Fitbit Versa accuracy

[Nico3d3]

Hello everyone, I'm the new owner of a Versa which I bought on January 18. So far, battery life is better than expected. I was a bit worried by everything I read on the Internet. I'm at 50% after four days of moderately intensive use during the day (I don't use it at night). I did uninstall all the apps I don't use.

However, I'm still wondering why the accuracy of the steps counter is so bad. It register "ghost" steps while I'm doing something with my non-dominant hands. Sometimes, I get a 200 ghost steps simply because I'm washing the dishes. I used the Dominant hand setting in the FitBit app even when, I'm using it on my my non-dominant hand, . I tried this little hack, to stop it from overcounting steps but, it's still not entirely accurate. It look like the steps couting algorithm is completely different from the algorithm found in Garmin watch. I once had a VivoSmart HR and it was doing a better job. It's just that I wanted to try the Versa because of its replaceable watchband.

[HeydyF]

Hey @Nico3d3, I hope you are doin' great! It is totally normal that your Versa recognizes some of the movement of your arms as steps. It normally detects more movements from your dominant hand if you are using it on it than if you are wearing it on your non dominant hand. I also get some extra steps when I'm driving, combing my hair and brushing my teeth. For further information, please take a look at the information in this help article: How does my Fitbit device calculate my daily activity? 

Let me know if you have further questions! 

[Nico3d3]

Sadly, I was expecting this kind of generic response. I'm not trying to attack you personnally, it's just that I've seen this behavior way too often on other treads in this forum. While your answer is technically correct, it's not the right answer. It doesn't explain why an old 100$ Garmin VivoSmart HR is a lot more accurate than a 200$ brand new watch. As I said, I don't want to attack you personnally but, your answer does seem like a canned response devised by a PR team from FitBit. It doesn't help me gain confidence in the brand.

[HeydyF]

Thanks for your reply @Nico3d3! Yes, I understand you, and well, I can't tell you why the price of a Garmin VivoSmart HR is cheaper than the Versa, what I can tell you, is that both use different algorithms to track your activity and everything else as calories, distance, etc., so you won't see the exact same data on them.

Please let me know if you have further questions or comments, I'll be glad to help you out in what I can. 🙂 

[Hakimsutarto]

Brush my teeth and got extra 200 steps with fitbit Versa. Please fix the algorithm