Versa tracking inaccurate distance.

[Leah115]

I’ve been having inaccurate readings for a while. Only when I am running indoors on a track or treadmill. I’ve used the GPS run and the treadmill setting and they are both off. How can I get it to accurately calculate my distance?

Moderator Edit: Clarified Subject.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Leah115, have a warm welcome to the Fitbit Community. 

I appreciate your participation in the Forums and for sharing your experience with us. Tell me, are you starting the Treadmill exercise directly through the watch? Please note that there's no GPS option when choosing a Treadmill exercise from the Exercise app in your Versa.

With that said, keep in mind that Fitbit devices calculate distance by multiplying your walking steps by your walking stride length and multiplying your running steps by your running stride length. We estimate your stride lengths using your height and sex. If your Fitbit device uses GPS and you track 1 or more runs using on-board or connected GPS, we evaluate that data to automatically update your running stride length. For best results, run at a comfortable pace for at least 10 minutes.

If you prefer to measure your walking and running stride lengths yourself and enter them manually, see How do I measure and adjust my stride length?

Note that when you're tracking an activity with GPS, Fitbit calculates your distance using GPS data rather than steps. If you begin moving before you get a GPS signal, the tracker will calculate distance using steps and stride length as described above until a GPS signal is found, this works only for runs, walks and hikes, as you're moving from one point to another. With a Treadmill exercise, it's best if you start the activity from the Exercise Tile in your watch. 

I hope this can be helpful, if there's anything else we can do for you, please feel free to reply.

[Leah115]

Hi! So, I did not start off using the treadmill. I started off using the
GPS and it did not calculate correctly. That is when I tried out the
treadmill function, but that wasn’t any help either.
I feel like the calculating strides and steps is very complicated. I just
want to be able to run and get an accurate reading of my distance, in miles
when I run indoors.

[MarcoGFitbit]

Hello @Leah115, I hope you're doing well, thanks for taking the time to reply. 

I appreciate you have come back and provided more details about this situation. I know you want your Fitbit device to give you an accurate reading of your distance. Note that when performing a non-GPS exercise like Treadmill, your Fitbit device will estimate your distance based on your steps. 

Fitbit devices have a finely tuned algorithm for step counting. The algorithm is designed to look for motion patterns that are most indicative of people walking. The algorithm determines whether a motion's size is large enough by setting a threshold. If the motion and its subsequent acceleration measurement meet the threshold, the motion will be counted as a step. If the threshold is not met, the motion won’t be counted as a step, which means that if you're holding on to the bars of the treadmill when you're exercising, your Versa might not recognize those steps as your arms are not moving and reaching the step threshold. 

I hope this resolves your inquiry and explains a bit better how your device works, if there's anything else we can do for you, let us know. 

[Leah115]

Hi, I can understand that for a treadmill. But, I don’t run on a treadmill,
I run on an indoor track. I used the treadmill setting to see if it would
work better than the run setting. So, using the run setting I run 8 laps to
equal 1 mile. When finished it says I have only done less than half a mile,
when I have done a mile.
This is a screen shoot if what it tells me that I did. The track is oblong
like a notmal track, so I really wasn’t all over the place like it looks.