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.

[thedagger]

Kayak/Canoe is becoming a popular leg for triathlons.  It's a pity that, after years of requests from the community, we still need to use other apps (and there are some good ones out there) to track paddle sports. I love everything about my Ionic except this one major flaw. 

[PowderMiller]

I think there are 160 plus comments requesting a canoe-kayak function, but not a murmur from Fitbit. Maybe it would take 160,000?  I’ve enjoyed my Surge, though I had to get it replaced twice. Now that it has completely died I think it is time for a new product that supports paddling. I should note, though, that I was able to use the run function to see where I went, how fast and at what intensity (heart rate). Obviously without some form of logarithm associated with stroke rate there’s a lot left unaccounted for, but that’s how I managed. Good luck with getting Fitbit’s attention on this and happy paddling.

[jgenov]

Thanks for comment. I am currently looking for a diff device that will meet my needs
I must be crazy, I put in a second request. What the word for doing the sane thing expecting a diff outcome

Sent from my iPhone

[Julie617]

I've tried a couple alternatives:  I always seem to get 1-2,000 "steps", so perhaps it is picking up my activity along with my heart rate?  Not sure.  So I tried use the bike setting, but only got about 150 calories for an hour of intentional paddling.   Next, thinking I was using my arms in the same manner as low level weights, I used the weights setting.  For this, it tracked 350 calories.  I looked up average calories:  125 lb person burns 150 calories in 30 minutes, so I'm thinking this was pretty close.  Still, wouldn't it be nice if this $200.00 exercise tracker actually tracked it?   Thats why I bought the one with heart rate monitoring, isn't it?

[TrishaD123]

Please add kayaking/canoeing/paddleboard. Anything would be great!! It seems like it would be easy to track as it is a repetitive arm motion.  

[kevinapaddler]

I paddle a lot. I do dragon boat, outrigger, canoe and SUP. That's why I bought an Ionic, it was waterproof. I can track with GPS where I go but paddling is not the same as running.

[pinkdress2]

Right now when I paddleboard I have to use my computer to track or log it in.  Could you just add paddleboard to the app list track or log list? 

[Drewhosick]

Please add kayaking or paddling with connected gps to the list of exercises.  I'd like to see that as well.

[DreamFitDoIt]

Yes please add kayaking, paddle boarding and canoeing as an exercise shortcut. 😊

[jgenov]

Don’t hold ur breath. A few of us have been asking for canoeing/kayaking to be added. I think first request was about least two years.
What someone said to me “you have already gave Fitbit ur $$$ why would they care what you want”Good luck

Sent from my iPhone

[Huwoslo]

I have recently been given a Fitbit iconic, one of the excercises i enjoy most in the summer is stand up paddle boarding, could you please add it as an excercise

[ckochannek]

Agree. I've asked for the same - kayaking and SUP.

[JessIsReady]

Please add Kayak as a listed exercise to be able to choose from device (use the GPS and track distance and heart rate). I know I can use walk or hike or run but it would be nice to accurately name it. Or a custom option for us to choose to name an exercise and enable which features we want to track 🙂 Your loyal customer since 2011 🙂

[Swista]

I agree. Kayaking is my main activity. It should be an easy activity to add.

[Swista]

I agree!! Kayaking is my main activity. 

[jgenov]

I know kayaked this morning got 3 miles in. To bad the app shows me waling on water. 👅


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[CarronM]

I may have asked for it before but I'm going to again. As one of the fastest growing sports around please consider adding stand up paddle boarding to the list of trackable exercises 

Moderator Edition: Labels

[AlexandraFitbit]

Nice suggestion, thanks for sharing @CarronM. We look forward to hearing what other community members think.

[JohnPep]

Yes, please add kayaking/paddle boarding. I have been patiently waiting for years. The first, (and last) time I tried to track kayaking by using the Fitbit app set to walking, it crashed so badly I had to remove and reinstall to get it to work again. I assumed it could not resolve that I was walking on water.  I would love to be able to track the items listed in the original suggestion. 
Personally, the lack of ability to track more water sports is why I did not upgrade to an Ionic and now Versa. I had the urge to upgrade today and ended up here from a search for kayak tracking. I am glad to see that just yesterday the topic status was upgraded to "reviewed by moderator". It's a step (pun intended) in the right direction but still not reason to give up on my Blaze.

[jgenov]

Here’s what I’m beging to think.  It is the Fitbit programs that can’t figure out how to add items where feet are not on ground.  If you notice no option to choose biking.

Maybe Fitbit  needs to hire new programmers. 

If programmers hands are tied waiting to direction from higher ups to approve the build, then I apologize. 

[SantiR]

Hi everyone, thanks for sharing this suggestion. We're always striving to enhance Fitbit products and services, and we appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. We do not currently have plans to release this feature. You can learn more about how Fitbit decides what suggestions get released in our FAQs located at the top right box of the Feature Suggestions Board screen. For now, we will leave this suggestion open for votes (and closed to comments) so that we can continue to track community demand over time. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback with us and we will let you know if anything changes.

[Matcha79]

I don’t see why you wouldn’t add it. Really it takes 2 minutes to program this. It’s a non sense 

[K-Tejas]

Yep, 6 pages of requests, and now the Moderator said this:

"We're always striving to enhance Fitbit products and services, and we appreciate all of the input we receive from our customers. We do not currently have plans to release this feature."

Maybe they can't be bothered, or they can't find a good programmer to figure out how to make our Fitbit work on water.

At lest tell us why not. Is it because the software is not able to work this way, or is the programing department all gone, now that they have a product to sale.

[SunsetRunner]

I tell my Fitbit that I am doing Outdoor Bike so it tracks my kayak trips.  With the Charge 3, which I will soon own, being waterproof kayaking would be a great exercise addition.  You really just have to copy and rename the Outdoor Bike thing. There are kayak apps out there but they don't track vital statistics.

[Tessakan]

In Sweden, as well as many other European countries Padel/padl is a huge sport. Would be nice if you add it among the sports to choose from.

🙂