-stairs/td-p/3021705

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Counting-Stairs/td-p/3320266

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Charge-3-recording-extra-floors/td-p/3512676

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Stair-counting/td-p/3440981

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Charge-3-and-stairs/td-p/3002735

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge-3/Charge-3-stairs-amount-inaccurate/td-p/3558134

Honest question to the moderators that have answered in these threads:

@AlejandraFitbit 

@LanuzaFitbit 

@JuanJoFitbit 

@MarreFitbit 

@DavideFitbit 

@LizzyFitbit 

@KateFitbit 

• Are you collecting all of this to push it forward to R&D and get a solution?
• Is there any form of feedback from Fitbit HQ?
• Will the Fitbit Charge 3 become reliable in the near future?

I wrote earlier: "Fitbit, please understand that customers are spending time on this in the hope of being heard. It is not a battle. It is a request for assistance."

As for myself, I am the type of customer that tries to communicate in order to get things resolved. I see it as a positive contribution. What I can't stand (nor understand) is moderators, helpdesks or service rep's simply closing cases or deleting posts or copy/pasting nonsense responses, with no regard to customer satisfaction.

I truly hope to get an honest response and I expect Fitbit to solve the issue. Either with a firmware upgrade, or a device replacement.

[DCFitness]

I chatted with customer service about this a few weeks ago. After having to listen to all of the stock answers, I waited on hold before being told that “this is a known issue that can be fixed by a firmware or software update.” Thanks, but when are we getting the fix? 

From reading a lot of these, I’m pretty convinced that this happens to people who spend a lot of time in the water. But it does not seem to correct itself when things dry out. 

I have recorded 256 stars today. Even with my hilly run this morning, 50 is probably the max I should have. 

I’m looking at the Apple Watch despite being a long time Fitbit user. 

[SunsetRunner]

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@DCFitness wrote:

From reading a lot of these, I’m pretty convinced that this happens to people who spend a lot of time in the water. But it does not seem to correct itself when things dry out. 

---

Hi @DCFitness 

In my case, it seems to be related to driving a car. Particularly when it’s warm weather. 

As stated in Fitbit’s explanation, it’s (largely) due to pressure changes. So, swimming is an obvious reason. 

To me, it seems a simple solution to connecting activity and readings and putting some intelligence behind it.

“Hey, pressure change. Is the person moving? Is the heart rate changing? Is the device connected to the app? Can I match with GPS distance?”

Driving a car seems an obvious one to tackle. Great speed, not much wrist movement, too much GPS distance. Probably not someone climbing stairs at the very same location. 

Warm weather, driving a car, 10-12 floors max.