Same machine, same exercise, vastly different results

[JeffInAZ]

Today I did an elliptical exercise almost identical to the one I did on Sunday. Here are the results from both. I'm glad I'm not in a step contest. 

Measure	Sunday	Tuesday
Miles	3.45	0.64
Time	60	58
Pace	17' 40"	91' 11"
Peak	49m	55m
Cardio	12m	3m
BPM	150	160
Cal	751	740
Steps	6790	2099

The only changes I made between Sunday and today were to disable MobileTrack since I don't know what it does, and loosen the band one notch. Any clues why some of the numbers are so different? 

[WendyB]

Welcome to the forums!

The steps will never be accurate on an Elliptical or treadmill. You are holding on  to the bars for one thing. Also you not covering an exact distance because you are not moving forward.

Mobile Track is a GPS tracker and should not be used inside at all. Its strictly for walking and mapping a route Outdoors

Looking forward to seeing you around the forums!

[JeffInAZ]

Thanks, Wendy. I don't expect the numbers to be the same as the  machine, I'm expecting them to be similar on the FitBit for virtually the exact same exercise on the exact same machine.

To that point, though, the FitBit on Sunday matched the machine numbers very closely. I understand the strides won't be the same as steps, but the machine strides on Sunday were about 7800 and the steps were 6,000+. The strides yesterday were 8400 and the Fitbit said 2100. The miles on the FitBit and the machine on Sunday were very close. But after an hour on the machine yesterday, it registered barely more than half a mile. That alone doesn't sound right. I'm not moving forward on a treadmill either but it tracks miles pretty well on that machine.

Also, I don't use the moving handles.

[JeffInAZ]

I figured this out. Maybe this solution/issue has been posted elsewhere but I'll add my two cents anyway in case it's helpful for anyone.

The short of it is this: The step and mile measurement, at least on the elliptical, depend on where your watch hand is.

I mentioned in my first post that the only difference between Sunday and Tuesday was that I disabled Mobile Tracker and loosened the band on my watch. There was one other difference: Tuesday was a busy day at work, and I had my phone in front of me on the machine, checking and replying to email. When I wasn't doing that, I was reading the news, etc. So my watch hand was about chest-high and a foot or so in front of me most of the time.

Yesterday I checked to see if that made a difference. So I started the exercise with my arm straight down at my side. The steps and miles started ticking off immediately, every second, updating on my watch and my phone in front of me. I then put my watch hand up by my phone and the steps stopped dead in their tracks. Literally for a full minute, not one step counted. I put my hand back to my side and the steps started right back up.

I then tested by putting my hand on the stationary handle about ab-high in front of me. The step count slowed, and intermittently stopped then restarted. 

Again, I returned my hand to my side and the steps started right back up. I repeated this a few times with very consistent results. Curiously, if I held the bars on the elliptical that move, the steps counted as though my hand was at my side.

Again, I only tested this on the elliptical but it's probably fair to assume that some of the other machines that have little stands on them for devices, or even handles, might behave the same way.

[JohnnyRow]

As @WendyB mentioned, you probably won't get accurate step count holding onto bars, and bad step count = bad distance.

Tracker is on your wrist; if your wrist is held steady, tracker has no way to detect movement of legs.  When you swing your arms, that coordinates with step movement.

[JeffInAZ]

Actually, if I hold my hand steady at my side, it counts steps the the same as when my arms are swinging. It appears to have more to do with my wrist being in place at a greater angle away from my body. 90 degrees registers nothing.

[JeffInAZ]

Here is a general description of the test shown in the graph below:

• First part is my hand at my side, swinging normally; the highest step rate
• Second, my hand is at my side not swinging; slightly lower rate
• Next, my hand is straight up in the air (yes, reaching for the sky); similar results to swinging at my side
• The next part? My hand is 90 degrees straight out in front of me; the FitBit stops counting completely. Although this is a fairly vigorous step rate, the lowest point is actually less then the end of the cool down where the actual rate is cut probably in half
• Next, back to normal walking style, arms at my side. Best results.
• Then I put my hand on the stationary bar in front of me, than the swinging bars. The count rate dropped a little with the stationary bar. I can't make sense out of the last part before the cool down, to be honest.
• The last minute is cool-down

.

The conclusion: the further away the Versa is from the body, at a 90 degree angle, the fewer steps it will count. If you're out for a walk or a jog, this doesn't matter, but if you're on a machine that has bars at a 90 degree angle in front of you, or if you hold your phone in front of you to text or read or whatever, your step count might be affected. Don't take my word for it. Try it yourself.