Versa 3 has no idea of steps or calories burnt - why?

[CRMMan]

My wife has a Luxe and I have a Versa 3.  We often compare our results on a daily basis and the readings I am getting is an absolute joke.  We walk the same distance, yet I often take 20% MORE steps in the process.  I get up in the morning to find I have already completed up to 400 steps.  I collected the paper - in reality approx. 60 steps - yet the count increases by 200 or more.  Two days ago, I charged the unit and left it on my bedside table.  In the morning - 0 steps (yippee) but I had burnt 1278 calories - huh?

Today (after another night on the side table) 0 steps and 0 calories.  But, on checking some minutes ago - 20 steps and 1079 calories.  I can assure you my side table has not come to life and started exercising.  Has anyone any ideas apart from returning the product?

[Heather-S]

@CRMMan You can't really compare your steps to another person's because it depends on your stride length and how much you are swinging your arm while you are walking. Someone who is shorter would most likely take more steps in the same distance as someone who is taller. But if your wife is pushing a stroller or walking a dog or has her hands in her pocket, she's may not get steps. It's really hard to say, but Fitbits and all pedometers don't know you're moving unless you are swinging your arm.

As far as the calories go, your Fitbit measures your BMR calories -- that's the basic amount of calories your body burns simply by being alive. So yes, you'll wake up and see calories burned already because your body is really burning calories while you are asleep. It all depends on your height, weight, sex, and age. So make sure all those things are correct in your Fitbit app, but in general you should see calories burned when you wake up. 

For the steps recorded during sleep, it's possible arm movements are triggering the device while you're in bed or that your Fitbit is on too loose. Again, it's hard to tell. Some phantom steps are normal. The 20 steps from being on the bedside table... is it possible you walked by the table, vibrating it a little? I live in an old house and our steps sometimes "shake" nearby tables. That's really all I can think of.

You can also trying restarting your Fitbit to see if that helps reset it. 

[CRMMan]

Hi Heather, Thank you for your reply.  I understand exactly what you are saying as far as sleep movement etc is concerned.  But, as far as steps being multiples of what I take (200 instead of 60), this has no rhyme or reason.  My wife is smaller in stature than me and we walk without any stroller at all - it is a simple casual walk where I would expect to take far fewer steps than she does.  Last night the unit was on the desk in my office yet it still recorded 792 calories burnt - I was nowhere near it until I activated the screen, nor was anybody else.  I can easily accept phantom steps but 140 of them in a 60 step walk is a little off, don't you think?

I will do as you suggest and reset everything and see what happens (again).  Hopefully, you are correct, and I will gladly eat "humble pie" but I think the unit thinks I am an orchestra conductor or something the way the steps add up.  I have even been known to walk 3000 steps just sitting at my desk working during the day.