Add Canoeing/Kayaking/Paddle Boarding as an Exercise Shortcut

[Bits]

Hi,

Just taken delivery of my Surge and am loving it! One thing I'd like to see is Kayaking/canoeing added as an activity on the Surge. As it is water resistant and splash proof (and you shouldn't be getting that wet!), this should be OK. I am particularly interested in the tracking opportunities offered by the repetitive arm movement - this should be easy for the Surge to recognise and would enable some really great stats - strokes per minute, strokes taken etc, and combined with the GPS function you could work out stroke efficiency, distance per stroke and maybe even give feedback on how well the stroke is done (e.g. more vertical entry v's sloppy strokes).

Could be a quick win for the developers?

Many thanks!

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity and labels.

[Bits]

Thanks for the update Marlen/Mod (shown below).

As the OP, I thought an update might be interesting.  I sent my Surge back almost immediately after my post; it was a "challenged" design and frankly not very good.  I can see why support is being withdrawn.  That said, a quick look at the specs of the Ionic mentioned shows exactly what I'd hoped the Surge would be.  I'll see what the reviews are like and then may consider trying again.

We're a couple of years away from the original suggestion and there seems to be a steady stream of people still interested.  I would suggest that if the Developers need ideas, adding kayaking/SUP/boating to the list of activities would still be welcomed. Noting the new T&Cs, this idea is freely given by me to Fitbit for them to do with what they like.  I rather hope they keep their customers happy with it.

"

 

MarlenFitbit 

 

Moderator

‎10-25-2017 08:24 

Status changed to: Reviewed By Moderator

Hi @Bits and commenters, thanks for your suggestion.

We're always working to streamline our offerings as we introduce new products. Although it has been a very popular product for us, we will soon stop selling Fitbit Surge. If you're looking for a new device, we recommend considering Ionic. Ionic is a motivating timepiece packed with fitness guidance, health insights, music storage, apps, and more. You can learn more about Ionic at https://www.fitbit.com/ionicor compare the Fitbit family of products at https://www.fitbit.com/compare.

Please note that we’ll continue to support Surge from a software standpoint, along with any questions you might have during your use of the product. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope we can continue to provide you with Fitbit devices you love and help you reach your goals.

I think your suggestion is a good one, so I took the liberty of changing the label and title so that it is applicable to future products and exercise developments.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback with us.

"

[Bits]

Hi @Bits and commenters, thanks for your suggestion.

We're always working to streamline our offerings as we introduce new products. Although it has been a very popular product for us, we will soon stop selling Fitbit Surge. If you're looking for a new device, we recommend considering Ionic. Ionic is a motivating timepiece packed with fitness guidance, health insights, music storage, apps, and more. You can learn more about Ionic at https://www.fitbit.com/ionicor compare the Fitbit family of products at https://www.fitbit.com/compare.

Please note that we’ll continue to support Surge from a software standpoint, along with any questions you might have during your use of the product. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope we can continue to provide you with Fitbit devices you love and help you reach your goals.

I think your suggestion is a good one, so I took the liberty of changing the label and title so that it is applicable to future products and exercise developments.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feedback with us.

[Allesdb]

Yes please!! Add Canoe as a tracking activity! 

[Foxedbyu]

I flat water kayak generally in 10-15k distance sessions, I'm active on the water for 60-90 minutes each time I go out. I specifically got a surge as it had GPS and I set it to vibrate every mile point which gave split mile times that I can review after every paddle which is perfect for goal setting & history logging. The watch never got wet and fitbit even had an advert once with a rower wearing a surge. Every time I paddle I needed to set it into 'run' mode which gave accurate readings except stairs as I presume the surge thought my arm movements depicted stair climbing as it would always say I'd climbed 50+ stairs even though my exercise was completely on a still river. I've asked before for a kayaking category and I'm sure that stroke movements could be added to give stroke rate per minute without to must developer trouble & even a cadence might be possible. Previously I was told this was not possible to add kayaking category, (it's possible to manually add recognised fitness activity as kayaking but this is without GPS being tracked or logged).

To meet my needs and I'm sure that of other sprint & marathon kayakers if kayaking option can be added the same as swimming is now added so I can choose Kayaking with enabled GPS and just press start at beginning of a timed paddle session & just press stop at session end. I now own an ionic so the excuse of the surge not being waterproof to wear for a river activity is now not a valid reason not to create and add this category. Nick

[EviSeeker]

Hi Developers,

Obviously with 60+ comments supporting this idea, it's got plenty of support.

How about starting small.  Kayaking using a double paddle is a regular cyclical motion that should be easily recognisable amongst the accelerometer data especially if the phone app has identified the activity as kayaking.  After that, I'm sure info such as calories become complicated by paddle length, blade size, kayak weight, wave condition, etc, etc.
So let's just start easy and get the app to count paddle strokes.  In combination with HR and GPS distance, paddlers can at least compare their workouts.
I shall start holding my breath now while I wait

[garz]

Well said and I totally agree with starting small, counting strokes with GPS would be perfect.

Gary Z

[Allesdb]

I would love to see Canoe Va'a added to the exercise for Flex 2

[Naedr]

Fine, quite a few have requested to have kayaking, canoeing, SUP added and I am sure that a lot of others who will not post would also like to see it added. But instead of copying me on new posts about how someone else would like to see the add, howabout a post from Fitbit that they have actually heard us and are working on adding the feature or better yet have added it.

[Fazzat]

I would like to be able to record my SUP'ing strokes on my Ionic. As a very popular sport nowadays I am surprised this hasn't made the product.

I see this suggestion was made back in 2015 so do the developers take any note of these requests?

[DVogel]

I'd love to see this feature added. The only reason I haven't upgraded to the ionic is that it doesn't track kayaking. 

[NettieK]

I would love to be able to track my Kayaking.

[Addicted2]

Kayaking please!  Understand from previous post it will not be added be cause the devices are not WP.  I paddle not swim with my Charger.

[garz]

I have a water fi version.

[SunsetRunner]

Would love to see this on the Ionic, even the flex 2 if possible. 

[Wheel101]

Being a wheelchair user would love kayaking to be added as I am limited what I can track as it is.

[divelady]

I wish I could find a way to track the exercise I get from rowing a kayak or paddling a paddleboard.  Makes you look like a slacker but you paddled for 1 1/2 hours and got a good workout.  Haven't figured out how to get credit for that on my charge2.

[Addicted2]

Understand.  Paddle 3 hours and only show my daily walk. 


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[WoodyZNZ]

I too would be keen to see paddling or kayaking added to my Iconic choices, it seems a natural fit for the device.

[MarcelBK]

Good idea, thanks for taking the time to share it with us. 

[Jeepwolf]

Wow people been asking for kayaking for atleast 3 years, think its about time fitbit did something, saying it wont be done because fitbit is not waterproof is a copout as my ionic has swimming function, i currently use "bike" for my kayaking seems to work well, gives me everthing i am after, speed, distance, gps, time moving, almost perfect, but cant edit it to state kayaking, i do cycle aswell so would be great  to be able to separate them, it should be a simple fix , either create a kayaking function copying the bike function, or at very least give us the ability to edit the name of the bike exercise after completed.

[Naedr]

Most of the time I have found that I can edit the name of my activity if I
use the app on my android phone. I have not been able to edit the name of
my activity in the Fitbit Dashboard on my PC. I seem to remember a couple
of years ago I was not able to rename my exercise one time, but I can not
remember if it was on my phone or PC. Another time when renaming my
exercise, I sellected the wrong option and was not able to go back in and
rename it correctly.

[Jeepwolf]

 You can't edit bike & treadmil, possibly a few more you can edit workout and walk which is useless for kayaking

[Water-rat]

I agree!!! Well put!!!

NOW GET TO IT FITBIT OR I’M OFF TO GARMIN!!!!

Water-rat

[Naedr]

I guess that this is Fitbits idea of customer service. Put up a place where
customers can complain and they don't have to respond.

[Addicted2]

They don't read these post.  It is just a place to vent.


Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[arkaycee]

One thought i had that would help with this -- they have a "Workout" option that you can edit. Wish they'd give you a "Workout with GPS" that you could edit the name and calories, etc.